Sony Ericsson calls for apps development for P800 Smartphone

Gearing up to introduce the latest developments in mobile phone technology, Sony Ericsson has issued a challenge to developers to create applications for its P800 Smartphone.

The P800 will debut locally later this year, closely following Sony Ericsson’s introduction of its product portfolio which it says is strong on imaging, connectivity and entertainment.

The P800 Smartphone, Sony Ericsson says, will become the most advanced among its line of handsets capable of Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS).

Sony Ericsson says it pioneered MMS and color mobile imaging with its highly successful T68i.

The multimedia P800 has an integrated camera, large color touch screen, open application environment, PDA functionality and Internet access.

It runs on tri-band GSM and GPRS networks and has full connectivity to other devices via Bluetooth. Based on Symbian OS v.7, it features Personal Java and Java MIDP support. Advanced MMS is another key feature, together with the WAP 2.0 and HTML-capable browser.

"We want to enable applications and content for both professional and entertainment purposes for Sony Ericsson," says Sony Ericsson general manager for Philippine operations Francisco Dennis Manzano.

He adds that the company is committed to the Symbian OS, Sony Ericsson being part owner of Symbian since January this year.

Sony Ericsson’s call for applications runs until Oct. 31. Engineering and product development teams will judge submissions based on innovation, relevance, ease of use and "coolness factor."

The initiative is under the Sony Ericsson Developer World program that will provide a full range of development tools and resources for developing applications for Sony Ericsson products.

"The developer program covers all of our products and provides support for all key technologies such as MMS, Java and Symbian," says Manzano. "We are also partnering with leading companies such as Metrowerks, Sun Microsystems and Borland which provide an extensive range of developer tools and support infrastructure between them."

The latest developments for the P800 have been the addition of a 16MB Memory Stick Duo and MP3-player capabilities.

The Memory Stick Duo extends the P800’s memory capacity to 28MB. This allows users to back up files and transfer documents, pictures and music between the P800 and a PC. Documents and pictures on the P800 can now be saved onto the Memory Stick Duo and then transferred to a PC, or the other way around, as a screensaver or stored shot in the photo library.

It will also be possible to take MP3 format music from a PC and to listen to it over the P800, which will come with a set of stereo earphones.

The video player in the P800 also allows one to play back downloaded video files with full stereo sound as well as stream media files directly over the network for even faster access.

As for entertainment, the P800 is no exception to Sony Ericsson’s promise of embedded and downloadable games. A sophisticated 3D graphical version of Men in Black II which plays in landscape mode will be bundled with the P800.

New partnerships with THQ Wireless, game makers of Astromash, WWE Mobile Mania, Major League Baseball, Eurosports and Marvel Comics, are set to hit other Sony Ericsson models like the T300.