Remember that scene in Ridley Scott’s Gladiator where Maximus, having annihilated every opponent in the arena, turns to the bloodthirsty Romans in the Colosseum and cries, “Are you not entertained?”
That’s sort of how I felt at Sony Ericsson’s Entertainment Adventure event in Singapore — except that there was no combat carnage. Instead there were rappers, jugglers, high-flying basketball players, tumblers and stunt jumpers, rope-skipping hip-hop dancers, cheerleaders, and dozens of slightly dazed-looking, smiling spectators crying, “Yes! Yes! Yes!”
The occasion was the launch of new phones that promise “to elevate the entertainment experience.” Those are bold words given the surfeit of entertainment now available to consumers, but Sony Ericsson is serious about being The Communication Entertainment Brand. According to Hirokazu Ishizuka, corporate vice president and head of the Asia-Pacific Region, Sony Ericsson, through its strategic partnership with Sony Pictures and Sony Music, can deliver the latest content — movies, music and games — to mobile users.
The days when phones were used exclusively for making phone calls are long gone. Previewed at the event were phones that offer a mobile high-definition TV experience, can control your PlayStation and access its media content anywhere, and let you box or play tennis wherever you are. (Oh, and they also make and receive phone calls, the signal quality of which will depend on your service providers.)
After the presentation, guests were invited to handle the Aino, Satio and Yari mobile devices set to hit stores in the fourth quarter of 2009. When asked about the etymology, Mr. Ishizuka said the names sound Japanese, but don’t refer to anything in particular.
Aino allows users to transfer all their videos, music and photos from their computers to their phones simply and wirelessly. Then they can watch and listen to everything on a three-inch 16 million color screen with wireless stereo headphones. This phone has both a keypad and an intuitive touch user interface for easy access to content. Users can control and access content on their PlayStation 3 using Aino’s Remote Play technology.
Satio has a 3.5-inch, 16:9 widescreen format screen and a 12.1 megapixel phone, and is the first Sony Ericsson phone to offer ninth High Definition (nHD) gaming. Users can play the very popular games “Asphalt Road” and “Prince of Persia” on their Satio phones. Its five standby panels allow users to access all their media in one place.
Yari is the first mobile phone with gesture gaming outside of the Japanese market. (Yes, like Wii.) Instead of pushing buttons to control play, you move your body in front of the screen. If you’ve resolved to get more exercise, take up a sport, or burn more calories through physical activity but your schedule is full, the Yari is the solution. You can play a few sets of tennis, do yoga, or practice boxing while waiting for classes, meetings or trains. There may be space issues when you’re trying to make a cross-court forehand pass on a crowded train, but you’ll adapt.
Sony Ericsson gives customers in the Asia Pacific region an exclusive privilege: a content library where users can download games, movies, music videos, and new music. For the Satio and Aino, users are entitled to a choice of three movie titles and three music videos from a wide selection. Movies become available for download on the day of their DVD release. Yari users can download three games from a database of 100.
Two Sony Ericsson celebrity endorsers appeared at the Singapore event: the Korean actress Lee Min Jung, star of the series Boys Over Flowers, and the French-Japanese magician Cyril. Lee Min Jung praised the Sony Ericsson C903, which comes with a Facebook application.
Cyril, the most downloaded magician on the Internet, showed off the Satio phone, then returned it to a sealed glass case without opening the case or breaking the glass. Holding the Satio, he put his hand through the glass, left the Satio inside, then pulled out his hand. No damage to the glass or to his hand. If I knew how it was done, I’d be a magician.
His most famous trick involves going up to a framed picture of a cheeseburger, reaching into the picture and taking out a real cheeseburger, taking a bite, then returning the cheeseburger to the picture — with the bite mark. The two-dimensional becomes three-dimensional, then two-dimensional again, but with an alteration. Cyril amazes unsuspecting passersby across Asia in a street magic TV special on AXN in November.
We’ll have more on Aino, Satio and Yari when these new phones become available.
This focus on entertainment got me wondering: Are we the most entertained generation in human history? What is the evolutionary basis for entertainment? I put the latter question to two friends, Hawat and Fenring. Hawat refused to think, being on his honeymoon in the Caribbean (which is also a form of entertainment), but Fenring sank his teeth into the question.
“Entertainment is part of culture,” he said, “And culture has its evolutionary beginnings in the passing on of knowledge for survival or adaptation. This is exhibited by animals to this day. “For example, some groups of chimpanzees have learned to use stones to crack open nutritious but well-protected nuts, and they pass on this knowledge to their offspring. The groups of chimpanzees who do not have this knowledge are therefore at an evolutionary disadvantage.
“The big difference of human culture is that we have language and writing, which enable us to record and transmit our culture in a way that animals cannot. Human language and writing allow us to talk about ideas like happiness or love, the past and the future, and also allow us to combine words to express an infinite variety of ideas. Animal communication is limited — animals can warn each other of predators or inform their fellows of a new food source, but they can’t express abstract ideas or combine those into something new.
“So now we come to the idea that human culture, because of our ability to record and transmit our culture, is cumulative. We can build on what came before, in entertainment and in technology. We’ve even come to the point where the evolution of technology is now separate from human biology.”
Will technology and entertainment evolve to such a degree that we will never utter the words “I’m bored” or “I have nothing to do” again? No, but I’m sure mobile gadget developers will keep trying.
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