Better late the never, as they say. But no matter, it may not be able to stem the year-on-year decline of the Windows Mobile OS with just 8% of the worldwide market share of smartphone platforms. And what about the world's first smartphone to run on it? Who else but the Sony Ericsson Aspen, formerly known as the Sony Ericsson Faith.
Sony probably had a change of mind to use another name on its recent launch so that the market won't get the hint that it should put more faith on the handset or its OS.
The Aspen also figures as a "green" handset and the latest addition to the GreenHeart range of phone from Sony Ericsson. That means it has eco-friendly features on the side to better compete with other "green" mobiles phone emerging from LG, Samsung and Motorola.
Looking Like A Blackberry but is not
Sporting what is a first for the Japanese mobile phone maker - a QWERTY candy bar touchscreen form factor, the Aspen harks back to the famous Blackberry form but takes a stylish turn for a more distinctive look and feel, especially with its silver white version; (the other is plain Ivory Black). Other than that, everything else takes a downhill set of features that puts it on the same league as most other low-end smartphones in the market. Take a look at its capable but less than remarkable features
Hardware-wise, the Aspen is your familiar quad band GSM (850/900/1800/1900) on 2G and a triple band UMTS (/900/2100) on 3G with HSDPA/HSUPA data connectivity for fast internet access. It measure 117 x 60 x 12.5mm and weights 130g making it not so pocket-friendly.
It has a 2.4-inch display typical for Blackberry-type handsets and has a mere QVGA resolution and the usual Windows-limited 65k color support. There's an accelerometer which is nearly useless in this form factor. There's the usual local data connectivity with WiFi, Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP, microUSB 2.0 and 3.5mm jack. There's also a rudimentary 3.2-megapixel fixed focus camera with video recording. All these hardware features can be found even in mid-priced feature phones. So what gives? Not much.
Software-wise, it's also a social networking handset that has instant access to Windows Live Messenger and Facebook right from its homescreen. Again, sounds familiar with many feature phones with SNS facility. Good thing it at least comes with an A-GPS receiver is supported with Google Maps. Its multimedia feature is as expected from Sony's Walkman heritage with media browsers that support music, photos and videos. It also gets PlayNow apps for games and new music.
Conclusion
Much as we love its Blackberry-ish look and feel with a distinctly Sony-Ericssonian flair, we don't see much compelling reason to get it over many other Blackberry-like handsets on the market. Slated to become available by the second quarter of 2010, the Sony Ericsson Aspen can't aspire to be in the mid-priced smartphone level with its so-so feature set. With little pricing information, we won't be surprised if the major carriers offer it free of charge on a 15 to 20 per month 12-18 month contract.
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