EDDIEWONG

AU KDDI today announced their 2008 Spring collection of mobile-phones and I’m all for the upcoming Sony Ericsson W61S. iPhone 3G, I don’t think I can wait any longer…

The main reason why I like Sony Ericsson is because their usability is better than other mobile-phone makers here in Japan. As for the W61S, it has to be the ‘5.1mp sensor and the CyberShot brand’ that attracts me. Believe it or not, CyberShot branded mobile-phones in Japan is a pretty recent thing (maybe within last year?). I mean, no idea as to why, but Sony has never marketed their mobile-phones as CyberShot until sometime last year even tough they’ve always packed a lot into their phones. Back in the west, CyberShot is pretty much a standard thing with Sony Ericsson mobile-phones and has been for ages. But yeah, I have high hopes for better photo-quality with a Sony CyberShot mobile-phone VS a non Sony Cybeshot mobile-phone. Confused? Ah well…

Anyway, here are the W61S specifications:

• 5.11 megapixel cmos sensor
  - uses the same ‘Exmor’ sensor technology from Sony’s pro ‘α Alpha’ series of DSLRs
• Kaokime Lite (顔キメLite)
  - auto adjusts brightness upon face detection for best possible facial tones
• Smile Shutter Lite (スマイルシャッターLite)
  - auto shutter release upon detecting a smile (huh?)
• Auto focus
• Auto lens cover
• Anti-shake
• 3x optical zoom
• 3cm macro
• ISO 1600
• LED flash
• 2.8-inch LCD
  - 480×800px wide-VGA resolution, 260,000 colours, ‘Reality MAX’ technology from Sony’s line of Bravia TVs
• Other stuff: Micro-SD card slot (up to 2GB), TV-out, bluetooth, GPS, music, videos, EZ Navi, EZ FeliCa, etc., etc.
• Dimensions: W:50mm × H:114mm × D:22mm (thickest point: 24mm)
• Weight: 149g
• Release date: April 2008

Seems like the W61S doesn’t do ‘one-seg’ media (digital TV and radio) and there is no mention of internal memory size. But no big deal, I don’t ever watch digital TV or listen to radio on my Sony W44S and Media Skin, anyway. As for no internal memory, also no big loss since memory cards are dirt cheap now-a-days. Only concern: it’s a bit on the thick side. Ahhhhhhhh… also, Sony mobile-phones have the ‘loudest’ shutter release sound (I do mean ‘loud’)! And, as with all Japanese mobile-phones, you cannot adjust the volume of it nor turn it off (perv-prevention. Afterall, this is Japan).

I’m debating between the black and the white one. But I gotta see the thing for myself. Sony Ericsson Japan likes to add glittering particles into their paint. The last time I looked at a few white mobile-phones from Sony, they were glittering pink! And with blue and black ones, they were glittering purple! Oooooouch!

Available in 3 colours: Spectrum Pink, Shadow Black and Prism White (Oh how I love the naming of colours by the Japanese… not)

And before anyone outside of Japan asks, “NO! This phone (or very little for that matter) will not be available/work in your country whether it be Mumbai, US, UK, etc.”, therefore do not even ask (such comments will be ignored).