Sony Ericsson continues with its dual themes of coming out with new brands for its phones ‘ this week it has launched the Jalou – as well as chasing entirely new form factors for its phones. We know from its financial results that Sony Ericsson is in a fight to remain one of the top five handset makers in the world.
But names like the Jalou, as with the Satio, Aino andYari ‘ new phones announced back in May, but not due until the fourth quarter ‘ are strange sounding names to hear from a company that is used to pushing the dual Sony brands of Walkman and Cybershot and which has toyed with the idea of a PlayStation phone for far too long without doing anything about it.
The theme for the Jalou phone is fashion, and the fact that it has a compact mirror hidden in its clamshell shows that it is purely intended for the woman about town. And the fashion theme is accentuated by Sony Ericsson launching a Dolce&Gabbana version of the phone, named after the Italian fashion house.
The look and feel is supposed to be that of a cut jewel, as if some women might mistake it for a diamond and pay those sorts of prices, and it is supposed to support all the features of a modern, fashion conscious woman. It is the same size as a makeup compact to fit into handbags, with a shorter screen than most phones.
It comes with a 3.2 megapixel camera, video recording, FM radio and music player and attaches to PlayNow, the Sony Ericsson music and video store and trendily it has a Walk Mate step counter. This uses the accelerometer to count the steps you take each day so that you can set a certain amount of exercise and make sure you do it each day.
It has Google search, Google maps, email, instant messaging, picture messaging, one click access to YouTube, and weighs only 84 grams
The Jalou is a Symbian phones and supports GSM and 3G and like all the new brands is available in the fourth quarter 2009. It comes in Deep Amethyst, Aquamarine Blue and Onyx Black. No prices as yet or carriers named who will carry it.