Sony Ericsson P990 gets LocationFree support

It looks like the Symbian Smartphone Show is shaping up to be a bit of a showdown betwixt placeshifters today, with both Sling and Sony announcing Symbian support for their respective products' players. Unlike Sling, which announced both UIQ and S60 versions of its SlingPlayer Mobile, Sony is only going as far as UIQ support for its LocationFree on the wings of its fresh P990 smartphone -- a very Sony-like (read: proprietary) move, considering Sony Ericsson isn't down with the Nokia-backed S60 platform. Odds are Sony would've liked to have cut a version for its smartphones a year or two back, but the P990 is the first phone in the P series to rock data fast enough (via UMTS and WiFi) to handle the heavy-duty bandwidth requirements LocationFree -- or most any other placeshifting tech, for that matter -- requires. Sony Ericsson's claiming immediate availability of the Symbian client, though it's not yet live on the P990's download site. Of course, a LocationFree player doesn't do much good without the device itself, and a US version of the P990 is nowhere in sight, so just keep on toolin' around with these PSPs until further notice.

MapQuest's Send to Cell Makes Mobile Mapping Slightly More Convenient

MapQuest's newest feature in their quest to maintian what's left of the public mindshare that Yahoo, Microsoft Live, and Google Maps haven't already eaten away is called "Send to Cell." You first find map a location or set of driving directions on MapQuest, then click the "Send to Cell" button and type in your phone number, and the correct link/details will get sent to your mobile. If you've got MapQuest's java app installed, the embedded link in the SMS will open up the corresponding view in your mobile. If not, you're sent to an HTML page.

In this day and age of mobile Google Maps and Windows Live Maps already on smartphones and dumbphones, only a few people would really need to plan out their directions beforehand and send them to their cellphones. One of which could be our buddy, who seems to think that just because we're sitting in front of a computer all day makes us their personal map guide.

Undressing Sony Ericsson's W880i

We all knew Sony Ericsson had a winner with their new Walkman phone, the W880i. It's thin, it's got an awesome interface, expandable memory, and did we mention it's thin? The Boy Genius himself seems to have a crush on the phone, claiming he'll never settle for another Nokia or HTC fattie again.

Sony Ericsson patents cellphone docking station

Laptop docking stations are so early-2000s, as Sony Ericsson has already patented what is essentially a docking station for your cellphone, dubbing it a Mobile Phone Multimedia Cradle. As predicted, the envisioned device would function much like standard lappie docking stations do today, as it would dock one's cellphone for charging / syncing, feature a numeric keypad and QWERTY keyboard for dialing and typing, a built-in LCD screen for video out capabilities, and a variety of ports for peripheral connections. The device would allow users to surf the web, manage contacts / photos, transfer files, and basically do anything a highly-spec'd smartphone can do, but in your lap (and in place of a laptop). Of course, managing to play nice with every single powerful handset in the world would be a monumental challenge, and we're still a ways off from having a true laptop-replacing cellphone, but we'd wager that this here invention is certainly not a bad one to have on the drawing board. Click on through for a side-angle conception.

Sony Ericsson's Next Touchscreen-based Smartphone?

The Sony Ericsson's next smartphone will be a touchscreen-based mobile codenamed "Sneff". It's either a touchscreen or a slider, although those "buttons" up front lead me to believe it's the former.