Sony Ericsson K660i web focused phone announced

SE goes for web users with new handset

6 November 2007 19:00 GMT / By Stuart Miles

Sony Ericsson has launched the K660i this evening at an event in central London. The new phone will be HSDPA enabled and focus on bringing the web to your pocket.

Available in two colours, a "lime-on-white" and a "wine-on-black" the handset will come with a 2-inch QVGA display with landscape Web browsing and be available in the first quarter of next year.

The web focus element will come in the guise of illuminated shortcut keys that only become active when surfing the Net and a news ticker that provide regular updates from your favourite websites.

"Sony Ericsson's vision is to offer 'Generation Web' a mobile internet experience that's rich, user-friendly and satisfying", says Martin Winkler, Head of Web Marketing at Sony Ericsson. "This Web-optimised phone is a clear step along that journey and will appeal to individuals who are managing their busy lives and social networks online, whether its arranging to meet up for a football match or booking concert tickets."

Other features of the web focus include the phone's navigation key becoming a "magnetic mouse pointer" when in web mode, letting you find your way around the page just as you would on a PC.

It indicates when a part of the page is clickable and where text input is possible. You can even zoom in for a closer look at text or images.

Pan-and-zoom is just one of the web shortcut keys that sit under your thumb when viewing webpages in landscape mode. The K660i also sports a Bookmark function, a single click button that takes you back to your homepage and an "Enter Address" shortcut; all intended to guide you through the Web that much quicker.

The company has also turned to Google to provide its Maps application on-board from the start, however will not feature a GPS chip.

Other tech specs include a 2.0 megapixel camera and Sony Ericsson's Blogger tool amongst other SE software.