Telstra brings Blue Tick “Sony Ericsson W508” to Next G

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Wednesday, 08 July 2009 11:49

Opinion and Analysis

The Sony Ericsson W508 is one of SE’s “Walkman” range of phones, a polished range that offers all of the usual “smartphone” features with Sony’s souped up music playing software.

So while it appeals to those wanting a fashionable phone that offers a great music playback experience, it also appeals to those wanting a fashionable phone that better works in rural and regional areas.

As the W508 is designated as a Blue Tick phone, it adds to the number of Blue Tick phones available and gives greater choice to consumers who may have no choice but to use Telstra Next G due to its greater coverage and access to 3.5G/HSDPA speeds than competing telcos.

Telstra Country Wide Group Managing Director, Brett Riley, said that the Sony Ericsson W508 is not only in stores now, but “combines strong coverage performance and the latest in Walkman music playing technology and flip phone looks.
 
“The W508 comes with Telstra’s Blue Tick, meaning it is recommended for handheld use in rural and regional coverage areas.
 
“It features an in-built Sony Walkman allowing customers to take a high-quality music player everywhere they take their mobile. Also included is 1 GB of internal memory for storing all your favorite songs – plus a stereo headset for great-sounding music playback. With these features, customers, particularly in regional and rural areas, can leave their stand-alone MP3 player at home and take just one device out with them,” continued the man that clearly must live his own version of the life of Riley.
 
Without getting riled up, Riley really wasn’t finished yet, because he added that: “We are sure that customers will also enjoy accessing mobile content on the W508. A vivid 2.2-inch screen, and a connection to the network that works better in more places - Telstra’s Next G network, means customers can access content like BigPond TV and Mobile FOXTEL from Telstra.”
 
Telstra Product Management Executive Director, Ross Fielding, said the Sony Ericsson W508 offers superior mobile internet browsing and can be customised thanks to its TelstraOne Experience user interface, and noted that:
 
“With a connection to Telstra’s Next G network the mobile data experience on this [up to] 7.2Mbps downlink speed rated phone is fast. Users can pull down large files, stream content with less buffering, surf the web seamlessly and access mobile internet content like mobile Facebook faster and in more places.
 
“The W508 also features the TelstraOne Experience user interface, which lets customers set up one-click access to the mobile phone features, applications and services they use most.

“With TelstraOne Experience customers can select from more than 100 application and webpage shortcut icons –  like links to Facebook, MySpace and mobile web accounts like Windows Live Hotmail and Yahoo!7 Mail – and place them on the phone’s MyPlace menu where they’re easy to access,” concluded Fielding.
 
Other handset features Telstra deems noteworthy are as follows:

- 3.2 megapixel camera
- Bluetooth 2.0 connectivity (including for Bluetooth stereo headsets)
- MMS
- Video calling
TrackID (which lets users record a few seconds of music and returns the song name, artist and album to your phone within seconds)
- Interchangeable colour covers (the handset comes bundled with Architectural Purple and Metal Grey colour covers) which allow users to transform the look of the handset.
 
No “outright” price is listed but it is available on an AUD $30 plan over 24 months.