Sony Ericsson is introducing yet another mobile device to their already impressive lineup. The Aspen is a new Windows Mobile phone and it’ll be making its debut for sales in the second quarter of this year.
The phone features a 2.4 inch (240×320, 65k color) TFT touchscreen and a QWERTY keyboard along with A-GPS, Wi-Fi, FM radio and Bluetooth. The phone doesn’t lack MicroSD compatibility, but the MicroSD card isn’t included with the purchase price of the phone so consumers will have to grab one on their own.
The Aspen features a 3.2 megapixel camera and 4x digital zoom, making it a pretty standard phone all things considered. The fact that this phone doesn’t feature an 9 megapixel camera is a bit surprising, especially considering industry standards these days.
There is a 3.5mm headphone jack and a stereo speaker included with the Aspen, however, which does make for a somewhat impressive audio setup. Overall, however, it’s hard to shake the notion that SE’s latest offering is little more than an average phone that doesn’t try to do much above and beyond the call of duty.
And perhaps that’s the problem for Sony Ericsson. We’ve already reported about the company lagging behind other industry power players like Apple and phones like the Aspen aren’t going to turn many heads, especially if they include subpar cameras and equipment setups.
Software is where Sony Ericsson hopes to make up for the lackluster design. It’s a pretty loaded phone in terms of goodies, I suppose, with access to the PlayNow store and a host of the usual applications included. There’s also a PDF reader and Microsoft mobile.
Even so, the phone still smacks of all things average. The appearance of Windows Mobile is going to be enough to turn some people off and SE’s experimenting with other operating systems isn’t endearing them to the cause of consistency. With Sony Ericsson already puttering around with Android and Symbian, one has to wonder what the customer base thinks of so much shifting.
So will the Aspen make a dent in sales for Sony Ericsson? It’s doubtful. Hardware-wise the phone just isn’t up to snuff and the software package, while impressive, doesn’t really put the phone above the norm. It’s just another ho-hum entry for Sony Ericsson and represents a further disappointment in a company that once seemed promising in the world of mobile devices.
