Hands-on video of Sony Ericsson's Idou, its first S60/Symbian Foundation smartphone

Sony Ericsson Idou

Sony Ericsson Idou

Sony Ericsson Idou

With the official start of the Mobile World Congress 2009 only hours away, Sony Ericsson announced its Idou smartphone at a press event in Barcelona. We sat down with a few Sony Ericsson execs to talk about the new smartphone, which will be the first device from Sony Ericsson to run on the new Symbian Foundation^(INFO) platform. The open-source Symbian Foundation OS is being built upon Nokia's S60^(INFO) user interface and the Symbian OS^(INFO), and will look very much like the current Nokia S60 5th Edition that runs on the Nokia 5800 XpressMedia, if our sources are to believed.

Since the Idou is a prototype, and doesn't even have an official name yet, we were unable to get video of the smartphone actually powered up. But we did get a chance to play around with the hardware enough to at least be able to imagine what is coming.

For being such early hardware, the Idou felt solidly built. We could see the 12.1 megapixel camera's autofocus lens and Xenon flash, and the signage on the device told us that it will feature DLNA compatible WiFi and GPS as well. The display measures 3.5 inches across and is in a wide screen format, though we don't know what the actual pixel resolution will be.

In terms of the look and feel of the user interface, we can expect it to be fairly true to the stock Symbian Foundation UI, which is expected to look much like S60 5th Edition. Sony Ericsson reps did say that we should expect to see the same kind of Sony Ericsson user experience type apps on the Idou as we see on Sony Ericsson's feature phones and its Xperia X1, though there was no mention specifically of the Xperia panels, which we are not expecting.

We have been told that the full announcement for the Idou, which will contain its final name, full specs, and expected availability date, will come to us by early Summer of 2009. We're looking forward to it. You'll find more photos and a second video of the Idou on the following page.

Violet @ 1:09:51AM EST on Monday February 16, 2009

i need to know the price of this phone..cud u pleae help me Mr Michael Oryl

Michael Oryl @ 4:14:23AM EST on Monday February 16, 2009

There is no price. It doesn't even have a final name yet. No information on price or availability (or even full specs) will be announced until this summer.

Ack68 @ 12:06:12PM EST on Monday February 16, 2009

Back to SE for me after spending time with Nokia (n93) and HTC (TyTn II) woo hoo ! But it better be Quad-Band all the way around or it will be the n97 instead.

Idonot @ 7:23:10PM EST on Monday February 16, 2009

Idou Idou where's the 3.5mm audio Jack?

chandni @ 2:09:20PM EST on Friday February 20, 2009

Excellent but need to know it's price

james @ 3:42:19PM EST on Tuesday February 24, 2009

they said that the final specs havent been released yet, and its just basically a prtotype, so maybe (hopefully) a 3.5mm port will be added on, like the xperia x1. touchscreen looks as good as my iphone, cant wait for this to come ut so i can change from it !!! any ideas on the price?? £400 ???

coolvela @ 3:03:32AM EDT on Tuesday March 10, 2009

Here it is too early to fix a price but there is some companies that are doing pre-orders, just follow the link from popular electronics; http://www.popularelect.com/product_info.php?products_id=1255&osCsid=43de78969c01aad547df274e6f99afa0

Mohammed Asif @ 4:31:58AM EDT on Saturday May 2, 2009

hi, i would to know when will sony ericsson idou launch in uae & the price.

dean @ 12:44:47PM EDT on Thursday May 7, 2009

This is the no 1 mobile in the world

bobromy @ 5:51:47PM EDT on Sunday May 17, 2009

if already available in UAE could you inform me immediately. Thanks and more power

Rip off. @ 3:18:08PM EDT on Thursday May 28, 2009

Release Date: October 2009
Price: Unknown

What the crap? Apparently the W995 costs £400!!!

cris Caparida @ 8:36:44AM EDT on Monday June 29, 2009

I just want to know either this new sonny Idou cellphone has the ?pinch and stretch? function type of multi touch screen. thank you

AVIRAJ @ 4:41:07AM EDT on Saturday August 8, 2009

Excellent but need to know it's price in U.A.E.

Asim DErnjani @ 10:53:50PM EDT on Tuesday September 1, 2009

How much is the price>?!?!

R.Ragul @ 5:07:10AM EDT on Tuesday October 12, 2010

This is the no 01 mobile phone in the world.
Thank you very much (sony ericsson Company)