Yes, it could be a knockoff or a rendering -- but given Sony Ericsson's storied history of being unable to keep unreleased phones on the down-low, we have every reason to believe we're looking at a real phone here. Besides some interesting texture on the case, we can see some Walkman branding on the bottom and the lower edge of the keypad, so it looks like we're dealing with a candybar; rumor has it there's a 2.4-inch screen up there somewhere, too. The rest, though, is pure guesswork at this point. Want more? Well, we're only half joking when we say we bet this'll be on eBay by next week, so line up that cash flow now just in case.

[Via SEfanatics]

The W580 is one of Sony Ericsson's more popular handsets for three very simple reasons: it's cheap, it's reasonably sharp-looking, and it knows its way around a playlist. Problem is, it's getting a little long in the tooth -- and that might just be where this rumored W595 (codenamed "Linda") comes into play. The spied slider claims a 3.2 megapixel camera, FM radio, stereo speakers, shake control (for controlling the media player with a few well-executed flicks of the wrist), and a svelte 14mm shell. Give us North American 3, Sony Ericsson, and we're sold.

[Via Sony Ericsson Blog]

It looks like Sony Ericsson's finally getting around to producing an ultra-thin candybar that isn't all dolled up in Walkman branding, which should be music to the ears of folks who hate music of all kinds (you know who you are). We jest -- obviously, the Walkman image isn't for everyone, and modern non-Walkman Sony Ericssons typically have plenty of prowess for busting out the tunes -- so we're actually seeing people from all walks of life being able to get into this so-called "Remi". The rumored handset looks plenty real in these shots posted over on se-nse, and the specs sound legit, too: HSDPA, a 3.2 megapixel cam, and a body measuring somewhere in the neighborhood of 10mm thick -- all attributes borrowed from its W890 cousin. Pictured next to the Remi on the right is the legendary T610, a phone that holds a very special place in the hearts of they Sony Ericsson faithful; with its aluminum shell and two-tone face, it's pretty obvious that the Remi is trying to tastefully evoke the T610's cues, so let's just hope there's some bite behind the bark when it launches.

Although Sony Ericsson just churned out a rather impressive array of new handsets this month, it seems the outfit is still having trouble securing record-setting profits. Truthfully, it's struggling to break even, as evidenced by the second profit warning of 2008 that was issued last week. SE is pinpointing "disappointing European sales of its mid- and high-end mobile phones" as the reason it will likely not see a profit in Q2, and some analysts are suggesting that shipment delays and a dearth of low-end handsets also carry a share of the blame. 'Course, the hotly-anticipated Xperia X1 could certainly make for a lovely Q3, but only time will tell if enough folks shell out for it to make a difference.

Like a dagger through Motorola's heart, we're sure, Sony Ericsson's collaboration with tennis superstar Maria Sharapova is starting to pay dividends with the Maria Sharapova Design Collection of custom phone accessories. Launching in the third quarter, wares include the "Courtside Case," Excercise Case, Travel Wallet, and "Party Bag" -- at least three of which we weren't aware we needed -- but the custom branding should push at least a few of these out the door. One word of caution, though: Miss Sharapova assures us in the press materials that "I am looking forward to using the collection with my Sony Ericsson T303," and if her phone of choice is seriously an EDGE-less slider with a 160 x 128 display, we're forced to cast her good taste into serious doubt.

[Via Engadget Spanish]

Look, we've heard our fair share of PSP phone rumors, and there's really no reason to trust this one any further than your average baseless musings, but if Marketing Week's "sources in Japan and Korea" can be trusted, Sony's PSP phone could be hitting shelves as soon as Christmas 2009. What does seem clear to these shady sources is that Sony won't be forking over the PlayStation branding to its Sony Ericsson partnership, and instead will build its PSP phone all by its lonesome. Other "details" from "analysts" are slightly less legit-sounding, with some stating it would be "relatively easy" to work phone features into the PSP since it already includes WiFi. Um, ok. Still, reasonable or not, this is clearly a rumor that will never die -- until Sony builds the dang thing, in which case we can start talking up a sequel.

[Thanks, Alex]

Come on, now, Sony Ericsson, you know what happens when you make too many colors of the same damn phone. The W580i was a serviceable midrange Walkman handset in its heyday, but without 3G, it's pretty hard to justify the $99 after contract and rebate that AT&T is asking for the thing in its latest shade -- a nice, shiny red. Ironically, the 3G-equipped Z750a is a solid $50 less, so yeah, we're really not seeing where AT&T is going with this. To be fair, $99 is the same price being asked for every color of the W580i (and there are many at this point), but shouldn't they be using this golden opportunity to lower prices across the board to somewhere within the realm of reason and logic?

[Via phoneArena]

So here's the scene. We're at the Digital Experience show, trying to get our hands on a powered-up Sony Xperia X1. Sure, we found a unit that wasn't powered up, but that does you -- and us -- no good. Sony told us to come back in 15 minutes, so we grabbed some press kits, made a round of booths, and came back.

Sure enough, when we came back the X1 was powered up, but the nice booth lady tried to tell us that things weren't working just right and the unit was stuck on the config screen. After some jiggering, we determined the little X1 was just stuck on the touch screen calibration, and we were cruising through menus within minutes. It's pretty clear this unit wasn't ready for primetime -- you'll even see some HTC test apps in the below gallery -- but we were impressed by the screen's resolution and brightness. Windows Mobile 6.1 showed it face often in the UI, but the phone app and general utilities were looking good.

Overall, the X1 is a pleasure to behold -- it's one sexy device. That said, we'll have to wait how Sony Ericsson's user interface shapes up and just look at the pretty pictures in the gallery until mid-September.

You can find the gallery over here at Engadget Classic.

We got our grubby mitts all over the latest and greatest from Sony Ericsson, including that new C905 8 megapixel monstrosity, and, of course, the Xperia X1. The C905 is certainly no slouch in the camera department, with that for-serious Xenon flash and dedicated camera keys, but you'll pay for it in thickness -- the C905 is a good deal thicker than its Walkman counterparts, though that does leave room for a nicely formed slide-out keypad. The C905 is capable of geotagging pictures, but can't upload on the fly to photo services just yet like Nokia's new phones, though such capability is in the works. While the C905 seems finely honed for a specific purpose, the Z780 flip phone seems much more plain jane in comparison, with a rather large size despite its "slim proportions" and a lack of detailing in styling to make it really pop. But, of course, who needs all that featurephone nonsense when you've got the X1 staring 'em all down? We got to twiddle around with an out-of-battery Xperia for a minute, and it's certainly one of the thickest and heaviest phones headed for the market in the near future -- though the upside of that is some glorious build quality, an immense WVGA screen and an expansive, highly touchable keyboard. SE certainly does seem to have something for everybody, but with Moto apparently working on an 8 megapixel camera of its own, and touchscreen rivals to the X1 hogging all the spotlight, SE's isn't looking at an easy road to bumping back that profitability. Oh, and in case you were interested, the gallery below also includes the W760 sporting a black finish, a pink-ish red-ish W580 and the wonderfully tiny W350i.

Oh c'mon, you didn't think all these global players could just toss their eggs into one basket and pop out a new handset next week, did you? All sarcasm aside, those stoked about the possibilities of the newly formed Symbian Foundation will be waiting a good while before an actual handset is loosed on the world, or so Kai Öistämö says. Said exec has been quoted as saying that the first mobiles "bearing the new platform" wouldn't appear until 2010, which should be about the same time that the platform "has been fully open-sourced." For more of Öistämö's comments, head on down to the read link; for the nearest box of tissues... well, you're on the own there.

Press / in the wild shots still not enough for you? Fret not, friends, as CNET had a chance to spend a few quality minutes with Sony Ericsson's F305 slider and write up a few paragraphs of impressions. For starters, they seemed to prefer the white motif versus the black, and while a trio of games will reportedly be available to take advantage of the Motion Gaming controls, only a fishing title was on tap for demoing. It was noted that the phone required "vigorous shakes" in order to get the job done, and unfortunately, critics were less than enthused by how the game actually looked. Nevertheless, it's probably worth a visit to see if SE's next shaker has the chops to earn a spot in your handset collection.

Yeah, the just-announced C905 plugs a gaping hole in the high end, but Sony Ericsson's in desperate need of as many smartphones as it can get its hands on right now -- and a smartphone is one thing the C905 is not. The flagship P1i isn't getting any younger, neither the G700 nor G900 are inspiring a lot of emotion, and the M610i (which wasn't particularly fascinating to begin with) was canceled before it ever hit the market. Could the Paris -- or P5, or P10, or whatever it's called -- and the G702 BeiBei have met the same fate? That's what the Unofficial Sony Ericsson Blog is claiming, suggesting that intense criticism from sites that got early peeks at the devices let to their untimely demise while leaving the window open for a possible limited release in Asia (not unlike the Motorola MPx, if our memories serve us correctly). The way we see it, Sony Ericsson's just a little too oblivious to be that responsive to the user community (case in point: M2 cards), so we're more keen to chalk it up to technical glitches or a homegrown realization that the devices just weren't what the market needed. By the same token, it seems like they can't afford to throw these efforts out the door altogether; it'd put them hopelessly far behind the competition in the smartphone arena, so hopefully they're just retooling and learning some lessons as they go.

Mark/Space's Missing Sync -- an OS X lovers best friend -- has just loosed the Symbian Public Preview for all who dare to download. Currently, the build stands at v1.0.0 (028 Preview), which suggests that there are quite a few bugs just waiting to be discovered. Still, those handling S60 / UIQ-based mobiles can certainly give it a go and see just how effective it is at syncing information between your Mac and that beloved handset. Chime in below with any overly dramatic success / failure stories.

[Via AllAboutSymbian]

We normally throw FCC goodness your way on Friday, but on occasion we can't help spilling the beans when they do. Today's treat seems to be a Sony Ericsson handset called the TM506, which, from outward appearances looks to be a clone of the Z780, but packs a wee bit of AWS love under its hood. Bedecked with T-Mobile branding and packed with goodies like Bluetooth, A-GPS, some type of camera, dual-band GSM, 1700 / 2100 WCDMA, and all wrapped in an alluring metallic green housing. Nice of Sony Ericsson to tack the TM -- which we're guessing stands for T-Mobile -- onto its set, perhaps this is evidence of Sony Ericsson attempting to rekindle a relationship after many years of nothing doing? Now that Sony Ericsson's doing its part, all we need is T-Mobile to follow suit with some fresh 3G airwaves for this to ride on. Go team.

[Via PhoneScoop]

Press shots are often beautiful, but the problem with 'em is that they're usually about as real as Joan Rivers' face -- not the best way to get a real impression of what a device looks and acts like in the flesh. GSM Helpdesk scored some hands-on time today with the full range of Sony Ericsson's new wares, and the headliner of the bunch, the mighty 8.1 megapixel C905, is looking ready for battle. Not literal battle, of course, but battle in the marketplace with a whole host of feature phones being released this year from its top rivals -- particularly important at a time when market share is falling. The 2.4-inch display is apparently "clear" and plenty impressive for managing your extensive photo library, and we're digging the curvy styling; UIQ would've been nice, but we suppose the dumbphone set deserves killer cameras too. Also pictured are the low-end J132 and K330, the S302 (which with a 2 megapixel camera, may not be worthy of the name "Snapshot"), and the F305 gaming phone. We'd had high hopes for the F305 -- as we do for pretty much anything that can be shaken to control games -- but the live shots here are leaving us a little underwhelmed. Maybe the white version will do it justice?

Read - C905, S302
Read - F305
Read - J132, K330