Improving on its wildly popular T610, Sony Ericsson has launched the T630 featuring an improved display, instant messaging and a slight visual makeover.
At simultaneous events in Beijing and Las Vegas yesterday, Sony Ericsson unveiled its most recent addition to its line-up of high-end mobile phones, the T630. Sharing many of the same features as the popular T610 model, the T630 features a slightly updated visual style, accompanied by an improved display and support for instant messaging based on on the Wireless Village standard.
 | The Sony Ericsson T630 offers only minor updates over the T610
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As with the T610, the T630 features tri-band GSM/GPRS 900/1800/1900 MHz connectivity in a candybar design, along with an integrated CIF digital camera and a 16-bit TFT display capable of displaying up to 65,536 colours. However, the new display is alledgedly brighter than that of the T610, and contrast should have been improved.
The T630 also features QuickShare, a name pegged by Sony Ericsson to identify a procedure in which a picture can be taken with only two clicks and rapidly shared with friends, family or colleagues either locally over Bluetooth, Infrared or cable, or across mobile phone networks via MMS or e-mail.
Other features of the Sony Ericsson T630 include 32-tone polyphonic sound, force feedback and joystick control, as well as support for both J2ME and Mophun platforms to provide access to over 100 games which are available for download from Sony Ericsson's web site. Additionally, the handset comes bundled with a racing game called V-Rally, and budding musicians can mix their own ringtones with the 4-track sequencer Music DJ function of the T630. This lets users mix bass lines, drumbeats and chords to create ringtones which are sure to be unique, if nothing else.
A new Sony Ericsson application called My Friends is also premiered in the T630, based upon a Wireless Village instant messaging implementation. Similar to instant messaging applications such as AOL Messenger, MSN and ICQ, it provides users with a presence-enabled list of contacts and communicate with these via SMS, MMS, e-mail, or chat.
Weighing in at 92.5 grams, Sony Ericsson said the T630 will offer up to 13 days of standby time and up to 14 hours of time, all in a package measuring a minute 102 x 43 x 17 mm.
The T630 comes in an "Frosty Silver" colour scheme, which combines frosted transparency with a metallic feel. According to Sony Ericsson, the Chinese market will see availability of a localized version dubbed the T628 in the fourth quarter of 2003, while the T630 will be available in the Americas and EMEA regions some time in the first quarter of 2004.
Additional hi-res pictures of the Sony Ericsson T630 are available on the following pages.
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