Sony-Ericsson to intro K660i, W380, W890i tomorrow?

The Japanese and Swedish phone partnership Sony-Ericsson is poised to launch a new set of phones on the 6th, according to a pre-release leak as well as brief mention on the company's own product pages. The K660i will attempt to bridge the gap between smartphones and smaller devices by allowing web browsing in landscape mode with a cursor; this allows sites to fit more on to a single page and also lets users jump to links or text boxes without repeatedly tapping a directional pad. The bar phone will support HSDPA only over European networks but should add quad-band GSM and EDGE access to permit calls and 2G data in the US. A 2-megapixel camera and FM radio will be built-in when the phone ships in either lime/white or black/wine color combinations before the end of the year.

The escaped details also confirm the impending release of the W890i, an update to the W880i that brings the phone to North American networks with localized HSDPA. It also upgrades the camera to 3.2 megapixels and improves the Walkman music player software on the slim device. Its release is also expected before the end of the year, though whether it would be available in the US before 2008 is uncertain.

A final device, the W380i, would be limited to 2G access but would introduce a new gesture control mechanism for music to the existing W300i phone. Early details do not explain whether this would include the shake music controls similar to earlier Walkman handsets. A VGA camera and other relatively basic features are expected for the release, which also takes place by the end of the year and should include North America given existing sales of the W300i in the area.