Touchscreen Sony Ericsson G700i, G900i aim for mass appeal

Two touchscreen mobiles have been introduced by Sony Ericsson as the first of its G-series new generation personal organiser devices.

The G900i and G700i have been developed to give Sony Ericsson's touchscreen portfolio more widespread consumer appeal, based around their organiser functionality. They look like regular candybar phones, with a familiar numberpad and control layout, but use 2.4-inch touchscreens for quick access to functions.

The G900i's specification is similar to the G700i's, the key differentiators being an improved camera - a 5-megapixel shooter on the G900i compared to the G700i's 3.2-megapixel snaper - and Wi-Fi include on the G900i to go with its 3G connectivity.

The personal organiser functionality of the G-series devices is Sony Ericsson's key selling point. Both have extensive note taking abilities, using a stylus to scribble notes on the phones' screen, make calendar reminders, input text and so on. Touchscreen phonebook management and multimedia application operation are possible using your digits, while there are dedicated messaging and note-taking buttons on the side of the phones.

The G900i's 5-megapixel camera also utlises touchscreen focus technology, so you can tap on the subject you want to focus on to get a sharp shot from the device's autofocus system.

Both models feature photo lights, digital image stabilsers for stilland video shooting, plus photo and video blogging applications. The phones' spec includes music player, FM radio, TrackID, video streaming and downloading. full web browsing with RSS feed support, and each comes with up to 160MB of user memory plus M2 card expansion.

Both models weigh in at 99g too, depite the heavyweight functionality.

The G700i and G900i will be on sale in the second quarter of 2008. the G700i will be released in Silk Bronze, while the G900i will be available in Dark Red or Dark Brown.