Sony Ericsson shows off latest technologies

Sony Ericsson has been showing off a range of new technologies

Mobile handset giant Sony Ericsson showcased a number of new and emerging technologies at its Lund headquarters this week, designed to improve productivity for mobile corporate users, allow developers to create more compelling applications and give firms new ways to reach out to customers.

Presenting the technologies, Sony Ericsson chief technology officer Mats Lindoff argued that recent advances in mobile technology, including increased processor power, improved connectivity and convergence of devices, have all " opened the way for innovation" in the space.

"It is now possible to have Skype in a mobile phone … CPU [power] will increase by almost 10 times by 2012, and from a technology perspective the mobile internet is here now," he explained.

One of the new technologies to be demonstrated was Sony Ericsson's Capuchin project, which bridges Java ME and Flash Lite technologies to allow developers from both communities to create more compelling applications more quickly.

"The idea was to put Java and Flash together and let each do what it is good at," said Lindoff. "It lets the designers, not the software engineers, define the user interface."

The firm is looking to share Capuchin technology with the developer community, possibly through open sourcing the technology, added a Sony spokesman.

Some of the pilot applications created using Capuchin include an FM radio tuner and a homescreen display in which the mobile icons appear to be floating on water.

Sony Ericsson engineers also showed off Near Field Communications projects, which could be used by firms in internal or B2C scenarios.

One use case involved an NFC tag placed at the entrance to a meeting room, which users can swipe when entering to instantly change their phones' profile, or to bring up calendars and other relevant business-related information.

Firms could also use the tags to promote and sell their goods and services, said a Sony Ericsson spokesman. Swiping a tag near an advertising display, for example, could immediately trigger a consumer's mobile browser to display your company's homepage.

There are no Sony phones with NFC capabilities currently on the market, although this is likely to change as soon as the technology becomes cheaper to install, said a spokesman.

Sony Ericsson also showcased TransferJet, a new high-speed wireless transfer protocol backed by vendors including Samsung, Canon and Toshiba.

This point-to-point technology can enable downloading of content from one device to another at speeds of up to 560Mbps, and works at very short range – about 3cms – thus reducing interference with Wi-Fi, said Lindoff.

The technology could be used by firms to enable the fast, user-friendly delivery of content to a mobile device. This could be event information, multimedia downloads or other type of content.

Finally, Sony Ericsson showed off its Hanashi project. This is a new online client which enables mobile devices to connect to each other and therefore share data, even if they are not online.

"Everyone says the future of [mobility] is IP, but there are no IP addresses on the phone so how can I connect?" argued Lindoff. "Once you do, though, there are tons of applications you can develop."

If you want to chat with someone in your phone contacts book but they are offline, Hanashi sends them an SMS text message with a link to start up the application, Sony Ericsson explained. It is also possible to use the application on your PC.