Windows Mobile 6.5.3 is one of the shadowy leaked builds that have popped up since Windows Mobile 6.5 devices began arriving in October. Adding support for capacitive touch, multi-touch and a variety of user interface improvements that replace legacy menu and navigation elements, Windows Mobile 6.5.3 is believed to be Microsoft’s attempt to improve on the lackluster 6.5 release while it readies Windows Mobile 7.

Aspen is part of Sony Ericsson’s GreenHeart line of environmentally friendly smartphones, which are built from recycled plastics and use water-based paints. For this reason, the company describes Aspen as a “business phone with a conscience,” although it’s unclear whether the device is actually sentient and able to discern between right and wrong.

For business users, Aspen features a QWERTY keyboard and offers users the ability to “view and edit office files easily and comfortably,” according to Sony Ericsson. Microsoft’s MyPhone service, which remotely wipes data from devices when they’re lost or stolen, is also part of the package.

Windows Mobile 6.5.3 has been hidden under the same shroud of secrecy that has obscured all of Microsoft’s mobile plans in recent months. Microsoft has been dropping hints about upcoming mobile related news at Mobile World Congress later this month and at MIX10 next month, but it’s anyone’s guess as to whether these will involve Windows Mobile 7.

The new Sony Ericsson Vivaz is the second installment in Sony Ericsson’s new lineup of communications entertainment smartphones, a mash-up of its well-known Walkman, Cybershot and messaging concepts. Like its Android sibling, the Xperia X10, the Sony Ericsson Vivaz Symbian smartphone offers a new “human curvature” design philosophy. Sony Ericsson says this will be the way to instantly recognize this type of smartphone in the future, and if you’re looking for an all-in-one smartphone solution tailored to consumers, the Vivaz will be a smartphone to keep an eye on in the months ahead.

Customizable Vivaz UI

When we played with the Sony Ericsson Satio a couple of months ago, its user interface came across as a rich cell phone interface rather than a smartphone interface. With the introduction of the Sony Ericsson Vivaz, however, a new and important tweak has been made: The five “home screen” panels first seen on the Satio have been extended and made more user-configurable on the Vivaz, including the ability to select Flash Lite content such as apps, games and animations.

Sony Ericsson has included Twitter and Facebook apps written using Flash Lite 3.0, and the manufacturer encourages third-party developers to offer Symbian and Flash content through its expanded PlayNow ecosystem, previously only available to music publishers.

The best:

Nokia’s N95, the Apple and the Sony Ercisson W910i are you best bet here. There isn’t much difference in music quality between the N95 and W910i. While the N95 is bulky, the W910i is light and slim-it also has the “shake’ controls and senseMe technologies. The N95 is more complete package, so we recommend that. The iPhone offers a great user experience, but the sound quality can’t match the other two especially on the bounded earphone.

Mid – Range:

Here you have options from Nokia as well as Sony Ericsson. The SE W 850I and W 660i have excellent audio quality, and comes with good earphone. Nokia N73 Music Mdition and the Xpress Music 5160 and 5130 have good music player too. The Sony Ericsson phones win here for their excellent sound.

Entry Level:

AT the entry level, nothing beats Sony Ericsson phones-the W200i is where it starts from, but if you can stretch you budget by a couple of thousand, we recommend the W610i, or W810i. Both these phones have excellent music quality.

The P1 is the latest in sony ercisson’s business line, succeeding both the P990i and the M600i – brining the formers functionality to the latter’s from factor. Its dimensions are nearly the same as the M600i, adding a couple of millimeters to the thickness, and its style statement is in Chinese- the shiny plastic sides and the chrome details look downright tacky, and we prefer the M600i’s matte finish. It’s based on the same symbian UIQ 3 platform as the P990i and M600i, with a few minor changes. The OS is definitely quicker, which is probably due to the oodles of program memory that the phone comes with 128MB, doubling the M600i’s 64. Other than that, there’s nothing remarkably new here.

In the connectivity department, the P1i supports 3G and WiFi-802.11b to be precise.WiFi connection speeds are quite decent, and battery life thankfully doesn’t suffer for it.

The P1i isn’t really light years ahead of the P990i, but it definitely nudges it off top spot.
There’s no annoying flip top, the audio levels are louder and huge program memory lets you multi-task like you’ve never multi-tasked before.

The K850i is the flagship model in the cyber-shot line-up from sony-ericsson. Based around a 5 megapixel camera, it’s pitted against Nokia’s N95 as far as the camera is concerned. The K850i comes in at a notch above the K850i.

The phone sports a completely revamped design, with hardly any resemblance to earlier SE models. It is blocky, but the fit and finished are excellent. A nice, luminous green strip runs around the edge.

The K850i is designed to deliver a digital camera like experience, and it doesn’t disappoint. The camera controls have evolved over the K810i, and the ergonomics are much better. Since the K850i doesn’t have any additional dedicated buttons, most settings can be changed from single touch-sensitive button.

The K850i feels snappier throughout; it starts in an instant, file saves are fast, and it switches back to the phone in a second. Indoors, the camera has a tendency to underexpose if the flash is used.

The K850i comes with 40 MB of internal memory, and a 512 MB MS micro card comes bundled, but with a 5 megapixel camera and music, the phone is on par with the K810i, and it betters the N95, but can’t match any of the W series phone

The W910i is the latest in the walkman series of phones from sony ericsson. It comes with a new media-browsing interface, and a inbuilt motion sensor for games and music.

The slim W910i employs a smooth slider mechanism. The front facia is dominated by a 2.4 inch LCD screen – strikingly beautiful, and it remains perfectly legible even in direct sunlight.

The navigational key includes a small steel five-way rocker which doubles up as the playback control when using media player, and two soft menu keys. Two additional keys are placed near the top, which are configured for the photo album by default; they can be used while gamming as well. The flat keypad lacks tactile feedback and feels mushy-not good if you SMS a lot. The power on and walkman buttons at the top are rather difficult to operate.

The camera on the W910i is decent, but not the best; you’d have expected SE to do better. As with all 2MP cameras, it performs better out-doors; image quality decrease with light. Video recording is okay.

The W910i is easily the best of the W series of phones from SE. We’d recommend the W910i to someone looking for a suave, slim music phone.