Sony Ericsson and the Mobile Internet – Which Mobile Phones Give You the Best Internet Experience?

In 2008, the internet is becoming a massive feature on more and more mobile phones. Sony Ericsson have traditionally been one of the foremost manufacturers to make to mobile phones that let users get online. But what are their plans for the rest of 2008?

Browsing history – the development of Sony Ericsson internet-enabled mobile phones

It really began, way back in 2003, with the Sony Ericsson P800, one of the first wave of what we might call ‘modern smart mobile phones’. It was, essentially, the first Sony Ericsson mobile phone that gave you full internet access. Ok, it wasn’t fast, as it only used a GSM signal, and it didn’t really have content that was particularly rich, since it lacked Flash, javascript, frames and so on, but there was no denying that it was definitely one of the first mobile phones that gave its owner the means to get themselves online, whenever and wherever they were. I know. I had the Sony Ericsson P800. And I used it almost exclusively for sneakily looking up the answers to pub quizzes I was taking part in at the time. It certainly beat texting your mates.

However, that was just the beginning. As Sony Ericsson mobile phones evolved over the years, more and more of them let the user get online. More and more of them moved away from WAP (which is a GOOD thing), and towards FULL internet access. GSM mobile phones gave way to 3G mobile phones, and the internet got quicker. Then 3G gave way to HSDPA, and Sony Ericsson mobile phones gained the ability to get online at broadband speeds. And that’s where we stand now, with HSDPA giving everyone access to broadband-fast mobile internet. Let’s take a look at a couple of mobile phones that use it, and see how Sony Ericsson are capitalising on their internet success in 2008.

Sony Ericsson G502 – the mobile internet on the cheap

Sitting right down in the middle of the entry-level market is the Sony Ericsson G502, a recently released mobile phone that lets you get online without breaking the bank on a super-powered handset. Sony Ericsson really have gone all out here, to focus the G502 on the internet, whilst keeping the price low, making it the internet mobile phone for the masses. So, you get HSDPA data speeds, you get the fabulous Netfront mobile browser, and you even get things like instant photo blogging from the camera. Everything about the Sony Ericsson G502 is built around letting you get online in the most fun, and most innovative ways possible. And, unlike many other mobile phones that give you the web in your pocket, it’s classed as an entry-level phone. And that means it’s dirt cheap. Sony Ericsson really HAVE made the internet phone for the common man, with the G502.

But, how about if you want something a bit more powerful? Well, ok, make that a lot more powerful, as in ‘eep, that’s scarily powerful’… then the mobile phone you’ll be after is the jaw-dropping Sony Ericsson X1, the very first handset in their Xperia range of mobile phones.

Sony Ericsson X1 – the internet king

I’ve done a few articles on the Sony Ericsson X1, so I’m not going to get too bogged down in the features here. I could do, and I COULD go on about the 3 megapixel camera, or the GPS, or the media player, or the brand new interface, or the fact that the X1 is the first Sony Ericsson mobile phone to use Windows Mobile. But I won’t. Instead, I’m going to focus on what features make it the king of internet-enabled mobile phones. It has to be said, that most of the reasons for it being so good online come from it being based on Windows Mobile, so you get things like MSN Messenger, Internet Explorer and Outlook, built into the Sony Ericsson X1. Combine that with the blisteringly quick HSDPA internet access, and the absolutely marvellous QWERTY keyboard, and you get one heck of an internet device. Between the budget Sony Ericsson G502 and the high-end X1, I’d say they really do have the chops to dominate the world of internet-enabled mobile phones, this year.