Sony Ericsson unveiled new productivity, imaging and entertainment features for the UIQ 3-based P990 smartphone on February 6, 2006. A second announcement followed on February 14, 2006, detailing the 11 applications from partners that will be preloaded on the accompanying Memory Stick as Try & Buy versions.

Building on previously announced functionality, such as the combination of UMTS and Wi-Fi, programming in C++ and Java ME and supporting both CLDC and CDC Java environments, the new features include:

• Support for leading push e-mail services from industry partners
• Anti-virus/Firewall and VPN clients for secure corporate business
• Business card scanner
• Streaming video and playback
• Hardware accelerated 3D graphics in C++ (with OpenGL ES support) and JSR 184

Push e-mail services Secure, simple and fast access to e-mail and the Internet are critical requirements for true office mobility. Sony Ericsson has formed partnerships with leading industry players to deliver this for P990 end-users. The P990 supports a range of push e-mail services from: AlteXia Ericsson Mobile Office (EMO) iAnywhere OneBridge Intellisync Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync RIM: BlackBerry Connect Seven Visto Standard Email, IMAP IDLE working on all standards compliant servers These push e-mail services make the most of the already announced UMTS features of the P990 smartphone such as internet browsing with full HTML pages, video telephony and high band-width multimedia downloads. Security Sony Ericsson has partnered with anti-virus software giant McAfee to offer McAfee VirusScan and Firewall Mobile to further strengthen the P990's e-mail and web browsing security. This software provides scanning services on e-mails, attachments and web downloads for cellular communications, all to the same standard as its well known computer applications. Secure access to corporate networks completes the remote e-mail story with a free VPN client powered by Certicom.

Business Card Scanner
Cameras in phones have any number of business applications for capturing and sharing images. The P990's 2 Megapixel camera has been turned into a Business Card Scanner, using character recognition software to convert the scanned information from the card into a contact in the phonebook.

Partner applications preloaded on Memory Strick
32MB of the standard 64MB available on the Memory Stick included in the box is reserved for partner applications. Eleven applications covering business and productivity, security, entertainment, translation and mobile navigation have already been confirmed for preload on the Memory Stick with the phone. The applications will be provided as Try & Buy versions, with direct links to the Sony Ericsson Application Shop for download and purchase of the full versions. The list of partners and applications is listed here>>

Tools and on-device debugging
C++ application debugging is supported through the Metro TRK on-target debugger which will be available in Carbide C++ Developer and Professional Editions.

On-device debugging of Java ME CLDC and CDC applications is supported through JDWP (Java Debug Wire Protocol) which allows most Java aware IDEs to be used out-of-the box towards for debugging.

The latest version of the UIQ 3 SDK can be downloaded from UIQ Technology's developer program website>>

Sony Ericsson specific extensions and beta API's are available for download here>>  The extension package includes the Sony Ericsson specific Vibration API and Bluetooth Keyboard API as well as a CDC runtime and packaging tools for use in conjunction with the UIQ 3.0 SDK. The package also contains emulator components such as fonts and skins.

More information:

• P990 on consumer site>>
• Updated P990 information on Developer World>>
• Java ME CDC Developers' Guidelines and Extension Pack>>
• Preloaded partner applications press release>>
• October 2005 news article "New 3G smartphone revealed: P990">>