Need To Know – Sony Ericsson LiveView
Sony Ericsson’s tiny touchscreen button means you can leave your phone in a pocket or bag and control it remotely. Let’s take a closer look… It’s so a
Sony Ericsson’s tiny touchscreen button means you can leave your phone in a pocket or bag and control it remotely. Let’s take a closer look…
It’s so annoying when your phone rings while you’re conducting your orchestra, isn’t it?
It sure is. That’s why Sony Ericsson has invented the LiveView, a tiny button that shows you who’s calling and lets you answer or decline without stopping the concerto.
Er, I was joking.
Course you were. But that’s just one of hundreds of situations where the LiveView touchscreen could come in handy. More mainstream applications would be driving, jogging or sitting in a meeting.
Aren’t Bluetooth accessories a bit old hat?
Sort of, but this one can be clipped into a bundled watch strap, and watchphones are still quite future-y. It’ll sync with your phone for calls, texts, email and social networking updates from the likes of Twitter and Facebook. Plus you can use it to control your phone’s music player, check your calendar and all sorts.
Any phone?
Any Android phone, in theory. Or rather, any Android phone running version 2.0 or above. Which rules out Sony Eric’s own Xperia X10, still running 1.6 at the time of writing.
That doesn’t seem right.
By the time it launches (scheduled by the end of the year), the X10, X10 mini and X10 mini pro should all be rocking upgraded firmware. But if you want to use it with another brand, Sony Ericsson won’t try to stop you. They’ll even help you find apps that work with LiveView in the Android Market.
And the bad news?
Is that we don’t know how much it’ll cost yet. Chances are Sony Ericsson will struggle to get the price down to something people who’ve already spent £500 on a smartphone will be happy to pay. But we’re keeping our fingers crossed.
Dan Grabham
Editor-in-Chief 
