CES 2008: Sony Ericsson phone controlled by hand gestures

Mobile phone maker Sony Ericsson has unveiled a new handset that can be controlled with just a wave of a hand.

The company said a user can simply wave their hand over the phone to mute the ring tone and ignore a call on the Z555 flip phone, unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show taking place this week in Las Vegas and will be available later in the first quarter of this year.

Similarly a person using the phone as an alarm clock can activate the snooze function by waving across the phone.

The Z555 is a GPRS/GSM phone with EDGE support, rather than a 3G device and will come in two versions: the Z555i which will work on the 900/1800/1900 GSM bands and the Z555a which will work on the 850/1800/1900 bands.

Sony Ericsson, a joint venture between Swedish telecoms specialist Ericsson and Sony, is currently the fourth largest mobile phone maker behind Samsung, Motorola and Nokia.

The company also announced two new phones for its Walkman music handset line-up including the Walkman W760 music phone with integrated GPS receiver. When combined with the Google Maps service, the phone will show users step-by-step directions to their destination.

It will be available from the second quarter, said Sony Ericsson, which has seen strong success with its Walkman branded music phones but trails Nokia Oyj, Samsung Electronics and Motorola in the global market for mobile phones.

Like its other rivals, it also faces stiff competition from iPhone, the first phone from Apple.

Pricing for the handsets has not yet been announced.

(Additional reporting by Chris Green, IT PRO)

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