Sony Ericsson Jalou Preview
In the modern market it is interesting to see that the fashion phone, which places looks above cutting edge technology, still has a place. Sony Ericsson seems to think that it does and so in the run up to Christmas 2009 it is releasing the Jalou, a fashion phone that has femininity and style at its heart.
The name Jalou is the title the phone will receive throughout the world, although in France it will be known as the BeJoo. This is supposedly because ‘Jalou’ is too close to the word for jealous in the French language. However, for the culturally aware it will become apparent that BeJoo is a play on the French word ‘bijou’, which translates into English to mean a small, delicate and exquisite trinket. If anything BeJoo would have been a more appropriate global name for this glitzy little handset, but that is of course down to the marketing division of Sony Ericsson to decide.
The Jalou is all about the design and because it is a flip phone Sony Ericsson has been able to give it a multi-faceted exterior covered with harsh angles and reflective, shiny surfaces. It looks a little like a diamond that has been cut to fit into a particularly opulent ring. On the outer surface there is a well-disguised secondary screen that displays the battery life, time, signal strength and message alerts. There is also a 3.2 megapixel camera on the top half of the phone. There is no flash and as such the low light performance of the camera is poor. However, a flash would no doubt have compromised the design, so its omission is a sacrifice that Jalou owners must be willing to accept.
Opening up the Sony Ericsson Jalou reveals a 2 inch TFT primary screen as well as navigation and calling keys and a numeric keypad. Each one of the numbers is finished in reflective silver plastic and accompanied by an additional diamond-shaped reflective design. There is at least a uniform aesthetic theme running through the Sony Ericsson Jalou.
The Jalou is ever so slightly stumpy, given its lack of internal storage and small screen, but its small size means it will fit into the tiniest of handbags. There are three standard colours with fancy names, but they amount to little more than black, blue and turquoise. No fashion phone would be complete without an endorsement from a famous fashion house. The Jalou therefore has a unique Dolce and Gabbana branded handset, available in an exclusive pink/rose colour and featuring buttons and external detailing that are plated with gold. Obviously this will be a limited run and considerably more expensive than the standard Jalou.
On a technical note the Jalou features 3G connectivity, stereo Bluetooth and a micro SD memory card slot for storing music and pictures. There is a small built-in accelerometer to let you use the Jalou as a pedometer and count the calories that you have burned in a day. There is also an application to help you work out your horoscope and as such the Jalou firmly establishes itself as a fashion phone for the feminine market above all else. Annoyingly US customers will have access to built in GPS functionality which is sadly lacking from the European version of the Jalou. This inclusion could have lifted it above other fashion phones in this relatively narrow band of the market.
When the Sony Ericsson Jalou is released in late 2009 it seems that it will get by on its good looks as well as its low price, which sets it apart from other fashion phones which have carried an absurd premium in the past.
Tags: sony ericsson, sony ericsson jalou