Sony Ericsson has launched a 'micro display' accessory called LiveView for its Android smartphones. The 1.3-inch OLED colour display connects via Bluetooth and mirrors certain activities of a compatible mobile phone, such as displaying text messages, calendar updates, showing incoming calls, controlling the music player and offering social networking updates. It means that consumers can use a phone without taking it out of their pocket or handbag.
Mikael Henriksson, Head of creation and offering planning at Sony Ericsson Extras, said "It is our ambition to be THE Communication Entertainment brand and this includes being the most open mobile phone brand on the market. We believe in openness and offering consumers a wide range of applications to choose from. We will continue to develop accessories to ensure we play a major and groundbreaking role in the market and design innovative and exciting accessories for all platforms, including Android. The Sony Ericsson LiveView is the first Sony Ericsson accessory to be compatible with the open Android platform which gives developers an opportunity to be creative and develop the next must-have innovative application."
Sony Ericsson has also developed a LiveWare Manager application that'll check the Android Market for compatible applications. In addition there's a 'Sony Ericsson Fitness Pack' that contains a sport application for the Sony Ericsson LiveView - The SportyPal Pro – and a mobile phone carrying case as well as the LiveView device.
The Sony Ericsson LiveView will be available in stores later this year.