Sony Ericsson Intros Two New Green Handsets

Sony Ericsson has added two new green mobile phones to further expand its GreenHeart portfolio of devices that have a reduced environmental impact.

To this end it announced the Sony Ericsson Elm and Hazel phones, as well as a hands-free accessory known as the Bluetooth Noise Shield Handsfree VH700.

“The Sony Ericsson Elm and the Sony Ericsson Hazel phones offer consumers a green choice without compromising on features or fun,” said Fortuné Alexander, Global Marketing Director at Sony Ericsson.

“These mobile phones also give consumers a better voice quality experience, with Noise Shield, Clear Voice and Intelligent Volume Adaptation,” he said. “Both phones offer an easy-to-use social networking experience featuring the Widget Manager application, which allows users access to their social networking page via the stand-by screen and quickly switch between different social networks.”

Sony Ericsson promised to “green” all its phones with the “Greenheart” initiative, launched last year. In June it launched its Satio smartphone that had just over half the carbon footprint of Apple’s iPhone, as well as a green handset called the C901.

The Elm and Hazel phone, plus the VH700, are designed with various green aspects in order to benefit the environment and help reduce CO2 emissions. These include the use of recycled plastics; an e-manual in the phone; a low power consumption charger; the Walk Mate eco application; a green calculator; and minimised packaging. They are also apparently free from hazardous chemicals.

Specifically, the Elm and Hazel handsets support GSM/GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900 and HSPA 2100/900. They also come with a voice/noise shield, which provides clear voice and intelligent volume adaptation. Both handsets have a natural fit and the ergonomic keypad fits in the palm of a hand.

Users have the option to back up their personal information over the air on Sonyericsson.com, and there is an easy way to switch to Facebook, MySpace and Twitter. Both units come with a 5.0 megapixel autofocus camera, turn-by-turn navigation with AGPS, and a media player.

Sony Ericsson has also announced its ambition to making all of its accessories 100 percent GreenHeart compliant by 2011.

“Building on the established heritage of our parent companies we have worked continuously to maintain our leadership position by committing to reduce our own CO2 emissions by 20 percent and product life cycle CO2 emissions by 15 per cent by 2015.” said Mats Pellbäck Scharp, Environmental Director at Sony Ericsson.