Sony Ericsson has expanded its Cyber-shot branding to a mid-range handset today, announcing the new K550 to complement the K810, which was also announced today. While the Sony Ericsson K550 doesn't have a camera quite as good as the K810, it still includes everything budding photographers need for shooting on the go.

Imaging is what the Sony Ericsson K550 is designed for, and a 2.0 megapixel camera with auto focus and an LED assist light provide a great base for just that. While a Memory Stick Micro (M2) card slot and 64MB memory on the handset itself are great for storing your snapshots, the K550 also sports features to make sharing photos easier. For printing, PictBridge capability over USB makes connecting to a compatible printer easy, and photo blogging support allows you to share moments with the whole world.

Other specifications don't take a backseat to imaging though, with the 14mm (0.55") thick Sony Ericsson K550 featuring a 1.9" 262k color TFT display, Bluetooth v2.0, and a full music player and FM radio with RDS. An HTML compliant web browser and RSS reader make an appearance, as does a flight mode, speakerphone functionality, and Java application support.

While the specifications are attractive, the really exciting thing about the Sony Ericsson K550 is that it is quad band GSM and EDGE capable, with Sony Ericsson planning a release in North America during Q2 2007. The handset will come in two color schemes: Jet Black and Pearl White.