It appears that Sony Ericsson today might have effectively retired the P9xx series of handsets with the release of the new P1. Sony Ericsson's new flagship business handset, looking much like an updated M600 with wider keys and a pair of cameras, gets support for both UMTS and WiFi 802.11b high speed connectivity in addition to a host of other improvements.

For starters, the P1 gets a new 2.6" QVGA transflective TFT display that should be much easier to read under direct sunlight. The new main camera has a 3.2MP sensor along with auto-focus that can be used to scan business cards and import the data directly into the contacts application. Media support includes a host of music file formats, streaming TV, and a built-in RDS capable FM receiver. A pair of wired headphones are included in the retail package, as is a 512MB Memory Stick Micro card to augment the 160MB of built-in storage.

Sadly, the P1 is a tri-band GSM device (900/1800/1900MHz) that supports only slow GPRS data network connections. UMTS is supported on the European 2100MHz band, which makes it quite clear that the P1 is not destined for North American shores. The new P1, which runs UIQ 3.0 on top of Symbian OS v9.1, now has support for a wide range of push email solutions, including Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync and BlackBerry Connect. The QWERTY keyboard supports predictive text, but those that prefer to use a stylus can opt for on-screen handwriting recognition instead.

Other features of note include support for reading and writing common Microsoft Office file formats, VoIP calling, a speakerphone, and a jog-dial to aid in navigation. The P1 ships with the Opera 8 browser and an RSS reader pre-installed, and makes available a freely downloadable picture blogging application.