Today in London Sony Ericsson launched what might be considered the spiritual successor to the company's popular T610, the new stainless steel finished T650. The new T650 gets a host of updates that set it apart from the T610, bringing the device squarely into modern times. For starters, the T650 supports 3G UMTS on the 2100MHz band as well as tri-band GSM/GPRS support. The T610's lowly .1 megapixel camera has been replaced by a 3.2 megapixel auto-focus unit. It seems that much can change in 4 years.

Other features of note on the T650 include Bluetooth 2.0 stereo support, a 262k color QVGA display, and a Memory Stick Micro card slot for expansion. The T650 weighs around 95g (3.3oz) and is pretty thin in profile at 12.5mm thick. A new feature on the T650 is the illumination effects system that controls the keypad backlighting and the lights on the sides of the phone: the lights interact with on-screen animations to add to the phone's entertainment value.

The Sony Ericsson T650 will be available in both green and blue when it starts shipping in Q3 of this year. Sony Ericsson has yet to provide information on pricing or the specific markets where the T650 will be available, but it seems unlikely that it will reach North America due to its lack of support for the North American 850MHz GSM band.