Not Taking Calls? Just Swipe Your Phone

Sony Ericsson just launched a pair of phones that are all about gesture control. The stylish Z555 lets you decline calls with a simple swipe over the handset, while shaking the new W760 Walkman skips to the next song.

Set to arrive at a carrier near you later this year, Sony Ericsson's sleek Z555 flip phone is certainly an eye-catcher, with its mirrored, diamond-patterned outer flip that hides an OLED display beneath. The quad-band GSM/EDGE phone is a little light in the feature department—it has a 1.3-megapixel camera but lacks a Walkman media player—but it does come with one nifty feature: the ability to decline a call or silence an alarm by simply swiping your hand over the closed flip. Cool idea, but does it work in practice? Unfortunately, the gesture-control software wasn't loaded onto the CES display model, so I'll have to wait for a finished review unit.

Meanwhile, the W760 Walkman phone continues the gesture-control theme, but with a twist: When you're playing music, you just shake the phone to skip a song. Want to tweak the volume? Extend the phone outward, bending your arm at the elbow. (Again, the W760 on display at CES didn't have gesture control up and running; I'm curious to see how well these gesture features will work in practice). The on-board accelerometer will also switch the screen to landscape mode when you turn the phone on its side (just like on the iPhone), and it'll come in handy for playing games, such as the mobile Need for Speed—just lean the phone one way or another to turn your Porsche. The W760 also comes with speedy HSDPA data access (and yes, it'll work with North American HSDPA networks), a 3.2-megapixel camera, and a full-on Walkman media player.

Both the Z555 and the W760 should ship worldwide early this year; the Z555 will go for $179, although with carrier subsidies it could be as cheap as $29 (with a two-year service agreement, of course), while the W760 will retail for $399 (or potentially as low as $99 with a carrier).