Sony-Ericsson readying W890 phone with American 3G

Sony-Ericsson is set to bring its successor to the popular W880i to North America with full 3G access, according to a product image briefly spotted by the Swedish magazine Mobil. The W890 would represent a minor cosmetic change with buttons that are easier to hit, but would also include support for the 850MHz frequency band for both GSM calls and for its HSDPA Internet access, giving the phone full support for cellular broadband in Canada and the US. UMTS access at 2,100MHz would co-exist to support European data networks.

The purported leak does not reveal more about the phone besides the inclusion of 40MB of memory, a Memory Stick Micro slot, and the choice of black or maroon color schemes. Previous leaks have suggested a 3.2-megapixel camera versus the 2.0 megapixels of the W880, however. The discovery points to a release for the W890 in the near future that would either provide an unlocked phone or carrier-specific versions for either AT&T in the US or Rogers in Canada.