Sony Ericsson's t-six-ten online camera phone magazine

From Tom Hume's Weblog I learned that Sony Ericsson has created t-six-ten, a monthly online mobile photography magazine. "T610" is one of the model numbers of a Sony Ericsson camera phone.

The winner gets his/her photo on the cover for the month. Runners up also are highlighted. The contest has an interesting way of selecting winners. The judges pick their choices for the "winner" and the runners up.

After the judges select the photos, the public may vote. The "winner" starts with 1,000 points, the first runner up get 900 points, etc. If the public votes for another photo -- selected or not by the judges -- that receives more points, that's the one awarded the "official" winner status.

(I just mentioned this to my girlfriend. She said she had heard this method is used on a TV reality show. She said judges pick a winner, but the public can overrule the selection through their votes. Since I consider reality shows created for people who have I.Q.s equivalent to a bacterium, I have never watched one and can't comment on the judging.)

Photo submissions

You do not have to use a Sony Ericsson phone to enter -- which is a very good idea. There more people who submit photos, the more people who learn about Sony Ericsson camera phones. Every month the magazine issues a new subject "challenge" for taking photos.

You may submit only one photo per challenge. This also is a good idea. Sony Ericsson doesn't want to be overwhelmed with crummy photos and it wants the best images possible.

Fire and Ice

The next challenge is "fire and ice."

The Web site says, "As we count down to the end of the year the weather stars [sic; tsk, tsk -- the word should be "starts"] doing extreme things. What will it be like for you? Show us how hot or cold it is in your part of the world. Sweating like mad or chilled to the bone? It's going to be a white hot battle of the hemispheres -- don't let your side down." (see samples below)

The idea of t-six-ten

The challenges are based on oxymorons -- two contradictory terms, such as "fire and ice." As the Web site explains it, "The idea of these challenges comes from the T610 itself. When designing the phone, one of the key inspirations for Erik Ahlgren was darkness and light.

"Evident in the phone's dark piano black and light stainless steel finish, this theme of opposites is what motivates and inspires us when setting the t-six-ten challenges."

There are many photo galleries (see below) that are well worth looking at. Viewing these images is an excellent way to see what camera phones can accomplish.

What do you think about this "glowstick" photo (see below)? I like it!

A great idea, but it needs more

t-six-ten is a great idea, although the concept of featuring mobile photos certainly isn't new, to which the many moblog services (see my list of "Moblog Hosting Companies" in the left column) can attest. Lots of sites promote camera phone photos.

t-six-ten offers a "professional" showcase for camera phone buffs and provide publicity for Sony Ericsson camera phones. But it doesn't go far enough. There are many more features the site should provide to entice submissions, grow the site's traffic and educate users. I've got a number of ideas, but Sony Ericsson would have to hire me as a wireless data consultant to get them!

Comments

[S Woodside]

I'm pretty sure that 610 is the model number for the whole line. The last digit is reserved for the network type it runs on.