Sony Ericsson hit the road

Sony Ericsson has followed in rival Nokia’s footsteps by announcing a deal to bring Lonely Planet’s travel guides to its mobile phone handsets.

Under the terms of the deal, around 20 Lonely Planet city guides and roughly 10 audio phrasebooks will initially be made available for compatible Sony Ericsson mobile phones.

Each guide holds about 200 points of interest, such as information about where or where not to eat and the best accommodation. A click-to-call facility also lets backpackers call the phone number of, say, a hotel listed in a guide by simply clicking on the number displayed.

Phrasebooks, on the other hand, provide translations and serve up phonetic pronunciations of words. Sony Ericsson's phones can also read words out aloud, so be careful what you click on.

Lonely Planet city guides and audio phrasebooks each cost about £5 ($9/€7) and are available through Sony Ericsson’s Fun and Downloads website.