There was a lot of speculative talk regarding the Sony Ericsson Jalou cell phone in the first week of August. You know the type of talk: “Is it real?”; “It’s fake.”; “Those are Photoshopped pictures.” Almost sounds like we’re talking about Kim Kardashian instead of a cell phone. Within the second week of August, however, Sony submitted a press release confirming the existence of the phone and giving a Q4 2009 release date, not to mention naming some features and specs. The price has yet to be named.

Now, this isn’t a phone that I’m going to run out to buy because I’m a guy and the Sony Ericsson Jalou is clearly chick gear: There’s a Dolce&Gabbana edition and even Sony’s press release compares its size to that of “your favorite lipstick” (the Jalou is 2.87 inches long). I don’t wear lipstick. Do you? Also, given the Jalou’s sharp angles and hard corners, Sony Ericsson researched coming trends within the fashion industry; however, if you ask me, I think they’re playing craps. At any rate, you may be in the market to buy your girl a cell phone, which is why I’m giving it the rundown.

Undressing the Sony Ericsson Jalou

Being a clamshell, the Jalou features a simple 2-inch screen — but, there’s a dedicated button to turn it into a mirror (more proof that you have to have two X chromosomes to really understand this phone). As Jalou is geared toward any self-respecting fashionista, it has a 3.2-megapixel camera with video-capture capabilities. Also, the Bluetooth enables your lovely girlfriend to upload those pictures or videos to her favorite social networking sites. While the Jalou gives updates on zodiac signs and other special events that are likely fashion-related, your girl can use the pedometer to count her steps (and if she’s smart enough she’ll be able to convert that into calories or something) as she maneuvers her way from H&M to Lucky7 at the mall.

If you’re out with your girl and you hear The Gaslight Anthem is coming to town and need to locate a place to purchase tickets, you can use the internet and the standard Google stuff on her Jalou to find your point of purchase. However, she’ll likely get bored standing in line with you, which means she’ll bust out either the YouTube application or the 3-D games. The Jalou also comes with Geo tagging, a media player, conference calling abilities, a speakerphone, video calling, music tones (MP3/AAC), e-mail, Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync, IM, MMS, SMS, predictive text, an accelerometer, FM radio, USB storage and support, various networks (GSM GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/190), 100MB of memory, and microSD. Yeah, and the external screen measures 1.5 inches. GSM talk time is rated at 7 hours and standby is at 350 hours, while UMTS talk time is 4.5 hours and standby is 250 hours.

It’s a lot of phone, but I’m pretty sure she’ll figure it out.