Sony Ericsson today announced some impressive features that'll appear on the P990 cell phone (above right) and unveiled their new M600 smart messaging phone (above left).

The P990, first announced in October last year, will include a color touchscreen and a music player that supports MP3 as well as the AAC format made popular by the iTunes music store. You can also listen to music when the phone is powered down, extending the playback life. There will be a slot big enough to hold 8 GB of memory. But the best feature of the phone, at least for professional types like myself, is the business-card scanner. The 2-megapixel camera uses character-recognition software to convert scanned information from a business card to your phone.

As for the M600, it comes in sexy black or white and has secure e-mail and Internet. At only 0.59 inches thick, it packs a lot of punch for its size. The M600 has 80 MB of internal memory and room for a 64-MB Memory Stick as well as a touchscreen display with handwriting recognition. Both phones are set to hit stores during the second quarter of 2006.