The name may seem queer (not a usual name for a mobile phone), but what it is and what it can do is absolutely true! At first glance, the SE Yari slider phone may seem to be so elementary, but underneath that utter simplicity is a whole new meaning in mobile phone gaming.

If you were impressed on what Nintendo Wii can do, then definitely you would be mystified by Yari. Pressing keys and buttons while playing on your cellphone is now a thing of the past.

Even my kids find the Yari, and its neat tricks, a must-have phone.

SE Yari brings the user a whole new mobile experience in motion and “gesture gaming”.

The handset is equipped with motion sensitive gaming feature so that players can get right in the middle of the action by moving their body and making their moves in front of the screen. This is made possible by the optical tracker technology developed by GestureTek.

With hidden sensors and a built-in accelerometer, body movements are identified. Just stand in front of the phone and the camera will easily detect your motions and translate them into virtual ones.

Gesture control games include Boxing, Tennis, Bowling and Fitness. Fitness lets you stay fit by doing squats, repetitive side steps and yoga.

Enjoy a game of tennis by swinging, smashing and all other arm and shoulder movements mimicking a game of tennis. Bowling allows you to play real motion bowling incorporating real swings.

Just twist the phone left or right and you can make a perfect spin.

The unit comes with an EC500 phone stand so you can easily set the unit upright and play on.

The front camera captures every movement making it fun and real. Keep in mind, this is a mobile phone you are playing with.

SE Yari comes in a simple slider design that fits comfortably on one’s hand. Yari features a 2.4 inch 262k color display. Its resolution being 240 x 320 pixels (QVGA) gives a reasonably good quality picture.

It is interesting to note that unlike other slider phones, its face comes with two small knobs just above the screen. These are the gaming keys and between the keys are the light sensor, secondary camera and earpiece.

The back of the Yari sports the 5-megapixel camera with the LED flash.

With up to 4x digital zoom, Yari’s 5-megapixel camera also has auto-focus, face and smile detection and geo-tagging. Still at the back along with the camera are the two loudspeaker grills on either side of the battery cover.

Yari comes with the latest Walkman music player. For avid Walkman users, controls of Yari’s music player are relatively the same with options such as equalizer and stereo widening.

What’s new is the music player’s ability to change visualization styles varying from an old gramophone to a home stereo system.

Overall, Yari is no ordinary midrange mobile phone. Loaded with all the basic phone features compounded with superb connectivity, multimedia functions and gesture controlled games; Sony Ericsson Yari truly is an “ultimate phone for mobile fun!”