Last night 3 held a ghoulish event to launch the Sony Ericsson W595 handset, in what can be described as a pretty decent effort on their part. I was lucky to be invited to the event, which upon attendance can describe as being full of mainstream media people - the enemy (just kidding).
The event compromised of the Darkside lift shaft which was haunted, and guests were put in to have their reactions recorded with spooky goings on. The squeamish didn't stand a chance, not with me lurking in the darkness! :D

Most of the reactions were recorded and can be found on the Darkside Youtube Channel

In a separate room there was a demonstration of how to capture ghoulish events using the W595 handset which I don't think I had a chance to experience myself, as there seemed to be on handset and point where the demonstration was happening and about 25 people wanting a chance to experience, the math doesn't work out.

The main point of this launch was to highlight the W595's video capture and upload function to Youtube and then send a link to whomever might have an interest. That's some smartphone feature on a non smartphone handset, a good way to introduce it to the masses and those suffering from technophobia. The handset is a mid-range device which includes a 3.2 Megapixel camera, Skype Google Maps, and Windows Live support and comes powered with Sony Ericsson's Walkman interface. Physically it's got the usual Sony Ericsson build and design, it's slim, feels pretty solid and like most of them looks pretty feminine in my eyes.

Overall the launch was pretty good, with free drinks and a good effort on atmosphere and ambience taken into account, there could have been more effort made on highlighting the actual subject of the launch - the W595 with more emphasis put on hands on experience during the event. That was rectified with a free handset given on the way out, which I guess can be compensated for having no access to one during the launch.

For more information on the W595, you should visit either the 3 website or the Sony Ericsson W595 page.