Hasta La Gadget!

Look, we’re not going to stop you if you insist on staying up until 4:30AM ET tomorrow morning to see what Sony Ericsson has in store at its CommunicAsia press conference, we just don’t want you to walk away with a broken heart if nothing cool happens there, alright? Xperiancers is now reporting that the show will be little more than a recap on the company’s recent announcements — chiefly the GreenHeart stuff, the Satio, and the Aino — which means the X2 may not be happening for a while yet. That’s disappointing, yes, but no one’s exactly calling the X1 a slouch in the spec department just yet, so maybe this is a strategic win for Sony Ericsson — particularly with a big Rogers launch just around the corner.

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Sony Ericsson event at CommunicAsia to be a snoozefest, no X2? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 16 Jun 2009 19:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We couldn’t make heads or tails of that thumbnail image we got sent a couple days ago alleging to be Sony Ericsson’s X1 replacement — it’s not that we necessarily didn’t buy it, it was just to friggin’ small and weird to figure out what was going on. Well, when it rains, it pours, because a forum member over on fanklub.se has given up the goods in the form of a couple significantly better shots. We can already sense that there’ll be a fierce debate brewing over whether this looks better than the phone it’s destined to succeed, but the X2 definitely ups the specs with an 8.1 megapixel cam, flash, and what could be an extraordinarily usable keyboard (final judgment on that will have to wait until we play with a unit, but you’ve got to admit, anything would be an improvement over the first model). Still no word on when this might come to market or even be announced, unfortunately. Peep another shot after the break.

[Via CoolSmartPhone, thanks Gears]

Continue reading Sony Ericsson XPERIA X2 pictured again?

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Sony Ericsson XPERIA X2 pictured again? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 05 Jun 2009 18:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It looks like Sony Ericsson is taking a page out of Apple’s book for the launch of its app store, bundling the service in with the very same platform it already uses to distribute music and movies. PlayNow arena — which was originally designed for music distribution and whose movie rental functionality is going live this month in a handful of locales — is now being expanded to incorporate applications as well, initially coming to 13 countries and some 38 Sony Ericsson models. Conveniently, PlayNow arena is already well-plumbed to support a variety of blling methods which should make the transition to paid apps a pretty seamless one for the company, devs, and users alike. Submissions from developers for inclusion in the store will kick off July 1, initially covering Java and Symbian before being expanded to cover “additional platforms” (Android, anyone?) later in the year; there’s no word, though, on exactly when end users will be able to get in on the action.

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Sony Ericsson expands PlayNow arena to cover apps, too originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 03 Jun 2009 15:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A tipster tells us that the device you’re looking at here is Sony Ericsson’s codename “Vulcan” — better known as the X2 — which would presumably replace the X1 at some point in the next few days, weeks, months, or years. Though the picture’s small, you can clearly make out the X Panel button in the lower left of the phone’s front and a Windows key in the upper left of the keyboard, which adds a dose of credibility — the company has, after all, put quite a bit of time and effort into pimping its panel interface SDK, and right now, the X1 is the only device that supports it. The image looks a little rough around the edges, but we can easily chalk that up to this being either a composite mockup or a very early prototype combined with the fact that our tipster seems to have blanked out the surroundings to protect the source. We’re not saying it’s definitely real, but this certainly looks plausible — we’re just not convinced yet that it looks better than the model it’d replace. Thoughts?

[Thanks, anonymous tipster]

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Sony Ericsson X2 spotted? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 03 Jun 2009 11:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Everybody’s getting into the mobile movie sideload business — just ask Samsung — and following an MWC unveiling earlier this year, Sony Ericsson is gearing up to launch movie content starting next month as part of its existing PlayNow Arena service. Direct on-phone downloads over WiFi or 3G would be awesome, but as most of these services tend to operate, PlayNow Arena will require that users select and download movies on their PCs, cable up their phones, and transfer the media the old-fashioned way, at which point they’ll be playable on the device for 90 days. You’ll be able to select from about 15 movies at any given time with content being cycled monthly — ridiculously meager, yes, but when you consider that the service is bundled with certain phones (up to 60 movies a year), it’s hard to pitch a fit. Look for it to launch on the W995 slider in Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and the UK in June; support for Sony Ericsson’s newly-announced Satio and Aino (among others) is expected later in the year.

Filed under: Cellphones, Portable Video

Sony Ericsson’s PlayNow Arena movie download service ready for June launch originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 29 May 2009 03:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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