Sony teases something smarter, our money’s on Xperia

Sony’s website is slowly ticking down the hours, minutes and seconds until the company’s latest product launch, but like all other Sony teasers in recent memory, there’s little real doubt. If references to “X10” peppered through the site’s source code left any doubt, this picture should clear it up — mark our words, that’s an Xperia X10 underneath the clock. Apparently the four-inch Android smartphone is finally ready for its US debut, though whether it’s “smarter” or no will probably depend on which version of the OS it ships with. Expect an AT&T launch, and be sure to read our full review.

Update: As numerous commenters and tipsters have pointed out, Sony hasn’t gone to much trouble to hide what’s going on — all you need to do to see the trademark Xperia logo is drop that image into a photo editor and crank up the brightness.

[Thanks, Jason]

Sony teases something smarter, our money’s on Xperia originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 08 Aug 2010 15:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony Ericsson Xperia X10, Samsung Eternity II hitting AT&T in the coming weeks?

You might remember that we’d said back in April that AT&T would be picking up the Sony Ericsson X10 in the 30th week of the year. Well, turns out we weren’t exactly right, but it seems we’re going to end up being pretty damn close. We’re hearing that AT&T is lining up for a launch some time between the middle of August and the middle of September; smartphone data is required, of course, and it’ll cost independent dealers $345 per unit (retail pricing is anyone’s guess). Also launching in the same timeframe will be the Samsung Eternity II, a device BGR had mentioned back in June. No details on this one, but we’d assume it’ll be a slicker, higher-spec follow-on to the original Eternity from way back in ’08. Sadly, there’s no indication these X10s will have anything other than the dusty Android 1.6-based platform they’ve been running everywhere since their global launch, so get ready to travel back in time if you end up cross-shopping this with the Captivate.

[Thanks, anonymous tipster]

Sony Ericsson Xperia X10, Samsung Eternity II hitting AT&T in the coming weeks? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 05 Aug 2010 14:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini / Mini Pro review

In a smartphone market saturated with 3.5-inch and larger displays, Sony Ericsson reckons there’s still a little place for petite packages. Enter the Xperia X10 Mini (E10i) and Mini Pro (U20i) — both direct descendants of the beastly X10 Android 1.6 handset. Apart from the Pro’s slide-out keyboard, removable battery, and positioning of various features, the two Minis are otherwise internally identical — same processor, same camera, and same screen. So can these cute baby form factors offer more than just some palm-cuddling time? Can we get a decent smartphone performance out of them? Follow us after the break to find out.

Continue reading Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini / Mini Pro review

Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini / Mini Pro review originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 08 Jul 2010 13:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HTC Gold with Windows Phone 7 in November, and more from a rumored UK roadmap leak

O, to see what Omio sees. The outlet has obtained what it claims to be “a huge UK mobile phone release schedule for the rest of the year… [from] all the manufacturers” (emphasis its own). So, from where would such an all-encompassing roadmap hail? We don’t know, nor can we corroborate any of this, but the details are numerous so let’s go through it — albeit with cautious optimism and a few grains of salt. The biggest phone we can see of this baker’s dozen of a lineup is the HTC Gold (sound familiar?), due in November and loaded with Microsoft’s mobile OS newcomer Windows Phone 7. Unfortunately, that’s all the information provided, but it’s certainly enough to entice us. Also in November, we’ve got Samsung i8700 and Nokia E7 — the latter being possibly a N8-esque QWERTY slider with AMOLED display and Symbian^3, and the former being a mystery (although Omio takes a gander that its aquatic Greek mythology might suggest a Bada-powered existence).

Going up the list Memento style, October purportedly brings across the pond-ers HTC Vision, the virtually unknown HTC Ace, Nokia N8, and Sony Ericsson’s Xperia X8 and Yendo. September’s a bit of a yawner — SE Hazel and a Nokia X2 candybar — as is August with the X6 8GB and BlackBerry Curve 9300. And July? Nokia E5-00, Sony Ericsson W20, and Samsung i5500. As is usually the case, the more you can wait, the better your options. Now, let’s see if this supposed roadmap stays on course.

HTC Gold with Windows Phone 7 in November, and more from a rumored UK roadmap leak originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 06 Jul 2010 20:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony Ericsson X10 Mini teardown reveals densely packed, tiny hardware

The crew at iFixit were jonesing for something to disassemble recently, and Sony Ericsson’s X10 Mini seems to have been the nearest thing they could lay hand and screwdriver upon. We’ll admit HTC has us kind of spoiled with the colorful interiors of its phones, so we were a little underwhelmed by the demureness of the X10 Mini. Everything is packed into the utilitarian logic board, and although you get to decouple the screen and antenna assembly, it’s still mostly a thick slab of highly integrated technology. Still, if you want to see a Qualcomm MSM7227 all naked and exposed to the elements, this is your chance. The source link contains all the intimate photography you could wish for.

Sony Ericsson X10 Mini teardown reveals densely packed, tiny hardware originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 22 Jun 2010 06:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony Ericsson Xperia X8 Arriving This Fall?

Sony Xperia X8.jpgOn Wednesday, Sony Ericsson announced the Xperia X8, a mid-range Android smartphone that aims to cram a lot of features into a tiny 3.89-by-2.12-inch package that is just over half an inch thick.
Based on the Android 1.6 operating system, the Xperia X8 includes all of the usual suspects such as GmMail, Google Calendar, Google Latitude, and Google Maps, as well as access to all of the applications on the Android Market. The 3.2-megapixel camera can automatically geotag your photos and upload them directly to Facebook. The NeoReader barcode scanning app is included, as is a free trial of the Wisepilot navigation service.
The phone has a 3-inch HVGA capacitive touchscreen display, and comes with a 1200 mAh battery and a stereo handsfree headset, plus a 2GB microSD card and USB charge/sync cable. If you need more space for music and video, microSD cards up to 16GB in capacity are supported.
Special additions include the four corners shortcut system, which places icons for your most-used applications on the corners of the home screen for fast one-handed access, and the TimeScape feature which intelligently organizes all of your social networking information by person instead of by source (Facebook, Twitter, etc.)
While no official announcement has been made by AT&T, the Xperia X8 is likely headed to the carrier when it is available in the U.S. later this fall, since it supports AT&T’s 850/1900 HSPA network. Pricing information is unavailable at this time, but it should be “affordable” according to Timo Maasmann, the Sony Ericsson Product Marketing Manager for the Xperia X8.

Sony Ericsson’s 3-inch Xperia X8 made official, coming in Q3 2010 for €259

While the real Shakira may be busy gallivanting over in South Africa, Sony Ericsson’s handset that bore the same (code)name has today been unveiled as the latest member of the Xperia line. Bridging the gap between the fully formed X10 and its Mini siblings, the 3-inch Xperia X8 will run Android 1.6 somewhere deep underneath a comprehensively customized skin.That means you get Sony Ericsson’s social (Timescape) and media (Mediascape) aggregators whether you like them or not, and by the looks of the early hands-on pictures, it seems like a straight port of the UI available on the X10 Mini. A 3.2 megapixel camera is available around back, with WiFi, a 600MHz CPU, 1,200mAh battery, and interchangeable covers completing the value proposition. The X8 will cost around €259 ($318) when it launches in the third quarter of this year. Hit the sources for more pictures.

Continue reading Sony Ericsson’s 3-inch Xperia X8 made official, coming in Q3 2010 for €259

Sony Ericsson’s 3-inch Xperia X8 made official, coming in Q3 2010 for €259 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 16 Jun 2010 04:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony Ericsson ‘Shakira’ to be called the Xperia X8?

We hesitate to call these legit press shots — as we’ve said before, Sony Ericsson fans are world-renowned for their capacity for high-quality fakery — but German site mobiFlip.de has posted a bunch of renders of the so-called Shakira that look very possibly real to us. They’re also saying that the phone will be dubbed the Xperia X8 at retail, a name that probably makes sense considering that the 3-inch Android phone is clearly designed to slot in below the high-end X10. Beyond that, we still don’t have much to go on — pricing, availability, target markets, and so on — so we’ll just hang out here on the edge of our seats for a while longer, or until we’re distracted once again by the X10 mini pro’s mind-numbing cuteness.

[Thanks, René]

Sony Ericsson ‘Shakira’ to be called the Xperia X8? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 14 Jun 2010 23:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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How would you change Sony Ericsson’s Xperia X10?

You may not agree with Sony Ericsson’s time table, nor their decision on what flavor of Android to use, but let’s face it: you were intrigued when SE told you the Xperia X10 would be its first Google-fied smartphone. To date, the X10 has yet to gain the kind of global appreciation shared by the Motorola Droid, Nexus One or iPhone, but that’s not to say quite a few of you haven’t ended up with one. We had our fair share of gripes and grins when reviewing the thing, but as you well know, this is no place for us to rehash what we’ve already explained. Rather, we’re curious to know how exactly you feel about the Xperia X10. In what can only be described as the most competitive smartphone landscape in the history of the world, the X10 is going up against some huge players; do you feel that the product SE has delivered is up to snuff? Would you have rather seen a different version of Android from the start? Any issues with the touch panel, camera, or industrial design? Digging those hard buttons below the display? We have to imaging that the X11 is already floating around in someone’s mind, and chances are high that they’ll be looking in comments for advice on where to turn. No pressure.

How would you change Sony Ericsson’s Xperia X10? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 04 Jun 2010 23:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 is likely NTT DoCoMo’s best selling smartphone — ever

Japan’s wireless networks have a longstanding, legendary reputation for existing in some parallel plane that’s technologically light years ahead of the rest of the world, but that reputation’s unquestionably in greater danger today than in any point in the past fifteen years. Why? Though the featurephones offered by NTT DoCoMo, SoftBank, and KDDI are ultra high-spec beasts, they’re still featurephones at the end of the day — and this comes at a time when smartphones are finally becoming true cultural phenomena across the remainder of the developed world (and, in some cases, the developing world).

There’s no greater evidence of this than the word this week that Sony Ericsson’s Xperia X10 — a phone that’s been met with lukewarm reviews, including from Engadget Japanese’s own Ittousai — has allegedly become NTT DoCoMo’s best-selling smartphone in history, a fact that would seem completely inexplicable in any other market globally. What makes it possible in Japan, of course, is DoCoMo’s historically lame selection of true smartphones, a lineup that currently includes localized versions of the HTC Magic, and the original HTC Touch Diamond and BlackBerry Bold. What’s more, many of these devices integrate poorly with popular carrier services on account of their super-tight control of the operating systems running across the featurephone lineup, something they’ve got less control over with a device running Android or Windows Mobile.

In other words, when it’s reported that DoCoMo had sold 100,000 X10s in its first 20 days — and a third-party retailer claims that the Magic-esque HT-03A is the next best seller at 80,000 units in 10 months — it seems plausible, if not likely (and Ittousai agrees). Yeah, even though the localized device has been plagued with performance problems and bugs, incompatibilities with DoCoMo’s i-mode push email, and so on. It’s hard to say what it’s going to take for these guys to make an honest-to-goodness transition to the brave new world of open platforms and freewheeling third-party development, but they’re clearly not there yet.

Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 is likely NTT DoCoMo’s best selling smartphone — ever originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 13 May 2010 20:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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