Xperia X10 Mini Hits The Stores

Sony Ericsson X10 Mini has now officially hit the stores. The device is now available for purchase in many countries. X10 Mini is a smaller version of Xperia X10 and does not have all the features of its bigger cousin. However, it is one of the smallest Android device till date.

PlayNow update available for X10

There’s a new update available for the built-in PlayNow client on the X10. The app previously consisted of only music downloads, but the new update introduces application and games as well.

Simply open the PlayNow application on your X10 and download the update file. Enjoy!

More on the XPERIA X10 mini

The XPERIA X10 mini has been getting a lot of attention of late, something which it truly deserves. Well, the folks at Esato have give the device a spin and initial impressions are extremely positive.

There is no doubt in my mind that the X10 Mini will be Sony Ericsson's best seller this year. It will probably be even more popular than the T610, K750 or W995 was when they hit the market. The selling price of approximately 300 Euro is even lower than the price of a W995 are today. A bargain in my opinion. The W995 and X10 Mini display has the same pixel resolution and are of almost the same size W995's 2.6 inch vs 2.55 for X10 Mini. Some of you might prefer hard keys and the X10 Mini Pro coming in a couple of weeks will be the one for you. The X10 Mini is the same phone, but with added sliding QWERTY keyboard. I am waiting for the X10 Mini myself as I am fan of hardware QWERTY keyboards.

Read more here.
My friend Michell has also posted a nice video preview of the X10 mini, and as usual, like all his other work,this one's a treat to watch too.

Vivaz Pro now shipping!

All those who've been waiting for the qwerty version of the HD video star - the Vivaz, need to wait no more. The Sony Ericsson Vivaz Pro is now shipping, and in large volumes too, according to the nice folks at the Product Blog.

The Vivaz Pro is almost identical specs and design-wise to the original Sony Ericsson Vivaz except that it sports a QWERTY keyboard and a 5 megapixel camera instead of the 8mp snapper on the Vivaz. The 720p HD video recording is still there though.

SE launches an Idea Sharing Community: SE-dot

Sony Ericsson just launched a new initiative called SE-dot. SE-dot is a new community where SE invites users to share ideas and wishes and works towards bringing them to life. They are asking just a simple question: What do you want your phone to do?

Users are invited to give their ideas and wishes and the developers are invited to:

• take part in the discussion – find and expand ideas
• develop applications based on ideas initiated by users
• reply to users where existing apps provide the requested solution
• join Developer World and create apps for our phones
• submit and sell apps via SE's PlayNow store to make them easily available to Sony Ericsson’s consumers

Via: se-blog

Xperia X10 mini preview event

My friend Michell attended a X10 mini event in Denmark, managing to rub shoulders with the bigwigs at SE and extracting some valuable info on these devices from them.

An X10 update will be available soon, which will mainly enhance stability and performance of the phone. It’ll be delivered over-the-air. They’re also still on track with the much anticipated and considerably larger Android 2.1 update which is due for Q4 this year. This update will include new functionality such as HD video recording and added DLNA support. The Timescape and Mediascape applications will also be updated with better support for third party services, such as Spotify or even operator services.

Also worth mentioning is that the guys would not confirm or bust the possibility of upgrading to the recently announced Android version 2.2. But they would however say that they’re looking at version 2.2.

Read more here

Vivaz Special edition on sale

There is a special edition Vivaz for sale in the Netherlands with the latest Lady Gaga hit-album “Fame Monster”, which can be downloaded using a bundled voucher . On the special edition of the Vivaz, you will also find exclusive wallpapers, ringtones and a special edition of her latest major hit song, “Telephone” – what a coincidence!

Via: se-blog.com

Aino Special Edition isn't worth the wait

Xell has released details of the so called special edition. And as far as I'm concerned there's nothing so special about it.

Apparently the 'Special Edition' is going to be called Aino Classic.

The package will include:

• No MH100 BT headset - just a standard wired stereo headset.
  
• No EC100 docking station - just a standard charger.
  
• No 8GB SD card - just a 2GB one.

The price: Reduced by ~50€ due to the stripped package. The normal Aino is slated to out of production. Bad move SE!

XPERIA X10 Mini unboxing

Rikard Skogberg just published this video unboxing of the XPERIA X10 Mini on the official Product Launch Blog.If you're looking to get this beauty, this video is a must watch. And as usual, it's been shot on the Vivaz (720p it is).

Via: Product Launch Blog

Xperia X10 becomes DoCoMo's best selling smartphone

An analyst note from Barclay’s justified their upgrade of Japanese carrier NTT DoCoMo’s stock by impressive performance of the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10.

DoCoMo’s new smart phone, Sony Ericsson Xperia, has sold about 120,000 units within its first three weeks on sale; Tsusaka’s data shows that the initial 100,000 unit shipment to distributors sold out in 10 says, but another 50,000 units delivered in mid-April, and a third set of 30,000 units is apparently scheduled for late April.
Stores which open on weekdays are mostly sold out. Sales of over 100,000 units make a positive contribution to the company’s net increase in subscribers, so it looks very likely NTT DoCoMo will again have a top share of net add in April.

Xperia sales versus DoCoMo’s previous smart phone:
Xperia 120,000 in 20 days
HTC Android 80,000 in 10 months
Blackberry Bold 60,000 in 14 months
Toshiba Windows Mobile 60,000 in 10 months”

X10 mini TV-commercial

Here's the TV commercial for the X10 mini, and I have to admit, it's one of the coolest ads i've seen. Whoever thought of the whole finger tapping jig deserves an applause. Happy watching!

X10 mini passes FCC

The small yet powerful Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini just cleared the FCC and is maybe on its way to release, well, somewhere. A previous report had pointed both the X10 Mini & X10 Mini Pro to Canada, but this particular device that cleared the FCC is packing European-friendly bands.

As a reminder, both X10 Mini devices are younger brothers of the original Xperia X10, and both come with Android 1.6, QVGA touchscreen, 5-megapixel camera, WiFi, GPS and so on. The only difference between the two is that the X10 Mini Pro rocks a full side-sliding QWERTY keyboard, whereas the X10 Mini doesn’t.

Special edition of the Aino to be launched

According to Max at semcblog, Sony Ericsson is soon going to launch a special edition of the Sony Ericsson Aino. The new edition will sport a different design and new in-box accessories.

The Aino features a 3.0″ 16 Million colour Touchscreen Display with a resolution of 240*432, 8MP Camera (Autofocus, LED Flash, Touch focus, geo-tagging, face detection, image stabilizer, smart contrast, red-eye reduction, videocalling), GPS, Wi-Fi etc.

Let's hope SE plans to enable the touchscreen throughout the menu in this one.

292% growth in SE smartphone sales

Canalys reports in its latest smart phone market report that Sony Ericsson smartphone sales gre by 292% year-on-year growth in its smartphone sales. Incredible isn't it?

Sony Ericsson successfully delivered its first Android-based devices at the end of the quarter, but its boost in volumes came instead from its Symbian platform products, the Vivaz and the Satio, which performed well in APAC and EMEA.

Via: se-blog

No Multi-touch on X10 mini, X10 mini pro, ever!

There had been some news of late that the XPERIA X10 mini will indeed be able to support multi-touch as it sported a ClearPad 2000 solution, which enabled dual touch, which is the basic form of multi-touch.

However, Sony Ericsson has put all rumours to rest and confirmed that they do not intend to implement multi touch on the X10 mini and X10 mini pro.


Timo Maassmann has confirmed the same on the Product blog:

I noted some of your comments asking for the multi touch support. Having shared our personal experiences using the new UI within our team, we just love it the way it is and think that multi-touch would actually just destroy the simplicity of using these products.  To avoid any speculation I can confirm that we do not have any intention to implement multi touch on X10 mini and X10 mini pro.

Multi-touch on small screens like the minis is pointless and would be more of a gimmick. However, I feel Sony Ericsson needs to start paying more attention to the feedback they get.

Just because they love something doesn’t mean consumers will.

Update for Aino now available

Sony Ericsson Aino users! Here's some good news for you all.

A new update is now available for the Aino. Besides improving overall stability, it will further enhance battery life and improve Wi-Fi and Bluetooth implementation. A new video codec support - MIME-type MPEG4-generic has also been added. Besides the above, a new game Bubble Town 2 and three new themes will also be bundled with the update.

To update your Aino:
www.sonyericsson.com/update

A look at Sony Ericsson's UXP Interface

For its Xperia X10 smartphones, Sony Ericsson designed a new user interface from scratch. Called the User Experience Platform or UXP, it sits on top of the Android operating system on the Xperia X10, X10 Mini, and X10 Mini Pro smartphones.

Here are a few shots of how the UXP interface actually looks on the X10 mini pro.SE has done a fantastic job shrinking it for the smaller Xperia devices.

1) Timescape

Timescape displays your latest e-mails, text messages, and social media alerts for various contacts in a flowing design that resembles a stacked deck of cards. The S-shape of the stream was based on a flower.

2) Main menu

The blue background is standard across the UI. The typeface is based on a new font Sony Ericsson developed called "Soma."

3) Dialer

The phone dialer interface features touch controls for each number. Notice the four shortcut icons in each corner. As you move between different screens, the shortcuts will change to offer access to related features.

4) Homescreen

As on other Android phones, you can access the notifications bar and the main menu window shade.

5) Camera

The camera viewfinder uses the whole 2.55-inch display on the X10 Mini Pro. Shortcuts and camera controls hide in the corners of the touch screen.

6) Video Player

The video player has a simple interface, although its not a device on which you'd like to watch a full-length movie.

7) Media Player

We have a toned down version of the Mediascape. The infinity button is still there.. If you press it you'll see a list of all media files by that artist.

8) FM Radio

Here's how the radio UI looks like.

Here are shots of the entire UI. Sony Ericsson has done a remarkable job with it. Am looking forward to get a X10 mini pro :)

Image credit: Sony Ericsson

XPERIA X10 family to get Android 2.1 in Q4

Sony Ericsson's Xperia X10, X10 Mini and X10 Mini Pro will all get upgraded from Android 1.6 to version 2.1 during the fourth quarter, Sony Ericsson said in a blog post on Wednesday.

 Sony Ericsson is calling it the UXP or User Experience Platform which builds on top of the Android OS and brings together a rich graphical user interface, unrivalled service plug-ins and content from external partners to deliver unique consumer propositions such as Sony Ericsson’s signature applications Mediascape and Timescape.

The X10 will get a major update as compared to its siblings, the key features of the UXP upgrade being:

- Upgrade to Android OS version 2.1
- HD video recording as per the same execution as Sony Ericsson Vivaz™
- Wireless home connectivity via DLNA
- Improvements to signature applications Timescape™ and Mediascape to make them even smarter and richer

Sony Ericsson admits that the Q4 updates are a bit late compared to their rivals, but we are given a promise for extended firmware support for all OS-powered devices in the future.

This is indeed a great move from SE. Although many would be disappointed as to why SE didn't try nd get in Android 2.2, isn't much of a dealbreaker as the custom UI is incredible and takes care of any omissions.

X10 mini, pro launch dates

My friends over at se-blog have just found out the launch dates for the small yet powerful, Xperia X10 mini and mini pro devices.
 Through Sony Ericsson’s National Account Manager for Denmark and Iceland, Kenneth Møller, they have been able to find out that the X10 mini will be available form week 21 ie..May and the X10 mini pro will be available from week 26...ie sometime in June.

X10 Mini wins Red Dot design award

I already knew that the X10 mini was a nifty device so it does feel good to see it win some accolades.

In close competition with designers and manufacturers from 57 countries, the one-hand compact Xperia™ X10 mini has been selected by an international jury to receive the 2010 red dot product design award.

Source

Next X10 update doubles battery life

Most of the Xperia X10 users are pretty worked up due to the poor battery life of the device. However, Sony Ericsson has said that it plans to roll out an update which not only improves battery life, but they claim that it literally doubles the juice.

As for your battery life issue, we are working on an update which should effectively double the battery time. No, I don’t have release date information at this time

This is certainly good news for all. Hope it rolls out pretty soon.

SE files for Nexus UI Trademark

Sony Ericsson has filed an application with the Trademarks and Design Registration Office of the European Union to trademark the word 'Nexus'.

The move is interesting, considering that Sony Ericsson had claimed at its MWC press conference in February that it had been approached by Google to create a device in the Nexus series Android smartphone but Sony Ericsson passed the offer considering that they were not an OEM company and would always launch a phone under its own brand.

The filing was made in both the US and Europe, and has so far been initially blocked in the States. The reason being an existing trademark for “Visual Nexus,” which is similar in more than just the name. It, too, is a trademark for graphical user interface software.


The 'Nexus UI' is the UI seen on Sony Ericsson's lates Xperia devices, which include mainly Timescape and Mediascape.