Four new Xperia smartphones coming

Sony Ericsson expects to launch the Xperia arc, Xperia Play and Xperia Neo during Q1, whilst the Xperia Pro will launch at some point in Q2. However, Sony Ericsson’s Chief Executive, Bert Nordberg, has revealed that in addition to these, the company plans to announce at least four new handsets by the end of the year. Whilst no details were given, he confirmed that all eight devices will be made available in the US.

Nordberg expects that new handset launches will increasingly be sold in the US first in an effort to increase market share. The US currently represents 45% of the Android market currently. He is targeting a long-term global Android market share of 25 percent, up from 14 percent currently.

The market has changed. We see a lot of our products being rolled out in the U.S. first, or in parallel when we roll it out on the global market, which is a change for this company. It has always come later in the U.S. previously. That’s a change which required us to invest,” Nordberg said.

To build market share the company is investing heavily in software developers both in the US and China. The company has tripled development staff in California to 300 in the past year whilst those in Beijing are now at 1,600, up by 60 percent.

He also went on to confirm that the Xperia Play will launch in April in the US, whilst the Chinese launch will follow three months later. All eight devices are expected to be available in China through the W-CDMA network of China United Network Communications during 2011.

Businessweek

XPERIA X10 to get Gingerbread in Q2

Whoa! Now this was a pleasant surprise, wasn't it?

Rikard Skogberg at the Sony Ericsson Product Blog today confirmed that the Sony Ericsson X10 will receive a Gingerbread update . The update will be available in the end of Q2 / early Q3 this year. Only X10 will receive the 2.3 update, not the minis or X8.

Skogberg wrote that the reason behind this upcoming update is that Sony Ericsson listens to its clients requests. On the changes that Gingerbread would bring, Mr. Skogberg had this to say: "In short, we plan to bring similar software and functionality to Xperia X10 as we have in our new 2011 Xperia smartphones. Our ambition is to provide the majority of functionality of the Gingerbread platform, as well as the Sony Ericsson specific User Experience and features."
Also some current software functions will disappear. The camera app will get the standard Gingerbread UI, Mediascape will be replaced by the newest Sony Ericsson Android media widgets, included in the Arc, Neo and Play. The Sony Ericsson Backup and Restore app will be lost since Gingerbread doesn't support it.

Source

Xperia X10 Experience Packs: XP110, XP120 and XP130

Remember those Experience Packs that Sony Ericsson talked about when announcing the LiveView micro display?

Well, the first three of them are now official. They’re the XP110 Fitness Experience Pack, the XP120 Business Experience Pack, and the XP130 Design Experience Pack.

Here’s what’s included in them:

XP110 Fitness Experience Pack – LiveView micro display, SportyPal Pro app, wristband, clip, and a Micro USB charger. It is compatible with the Xperia X10 Mini and Xperia X0 Mini Pro

XP120 Business Experience Pack – Bluetooth Noise Shield Handsfree VH700, Office Suite Pro application with life time license, WaveSecure application with 6 months usage rights, and Micro USB Cable EC300. It is compatible with the Xperia X10, Xperia X10 Mini and Xperia X0 Mini Pro

XP130 Design Experience Pack – three fashionable back covers, lanyards, “a chic set of charms”, “style wallpapers”, Fashion News app, Celebrity Gossip app, and Ship Chick app. It is compatible only with the Xperia X10 Mini

Availability and pricing is still unknown. Check them out by hitting the links below:

XP110
XP120
XP130

Android 2.2 Coming to XPERIA X10 in Q2 2011

Sony Ericsson is secretively working on a Froyo update for their XPERIA X10. Unfortunately, this update won't come before Q2 2011.

This new bit of info comes from a Sony Ericsson Turkish support representative. Their statement was the following (message in Turkish):

However, this should not be mistaken for an official announcement from the company. Nothing was announced on the upcoming availability of Android 2.2 for Xperia X10 is what Sony Ericsson would say on the matter.

Let's hope it is also available for the minis and the X8. Watch this space for more!

Xperia X10 To get Multitouch support

Sony Ericsson once said multi-touch isn't ever coming to the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 smartphone but now, under the users and developers community pressure, the company engineers finally found a way to enable pinch zooming on the X10.


But now, thanks to the numerous unhappy customers, the company finally decided to start working on enabling the pinch-to-zoom on its Eclair-serving toy. The multi-touch input method will be enabled in the web browser and the Google maps app (hopefully later elsewhere as well) and is coming some time in Q1 2011 via an Over-the-Air software update.

Via: SE Product blog

X10 Family Update: Rollout starts Sunday

Rikard at the Product Blog has just posted that they will start the roll-out of the Android 2.1 based updates for Xperia X10, X10 mini and X10 mini pro coming Sunday. The roll out will start in the evening European time.

Generic kits for the Nordic countries will be the very first ones out on Sunday evening and then there will be more kits coming already during Monday and then the roll-out will continue throughout the month of November.

The key changes for the different products are the following:

Xperia X10:
• HD video recording with continuous auto-focus for high quality videos
• Upgrade of the Android platform to Android 2.1
• New back up and restore application, with extended content back up
• 5 homescreens for apps, widgets, shortcuts and folders
• Social phonebook which automatically syncs contact pictures from Facebook and shows when your friends are online

Xperia X10 mini and X10 mini pro:
• Improved Bluetooth functionality with support for sending and receiving pictures, contacts and more
• New backup and restore application with extended content back up
• Automatic synchronization of your contact pictures between Facebook and your phone book
• Improved ways of handling pictures, audio, text and numbers in your messages
• Upgrade of the Android platform to Android platform 2.1

In most markets, your phone will automatically let you know with a notification when the update is ready for your specific software version and then you will be guided to how to perform the update using the PC Companion software. In that process, because of this being a big update, you will also be guided through some steps to be able to backup personal data before the update and then restore it when the update is finished.

As far as the X8 is concerned, it will get it's update "later in Q4" although I havn't been able to confirm when exactly is 'later'. Will keep you all posted!

Preview: Android 2.1 on Xperia X10

Well, we still havn't got the update yet. A privileged few have, so here's a sneak peek into what we are going to get. Unknown13x at xda developers has posted his preview here. it's in Thai, so let me put it in plain english for you all :)

First up, the lockscreen. As you can see, it has now changed to a simple slide to unlock design. Slide it to the right to unlock, slide it to the left to change to silent. This is the same for both the X10 and the minis.

The next change is that you now have 5 homescreens in place of 3.

If we tap the little button below the screen and hold down,the small Preview window will show up so we can choose wherever we want to navigate from the last 5 opened screens.

Timescape is now a lot more faster and the scrolling is very smooth. A new and handy addition is auto scrolling of text in the splines so that you can read the full message then and there without clicking it to go to the full application. Another new feature is the ability to change the background in Timescape.

Messaging app is a lot more fluid and the chat style look is pretty neat! The new improved keyboard is worth mention. It even suggests apt corrections to any misspelled words. Nifty addition Sony Ericsson!

Social Phonebook has been implemented and hence now the phonebook is integrated with popular networking tools like facebook and twitter. You can see your contact's latest tweets or facebook right in the Phonebook itself. It automatically downloads the contact's image from facebook, which can also be set manually.

The call screen has also been updated and now features some of the regular options right at the bottom of the screen for quick access.

The voice search function has also been added, it only supports english though.  The voice dialer is also present so you can just speak the name of the person and the device will make the call for you.

And here's a video demoing Eclair on X10:

New Screenshots: Android 2.1 on X10, mini/Pro

Am sure all of you are eagerly waiting for SE to roll out the Android 2.1 update for your X10 and the minis. Well here's something to make the wait worthwhile. 'unknown13x ' on xda-developers has posted screenshots which'll give you a fair idea on how Android 2.1 looks on the X10 and the minis.

Xperia X10

X10 mini/Pro 

The blue here looks a bit different than the one on Android 1.6. Like it? I surely do.

Regarding the next update (after the Android 2.1 update), apparently some of the features that are supposed to be on the next update already appear here. 


We are likely to get more details soon so I'll keep you updated. Till then, feel free to leave your comments below :)

Updated Timescape, Social Phonebook with Android 2.1 update

The Android 2.1 Eclair update for the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 family is still in the works, but their product blog is letting us have another taste with another video of the new firmware running on an X10 and all the goodies that it brings.

The video first shows the updated Timescape. It's reportedly more responsive and now auto-scrolls the text in tiles (e.g. Facebook), so you don't have to open up the dedicated app just to read longer messages. Android 2.1 itself brings goodies - Live Wallpapers. Quick Contacts and the SNS-enabled phonebook are the stars of this show.

Xperia X10 Android 2.1 Update on Video

Sony Ericsson has decided to show a little preview of their upcoming Xperia X10 Android 2.1 update, and are expected to roll it out starting at the end of October, pending carrier approval. The main features of the update include HD video recording with continuous autofocus on the 8 megapixel camera, five home screens (instead of just three), 20 icons per screen (instead of 16), thumbnail shortcuts to home screens, muting capability from the lock screen, a new power management widget, and a recent calls widget. This is all, of course, on top of the usual goodies provided by Android 2.1, like live wallpapers, unified inbox, Exchange support, browser support for HTML5, and quick contact shortcuts.

The Xperia X10 looked great on paper with a 4″ 480 x 854 touchscreen, 1 GHz processor, 8 megapixel camera, Wi-Fi, GPS, and 3G, but the older Android 1.6 and buggy customizations made for a less than great experience. Still, so long as the hardware is good, at least the experience can be improved through software updates like this one.

A second update will roll out in Dec end which will update the UxP interface as well.

Via: SE Product Blog

Android 2.1 update delayed until october

Well...another delay. Rikard at the SE product blog has just posted that the Android 2.1 update for the XPERIA family, slated for an end of september - Q3 launch has now been delayed. We won't see it until the end of october atleast. The subsequent update has also been delayed due to this and will be outed early next year.
Anyway... here's what we'll get in the update:

 XPERIA X10:

• Upgrade of the Android platform to Android 2.1
• HD Video recording with continuous auto-focus
• New back up and restore application, with extended content back up
• 5 homescreens for apps, widgets, shortcuts and folders
• Social phonebook, which automatically syncs contact pictures with Facebook and shows when your friends are online

XPERIA X10 mini and X10 mini pro:

• Upgrade of the Android platform to Android platform 2.1
• Improved Bluetooth functionality with support for sending and receiving pictures, contacts and more
• New backup and restore application with extended content back up
• Automatic synchronization of your contact pictures between Facebook and your phonebook
• Improved ways of handling pictures, audio, text and numbers in your messages

The update will be made available in a phased roll-out which means that different “kits” get the update at different times. It will take some additional weeks from end of October before all different kits have the new software available.

Screenshots: Android 2.1 on XPERIA X10

Here's how Android 2.1 looks on the X10. We're going to have to wait for the update till october though.

Upgrade roadmap for X10 family leaked

The upgrade roadmap for the X10 family has been leaked online. Android 2.1 will, in all probability, be the last major OS upgrade for the X10 family.

X10 2.1 
------- 
Video recording in HD 
Video recording with continuous AF. 
Social Phonebook (syncs FB and Twitter contacts with pictures). 
Something about restructured menus or menu guides  
5 home screens instead of 3. 
HTML5 support for better browser experience. 

X10 2.1x 
---------- 
Looks like a second update with focus on Timescape, Mediascape and support for additional languages.


 X10 mini/mini pro, X8 2.1
-----------
Bluetooth 2.1 update (can't decipher this...)
Social Phonebook (syncs FB and Twitter contacts with pictures). 
Something about restructured menus or menu guides
HTML5 support for better browser experience. 


 X10 mini/mini pro,X8 2.1x
-----------
focus on upgrade to the 4 corner UXP

Xperia X10 spotted running Android 2.1

While the Android 2.1 Éclair platform flavor might seem old to some, it is still something that Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 owners are only dreaming about.

September seems to have been nailed down as the month when Xperia X10 will receive the Android 2.1 blessing, and when Sony Ericsson updates the smaller Xperia X10 mini and X10 mini pro too.The Xperia X8 might launch with 2.1 onboard or get it as an update later.

Recent reports on the matter suggested that the company confirmed once again plans to have the OS version loaded on X10 devices this month, and the only thing that remains to be seen is when the update process is set to kick off.

In the meantime, we can take a look at the Xperia X10 running under the Android 2.1 platform in the video below, just as to make an idea of how the two would get along.Unfortunately, the video is in German, which means that many might not understand what's being said there, but the features that are demonstrated should be pretty clear, such as live wallpapers and more.

According to a recent article on Androinica, the video was shot during the IFA tech event in Berlin, Germany, and proves that the mobile phone maker is getting closer to releasing the software update into the wild.

It might be a little late from a certain point of view, especially since many other devices got the Android 2.2 OS on board, but it's still great news for Xperia X10 owners, that's for sure.

XPERIA X10 gets a firmware update

Sony Ericsson has just released an update for the X10, and although we don't have much info about the update, the camera UI and the messaging department are among the lucky applications to feel the difference. Speed and responsiveness has also improved.


You also get a free backup and restore application so it will be much easier to save your settings and information. Selected markets will also be blessed with PlayNow client with premium apps and games .

Creatouch available for the X10

Recently Sony Ericsson Launched Creatouch on the PlayNow Arena. Creatouch offers a number of different ways to create very personal wall papers for the home screen. A user can draw by hand, insert text, numbers, and different symbols as well as use an image as background. When the wall paper is done, it can be shared to different social networks.

Go and give it a try. But do remember to update your PlayNow Client first.

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!

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

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”

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.