Sony Ericsson Xperia Play goes official!

"The smartphone with everything you need, and the one thing you want."

The tagline says it all doesn't it?

Sony Ericsson has finally made the XPERIA Play official through a Super Bowl commercial. The presentation is still scheduled for 13 February, but now we all know what all to expect.

In case you forgot, the smartphone is also likely to be the first device to meet Sony's PlayStation Certified distinction standards. The specifications set out by Sony allow Android-based handsets to play older PlayStation games on mobile phones.

Other specs include Android 2.3 (Gingerbread),a 4-inch multitouch 854 x 480 LCD display,1 ghz Qualcomm MSM8655 chipset and Adreno 205 GPU.

Check out the advertisement (somewhat creepy) below:

Xperia Arc gets handled

Rikard at the Product blog has just posted a new video in which the new Xperia Arc is taken for a spin.
He also clarified quite a few details:

1. The CPU and GPU specs are: MSM8255 at 1 GHz with Adreno 205.
2. The music player does have an equalizer, my current software has 10 different genre based presets.
3. It does not have a front facing camera.
4. Mediascape is removed in its earlier form and has changed into a customizable widget based “media pane” (as shown briefly in the video)
5. It’s too early to officially give detailed comments around specific later Android versions for XperiaTM arc during its lifecycle but the changes we have made to our way of working with Android puts us in a good position to make sure that Xperia arc will get later versions in a timely manner.
6. I’ve seen articles around higher numbers than 2.3 being seen in the display of Xperia arc phones – As I have been informed that is due to a misconfiguration in some samples and nothing to get too excited about really, sorry.
7. It does have two microphones which will be used for noise suppression during phone calls.
8. The camera LED flash is possible to put in four different modes; Auto, Fill-flash, Red-eye Reduction & Off.
9. It does have full multi touch support, I just tried a similar multi touch test app as I did in the video on the X10 and at least in that app it accepts 4 simultaneous touch points without any issues with X- and Y-axis or such things. I will try to get confirmation on final specs in regards to multi touch.
10. It does support wi-fi up to the 802.11n mode.

Xperia Play Preview video

You can never get enough of leaks can you?

Even though the Xperia Play hasn't been officially outed, the leaks are pouring and it's actually getting tougher to keep up. The latest being a video, showing someone playing Resident Evil 2 and Rage Racer on the device. Like the previously leaked photos, the device has slide-out controls, featuring both a D-pad and the familiar PlayStation buttons.

MWC is where the Play is slated to be announced. Till then, enjoy the video :)

World's slimmest smartphone - Xperia Arc Announced

Sony Ericsson finally put an end to all the rumors and leaks by announcing its latest and greatest Android smartphone, the Xperia Arc!

Here is a device that, upon first glance and then subsequently digging into the specs, I can’t help but feel a few notches of excitement about.

The Xperia Arc is a device that features Sony’s Reality Display, along with Sony’s Mobile BRAVIA Engine, which is designed to bring the best multimedia experience possible to a device. On the back of the device, there’s an 8MP camera with Sony’s Exmor R photo enhancement technology,with f/2.4 lens. The camera is also able to record 720p HD. There's an LED flash too. And, theres an HDMI out port. The arc-like design results into only 9mm thickness on the both ends and 8.7mm in the slimmest part.

Under the hood, you’ll find Android 2.3, with a 1GHz Qualcomm processor pushing everything along. The display is a 4.2-inches. There’s a 3.5mm audio jack, and the standard additions: 802.11 WiFi, GPS, and Bluetooth connectivity and 512 MB RAM. There will be an 8GB microSD card bundled with it so that should provide you with adequate storage out of the box.

The 4.2-inch capacitive display is attractively called the Reality display. It uses Sony's BRAVIA Mobile Engine, which does real-time noise reduction, sharpness, color management and contrast enhancement on the picture. It has 854x480 pixels resolution and is covered with a scratch-resistant glass. There is still no official info on the screen type, but I believe its TFT.

The Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc will be available in late Q1 or early Q2 in Midnight Blue and Misty Silver.

Check out these videos:

Press Release

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

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:

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

Xperia X8 Promotional video

Sony Ericsson has just released a cool promo video of the Xperia X8. Definetely worth a dekko.

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.

Timescape on X10 mini

Here's a video of Timescape and media player on the X10 mini. Really cool!

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.

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.

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

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!

No Multi-touch on XPERIA X10?

As we know, Multi-touch is an enhancement to touchscreen technology, which provides the user with the ability to apply multiple finger gestures simultaneously onto the electronic visual display to send complex commands to the device. Hence, most new touchscreen device launches have been governed with avid discussions by fans whether the much needed feature is indeed available. The XPERIA X10 is no different.

While Sony Ericsson had confirmed that the X10 will get an Android upgrade,  it seems that even an upgrade will not provide the much-desired multi-touch on the X10. This is because the lack of multi-touch on the X10 is not only software related, but hardware related too, as confirmed by product manager Rikard Skogberg.This means that the X10 will never have multi-touch despite any Android version updates.


This information was later confirmed by Sony Ericsson Asia:

Yes, this is correct, as it relates to both software and hardware support from the phone. However, like he [Rikard Skogberg] mentioned, we will be working hard on other solutions, for instance, zooming, a feature which has been requested frequently. This will not compromise the user experience which focuses on our unique applications, such as Timescape and Mediascape.

I'd still say this is not a deal-breaker, as multitouch is mostly of help while using 1) the qwerty keyboard to tap out a message and 2) for zooming. While the latter can be a little less intuitive by using conventional options, Sony Ericsson is reportedly working on it, and I can assure you it's a pretty impressive solution. You can have a look at the zooming solution demoed here, it's pretty neat to say the least:

And as far as the former is concerned, there's always Swype ;)

So i'd say go ahead and grab your X10, multi-touch or not, it boasts of a stellar spec sheet and it's one of the best smartphones in the market at the moment.

Via: SE Product Blog and USEB

XPERIA X10 Support Videos

Sony Ericsson Support published a couple of videos showing the usage of the Android X10 device. The Videos show you:



*Web Browsing
*Contact Transfer
*Messaging
*Getting Started

XPERIA X10 Video Review

Here's a pretty neat video review of the soon to be launched XPERIA X10. India is slated to be the first country to get the device.

Vivaz: Homescreen in detail

Here's a pretty nice video by the folks at Sony Ericsson which shows off the homescreen of the Vivaz, in a lot more detail than you've seen earlier. So if this is the handset you're looking to get, I'd recommend giving this vid a watch!

XPERIA X10 APAC TV Ad

And here's the ad of Xperia X10 for the Asia Pacific region. Pretty brilliant isn't it?