Unofficial Sony Ericsson Blog » announcement

MWC: The Bits We Left Out

scotsboyuk — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 00:38:18 +0000

As is always the case there are a few things that trickle out after the main event or even during it, but don’t get posted in the excitement over the new handsets. However, our man in Barcelona, MR, when not hobnobbing at the bar or checking out flash cars, picked up a few titbits that you may find interesting:

X10 Update

Lennard Hoornik, SE’s marketing chief, commented on the upgrade path for the X10 and confirmed what we already knew, that there would be one i.e. that it will get an upgrade to the latest version of Android. However, he also said that this would happen sometime before the end of the year! That seems like a very vague, and a very long, time scale. Make of it what you will.

Vivaz Pro

MR had a hands on with the device and confirmed a very odd feature. When you open the handset to reveal the keyboard the UI doesn’t rotate to landscape mode, rather you have to turn the phone to landscape mode first and then open the keyboard. Whether this is final or not we’re not sure, but let’s hope not!

X10 Mini

There is no removable battery! The battery is fixed in place like the iPhone. Presumably this is a result of the handset’s size.

Mediascape

Bad news for the mini versions of the X10, neither has Mediascape. They do both, however, have Timescape.

Hands On: X10 Mini

scotsboyuk — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 20:39:57 +0000

As usual rog, the lucky sod that he is, has posted up a superb hands-on with one of tonight’s newly announced devices: The X10 Mini. Check out the video and photos below and make sure you head on over to SE-First.com for the rest of the pictures.

Click here to view the embedded video.

MWC: Bert Shoots From the Hip

scotsboyuk — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 20:29:41 +0000

Tonight’s Sony Ericsson press event in Barcelona wasn’t just about announcing new handsets (although we will come to that), it was also a chance to see what the company plans to do in the months and years ahead and we were treated to some interesting soundbites, not the least of which came from Sir Howard Stringer, President of parent company Sony.

Let’s deal with the handsets first though. The big news of the night was of course the extension of the X10 family of handsets. Not only did we see Robyn become official, but also the X10 Mini Pro, a QWERTY version of Robyn. The fact that there are now three X10 handsets underscores just how important this family of products is to Sony Ericsson. The X10 itself has been grabbing many a blog headline and stoking many a tweet over the past few months and now we have two variants. Some are saying tha the X10 Mini and Mini Pro are underwhelming, but I disagree. Here we have another two Android handsets and importantly we have some choice in how to approach Android from Sony Ericsson. Not everyone goes for a big touch sensitive slab and now they have a choice of a smaller version or even a QWERTY version. Isn’t choice the very thing many of us have been saying is lacking in SE’s portfolio? Similarly Vivaz Pro is a welcome addition. Yes it is pretty much the same as Vivaz, but it at least taps into the zeitgeist; QWERTY handsets have been very popular in recent months as have touchscreens. It’s about time SE got in on the action. All these handsets were given release dates of Q2. Do we believe them? I’ll leave that to you to make up your mind about …

Some interesting comments came out of tonight’s events. During the Q&A session Sir Howard Stringer, President of Sony, was asked about comments he had made 2 years ago saying he was disappointed with SE’s performance.

Q. “Two years ago, you said that you weren’t happy with the performance of Sony Ericsson. What changed?”

Stringer: “I don’t remember what I said last week, much less two years ago“.

That will be reassuring to Sony’s shareholders! However, Sir Howard also said “We fully support Bert and his team at Sony Ericsson” and he rounded off the night by stating that he was “… feeling a minor wave of euphoria right now“. Why is that so important? Because it might finally to put to bed any rumours of Sony pulling out of the joint venture with Ericsson.

Talking about the mobile market in general Stringer predicted mobiles would take on ever more roles from wallets to keys to I.D. Of course much of that is actually reality today in Sony’s home market of Japan so it’s not a great leap to project it onto the rest of the world. However, it is reassuring to know that these sort of ideas are being discussed and put forward at Sony Ericsson for the rest of the globe.

Not to be outdone Bert ‘Ass Kicker’ Nordberg made a very strong statement at the start of the event: “Going forward, I think you’ll see we have the most quality products in the wireless industry“. Those are big words indeed and whilst some might scoff and deride Mr Nordberg let’s just take a moment to appreciate what it is exactly he is saying here. Reading between the lines he is saying that he knows SE haven’t been at the top of their game, but that he wants that to change and he is setting the goal at nothing short of being the best of the best. Unrealistic? I don’t think so and it’s good to see SE setting themselves such lofty goals because nothing short of excellence is what they need right now. Go Bert go!

Bert shot straight from the hip again later on in the event when someone mentioned Satio’s software issues and asked about the new devices:

Q. “Will these new devices be spot-on?”

Bert: (firmly) “Yes.”

No messing about from Bert there!

MWC: X10 Mini Pro

scotsboyuk — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 19:18:44 +0000

The X10 Mini wasn’t the only offshoot of the X10 on show at MWC tonight; the X10 family got a new sibling in the form of the X10 Mini Pro. Similar to the relationship between Vivaz and the Vivaz Pro the X10 Mini Pro is essentially the same handset as the X10 Mini with a slide out QWERTY keyboard. It’s a wee bit chunkier than it’s sister, but not by much; 120g to the X10 Mini’s 88g and the dimensions are 90×52x18 mm. Again availability is being given as Q2.

MWC: X10 Mini Is Go!

scotsboyuk — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 19:13:38 +0000

Also announced this evening at MWC was the X10 Mini, or as we’ve known her so far; Robyn. The X10 Mini has the distinction of being the world’s smallest Android handset weighing in at 83×50x17 mm. The handset is essentially a scaled down version of the X10 itself and as its name implies and thus it too features Timescape. Availability is being touted as Q2 with the handset available in a range of colours as you can see in the press shots below.

MWC: Vivaz Pro Debuts

scotsboyuk — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 19:07:05 +0000

Sony Ericsson has been taking to the stage at MWC in Barcelona this evening to announce a bevy (yes that is a word) of new products. First up is Kanna or as it will now be known: Vivaz Pro. Essentially it’s the same as Vivaz itself albeit with the addition of a slide out QWERTY keyboard, hence the ‘pro’ part. Release is, tentatively, scheduled for Q2. Check out the press release photos below.

Vivaz Announced Ahead of Schedule … Viva!

scotsboyuk — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 00:01:40 +0000

So it’s finally official … Sony Ericsson’s 2nd Symbian smartphone Kurara, or as she is now to be officially known, ‘Vivaz’ (yes it is an odd sounding name, but we’ll get to the name a little later on), will launch ’sometime this quarter’, which would be in keeping with our post from yesterday, which gave a time frame of week nine i.e. the first week in March. The initial leaked shots that had been doing the rounds really didn’t do Vivaz justice, it looks pretty stunning in the press release photos. Interestingly enough it looks like the announcement was made a little sooner than was intended since it’s been pulled as of the time of writing, but no doubt it will appear again soon enough. Anyway let’s begin by looking at the specs list:

Symbian 5th
3.2″ touchscreen, 640×360
8.1 MP camera
720p HD video recording
720 MHz processor
WiFi
AGPS
TV-out

As you will see from the press pictures it comes in a variety of colours and as I said before it actually doesn’t look half bad, from the front at least. I still think the back looks … well, unfinished to be honest. For some reason the dark blue variant catches my eye, but I digress … The official names for the colours are Galaxy Blue, Moon Silver, Venus Ruby and Cosmic Black (not the astronomical references).

Ok now the name! It’s certainly an odd sounding name for a phone and in a spot of deja vu it’s like the Idou/Satio situation; Kurara sounds better to the ear. Still time will tell, but it’s hard to imagine many men sitting at the pub and their mates asking what phone they have only to be told ‘it’s a Vivaz!’. I’ll leave you in the very capable hands of Daniel Sandblom of Sony Ericsson for a demo of the handset.

Nexus One Official Specs

MikLSP — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 19:17:42 +0000

So the Google Android conference went as planned and the Nexus One is now very unsurprisingly official. It can be bought online from google.com/phone but the same site also offers the official details that we already sort of knew.

Firstly there’s a nice 3D tour which also summarises things such as the dimensions (119 x 59.8 x 11.5mm), screen (3.7″ 480 x 800 pixel), weight (130g), 5MP camera with LED flash, 3.5mm headpone jack and an additional mic for noise canceling as well as providing the chance to see how it looks in a hand your size.

Beyond this is a full spec sheet:

Size and weight:
Height – 119mm
Width – 59.8mm
Depth – 11.5mm
Weight – 130 grams w/battery

Display:
3.7-inch (diagonal) widescreen WVGA AMOLED touchscreen
800 x 480 pixels
100,000:1 typical contrast ratio
1ms typical response rate

Operating system:
Android Mobile Technology Platform 2.1 (Eclair)

Processor:
Qualcomm QSD 8250 1 GHz

Capacity:
512MB Flash
512MB RAM
4GB Micro SD Card (Expandable to 32 GB)

Camera & Flash:
5 megapixels
Autofocus from 6cm to infinity
2X digital zoom
LED flash
Geo tagging
720 x 480 video capture at 20 frames per second or higher

Power and battery:
Removable 1400 mAH battery
Charges at 480mA from USB, at 980mA from supplied charger
Talk time – up to 10 hours on 2G, up to 7 hours on 3G
Standby time – up to 290 hours on 2G, up to 250 hours on 3G
Internet use – up to 5 hours on 3G, up to 6.5 hours on Wi-Fi
Video playback – up to 7 hours
Audio playback – up to 20 hours

Cellular & Wireless:
UMTS Band 1/4/8 (2100/AWS/900)
HSDPA 7.2Mbps
HSUPA 2Mbps
GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz)
Wi-Fi (802.11b/g/n)
Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR
A2DP stereo Bluetooth

Location:
Assisted global positioning system (AGPS) receiver
Cell tower and Wi-Fi positioning
Digital compass
Accelerometer

Graphics, video and audio:
Image
JPEG (encode and decode), GIF, PNG, BMP

Video
H.263 (encode and decode) MPEG-4 SP (encode and decode) H.264 AVC (decode)

Audio encoders
AMR-NB 4.75 to 12.2 kbps sampled @ 8kHz

Audio decoders
AAC LC/LTP, HE-AACv1 (AAC+), HE-AACv2 (enhanced AAC+) Mono/Stereo standard bit rates up to 160 kbps and sampling rates from 8 to 48kHz, AMR-NB 4.75 to 12.2 kbps sampled @ 8kHz, AMR-WB 9 rates from 6.60 kbit/s to 23.85 kbit/s sampled @ 16kHz., MP3 Mono/Stereo 8-320Kbps constant (CBR) or variable bit-rate (VBR), MIDI SMF (Type 0 and 1), DLS Version 1 and 2, XMF/Mobile XMF, RTTTL/RTX, OTA, iMelody, Ogg Vorbis, WAVE (8-bit and 16-bit PCM)

Hardware features:

Oh and they are officially trying to create a new phone category above smartphones called “superphones”. Obviously theyare including the Nexus One in that category but didn’t actually say that it is an exclusive member.

Mik

Greenhearts Elm and Hazel Announced

karun — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 04:58:59 +0000

Sony Ericsson recently presented their latest Greenheart tree-hugging phones – aptly named Elm and Hazel. Both the devices pack pretty much the same features – 5 megapixel auto focus cameras, Wi-Fi connectivity and GPS receivers complete with the preinstalled Google Maps and Wisepilot mapping apps, the only difference being that the Hazel has a slider form factor while the Elm is close to your regular Sony Ericsson candybar.

All Android rumors have been put to rest as both the devices run on Sony Ericsson’s proprietary OS, the fresh look that we saw in spy pics being due to social networking integration via homescreen widgets.

Screen resolution remains at the QVGA standard (320 x 240 pixels), but what’s surprising here is that the one on Hazel is 2.6 inches large and sports a 16.7 million colour TFT, whereas it’s only 2.2 inches on the Elm sporting a 262.144-colour TFT.

What’s new here is that they both pack in some innovative sound enhancing technologies such as Noise Shield, Clear Voice and Intelligent Volume Adaptation. ‘Clear Voice’ is a technology that is supposed to make a caller’s voice more distinguishable from eventual background noise whereas ‘Noise Shield’ does the opposite,reducing background noise during a call in order to improve the voice quality for the recipient of your call.

The Sony Ericsson Elm will be available in Metal Black and Pearly Rose from Q1 2010. The Sony Ericsson Hazel will be available in Superior Black and Passionate Rouge from Q2 2010.

Official Press Release

Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Announced

MikLSP — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 09:53:11 +0000

We all knew it was coming but it’s great to finally have it officially announced with confirmed specs, release date and name for that matter. Sony Ericsson’s first Android offering, the Xperia X10 with 1GHz Snapdragon.

From the Press Release:

XPERIA™ X10 is the flagship phone in a family of phones coming to market during the first half of 2010. The XPERIA™ X10 will be available in Q1 2010.
New UX (user experience) platform lets consumers organise everything and discover more with the most open, human and intuitive user experience yet.

London – November 3 2009 – Sony Ericsson today unveils the XPERIA™ X10, the first phone in a family of phones to deliver a consistent user experience where communication truly becomes entertainment. Building on Sony Ericsson’s entertainment heritage and combining rich graphics with intelligence capabilities, the XPERIA™ X10 introduces a new UX platform that will evolve across the product portfolio and expand over time continuously introducing new features and capabilities.

The Sony Ericsson XPERIA™ X10 at a glance:

Facts:
Size: 119 x 63 x 13 mm
Weight: 135 grams
Phone memory: Up to 1 GB
Memory card support: microSD™
Memory card included: 8 GB
Operating system: Google™ Android Donut, version 1.6
Processor: 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon™ QSD8250

Screen:
262,144 colour TFT touchscreen
4.0 inches
480 x 854 pixels (WVGA)
Scratch-resistant

Availability and versions:
Networks
UMTS HSPA 900/1700/2100
GSM GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900
UMTS HSPA 800/1900/2100
GSM GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900
Available in selected markets in Q1 2010

Colour:
Sensuous Black
Luster White

Camera:
8.1 megapixel camera
Up to 16x digital zoom
Auto focus
Intelligent face recognition features
Geo tagging
Image and video stabilizer
Photo and video light
Send to web (photo and video upload)
Smile detection
Touch focus
Video recording
Recent shot tray

Music:
Album art
Bluetooth™ stereo (A2DP)
Media player
Music tones (MP3/AAC)
PlayNow™
TrackID™

Web:
Bookmarks
Google™ search (from standby)
Web feeds
WebKit web browser

Communication:
Sony Ericsson Timescape™
Speakerphone
Vibrating alert

Messaging:
Conversations
Email
Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync®
Picture messaging (MMS)
Predictive text input
Text messaging (SMS)

Design:
Auto rotate
Gesture control
Picture wallpaper
Touchscreen

Entertainment:
3D games
Media browser
Infinite button
Video streaming
Video viewing
YouTube™

Organiser:
Alarm clock
Calculator
Calendar
Flight mode
Infinite button
Office suite
Phone book with dialer
World clock

Location-based services:
A-GPS
Google Maps™
Wisepilot™ turn-by-turn navigation* (free trial version)
*The service may not be available in every market. For more information, go to www.sonyericsson.wisepilot.com

Connectivity:
3.5 mm audio jack
Bluetooth™ technology
Micro USB connector
Synchronisation
USB support
Wi-Fi™

Preloaded applications:
Sony Ericsson Timescape™
Sony Ericsson Mediascape
Sony Ericsson Home with clock widget
Sony Ericsson Sync
Android Market™ Client
Gmail™
Google Calendar™
Google Maps™ with Street View
Google Media Uploader
Google phone-top search
Google search widget
Google Talk™
Google Voice Search™
Network Location Provider
Set-up Wizard
YouTube™

Accessories:
In-Box:
XPERIA™ X10
Battery
Stereo portable handsfree
8 GB microSD™ card
Micro USB cable for charging, synchronisation and file transfer
User documentation

Optional:
Hi-Fi Wireless Headset with FM Radio MW600
Car Charger AN300
Screen Protector ET902

Yes, the 1GHz Snapdragon is there but the rumored 32GB ROM is only 1GB with an 8GB microSD, though that’s enough for me.

Interestingly the Android version is listed as 1.6 though I’m sure the 2.0 upgrade will be there as soon as it can be. There seems to be plenty of SE customisation too with things like SE Mediascape and Timescape™ as well as the custom UI we’ve already seen so much of. Notice also that the Press Release starts off by saying this is the flagship of a family of phones coming in 2010! Can’t wait to see SE’s other Android babies!

Here’s a couple of videos from SE for you to enjoy:

So start saving, you know you want one! And meanwhile check out the shiny new Product Page

Cheers,

Mik