Sony Ericsson is happy to help you if you are in search of localised keyboard mapping information to develop your own ROM. On their developer blog, they have added the keyboard variants of Xperia pro and Xperia mini pro to those who are interested in developing region specific custom ROMs. So, if you’re one among them, it’s essential to make sure that your ROM handles the physical keyboard corresponding to the region you are developing it for. ie, your ROM should support the special characters or extra keys if your region specific keyboard demands it.

Sony Ericsson welcomes your feedback and queries regarding this and the developers out there are willing to help you achieve your goal on developing your own ROM.

For more information on the keyboard layout and to get support from the Sony Ericsson team, visit their developer blog.

Interested in spending time on creating apps or extensions for the Sony Ericsson Smart Accessories?

The Smart Extension SDK (v1.01) is available for download.

Note: The new version of LiveWare manager version is now available on Android Market. Please install this before installing the emulator in the SDK. If you have already installed the emulator, you will need to re-install it when you have installed the new version of LiveWare manager. The emulator will only work with LiveWare manager version 3.1.13 and onwards.

Source: developerworld

The upcoming smartphone from Sony might get the name Xperia Sola. It’s contradictory to the single alphabet naming procedure of Sony that we saw in Xperia S and the rumored Xperia U and Xperia P. Xperia Sola has been trademarked with OHIM and USPTO. These are the trademarking offices of EU and United States respectively.

As you might have guessed, there are no details about the specifications of the phone or any pictures available; may be we’ll hear something about it in the MWC 2012. If you’re interested to know more about the other rumored handsets, it’s here.

USPTO

OHIM

Source: Xperiablog

“Find out what’s new and what’s next!”

It’s evident that more phones will be announced. A couple of days back we reported about what to expect from Sony in the event. You can get an idea of what could possibly be the next set of smartphones from the company.

source: Xperiablog

Arc S delivers a better snap in low light and normal light conditions. Just see it yourself.

Xperia arc S Samples                                                                                   Xperia S Samples

Source: Xperiablog

Sony announced Kazuo Hirai has been appointed as President and Chief Executive Officer of Sony Corporation from April 1 2012. Howard Stringer, currently CEO and President, will become Chairman of the Board of Directors.

With Sony struggling in the market, facing extreme competition from the other tech giants, it would be a tough task for the new leader. Anyway, it’s evident from the take over of Sony Ericsson that Sony is eyeing on the smartphone market for the next couple of years and hence to regain the number one position in the tech arena.

Comment from Sir Howard Stringer

“Three years ago, I started to work with the Board on succession plans, and in February, 2009 we named a new generation of leaders to be my management team. Among them was Kaz Hirai, who had distinguished himself through his work in the PlayStation® and networked entertainment businesses. Kaz is a globally focused executive for whom technology and the cloud are familiar territory, content is highly valued, and digital transformation is second nature. I believe his tough-mindedness and leadership skills will be of great benefit to the company and its customers in the months and years ahead. I look forward to helping Kaz in every way I can so that succession leads inevitably to success. It was my honor to recommend him to the Board for the positions of President and CEO, because he is ready to lead, and the time to make this change is now.”

Comment from Kazuo Hirai

“As challenging as times are for Sony now, were it not for the strong leadership of Sir Howard Stringer these past seven years, we would have been in a much more difficult position. I am grateful to Sir Howard and to the Board for their confidence in me, and I look forward to working with everyone at Sony more closely than ever before to build a strong future for our customers, shareholders, partners and employees. The path we must take is clear: to drive the growth of our core electronics businesses – primarily digital imaging, smart mobile and game; to turn around the television business; and to accelerate the innovation that enables us to create new business domains. The foundations are now firmly in place for the new management team and me to fully leverage Sony’s diverse electronics product portfolio, in conjunction with our rich entertainment assets and growing array of networked services, to engage with our customers around the world in new and exciting ways.”

Source: Sony Press release

Sony Ericsson announced a new accessory for music lovers called Music Lover’s Kit MK200. The company claims that its Sony Monitor Headphones MH830 deliver powerful, high quality sound and are now enhanced with a handy call-handling remote. It’s also possible to share the music with friends by simply connecting the Sony Ericsson Music Cable MC100 to the stereo. The headphone is Closed-type supra-aural and have a 30mm driver. It’s compatible with almost all Sony Ericsson Androids and also works with most 3.5mm phones and devices.

It’s available in two colours; Black and Army Gray. No information about the price and availability.

Source: Sony Ericsson

It is the first day of february and I thought of reminding you all about the major event of this month. It’s the MWC 2012 which is to commence from 27 February 2012 in Barcelona. So, what to expect from Sony? New Xperias? Yes, it’s evident from this invitation letter from Sony Ericsson:

“Find out what’s new and what’s next! Join us at our Press Conference at Mobile World Congress for the latest news on our Xperia smartphone portfolio and strategy.”

There are rumours about some phones that would be announced by Sony. There are no official statements regarding any of those phones but we get a lot of details in the form of leaked pictures and benchmark results. We have reported them here and to them who had no time to look into it, I’d like to gather everything here.

Among the rumored phones, the most desirable and eye catching one is the LT22i ‘Nypon’ (Xperia P). It’s one among the phones expected to be announced in the event.

LT22i ‘Nypon’ Specsheet:

• 1.0 GHz Dual-Core Processor
• ST-Ericsson NovaThor U8500 Platform
• 1GB RAM
• 4.0-inch (540 x 960 resolution) display
• 8.1MP (1080p video recording) Exmor R back-illuminated sensor with LED Flash
• Gingerbread (2.3.7)

Another interesting phone is the MT27i ‘Pepper’.

MT27i ‘Pepper’ Specsheet:

• 1GHz dual-core processor
• ARM Mali-400 MP GPU ST-Ericsson chipset
• 5MP camera
• 3.7-inch (480×854) display
• Sealed battery

Yet another one with some decent configuration and is highly expected to be announced in the event is the ST25i ‘Kumquat’. (Xperia U)

ST25i ‘Kumquat’ Specsheet:

• 1GHz dual-core processor
• 3.5-inch qHD display with Bravia Engine
• 5-megapixel rear camera with Exmor R, 720p HD video recording
• Gingerbread (Ice Cream Sandwich update later)

Also, we have the details of a mid range phone which could be possibly the successor of Xperia X8; that is the ST21i ‘Tapioca’.

ST21i ‘Tapioca’ Specsheet:

• 800MHz processor
• 3.2-inch display with 320 x 480 pixel resolution
• 512MB RAM, 4GB ROM
• 3.2MP camera
• Android Gingerbread

And then we have a list of another 6 phones with their price and expected launch dates, but we know little about their hardware or software. We don’t have any pictures either.

Also, there were talks about LT28at/LT28i; the ‘at’ version for US and ‘i’ for the rest of the world. Sadly there is no mentioning of this phone in the price list and hence concluded that it doesn’t exist or it’s already released as the Xperia ion (for the US) and Xperia S (Worldwide).

For now these are all rumors and what is real is the event itself and the fact that Sony is a part of it. On the other hand there are no reasons why you shouldn’t believe the existence of these phones. Sadly, you have to wait 25 days more to get to a conclusion.

Most of us don’t bother this. Once the phones are launched, we analyse and judge it. But for the real hardcore Sony Ericsson fans out there, the wait is painful, especially when they loose their sleep on “Will that be a dual core…?” or “Will it be affordable?” or “Will it have a nice cam” and so on!

Leaked Pictures of Pepper, Kumquat and Nypon:

Heard of the Sony tablets? We are not going to discuss anything about the tablets here, but I guess you noticed the names,Tablet S and Tablet P. It looks like since the the take over of Sony Ericsson, Sony decided to follow the same single alphabet naming procedure with their smartphones as well. The first Sony Xperia was named Xperia S (release in March 2012). There are rumors about ST25i ‘Kumquat‘ to get the name Xperia U and now we have another. This time it is LT22i ‘Nypon’.

Details emerge from the same source; and that is the Indonesian Telecoms Regulatory body. They claim that the LT22i Nypon will be called Xperia P on release.

LT22i ‘Nypon’ details:

• 1.0 GHz Dual-Core Processor
• ST-Ericsson NovaThor U8500 Platform
• 1GB RAM
• 4.0-inch (540 x 960 resolution) WhiteMagic display
• 8.1MP (1080p video recording) Exmor R back-illuminated sensor with LED Flash
• Android Gingerbread (2.3.7)

Source: Xperiablog

Play.com has delayed the release of the device which was previously decided to be on 30 January and the new date is scheduled to be 13 February. Another retailer, Clove confirms their release date to be in the first week of March with the stocks arriving on 6th or 7th March; that is just after the MWC 2012.

Xperia S

The new flagship of Sony Mobile Communications with a 1.5GHz dual core processor, 12MP camera capable or shooting at 1080p, 720 x 1280 HD display (4.3 inches) with Mobile Bravia Engine, NFC enabled and is PlayStation™ certified. The phone will run on Android 2.3 initially and will be upgraded to ICS later.

Source: gsmarena