Has time flown by that fast? Time really has a way of creeping up on us and showing us all how many changes can happen in a span of twelve months. For those wondering how this year has been for the smart phone industry, here’s a quick rundown of all the big highlights that has passed us by.
First off, the year started out with a bang that was the launch of the Google Nexus One. This is the first Google branded handset and also showed off what the Android mobile platform could really achieve. Despite the relatively slow sales of the device, Google succeeded in setting a new bar for smart phone technology. Phones such as the HTC Desire, XPERIA X10, Galaxy S and others soon followed the path that Google paved.
Microsoft made the biggest surprise at the Mobile World Congress by giving us all a teaser of the Windows Phone 7 mobile platform –with none other than Andy Rubin giving the demonstration. As awed as we were, the actual release of the platform this October proved to be the real surprise for all.
Apple once again managed to antagonize plenty of folks in the tech industry. Mostly starting with the whole fuss with Adobe; after the iOS 4.0 SDK rules came out, it became pretty obvious that Steve Jobs was cutting off all possibilities of Flash support –and thus encouraging Adobe to support other platforms instead. The whole Apple fiasco did not end there. Despite the extremely successful sales of the iPhone 4, the device’s launch was marred by the fact that the antenna on the handset was very faulty.
Nokia on the other hand did not have much of a good year. The N8 handset was delayed for several months (from April to October) and lost Nokia plenty of market interest and of course, sales. The sudden lack of support for the Symbian OS by Samsung and Sony Ericsson also affected the Finnish phone maker badly as well.
Posts Tagged ‘Sony-Ericsson-XPERIA-X10’
This Year in Mobile Phones
Friday, December 17th, 2010Mobile News: HTC Sense and More
Monday, November 22nd, 2010
If you constantly lose track of where your smart phone is, finding it in a cluttered room or a busy office can be quite the challenge. Fortunately, a new service has been created by HTC for its Desire users that will allow them to easily make their phones beep, ring and more.
The Sense cloud based service also functions as remote access portal and security tool. This service allows users to easily get data from the handset for backups and at the same time, allows users to lock or even memory wipe the handset’s information. Many business companies will certainly appreciate having this feature –for cases when employees accidentally lose phones and subsequently, important private data in the device.
HTC is also launching the Merge Android handset pretty soon. While the basic 800MHz CPU and 5 mega pixel camera are nothing too innovative, the device does come with a slide out, physical QWERTY keyboard that allows users to easily type messages. The device has yet to be confirmed for a UK launch.
Motorola’s Milestone 2 is going to be available SIM-free in the UK as of next week. As one would expect from the Milestone series, this handset will sport a slide out QWERTY keyboard. Naturally, the device will have better specs than the original Milestone; a 1GHz CPU, a 5 mega pixel camera and more. The only drawback to this new handset is that it lacks the ragged, edgy look of the older Milestone. Instead, the Milestone 2 has a sleeker and smoother appearance.
O2 and T-Mobile UK have announced that the Android Éclair update for the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 will soon be available. The expected launch date is next week –which means that X10 owners will finally be able to update their aging Android 1.6 Donut operating system. So far, it has not been confirmed when the Android 2.2 Froyo will be available for the handset.
The Best Handset Deals at a Glance
Tuesday, October 19th, 2010
Depending on which network provider you prefer there’s a wide range of handset to choose from. But there are just some combinations that get pretty hard to beat. Combining smart phone features, a great mobile platform and a provider that compliments the handset may seem like a tricky bit of work, so we have taken all the guesswork out of the equation to provide you with our top picks for tariff plans.
When it comes to the upcoming handsets, Samsung always manages to come up with very exciting offerings. With the Windows Phone 7 mobile platform coming in the next few days, their smart phone offering serves as one of the most compelling tech treats: the Omnia 7.
Naturally, what makes this phone stand out is the super AMOLED capacitive touch screen technology that was first seen with the Wave and later, with the Galaxy S. The resolution and quality of the 4 inch display rivals that of Apple’s retina technology –at a much lower price. Grab the Samsung Omnia 7 handset when it comes out at 25 GBP per month for two years under T-Mobile UK.
But if the upcoming Windows Phone 7 is not your thing and something familiar might be more suitable, then nothing would beat a great Android smart phone –and in that end, we have a couple of great choices.
Sony Ericsson’s XPERIA X10 and the HTC Desire are among the top picks for Android smart phones this time around. The X10 may seem a little underpowered with the lack of a 2.2 update. But at least it already runs on the 2.1 Éclair (it originally came out with 1.6 Donut). Grab the X10 under Orange Mobile for 27.50 GBP.
The HTC Desire comes out at a great 35 GBP deal under MVNO 3 UK. This iconic Android brings a 3.7 inch AMOLED touch screen with plenty of great media capabilities.
Froyo Delayed on Galaxy S, XPERIA X10 Gets Éclair
Monday, October 18th, 2010
A bit of sad news for Samsung Galaxy S owners in the UK; apparently, the Android update for the system has been taken down and will not be launched until another week. But Samsung has officially stated that the firmware update is not due to be released in the first place. They are still in the middle of testing and next week is their intended launch date.
While it may seem like an over-reaction to a pre-mature posting of the Froyo on Samsung’s open source site, Galaxy S owners have to be forgiven for their fervor as the wait for an update has been pretty long.
Originally, when the Froyo was announced much earlier this year, the OS update was supposed to arrive for the Galaxy S within a month after the HTC Desire was updated. As it turned out, the Desire update has been available for quite some time –leaving Galaxy S owners wondering when their turn would actually come.
Simon Stanford, current director of Samsung Mobile UK has stated that “In the UK market, we are currently in final stages with our testing to ensure the upgrade is as smooth an experience as possible. Further information in relation to roll-out will be available early next week.”
In other Android related news, the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 is getting an update to the Android 2.1 Éclair. While this news bit would have been much more impressive had it been a 2.2 Froyo update, SE owners are happy nonetheless. The X10 came out packed with 1.6 Donut, making the XPERIA series fall far behind its competitors when it comes to having an updated OS.
Despite this factor, Sony still managed to more than enough handset to make some of their devices –particularly the X10 Mini Pro and the X10 Mini become some of the most successful handsets in the UK.
XPERIA X10 Froyo Update Delayed and the LG Town C300 Now Released
Friday, September 24th, 2010
It seems that Sony Ericsson XPERIA owners are going to have to wait for quite some time before their devices are updated to a newer version of the Android operating system.
There are several XPERIA Android phones; the XPERIA X10, the X10 Mini, X10 Mini Pro and the XPERIA X8. All of the phones use the older Android 1.6 Donut. While the platform itself is pretty functional, stable and reliable, it is missing out on many core features that are present in the newer 2.1 Éclair –most particularly, support for the 2.2 Froyo update.
The worst part of it all is that Sony’s smart phones are not cheap devices, these are pretty expensive devices with some cutting edge hardware, but in terms of the OS being used, these phones are on the lower end of the Android food chain. If the Timescape user interface was not as good as it is, then Sony Ericsson would have had to rethink their Android series.
Anyway, it seems that instead of getting the Éclair update this September, the phones will be getting updates on November instead. With that late a release date, Sony has yet to announce a tentative release date for an actual Froyo 2.2 update post-November. This means that the wait for Sony users has moved from long to indefinite.
In other mobile phone news, LG has finally made the Town C300 handset available to consumers. This BlackBerry style handset is a messaging based 2G device. In terms of form, the lower portion of the phone seems a little too curved to be gripped properly when typing, so expect a bit of an adjustment period when using this device. Spec-wise, the handset seems to reflect a lot of the features present in the original GT350 (which as the first Town series device).
Sony Ericsson Brings Android Éclair this September
Thursday, September 2nd, 2010It is always a great thing when mobile phone makers live up to their promises. More often than not, most of us in the mobile tech industry wait for long time for these to be fulfilled and seeing these confirmed is always a great thing.
Anyway, Sony Ericsson announced that the Android 2.1 update for its mobile phones will be available this month of September and that owners of the XPERIA X10, X10 Mini, X10 Mini Pro and the X8 need only wait for a few more days before the Android OS gets boosted from the original 1.6 Donut version.
For those not familiar with the Sony Ericsson devices (or have opted to wait out until Android updates are available), here is a quick rundown of all four mobile phones.
First on the list is none other than the original XPERIA X10. This is a high end Android smart phone and is basically the device that has set the tone for most of the high end devices we see today. Announced late last year, the X10 was confirmed to be the first Android smart phone to use a 1GHz Snapdragon core processor. It was also one of the first to sport a massive 4 inch TFT touch screen display as well.
Anyone looking for a more budget friendly alternative, the X10 Mini and X10 Mini Pro devices are always recommended. As one would guess from the name, these two devices are much smaller than the original X10. Both also have watered down specs while the Mini Pro has the slight advantage of having a slide out QWERTY keyboard for those who love to type.
Lastly, the XPERIA X8 (also named as the X8 Shakira), is basically the handset that is between the X10 and the X10 Mini in terms of overall specs. While being more of a mid range device than a high end phone, the X8 still provides the user with plenty of functionality.
Sony Ericsson’s New Lineup Brings the Company to Life
Monday, July 19th, 2010
According to reports, Sony Ericsson’s Q2 sales are showing a significant sales increase for the mobile phone maker. The results are showing that the company has made over 31 million Euros in the second quarter, pre-tax. Compared to the major loss of over 283 million Euros during the same period last year, this is a definitive increase.
Of course, many point towards the new lineup of handsets as the main reason why the Japanese Swedish phone maker is finally back on track -and we certainly agree.
The biggest offering from Sony Ericsson so far is the XPERIA X10 Android smart phone. The device brings together a couple of very important features: the Android OS and a Qualcomm 1GHz CPU. While the Nexus One was the first to sport the combination, Sony Ericsson had made their announcement about the X10’s specs pretty early on.
The X10 Mini and Mini Pro handsets are not as powerful as the original XPERIA device, but they do come with a much smaller form factor and of course, a smaller price tag. The Mini Pro also comes with an additional slide out QWERTY keyboard. Latest to be released in the series, the XPERIA X8, is a great balance between the X10 Mini and the original X10 mobile phone.
Aside from Android devices, Sony Ericsson also has several devices that use other operating systems. The Satio, Aino and Kita handsets were originally released last year, but still managed to be great devices this year as well. Other Symbian handsets such as the Vivaz and Vivaz Pro are also successful.
Sony Ericsson has also been adding new phones to the Greenheart series; the Elm and Hazel handsets announced last 2009 are now about to be released, along with new eco friendly mobile phones such as the Aspen, Cedar and more.
XPERIA X10 is Getting a Custom Software Update from Sony
Friday, July 2nd, 2010
Since the Google Android operating system will not be available for the XPERIA X10 any time soon, the phone maker/developer has made their own custom update that is designed to improve the overall performance of the hybrid OS-UI that is being used on the Android smart phone.
The XPERIA X10 comes with the Android 1.6 Donut and the Timescape and Mediascape user interface that has been developed by Sony. Timescape is a particularly fun tool to have since it creates an easy to view lineup of contacts and their recent activities and updates –you can even connect it to Facebook and other social networking tools. The list is arranged in a chronological order so you can see who has the most recent updates too.
Anyway, many Android smart phone owners are already waiting for the 2.2 Froyo update. But since the XPERIA X10 only runs 1.6 Donut, it still needs to get upgraded to the 2.1 Éclair before it can move to Froyo. This has put the Sony Ericsson X10 smart phones behind other Android devices in terms of having an updated operating system
The new update from Sony is not designed to change the Android operating system, but it will tweak the existing custom user interface being used in the handset in order to improve the performance. According to the official press release, the new update has been designed to improve the overall performance of the handset. In detail, there are small changes to the UI for the camera and for the messaging menus.
For those who missed out on the spec details for the XPERIA X10, this high end Android smart phone comes with a massive 4 inch TFT capacitive touch screen, an 8 mega pixel camera, a 1GHz Qualcomm QSD8250 Snapdragon CPU, integrated social networking and a 1500 mAh battery.
Sony Ericsson’s New Smart Phone is a WP7 Handset
Sunday, June 27th, 2010
It is already understood that Sony Ericsson is working on a Windows Phone 7 handset, but it is always welcome news to hear any form of progress –even if all we are getting is a name. Despite the well established fact that the joint venture is one leaky ship in terms of news, they have managed to keep a pretty tight lid on the progress of the development of the first WP7 SE handset. So far, the only thing they are letting the public know is the name: Sony Ericsson Jolie.
Considering the feminine name being given to the device, many can assume that this is simply a production name for the product (much like the XPERIA Rachel and Shakira), and that the phone will be given a commercial product name once it is ready to be launched. The practice has been done by Sony openly with many of their most recent phones –there is no reason to believe that the Jolie is any different.
As for what kind of handset the Jolie may be, many are still guessing. The most common accepted theory is that the device will be a type 2 chassis (in terms of the requirements that Microsoft has set for Windows Phone 7 devices), which means that SE’s smart phone will be packing a slide out QWERTY keyboard. The only other confirmed type 2 handset for WP7 is the upcoming LG Panther (which has been revealed to the public not soon after the OS was shown off at the Mobile World Congress last February).
The Jolie is the latest device to be added to the long line of upcoming Sony Ericsson devices coming this year. The lineup already consists of several impressive devices such as the X10 Mini Pro, the XPERIA X8, the W150 Yendo Walkman phone, the Sony Ericsson Greenheart Cedar and a still unnamed Android handset that comes with a 5.5 inch touch screen display.
Android Froyo is Finally Out
Sunday, June 27th, 2010
Hot on the heels of the Apple iPhone 4 release, Google is also launching the full, open sourced Android 2.2 Froyo to many of their users.
Of course, not all handsets can get the update. According to developers, the update to the latest version of the Android may be complete, but compatibility issues with various handsets will limit how many users can actually use the latest version of the operating system.
And yes, “open sourced” is the big keyword here which means that many developers will have their knuckles cracking away at all the new features and capabilities that have been opened up. Despite the fact that the SDK for the new Android OS has already been released earlier, this latest announcement will certainly bring more app makers working on new Android applications.
This means that owners of Android handsets will certainly have plenty of new app and features to look forward to. According to Google, they plan to start standardizing the Android experience and once version 3.0 Gingerbread comes out, the number of updates will start decreasing in favor of cross system patches.
Just recently, Adobe announced that their Flash Player version 10.1 update for the Android operating system is already available. However, since the player required an installation of Android 2.2 Froyo, only the Nexus One was able to make use of the Flash support. With the release of Android 2.2 for general users, expect to see more people able to access Flash content on their smart phones.
In the meanwhile, owners of high end Android smart phones are still awaiting the individual by-manufacturer updates for version 2.1 to update to version 2.2. Sony Ericsson’s XPERIA X10 owners on the other hand, have a long wait ahead of them as the device is only using 1.6 Donut. The X10 will be update to version 2.1 later this year while a 2.2 update is still not yet confirmed.