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Sony Ericsson’s newest flagship phone isn’t the Xperia X3 but the Xperia X10, the company’s first Google Android-running smartphone. It will begin rolling out in the first quarter of 2010 and find its way across the world, “including Japan,” the company announced Nov. 3, within the first half of the year.
The Xperia X10 will also usher in a new line of phones that will launch in the first half of the year and, like the Xperia 10, meld communications with Sony Ericsson’s entertainment heritage.
Dominated by a 480- by 854-pixel WVGA touchscreen, the Xperia X10 features a platform called UX, which is built on top of Android’s open OS and creates a unique a way for users to interact with media and communications, particularly through applications called Timescape and Mediascape.
Timescape manages all of the user’s communications with a friend, combining emails, photos, texts and even Facebook and Twitter information related to that person – seemingly behaving much like the MotoBlur capability on Motorola’s “sociable” new Cliq smartphone, which also runs Android.
Mediascape, similarly, gathers together music, photos and videos from multiple sources and presents them in an easy-to-interact-with way. Sony Ericsson describes Timescape and Mediascape as having integrated “intelligence capabilities,” which enables Mediascape, for example, to recognize up to five faces in a photo and associate that photo with other information relating to those friends.
“The Xperia X10 is a fantastic example of our [make/believe] philosophy because we are pushing the boundaries of what is possible and demonstrating that anything consumers can imagine, we can make possible,” said Rikko Sakaguchi, Sony Ericsson’s executive vice president and chief creation officer, in a statement.
“With the X10, we are raising the bar we have set ourselves with entertainment-rich phones like Aino and Satio by making communication more fun and playful, multiplying an enriching opportunities to connect,” Sakaguchi added.
Acknowledging that Sony Ericsson would continue to pursue this course, Bert Nordberg, president of Sony Ericsson, stated, “The Xperia X10 and the family of phones launching in the first half of 2010 underpin our commitment to an open and multi-platform strategy that maximizes choice for the consumer and delivers the best possible consumer experience.”
The Xperia X10 measures 4.7 by 2.5 by 0.5 inches, weighs 4.8 ounces and is compatible with GSM/GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900 and UMTS/HSPA 900/1700/2100 networks.
There’s a 8.1-megapixel camera with flash, video recording, smile detection and, among other features, digital zoom up to 16 times. Connectivity options include WiFi and Bluetooth, and there’s additionally A-GPS , Google Maps, USB support and a full HTML browser. Email, Exchange Active Sync, SMS and MMS are supported, and media and music players are among its considerable features.
The X10 comes with an 8GB microSD card that’s upgradeable to 16GB, as well as 1GB of in-phone memory – though Sony Ericsson notes that “actual free memory may vary due to phone pre-configuration.”
The Xperia X10 will be available in Luster White and Sensuous Black, though pricing, and more specific launch details, such as carrier partners, have yet to be announced.