Sony Xperia X10 Users Finally Get to Taste an Old Eclair, Android 2.1

Consumers spent Tuesday morning bashing Sony Ericsson and AT&T for announcing today that it has begun upgrading Xperia X10 phones to Android 2.1, or "Eclair"�the version of Android launched in January 2010.

"WOW!!! And you guys are actually excited to announce this. SE has just lost the plot," wrote one user at Sony Ericsson's blog.

On Tuesday, Sony Ericsson announced the manual update to Android 2.1 in a blog post: "We couldn't be more excited to bring you the news we have for you today. After much hard-work, we are happy to announce that the Android 2.1 upgrade will be available for AT&T XperiaTM X10 customers in the US starting Tuesday, May 31. We can't thank you enough for your patience."

The announcement was met with more sarcasm than the usual tech post, with responses like "Thats great news...everybody open up a bottle of campaign (sic) and lets celebrate this!!se you are a joke!!and a bad one!!" and "No wonder why sony always get hacked, good luck with this."

Xperia X10 users in the U.S. have reason to be annoyed. Android 2.1 is a minor platform update that Google launched in January 2010. The update gives Xperia X10 devices 720p HD video capture, multi-touch support, continuous autofocus on the camera, face detection during video capture, and expanded homescreen support. Click here to download instructions for manually upgrading your phone.

Sony Ericsson can't be blamed entirely for the holdup. In fact, it first announced the upgrade last November for users in Europe and Australia. AT&T had "no comment" on the U.S. delay.

According to Android Developers' May stats, only 24.5 percent of all smartphones still run Android 2.1, a vast improvement from last November when the figure was 77 percent. Since then 70.2 percent of all smartphones have been upgraded to Android 2.2 (Froyo) and above.

In the U.S., the Xperia X10 series launched in August through AT&T and with an outdated version of Android, 1.6.

PCmag

Sony Ericsson says Xperia Play safe from PSN hacks

The so-called PlayStation phone, or Xperia Play, hasn't been affected by the recent PlayStation Network outage, Sony Ericsson announced on Thursday. "Sony and Sony Ericsson data reside on different servers," a spokesman for the company said. The handset will get its own online network, dubbed PlayStation Suite, later this year.

The issue with the PSN outage will present a challenge and an opportunity, analyst Neil Mawston told Reuters. It will need to overcome the negativity stemming from the event, but also have a chance to learn from it and make its own network ultra-secure.

The PSN breach hit 77 million gamers and potentially exposed personal, though not financial, information to unknown hackers. A matching intrusion at SOE added put another 24 players at risk.

The PlayStation brand is being expanded, with the Android-powered Xperia Play the first example of this undertaking. PlayStation Suite, a platform to run PS1, original, and eventually PS2 games, should eventually reach devices from outside companies and will need only to meet certain hardware requirements.

Electronista

Sony Ericsson makes next-gen Xperia mini, mini pro official

Sony Ericsson used a special event on Thursday to at last confirm the second generation of its smallest Android smartphones. The touch-only Xperia mini and QWERTY slider Xperia mini pro are both much closer to full-size smartphones and both pack 1GHz Snapdragon processors, larger three-inch 320x480 screens, and five-megapixel cameras with 720p movie making. Android 2.3 carries over from the high-end phones and has been tweaked to make better use of the screen space than on the X10 minis, allowing as many as 16 apps launchable from hot corners on the home screen.

Also new is tighter Facebook integration that makes relevant parts of the social network available from music, photos, contacts, and calendars.

Either phone should get about 30 percent longer battery life than before, moving up to 4.5 hours of 3G talk on the Xperia mini and 5.5 hours on the mini pro. They come with a 2GB microSD card but can take up to 32GB.

Shipments won't start until the summer, although Sony Ericsson promises that either Xperia mini will come in a choice of four colors.

Electronista

The Sony Ericsson Xperia Neo Full Specifications

Sony Ericsson Xperia Neo full specifications:

• Operating system: Google� Android 2.3 (Gingerbread)
• Processor: 1 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon� MSM8255
• Phone memory: Up to 320 MB
• Memory card support: microSD�, up to 32 GB
• Memory card included: 8GB microSD�
• Talk time GSM/GPRS: Up to 6 hrs 55 min
• Standby time GSM/GPRS: Up to 430 hrs
• Size: 116 x 57 x 13 mm
• Weight: 126 grams
• Talk time UMTS: Up to 7 hrs
• Standby time UMTS: Up to 400 hrs
• Music listening time: Up to 31 hrs
• Video playback time: Up to 7 hrs 25 min
• UMTS HSPA 900, 2100 GSM GPRS/EDGE 850, 900, 1800, 1900
• UMTS HSPA 800, 1900, 2100 GSM GPRS/EDGE 850, 900, 1800, 1900

According to GSM Association Battery Life Measurement Technique. Battery performance may vary depending on network conditions and configurations, and phone usage. Networks

source

Hands-on with Sony Ericsson's Xperia Pro

Sony Ericsson had two phones besides the Xperia Play to show off at its event, headlined by the Xperia Pro. The device is a messaging-first phone intended for both frequent texters and workers with a sliding QWERTY keyboard that works intelligently. Popping open the keyboard will automatically queue up key events, such as replying to an e-mail message or typing out a message to a friend, Facebook or elsewhere at a new home screen widget.

Some apps themselves have been heavily customized to take advantage of the wider screen. E-mail now behaves much like it does on Android 3.0 or even an iPad with a customizable split view to show both the message list and the current message. Calendaring works the same way and shows both an overview of the month as well as the most upcoming events.

The phone has many of the same features as the Xperia Arc and Play, including a 480x854 screen, a 1GHz Snapdragon processor and Android 2.3 customized with the new Timescape UI. It borrows Sony's back-illuminated, CMOS based Exmor R sensor to better handle shooting photos in low light. HDMI output lets it show HD video and photos at closer to full detail.

Sony Ericsson is planning to launch the Xperia Pro in late spring and is planning a worldwide release, although it didn't name any carriers. Every version will come with an office suite to get business users started.

We tried the Xperia Pro ourselves in Barcelona and came back impressed with it as arguably Sony Ericsson's best phone so far for those who don't care about gaming. While the specifications are much the same as for other phones in the lineup, the keyboard was impressive both in feel and speed. We usually prefer good on-screen keyboards for speed, but we could type virtually as quickly here. The keys have a short but tactile feel and are well-spaced; unlike some phones, the top key row isn't blocked by the screen area and lets you treat all keys equally.

The smart keyboard is a definite seller if you message often. There's not much mystery to it, but as long as you remember that it exists, it can dramatically speed up how quickly you respond to an e-mail or text. We didn't have an opportunity to try the split views on mail and calendaring first hand, but we did get a much better video demo that showed what you'd hope for. Those who work in landscape mode will like the multitasking. There's not much of the mail list or message visible, however, so it's not for those who need to rapidly delete a large volume of mail.

As with the Xperia Play, our issues aren't major, but they do focus on software. Timescape can bog down in the pinch on the home screen, for example, and occasionally in some widgets. The contact carousel also still feels like a visual gimmick rather than a permanent addition. Even so, we're inclined at this early stage to recommend it as a text hound's first pick.

by electronista.com