sony ericsson xperia x1

Sony Ericsson confirms no official Windows Mobile 6.5 update for the Xperia X1

November 18, 2009 | By Surur

Smashing earlier rumours that suggested an official Windows Mobile 6.5 update for the Xperia X1 will be coming, Sony Ericsson has confirmed the contrary to CNet Asia.

Some owners may be rightfully upset by this, as the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 has been one of the more expensive handsets of recent times, and while ROM’s are available on XDA-Developers they are not blessed with official updated drivers, meaning they would have issues not present in an official release.

The device joins other premium devices such as the HTC Touch HD in not getting updates to the latest version of Microsoft’s mobile OS.

Official Xperia X1 Windows Mobile 6.5 update coming

September 8, 2009 | By Surur

itje, well known XDA-Developer moderator and ROM cook has somewhat put his reputation on the line by claiming he has laid his hands on an official Xperia X1 Windows Mobile 6.5 ROM. He claims this is clearly a precursor to a general Windows Mobile 6.5 release for the now aging handset.

In his words:

Nice little treat for you guys.
I GOT A REAL OFFICIAL 6.5 XPERIA ROM, YES, YOU READ CORRECT…OFFICIAL
The Build in the rom is a older 6.5..but what is important is:
-New XIP (real x1 nk)
-New OEM DRIVERS etc
-Some drivers from x2
-New netcf 3.7 (final)

What do you think? Is a official Windows Mobile 6.5 ROM coming, and with all the cooked ROM’s out there, do we even need it? Let us know in the comments.

Via Pocketnow.com

9

SE Xperia X1 a surprise hit in Korea

July 27, 2009 | By Surur

South Korea has recently reduced their requirement for smartphones to be compliant with its WIPI (wireless Internet platform for interoperability) standard, which has lowered the barrier for entry to many foreign smartphones companies to enter the market.

However, despite efforts, Nokia, Research in Motion (RIM) and HTC have not seen the success hoped for against entrenched local rivals Samsung and LG.

Sony Ericsson, has been the rare success story. The company sold nearly 24,000 units of the Xperia X1 in 3 months through wireless carrier SK Telecom, despite charging a hefty 800,000 won (about $640).

The popularity even forced Samsung to lower the price of its T-Omnia smart phone at one point.

“We can proudly say that Xperia is one of the best smart phones available here ? there is no phone by any other maker that particularly impresses me ? and that there is no technical flaw to the devices,” said Han Youn-hee, the head of Sony Ericsson’s Korean marketing unit in an interview with The Korea Times.

Xperia’s popularity in Korea can be partially explained by the company’s efforts to customize the phone for local users, an area where Sony’s experience in the Korean market certainly helped, Han said.

Xperia and SK Telecom collaborated for nearly a year to develop localized programs for Xperia, which include new “panels” for the phone’s Xpanel home screen. The Xperia X1 was also one of the few phones allowed to be sold with WIFI intact, unlike most of SK Telecom’s stable.

Sony Ericsson, through Sony Korea’s existing network, is offering more than 69 service centers for Xperia users around the country, which gives them a competitive edge over other foreign companies who are developing unflattering reputations for poor after-service.

“Sony products were never about necessity ? the company doesn’t have a reputation for refrigerators or irons. But Sony has always been good at finding value in the things consumers would enjoy having, such as the Walkman, which brought the stereo out of the living room,” Han said.
“This is the point we are trying to deliver through Xperia.”

He declined to say when the company would release its next handset in Korea, although he added that the company expects to have “a few” new phones by this time next year.

Read the full article at KoreanTimes here.

4

More Xperia X2 pictures leaked via XDA

July 21, 2009 | By Surur

The Xperia X2 has been floating around with testers, and along with that comes the inevitable leaks. Nevermind on XDA-Developers has published a set of high quality pictures that exposes the device in all its glory.

Via the BGR.

Time for a quick poll: Which is better looking – the X1 or X2?

[poll id="8"]

Let us know your views below.

8

Xperia X1 finally coming to Rogers Canada

June 18, 2009 | By Surur

According to the BGR, Sony Ericsson’s Xperia X1 is right at this moment winding its way to Rogers phone stores, where the smartphone is expected to be on sale for $250 on a 3 year $45 per month contract.

Whether its worth it when a whole range of newer QWERTY sliders, mostly with larger screens, have just been announced will be up to Rogers subscribers, who may need to wait another year for a similarly powerful device to arrive on their network.

0

Xperia X1 gets official ROM update to R3A

June 1, 2009 | By Surur

One thing one can say about Sony Ericsson, when it comes to the Xperia X1 they keep plugging at it.

Already having released a number of updates over the last 6 months, they have now again released a now ROM update, build R3A, which apparently brings better touch response, a quicker media panel, better texting, a brighter keyboard, better reception and more.

Check your "Update Service" client to install the update now.

Via Coolsmartphone.com

5

Xperia X1a coming to Rogers Canda?

May 26, 2009 | By Surur

The Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 is a much loved handsets by its owners, who appreciate the high resolution screen and metallic styling, but there is no denying the handset has only been a slow burn for Sony Ericsson, especially in North America.

Maybe this is set to change, with The BGR claiming to have inside information, suggesting the handset will see wide release on the Canadian Rogers network on the 9th June, apparently initially only in larger markets.

The device is expected to debut at an introductory promotional 3-year price of $249.99 (to settle at $299.99) and a MSRP between $649 and $749.

With the Touch Pro 2 coming soon, is it too late for the Xperia X1? Let us know in the comments.

9

Video performance of SE Xperia and Asus P565 compared

March 29, 2009 | By Surur

We don’t normally like to re-open old wounds, but we recently saw this video on PDA.pl and found it so striking we had to share it.

The video is a Core Player benchmark running the Matrix trailer.

It is clear the Qualcomm processor is seriously outclassed by the Marvel version. Of course HTC has warned that these comparisons are flawed, as their built-in video player, HTC Album, is hardware accelerated, while Core Player is not, but of course Core Player actually gives you the codec freedom to play downloaded video, which is usually exactly where you need to be able to play full resolution un-optimized video.

Of course tragically it seems the Asus P565 is being phased out by Asus in favour of its Qualcomm powered Garmin partnership, but I suggest if you want to play downloaded video, and you see this device around, its worth buying in favour of all the other legion of Qualcomm powered devices around.

See more benchmarks at PDA.pl here.

6

Xperia Growing Panel pretty cool

March 20, 2009 | By Surur

The Xperia X1 panel development community is pretty small, but occasionally they produce something that’s quite stunning.

The Xperia Growing Panel is one such example. The software, which is an animated display of a garden, is nice all by itself, featuring flowers growing, bees buzzing and butterflies flying about, but more interesting is the fact that all these creatures are tied into some feature or functionality of your phone.

As MSalmank on the Xperiancers blog explains:

As expected the clock at the top-left corner of the panel brings the time & date settings screen. It is the flowers and plants that actually represent different stuff. For instance the middle flower in the screen shot below represents e-mail. When a bud, you have no mail… but when blossomed, you have mail. Not only that, the flowers differ depending on time as well as when the panel is switched. The flower to the right (red bud in the screen shots) represents phone calls. I didn’t have a second phone near me otherwise would have given myself a missed call to see it in action. The flower on the left (yellow one) is SMS. The plant with the purple flowers (right side of the screen) is for phone profiles and the single stem with leaves on the left is for battery. Note in the screen shot below that when I attached the phone to my laptop and started charging the device, the bottom of the battery plant lit up… white sparks rise from the light and travel upwards fading half-way across the plant.

At the bottom of the screen are really small plants — sort of like grass — with white tips. These are hooked with Wi-Fi. When Wi-Fi is turned on and connected to, flowers grow there. The stronger the strength of the signal, the more flowers there will be. Additionally, when you have a meeting in the calendar a butterfly appears on the panel — reported to fly higher when meeting is closer. The mushroom on the screen represents Bluetooth — when activated the mushroom evolves and turns blue.

The phone profile plant wilts its flowers based on volume of the device and chosen profile (for me it only updates/changes the top two flowers). the Battery plant turns from brown to green starting from the top — the more the plant turns green, battery percentage is as less.

I am sure the software has even more features. The animation changes between day and night and even features weather.

To get the Growing Panel for your Xperia download it from this post here. You will need to get both the GrowingPanel and X1 FlashLite cabs.

Source:Xperiancer

7

HTC Touch Pro 2 vs Xperia X1 photo gallery

March 9, 2009 | By Surur

Still with AreaMobile, they have published a gallery of pictures showing the HTC Touch Pro 2 vs the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1.

In some ways the devices are direct competitors, having similar specs (QWERTY slider, WVGA screen), but of course the Xperia appears slimmer and has a much smaller screen than the Touch Pro 2, which is obvious from the pictures published.

However while the Xperia sports a real metal case, the Touch Pro 2 is merely chromed plastic, and AreaMobile.de is not too happy with the hinge mechanism of the Touch Pro 2, despite its much greater angle. Lastly, the missing 3.5mm headphone jack on the larger Touch Pro 2 will be lamented by many.

See the full gallery at AreaMobile.de here.

Thanks Marcus from AreaMobile.de for the tip.

26

New SE Xperia ROM brings 30 fps VGA video to US Xperia X1a

February 25, 2009 | By Surur

The US version of the Xperia X1, the X1a, is crippled when it comes to video recording compared to its European counterpart. only being 10fps VGA video instead of 30 fps. This is related to a Qualcomm patent issue, but of course we could probably not care less about this, and would rather have a fully functional device.

Fortunately it has been discovered that flashing the X1a with the European ROM restores the hidden ability of the Xperia, brining full 30 fps video. To install the latest ROM, download this file, which contains the ROM, plus the tools and instructions to make it happen. Note that ROM flashing always carries the risk of turning your $800 cell phone into a brick.

Source Xperiancer via Pocketnow.com

1

Sony Ericsson Xperia Panels SDK now support OpenGL ES hardware video acceleration

February 25, 2009 | By Surur

It seems Sony Ericsson has not quite given up on the Xperia. In fact more recently they have been quite active in delivering updates, including new panels and even a new ROM.

Today they have released a new version of the Sony Ericsson Beta SDK for Windows Mobile® 6.1 which adds Xperia™ Panels with OpenGL ES support, allowing developers to incorporate a broad set of rendering, texture mapping, special effects and other powerful visualization functions. It also provides a graphics pipeline that allows free access to graphics hardware acceleration on the Xperia X1 phone through the Xperia Panel interface.

This version also ships with new sample code to help programmers get started on their development projects.

Read more and download the update from Sony Ericsson here.

Via Experiancers.com

4

SE Xperia, HTC Touch Pro receive ROM updates

February 24, 2009 | By Surur

In near lock-step the current generation’s two leading Windows Mobile sliders have received ROM updates. Both are rather minor, so it may not be worth the disruption of a hard reset, but of course if you are experiencing the problems fixed by the updates it may be worth it.

For the HTC Touch Pro fixes for the following problems provided:

The display of TouchFLO 3D sometimes may appear cracked.
When taking a picture, the auto focus function may malfunction in some circumstances.
In some circumstances, the preview screen will become black after taking picture.
In some circumstances, the device may hang while loading TouchFLO 3D.
When hanging up a phone call, there may be a delay in the display response.

This is a generic ROM available for the following languages: English (Pan Europe and UK), Italian, Dutch, German, French, Finnish, Portuguese and Spain.

For the Sony Ericsson Xperia the update seems to provide minor fixes and speed improvements.

Get the HTC Touch Pro update here, and the SE Xperia update here.

4