Droid 101

Sony Ericsson’s forthcoming Xperia X- 10 Android phone is really shaping up very nicely. This is truly one of the sexy handsets I have seen in sometime. Xperia X-10 is running the new 2.0 firmware with Sony Ericsson’s new UI to boot. The new Snapdragon processor and 2.0 Firmware is looking to become the fastest Android phone on the market. Not to mention the 8.1 pixel Camera/Video camera is amazing as well. So far it is schedule to be released in the UK first. Well lets hope T-Mobile gets the phone on this side of the pond soon after. Because if they do this just might be my new Android phone! Check out the stats below….

Android 1.6 (Donut)
WVGA screen (480 x 854)
Scratch resistant, 4 inches, capacitive TFT touchsreen
Size: 119 x 63 x 13 mm, 135 grams
1 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon QSD8250 processor
Sony Ericsson Timescape™ & Mediascape™ User Interface2
HSPA
8 Megapixel camera with touchfocus, multipoint-focus, automatic scene detection, smile detection
WVGA video recording
Face recognition on pictures
aGPS
Exchange ActiveSync
3.5mm headset jack, miniUSB connector
1500mAh battery.

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With the hype surrounding the latest and dare I say the greatest Android device to be unveiled by Sony Ericsson today; we all want to know which carriers will get the phone or will Sony Ericsson sell the Xperia X10 as a unlocked device? Our friends over at Android and Me have blessed us with a chart which shows that the phone supports WCDMA/UMTS 1700/2100, which is T-mobile 3G and also UMTS 850/1900 which is AT&T 3G. So lets hope both carriers here in the states get the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10.

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That was quick. Mattias over at the new Sony product blog was kind enough to post a tutorial video of Sony’s Timescape and Mediascape Android applications. We appreciate the demo, but none of our friends Facebook photos look nearly that good. Maybe we need to find some better looking friends.

Any thoughts on the Sony apps?

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We are huge fans of the recently announced XPERIA™ X10 – we’ve waited weeks for the official launch. But one thing that took us aback was the way this Sony video introduces the X10. We were shocked at way the phone is being positioned. The video screams,”This phone is for the BEAUTIFUL people – the young, hip, and fashionable.”

Now, there is nothing wrong with being young, hip or fashionable. Clearly the dozens of Android phones hitting the market over the next 24 months need to be differentiated some how – think HTC Sense, or MOTOs Blur, etc. And this is not out of character for Sony, the VAIO line has always been aimed at the higher end of the PC and laptop market.

However, as a HUGE Sony product fan, I hope that Sony (who needs any revenue that it can find) opens the X10’s customer base beyond the Euro Chic crowd. This is their chance to claim market and mind share of the I-will-never-buy-an-iPhone smartphone market.

Sony, please be bright enough (aggressive enough) to market your Andriod products to the masses – the industry needs your help, we need your intellectual property. Please don’t pull a Nokia. You did this in the gaming console industry with the Playstation. The Playstation 3 is amazing, the standard for the industry. Let us help you do it again in the Android smartphone space.

What do you think of the way that Sony is positioning the X10?

BTW: Sony, we would love to know more about Timespace and Mediaspace; and if you want to send us an X10 to review feel free…

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Since Droid101 is about helping out our fellow Android users with usability, I thought it would be a good idea to post some information on whats new with the new Eclair 2.0 Platform. Enjoy!!

New User Features

Contacts and accounts

* Multiple accounts can be added to a device for email and contact synchronization, including Exchange accounts. (Handset manufacturers can choose whether to include Exchange support in their devices.)
* Developers can create sync adapters that provide synchronization with additional data sources.
* Quick Contact for Android provides instant access to a contact’s information and communication modes. For example, a user can tap a contact photo and select to call, SMS, or email the person. Other applications such as Email, Messaging, and Calendar can also reveal the Quick Contact widget when you touch a contact photo or status icon.

Email

* Exchange support.
* Combined inbox to browse email from multiple accounts in one page.

Messaging

* Search functionality for all saved SMS and MMS messages.
* Auto delete the oldest messages in a conversation when a defined limit is reached.

Camera

* Built-in flash support
* Digital zoom
* Scene mode
* White balance
* Color effect
* Macro focus

Android virtual keyboard

* An improved keyboard layout to makes it easier to hit the correct characters and improve typing speed.
* The framework’s multi-touch support ensures that key presses aren’t missed while typing rapidly with two fingers.
* A smarter dictionary learns from word usage and automatically includes contact names as suggestions.

Browser

* Refreshed UI with actionable browser URL bar enables users to directly tap the address bar for instant searches and navigation.
* Bookmarks with web page thumbnails.
* Support for double-tap zoom.
* Support for HTML5:
o Database API support, for client-side databases using SQL.

o Application cache support, for offline applications.

o Geolocation API support, to provide location information about the device.

o Calendar

* Agenda view provides infinite scrolling.
* Events indicate the attending status for each invitee.
* Invite new guests to events.

New Platform Technologies
Media Framework

Revamped graphics architecture for improved performance that enables better hardware acceleration.
Bluetooth

* Bluetooth 2.1
* New BT profiles: Object Push Profile (OPP) and Phone Book Access Profile (PBAP)

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One of the wonderful things about Android is that phone manufactures can “skin” their own flavors. Sony, always one to be foreword thinking, has plans to introduce a skin that may just be as user friendly as the iPhone.

Sony’s first Android-powered phone is codenamed the “Rachael” and should arrive early 2010. The walk through below is provide by the Boy Genius Report.

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