Latest Mobile Phone News

Sony Ericsson announced that its Xperia arc S and Xperia neo V are now available unlocked in the United States from Sony Store locations. The Xperia arc S runs Android 2.3.4 (Gingerbread) and is equipped with a 1.4GHz processor, an 8.1-megapixel camera, a 4.2-inch “Reality” display and support for 3D and 2D sweep panorama photography. The Xperia arc S is available in white, black, blue and silver for $529.99 without a contract. Sony Ericsson’s Xperia neo V also runs Android 2.3.4 (Gingerbread) and has a 3.7-inch display, a 5-megapixel camera and a front-facing camera for video chats. It is available in white, silver and blue for $349.99 unlocked. Both phones will be available from other retailers, such as Newegg, beginning in early December. As a side note, Sony Ericsson also recently announced that its 2011 family of Xperia-branded smartphones will all be updated to Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) at a later date, so both the Xperia arc S and Xperia neo V should receive the update at some point.

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To update the Xperia X10, which was formerly running Android 2.1 Eclair, users need to connect the device to their computers and employ the company’s PC Companion software. Over-the-air updates are so far not available. According to Sony Ericsson, the availability of Gingerbread for user devices “is dependent on operator and/or country,” so it cannot provide an “exact date for when the update will be available for you.” Sony Ericsson released the Xperia X10 last year. The device comes with a 4-inch display and 1GHz processor.

It has an 8.1-megapixel camera and the ability to record 720p HD video. Last May, Sony Ericsson announced plans to offer Eclair on the device, but that update didn’t start rolling out to handsets until October. At the time, Sony Ericsson didn’t plan on bringing Gingerbread to the X10. However, the company said in March that it had “listened to our consumers,” and would be bringing the update to the handset, after all. With the addition of Gingerbread, Xperia X10 owners get Facebook integration across the platform’s applications, the ability to use the device as a Wi-Fi hot spot, and tethering.

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It was a busy week of new reviews, so it was only today that we had time to peruse the Federal Communications Commission’s database of new phones. The list was long, but we pulled together the highlights below. Sony Ericsson and RIM had a lot to offer, with two handsets each. We saw the Xperia Ray, which Sony Ericsson announced last month, and a BlackBerry Torch 2. LG also came through with the MS910 Bryce for MetroPCS, and Huawei offered the Sonic for T-Mobile, which would be the company’s fist model for a major U.S. carrier. Because the FCC has to certify every phone sold in the United States, not to mention test its SAR rating, the agency’s online database offers a lot of sneak peeks to those who dig. And to save you the trouble, CNET has combed through the database for you.

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The Xperia series of the smartphones by Sony Ericsson have been extremely popular among users. On Wednesday, Sony Ericsson ook the wraps of a couple of new smartphones for its Xperia series. The unveiled Xperia smartphones are Xperia Active and Xperia Ray. Xperia Active boasts of a 3 inch display capable of displaying pictures of resolution measuring 320×480 pixels. It runs on Android 2.3 Gingerbread and is equipped with a 5 MP camera along with a 2GB memory card. The memory card can be expanded to 32GB and comes with several integrated apps. It also has an on-screen heart rate and pulse monitor. The phone is also dust and water resistant. The pricing of the phone is yet to be revealed. On the other hand Xperia Ray has a larger screen (3.3 inches) and similar to Xperia Active it runs on Android 2.3 Gingerbread. It however has 8.1MP camera and comes with 4GB integrated memory which is also expandable up to 32 GB. Pricing of Ray also has not been revealed.

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Sony Ericsson has preclaimed the release of two new smart phones and a new feature phone on Asia-Pacific markets in a bid to support its business position as a communication entertainment brand and to make itself the markets’ leading supplier of mobile phones based on the Android. The new phones – the Xperia ray, the Xperia Active and the Sony Ericsson txt – will be available by the end of this year. Sony Ericsson’s corporate vice president and head of Asia-Pacific region Matthew Lang said that the firm wanted to become the No 1 supplier of Android-based mobile phones and it saw the opportunity for growth in Asia Pacific. “We see great opportunities in the market for our new products. We have great expectations for active markets such as Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia and India. We need to be No 1 in Android-based mobile phones to be the market leader,” he said. Moreover, Lang said Sony Ericsson would introduce a new tablet PC to the market when it was able to develop something unique and different. At present, it is waiting to see how the market segment emerges.

Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications International’s corporate vice president and head of marketing Steve Walker said that the growth of the Asia-Pacific mobile-phone market had led his company to unveil the Sony Ericsson Xperia ray and Xperia active, to give consumers access to the world of Sony Ericsson and Android. The Xperia ray and Xperia active smart phones both run the latest version of the Android platform (Gingerbread 2.3) and deliver rich consumer experiences. “As the Android platform gains market share in Asia Pacific, the Xperia portfolio is positioned to deliver consumers a unique and differentiated experience. We continue to deliver a portfolio to make the Sony Ericsson experience available to a broad range of consumers,” he said.

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Google already promised at the launch of Google Wallet that NFC technology would be coming to more Android handhelds beyond the Nexus S. Sony Ericsson is helping out. Answering the call for near field communications chips is NXP, which will provide “complete embedded, secure NFC solutions.” Specifically, Sony Ericsson will be implementing NXP’s NXP PN65 NFC solution for its upcoming Android-based handhelds intended for featuring mobile payments support. That NFC option will also include a radio controller, the typical NFC software and embedded security measures such as advanced cryptography.

However, neither Sony Ericsson nor Google have announced specific smartphone models that will sport this NFC power. It also has not been announced when we could expect to see these Android-based Sony Ericsson mobile devices ready to make purchases via Google Wallet. If Google plans to roll out its Wallet mobile payments service nationwide this year (beyond the beta tests in New York City and San Francisco this summer), then the Goog is going to need many more NFC-enabled Android smartphones swirling around to make it a success. And for Sony Ericsson, this could be a real coup for the cell phone maker. It’s Android handsets haven’t been complete smash hits in the past, and the Xperia Play already has enough pressure riding on it. If Sony Ericsson can produce some awesome and competitive smartphones at the right price point running Android 2.3 or higher with NFC on-board, then it could beat out other mobile device manufacturers that are likely working NFC-enabled phone themselves.

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Not a big change from the Xperia X10 in many ways, the Neo does benefit from being one of the first with Android 2.3 Gingerbread. It also has an unusually good camera for a smartphone, as Sony Ericsson draws on Sony’s camera expertise again. The bright, sharp, 5.7-inch, 854×480, multi-touch “Reality Display” – can’t anyone just call a screen a screen these days? – is impressive. Colours lack the punch and contrast of AMOLED and resolution is a tad below the iPhone, but poor-light visibility is good. Battery life is good for such a small phone – it’s just 13mm deep -but struggles to reach a second day. The reskinned Android 2.3 is packed with cool features. You can pinch the screen for an overview of open widgets and drag items on lop of one another to create folders, iOS style.

Social networking widget Timescape displays your friends’ updates as cards that you can flick through, in a way that might be described as gimmicky by some. Powered by a 1GHz processor, the Neo feels quick and pleasingly responsive, if not as fast as the HTC Incredible S or iPhone 4. The Neo comes with an eight-megapixel camera. That’s the same on paper as the HTC Incredible S, but with a scaled down version of Sony’s Exmor R sensor aboard stills are notably better. The iPhone and N8 offer generally comparable results, but the Neo is betler in low light. The 72op video capture is also good, being colourful and smooth, though again not as sharp or detailed es the Apple or Nokia. You can output it to your TV via HDMI or stream it easily over Wi-Fi, thanks to DLNA support. This isn’t the most luxurious of phones, but the latest version of Android and excellent photos make the Neo good value for money.

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For ages the Xperia Play was referred to by everyone as the PlayStation handset. And with all the publicity neighboring Sony Ericsson’s newest Android phone it’s hard to envisage it living up to potential. Be short of of PlayStation branding in the name is telling, this handset is a association between Sony Ericsson and Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE), and so isn’t a pure-bred PlayStation product, but instead is ‘PlayStation Certified’. There’s no direct connection to the PlayStation Portable (PSP) then, and it won’t run games friendly with Sony’s handheld gaming gadget – which is probably all most people wanted or anticipated from a PlayStation handset. It will run games from the, openly retro, original PlayStation (PS1) – but only those that have been specifically converted for use on the Play. The other games in the current schedule are basically Android games, for instance an update of long-running driving series Asphalt, which has been modified to add support for its controls.

It’s those dedicated controls that really make the Xperia Play show up. They are positioned on a slide out portion, much like a keyboard on many handsets. The touchscreens on modern smartphones have no doubt inspired some novel innovative control mechanisms in mobile games; but more traditional comfort games will really benefit from the Play’s directional pad, four face buttons, two circular analogue touchpads and shoulder buttons. The Play’s design is indistinguishable to previous Xperia handsets, with its rounded and tapered ends and sleek plastic highlighted by chrome details. The top half of the Xperia consists of the screen and four buttons for Android’s ordinary functions: Back, Home, Menu and Search. The bottom half is about 50% thicker, and houses the Playstation controls over and above the phone’s ports – microUSB and headphone. This adds up to quite a substantial handset, and it feels heavy too, but not awkwardly so – its rounded shape helps it slip effortlessly into a pocket.

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The Sony Ericsson Spiro is a slide-form Dual Band GSM phone with a QVGA TFT display, sustaining up to 256,000 colours, measuring 2.2 inches point to point. The Spiro sports a fairly clear-cut, almost disarmingly humble frame with a sleek glossy front & a matte battery cover that makes for a pleasant contrast, besides preventing the mobile from slipping out of your palm during frantic use. At almost half the price of the Zylo, its Sony Ericsson stablemate, the Spiro makes much more sense, particularly if you hunt for a good music-playing mobile, since it comes with a 3.5mm headphone socket. It is extremely recommended that you endow in a good pair of earphones as the incorporated pair doesn’t do justice to the handset’s impressive playback quality. The phone also supports FM radio with RDS functionality.

As with many Sony Ericsson handsets, the Spiro sports a central, circular Navi key which is flanked by semi circle menu selection keys, which wrap around the call send/end keys. The describe allows for easy traversing of the menus, besides rendering easy control of the media player functions. The Spiro is powered by same Walkman 4.0 software that is featured in much higher end Sony Ericsson mobiles and delivers striking perfomance with PlayNow support. The mobile supports the TrackID function which lets you categorize a song just by listening it for a few seconds. Even though you need to rely on EDGE or GPRS connection to connect to Sony Ericsson’s data servers with your request. It also supports Bluetooth v2.1 with A2DP for wirelessly streaming music. The Spiro sports a 2 MP camera at up to 2X digital zoom, which is fine for impromptu snaps to be send to friends via MMS. The mobile supports an impressive 2000 entries phonebook and recognizes microSD cards up to 16GB.

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For a long time rumoured to be the PlayStation phone Sony has now made its nastiest kept surreptitious official in the appearance of a Super Bowl Advert. The vaguely unsettling TV spot was the last thing to leak before its official revelation and depicts an Android robot getting opposable thumbs grafted onto it’s arms with the tagline “Android is ready to play”. A Facebook page has also been launched advertising the device’s official launch date and Sony has been quick to label this one its “next gamechanger”.

Whereas it won’t blow any other high end smartphones away with it specs it hordes some rational hardware and most outstandingly seems to capture the spirit of Sony’s popular gaming gadget. The front of the handset looks noticeably Xperia-like but when the display is slide up it reveals a gamepad with a layout which will be memorable to gamers. Running Android 2.3 it will be powered by a 1GHz processor with 512MB of RAM. The display is a 4″ capacitive touchscreen and there’s also a 5mp camera. One key feature will be Sony’s PlayStation Suite, a gaming platform for smartphones which will permit punters to play PlayStation games on the Xperia Play. It will be a first for smartphones and will ultimately find itself on other operating systems.

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Mobile phone vendor Sony Ericsson has announced rolling out of next set of update for Xperia X10 and Xperia X8. While update for Xperia X10 is being rolled out slowly, users of  Xperia X8 will have to wait a bit longer for the updates. The update integrates a lot of nifty features aimed to give users the ultimate experience of the phones. With the updates, Xperia X10 users will be able to enjoy Pinch-to-zoom facility in browser and Google Maps. The update will add support for bi-directional languages such as Thai, Farsi etc.  With the update users of Xperia X10 and X8 can enjoy several other features such as video trimming, automatic trans-coding of HDD videos into the size of MMS and many others. The updates will also be available for Xperia X10 minis.

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The Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc will be getting a little brother, which may show its face at Mobile World Congress next month: the Vivaz 2. We had caught a glimpse of this phone before, named the Hallon, but combined with the Experia branding, it’s hard to tell what exactly this new phone will be called at launch. Let’s stick with Vivaz 2 for now.

Just to run down the specs real quick: the Sony Ericsson MT15i packs a 1 GHz ARM 7 processor, 512 MB of RAM, an 8 megapixel camera with Exmor sensor (much like the Xperia Arc), 480 x 854 Bravia-quality touch screen display, HDMI port, runs Android 2.3, and comes with a 1500 mAh battery.

Even in its preproduction state, the Sony Ericsson Vivaz ran really smoothly, and the 720p video recording “performed flawlessly”. There’s also a simple, but nice addition where you can change the application grid layout to be sorted based on date of installation or frequency of use instead of being continually pigeonhold into alphabetical listing. The custom TimeScape application hasn’t changed much, but it does perform more smoothly with the improved graphics horsepower.

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Sony Ericsson wants an original line of smartphones will promote their expansion after an inadequate end of 2010.  The corporation, which reported fourth-quarter earnings lower than predictable by forecasters, was launched last month and expects to submit Arc Xperia most mobile phones based on Google’s Android operating system in February. But the models do not disembark in time to the stores to support the results of the first quarter, parting the group with a breach to fill, after having already lowered prices at Christmas to get punters to buy their handset and old.

The business, a company halfway between Sweden’s Ericsson and Japan’s Sony Corp, and is aiming to accomplish gains in these three months, he thought GALSI. In the fourth quarter, Sony Ericsson shipped fewer phone than expected at an average price of 136 euros, up 12 percent from the previous quarter. This meager recital in the fourth quarter contrasts with that of Apple Inc, maker of the iPhone, whose results beat forecasts this week. The chief executive of Sony Ericsson, Bert Nordberg, admitted the company had underestimated the speed needed to commence innovative products, but said this year will be faster.

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Sony Ericsson Yendo created much buzz even before its launch as this happens to be the first touch screen walkman phone to be launched by Sony Ericsson. After enjoying success with Xperia X10 Mini, Mini Pro and Xperia X8, Sony Ericsson Yendo aims to further consolidate the company’s position as a manufacturer of value rich devices. Sony Ericsson Yendo is a stylish designed gadget which looks pretty much like Xperia X10 Mini. However, Sony Ericsson Yendo mobile is a solid touch screen handset which is made up of plastic with a soft matte coating on its back. The phone is comfortable and solid to grip and overall has an elegant design.

On the size front, the phone is reasonable with dimensions measuring 93.5x52x25.5 mm. Sony Ericsson Yendo is pretty light weighing just 81 grams. The phone is equipped with a 2.6 inches TFT capacitive touch screen display which is capable of displaying 256 K colors of resolution measuring 240×320 pixels. Though the readability of the screen is affected in sunlight, but considering the price tag associated with the phone, we felt the display to be reasonably alright. You can find the micro-USB port located on the left side of the phone with on the upper right side, you can locate the volume keys. The overall looks and design of the phone is quite appealing.

Sony Ericsson is offering Yendo mobile phones in various colors, you can see them in the picture below.

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Xperia Play is the name of the upcoming new PlayStation phone from mobile phone manufacturer Sony Ericsson. This slider phone which is still unannounced will apparently run Android 2.3 Gingerbread and will have a 1 GHz processor . In other specifications this elegant smartphone will have a Bravia – quality display which is more or less 3.7 inches and has a 512 MB of RAM. The camera quality of the gadget is still unspecified and the most anticipating feature is how well the games will perform in it.

This concept phone is definitely real and it looks like this PlayStation handset will be introduced in a few weeks at the Mobile World Congress show. The hardware looks nice sufficient but there are still many questions about the software and how the gaming feature will work. The actual test of the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play which is powered by Android 2.3 lies in the expectations of performance in 3D gaming environment which is the core feature of this device. The main competition with Windows phones will depend on how well the Xperia Play syncs with PlayStation consoles as the former does pretty well with Xbox systems.

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