Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 preview: Getting closer

Introduction

Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 is one of the hottest names in the industry and it's not even released yet. Santa won't be able to get us one for Christmas but next year holds a serious promise for us geeks. The Sony Ericsson's first Snapdragon device and first Android smartphone is one seriously capable handset that promises great user experience.

We first met the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 a month ago at its official announcement event in London. The device that might end up deciding the company's fate left us feeling quite positive about its market prospects so we are really pleased to finally welcome it to our office.

Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 official photos

The software of the XPERIA X10 is far from settled but since Sony Ericsson dared to show it to the audience, you can bet that the hardware won't see any dramatic changes. The realistic expectations are for the bugs to be solved and maybe a couple of minor features added but what we are going to show is what you should expect to see when the device hits the shelves in Q1 of next year.

For starters let's take a look at the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 key characteristics.

Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 at a glance:

• General: GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, UMTS 900/1900/2100 MHz, HSDPA, HSUPA
• Form factor: Touchscreen bar phone
• Dimensions: 119 x 63 x 13 mm, 135 g
• Display: 4" 65K-color TFT capacitive touchscreen, 854 x 480 pixels
• Platform: Qualcomm QSD8250 Snapdragon 1 GHz processor
• OS: Android 1.6 (Donut)
• Memory: 1GB storage, 384MB RAM, microSD card slot, 8GB card included in the retail box
• Camera: 8 megapixel auto-focus camera with LED flash and face detection; touch focus, WVGA (800 x 480 pixels) video recording at 30fps
• Connectivity: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP, standard microUSB port, GPS receiver with A-GPS, 3.5mm audio jack
• Misc: Sony Ericsson Timescape and Mediascape UI, built-in accelerometer

That Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 certainly looks pretty powerful among its Android peers. It's only major sin is that it will be too late for the Christmas shopping spree and will have to achieve success in a much more challenging market conditions.

The Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 views

An unspectacular handset can do wonders in the last moths of the year, given the right marketing, but things get much tougher once New Year's Eve passes. People have already spent most of their surplus cash and need more persuasion to shell out the serious amount that this baby calls for.

The Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 next to the Apple iPhone 3GS and HTC HD2

But than again, the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 looks well prepared to handle any challenge. The device is supposed to launch in the middle February - most probably around the MWC 2010.

We'll start with a brief hardware inspection of the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 following the break.