Photos of the upcoming Sony Ericsson Kurara handset have been revealed recently, thanks to PhonesDB. Newly revealed specifications reveal the handset will have a 3.5-inch color AMOLED display in what appears to be an ultra-thin, organic design. Hardware controls should remain intact but will be limited to call and media controls.
Sony Ericsson is offering a look at a new white version of its XPERIA X3 smartphone thanks to an official video (viewable below) released on Friday. The device will be the first from Sony Ericsson to run on Google's Android operating system. The November 3rd release date for the device is once again touted as part of the clip.
Sony Ericsson's first known Android phone, the XPERIA X3, has finally been spotted and been given more detail. The phone is now thought to have a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon inside and would tie the Acer Liquid for the title of fastest Android phone. It should also have a slightly sharper than expected 4-inch, 852x480 touchscreen, GSMArena says.
Sony Ericsson today reported largely poor results for its summer quarter. The cellphone maker shipped 14.1 million phones during the three-month span; the number is an increase from 13.8 million in the spring but a sharp 45.1 percent drop from summer a year earlier. It successfully reduced the rate at which it has bled money down to a $244.7 million loss versus $317.8 million in spring but also saw some of its lowest revenue in recent memory, dropping slightly season-to-season to $2.4 billion but still far from nearly $4.2 billion a year earlier.
Sony Ericsson announced it will return to the North American market with cellphone sales at the CTIA show which wraps up today. Sony Ericsson's head of developer and partner content and services, William Maggs, said in a Friday Gearlog report that the company is planning on coming back to the US market with its smartphone sales, and the XPERIA X2 is likely to lead that return. The new-gen Windows Mobile handset is being shown off at CTIA.
Sony Ericsson's first Android-powered handset will be released in January, according to unofficial sources. The device is expected to launch just a season after the XPERIA X2 and should receive the XPERIA X3 badge despite running the Google platform. Both the X1 and X2 have run Windows Mobile.
In an unusual step, Sony Ericsson today unveiled a new designer phone meant to address those who just want to focus on core phone features. Although part of the XPERIA line, the Pureness is the exact opposite of smartphones like the XPERIA X2 and follows the mantra of "talk, text, time." Its standout feature is a transparent, monochrome display, and its only added feature is music playback locally or on FM.
Sony Ericsson today launched its long-in-the-making sequel smartphone. The XPERIA X2 updates to Windows Mobile 6.5 and gets the more touch-friendly interface changes of the new OS. The company's own panel interface has an improved panel interface with a more natural, Cover Flow-like navigation in landscape mode and time-sensitive organization that can bring different panels to the front, such as games in the after hours. It can also bring up missed calls or messages quickly and has speedier access to media playback.
Sony Ericsson's XPERIA X2 smartphone may finally have its public appearance next week if a rumor bears fruit. A press launch has purportedly been "confirmed" by SEMC Blog for next week that would center on just one device, likely involving the new smartphone. Other details aren't provided and potentially cast doubt on the claim.
The upcoming Sony Ericsson XPERIA X2 handset was the star in a recently found video, confirming the 3.5-inch OLED touchscreen smartphone will run on Windows Mobile 6.5. The video also shows Sony Ericsson's in-house Panels user interface, though no other new details are revealed. Sony Ericsson has been teasing the public with the XPERIA X2 for a while now, without officially releasing any specifications. The video of the device suggests a production version is still a ways off, as the Windows Mobile 6.5 OS does not have a heavy Sony Ericsson influence.
UK vendor eXpansys has reportedly leaked information on upcoming Sony Ericsson phone, the first from the company to run Google's Android operating system. Previously known only under the codename Rachael, the official name is alleged to be the XPERIA X3, marking a radical departure from the Windows Mobile-based X1 and X2. eXpansys specifications suggest quad-band GSM, with dual-band HSPA capable of downloads up to 10Mbps. In practicality, most HSPA networks are limited to 3.6 or 7.2Mbps.
Sony Ericsson warned of worsening trouble at the company as it recorded a steep drop in the number of phones shipped this quarter as well as in its financial well being. The company shipped just 13.8 million phones this quarter, dropping 43 percent compared to one year earlier; the number was also a 5 percent shrink from already weak performance in the winter. Accordingly, the company swung from a roughly $8.5 million profit in spring 2008 to a $300.5 million loss in 2009.
Updated images have allegedly leaked for Sony Ericsson's next major smartphone, codenamed Rachael. A follow-up to the XPERIA X1, the phone is expected to use the Android 2.0 operating system, running on a Snapdragon processor. It may also have 7.2Mbps HSDPA, advanced 3D rendering capabilities, and an eight-megapixel autofocus camera. Little new is revealed in the photos, except that white may be an option, and that the back contains a slight bulge.
Sony Ericsson's first Android smartphone will be a very high-end touchscreen device most likely taking the iPhone head on, a Danish scoop shows. Codenamed the "Rachel," the phone would fit into the XPERIA line occupied only by the X1 but would emphasize speed, according to Mobil. Like the Windows Mobile-based Toshiba TG01, it would have a very high-end 1GHZ Qualcomm Snapdragon processor at its heart; it may also compete against the iPhone 3GS through "great" 3D graphics capabilities.
Sony Ericsson's fourth touchscreen phone and its second Windows Mobile device, the XPERIA X2, could be made public as early as Wednesday thanks to a leaked invitation to a press event that day. The Singapore gathering appears to focus on entertainment but has been linked to the smartphone, which may also appear at the same time as a Bluetooth headset based on FCC data. The possibility exists for other phones but hasn't been supported by other rumors.
A leaked photo reveals a new handset that is said to be the eventual successor to the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1 smartphone. The spied device apparently goes by the codename Vulcan, though little other information is known about it. While the low-resolution image does not reveal much, similarities between the new device and the old one are clearly visible.
Internal Rogers documents reveal that the Canadian wireless provider will soon offer the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1a smartphone to customers, according to a Tuesday BGR report, effectively becoming the first North American provider to subsidize the device. Starting June 9th, the X1a will reportedly be sold in Rogers' retail locations, but only in areas with historically high data device sales and usage. The quad-band 3G handset was released in the US last fall as a carrier-independent unlocked model.
Sony Ericsson's Asia marketing VP Peter Ang today said that the company's first Android-based phones will use Android 2.0 rather than earlier versions of the operating system. Speaking at the launch of several phones in Taiwan, he didn't provide details of the phones themselves but did say to DigiTimes that Android 2.0 would have "more multimedia support" than 1.5. Leaks have suggested the Google OS will also have much tighter integration with social networks, including Twitter.
Sony today said that its cellphone joint-partnership Sony Ericsson is likely to ask for 100 million Euros ($136.5 million) before the end of its current fiscal year in March 2010. The injection, which could come from either Sony or Ericsson themselves, would be prompted both by Sony Ericsson's own struggling health as well as Sony's own dropping sales, which resulted in its first loss in 14 years and has reduced the Japanese firm's ability to support its phone offshoot. How Sony Ericsson will raise the funds will be decided by the two parent companies.
Sony Ericsson chief Hideki Komiyama today said that his company had made several key mistakes that have contributed to the company's rapid decline in market share. Speaking to FT, the executive now says that the XPERIA X1, once intended as a flagship that would rival the iPhone, is one of these. The full touchscreen Windows Mobile phone was "a kind of experiment" and is no longer expected to carry Sony Ericsson's high-end phone business.
The iPhone is pushing the demand for location-based services, claims Skyhook Wireless. The company produces software which unites GPS, Wi-Fi and cellular information in order to deliver location data; the technology is integrated into the iPhone, which it notes is amassing a dramatically escalating number of location-based apps. Whereas only a few dozen existed in August of last year, there are now over 2,000 as of April, and it is predicted that 2010 could see five times that number. Some 200 million location queries are served by Skyhook each day, the company comments.
Sony Ericsson concluded its week with a warning on Friday that it will likely record a loss of between $461 million and $529 million for its current financial quarter, which ends at the conclusion of the month. The cellphone designer directly blames the shortfall on "weak consumer demand" and in clearing stock for its existing supply and sales chain. It also expects to ship just 14 million phones with a typical asking price of about $163.
German magazine Manager claimed on Wednesday that Ericsson plans to back out of phone maker Sony Ericsson. The Swedish half of the partnership has reportedly brought up a split with Sony, which has "expressed interest" in talking to banks for help buying out Ericsson's 50 percent stake and leaving Sony in full control of the company.
Continuing its introductions, Sony Ericsson provided an early glance at the Idou, its second-ever full touchscreen phone. The handset will be one of the firm's first to be based on pure Symbian instead of UIQ and will use a custom touch interface with an emphasis on media playback. Appropriately, it will also have a 3.5-inch, 16:9 ratio display and appears to rely solely on the screen for keyboard input. Sony Ericsson can also claim to be the first with a 12-megapixel camera onboard a phone and will give the device both a xenon flash and a retractable lens cover.
Apple has met and pushed past its target of 1 percent of world cellphone market share in 2008, according to an ABI Research study. iPhones now represent 1.1 percent of the entire cellphone market and grew in dramatically from just 0.3 percent during 2007, when the iPhone was only available for half of the year and only in a limited number of countries. The number puts Apple on par with phone veteran HTC and slightly ahead of Sharp.
Sony Ericsson finished its week on a low note with word of significant declines in the last quarter of 2008. The cellphone maker reports having shipped 24.2 million phones in the three-month span, a 6.2 percent drop versus the summer and a 27.3 percent plunge versus the same period a year ago. Its phone shipments for the year also registered a decline and fell to 96.6 million phones for all of 2008 compared to 103.4 million in 2007.
The upcoming XPERIA range of handsets from Sony Ericsson will be built in conjunction with Taiwan's Mobinnova, which itself has recently introduced its Windows Mobile based smartphone, the ICE. It features a 3-inch touchscreen that responds to users' touch with a tactile response courtesy of Mobinnova's mobiFeel technology. The quad-band GSM handset also supports the 900MHz, 1,900MHz and 2,100MHz WCDMA/HSPA bands. High-speed HSDPA download speeds of up to 7.2Mbps and HSUPA upload speeds as fast as 2Mbps are supported.
An initial 2009 roadmap for phones at Canadian provider Rogers and its sub-label Fido has leaked and provided clues not only to devices coming to the West for the first time but a new BlackBerry device. A new Pearl Flip will represent a quick turnaround for RIM and will add HSPA-based 3G for faster Internet access; it will also be the first non-QWERTY phone from the company to have both GPS and Wi-Fi at the same time. The new Flip is due sometime in the first half of 2009 and will be available only through Rogers.
Americans should not expect to Sony Ericsson's Xperia X1 smartphone anytime soon, according to indications. Best Buy is said to have changed the online status of the phone from "Pre-Order" to "Coming Soon," and Sony's own Sony Style website has moved the release date to January 12th of next year. Those who have already pre-ordered through Best Buy are reportedly being sent multiple e-mails, warning of stock delays. The phone has been on sale in Europe since the end of September.
Sailing Software has posted v1.0.2 of Sailing Media Sync, its phone synchronization software for Macs. The app syncs non-iPhone devices with iTunes, loading them with the music, playlists and podcasts a user chooses from. Files also retain any playcount information, which can influence future shuffling preferences.
Microsoft at its TechEd conference has confirmed the impending launch of Internet Explorer Mobile 6, the next major version of its cellphone browser. Originally announced in February, the significantly delayed update is available to test in emulator form and has also detailed all the major changes due with the web suite. The software aims to resolve many of the often-criticized features of the legacy browser from Windows Mobile 6 and starts with an accurate HTML renderer that displays websites the way they would appear on a desktop. Users can even change their user agent to force a desktop view instead of a mobile-optimized site.
Sony Ericsson today finally detailed the US release of the Xperia X1, its first full touchscreen smartphone and also its first Windows Mobile phone. Rather than tie the phone to AT&T, the cellphone maker instead says the X1 will sell through its Sony Style website as an unlocked device for $800. The move lets users pick AT&T to gain full access to the phone's HSPA-based 3G or T-Mobile if they prefer the carrier and are willing to limit their data to EDGE. It also allows unrestricted apps and the ability to use SIM cards from foreign carriers.
Sony Ericsson is shipping less units than expected of its top-of-the-range XPERIA X1 due to a parts shortage, according to Tuesday's news. While Sony Ericsson won't divulge which parts are causing the production delay, it is known that the areas where the X1 was first launched, namely Sweden, Germany and the UK, are experiencing the largest shortages.
Sony Ericsson highlighted the mounting problems for incumbent phone makers on Friday with news of its summer quarter results. The carrier shipped a total of 25.7 million phones in the period, which ended in September; the figure is a slight 5.3 percent boost to its numbers from the spring but a slight loss from the same season a year earlier, dipping from 25.9 million phones in summer 2007.
The lack of Sony Ericsson staff commitment to future XPERIA-branded handsets suggests they may not use Microsoft’s Windows Mobile operating system, alleges a Monday report. The news originated at the company’s digital marketing campaign launch for the range-topping Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1 handset, which, ironically, is the first phone from the company to make use of Microsoft’s Windows OS.
(Updated with carrier info) Sony Ericsson today countered rumors of software-related delays for the XPERIA X1 by announcing a launch date for the device in some countries. The company's first full touchscreen and first Windows Mobile phone will be available on September 30th in Germany, the UK, and the company's Swedish home. Phones will also be ready in most of Europe, South Africa, and some countries in Latin America and the Middle East later in the fall.
Sony Ericsson this morning introduced an software development kit just for the XPERIA X1, giving developers an opportunity to write apps for the phone's custom panel interface. The SDK will allow programmers to write Windows Mobile 6.1 apps that integrate directly with the panels at the top level and display live information without having the user enter the app itself. Sony Ericsson suggests this could be useful for at-a-glance looks at instant messaging or social networking as well as media catalogs.
Sony Ericsson today denied claims that its XPERIA X1 smartphone has been pushed back as far as early 2009, contradicting claims from its own employees at IFA as well as brief status updates on its own website. The firm now maintains that it has always kept its first Windows Mobile device to a fall 2008 launch and refutes claims that the software was too unreliable.
Sony Ericsson today confirmed through talks with Engadget the existence of a delay for the XPERIA X1. A company spokesman at the IFA technology show indicates that the company's first primarily touch-driven phone has moved from its generic launch window in the second half of 2008 to December or potentially January 2009, delaying the launch to almost a year after it was first announced.
While Sony is expected to ship its XPERIA X1 touchscreen phone in October, new information seen on the UK Sony Style website hints that the release could be pushed back to January 2009. The Register reveals that a menu selection graphic contains a "January" tag, with the product page itself claiming the launch date is undecided. The information comes after conflicting news that Sony Ericsson already mistakenly delayed the device, and retailer Expansys claiming it had receive demonstration units of the phone already.
Microsoft has missed its much-vaunted yearly goal of selling 20 million licenses for Windows Mobile by a wide margin, the company has revealed. Initially certain that any shortfall would amount to a "rounding error," the company now acknowledges that it has only sold 18 million licenses over the course of its last fiscal year, which ended in June. Microsoft hasn't provided reasoning for the gap, which was unexpected as recently as a month ago.
Sony Ericsson on Friday reported spring quarterly results that confirm a continued drop in the company's influence. The cellphone designer today said it has largely met its lowered predictions and shipped 24.4 million phones between April and June, or a two percent drop from the same season a year earlier. Net income for the company was also near-flat at the equivalent of $9.5 million, while the firm also warned that the average selling price for one of its phones dropped from approximately $198 to $184.
Sony Ericsson today warned that its income and shipments will have shrunk this quarter over expectations. The cellphone producer now expects its pre-tax income to only "break-even" when reported in mid-July and says it will ship fewer cellphones over the three-month period than it did a year ago, with about 24 million phones shipped worldwide. The company also expects the average selling price to drop further still from the last quarter, dropping from roughly $192 at the start of the year to about $181, earning the company less for each device.
AT&T today said it has upped speeds with its LaptopConnect users in mind through a set of upgrades to the company's HSPA-based 3G wireless network. The service sees a major boost to upload speeds that increases the peak from 800Kbps to 1.2Mbps, a 50 percent gain which is nearly in line with download speeds. Those download speeds have also increased in overall performance, increasing from a minimum average of 600Kbps to 700Kbps and from a maximum real-world peak of about 1.4Mbps to 1.7Mbps.
Sony Ericsson is planning a signifcant new phone launch for next month, says a Dutch announcement. Though short on details, the announcement image points to an "exclusive preview" of new Sony Ericsson phones and accessories at an Amsterdam gathering. No official clues are provided as to the nature of the devices other than a teaser slogan about "reaching new heights."
Sony Ericsson's XPERIA X1 smartphone will be one of the company's most powerful when it ships later this year, says a just-published white paper (PDF) from the company. The Windows Mobile 6.1 device will have twice as much memory as most any other smartphone at 256MB and will also carry 512MB of built-in flash storage on top of whatever is added through the microSD slot.
Sony Ericsson is readying consumer versions of its XPERIA phone line more explicitly targeted at the iPhone, if a Sony Ericsson promo video proves accurate. The short clip shows users running primarly touchscreen-driven phones that are likely media centric; icons floating around them recall the Xross Media Bar (XMB) that Sony uses for its PlayStation systems and BRAVIA TVs to navigate games, music, and video. Panels swirling around the users recall the panel-based interface that Sony Ericsson is using as the front end for the XPERIA X1's navigation.
Apple joins Motorola and Sony Ericsson as the firms losing cellphone marketshare in early 2008, according to a new study by research group Strategy Analytics. Sales of 1.7 million iPhones during the first calendar quarter of 2008 are said to have resulted in an actual drop in the iPhone's effect despite its young status, reducing the newcomer's marketshare from 0.7 to 0.6 percent from quarter to quarter. The drop is directly attributed to a combination of shortages as well as a glut of unsold units in Europe at the time. The phone is simply "overpriced" for the continent at its normal cost, Strategy Analytics director Neil Mawson says.
Sony Ericsson today posted results for the first quarter of 2008 that suggest a significant downturn for the cellphone producer. The Japanese and Swedish partnership says it shipped 22.3 million cellphones over the period ended in March, or an increase of just two percent over the same quarter in 2007. It also notes that net income dropped by a significant 48 percent year over year to 133 million Euros ($211.4 million). Price margins on its products also dropped slightly to 29.2 percent.
We've taken a quick glance at Sony-Ericsson's Xperia X1 at CTIA. The phone is Sony-Ericsson's first to run on Windows Mobile, and features an iPhone-challenging three-inch, 800x480 touchscreen with a unique panel-based interface. The X1 also features 3G broadband as well as a QWERTY keyboard, a 3.2-megapixel autofocus camera, and expandable memory via microSD. Sony-Ericsson plans to release the phone late into 2008 but has not revealed prices, which will vary by carrier. Click ahead for the full gallery.
