Xperia mini pro in video unboxing

by XB on July 30, 2011

in Videos,Xperia mini and Xperia mini pro

The Sony Xperia mini and Xperia mini pro have already gone on sale in some parts of the world (mainly Asia) but is still waiting a release in Europe. To give an idea of what is inside the box, SE-First has unboxed the Xperia mini pro.

The Xperia mini pro comes with two covers, the white model comes with a pink cover and the black model comes with a turquoise cover. Whilst the content in each box depends on the regional SKU this particular version came with a screen protector, tiny wiping cloth and spatula to clear the bubbles from the screen protector. Check out the unboxing video after the break.



Via SE-First.

Sony Ericsson txt pro, says it has five best friends.

July 13th, 2011   by Peter

You may remember Sony Ericsson’s Facebook competition that asked its fans to do video reviews of the txt pro and the Mix Walkman. Today, we have the Sony Ericsson txt pro in our office and we thought we should take it for a quick spin on video too.

The txt pro is an extra tiny phone and it’s got its eye on messaging – and more specifically, social networking messaging. The slide-out QWERTY is more comfortable to use than you might think just by looking at it (it really is quite small), but it adds to the thickness of the phone, pushing it up to 18mm.

Still, the Sony Ericsson txt pro is light and the curved back makes it very comfortable to hold. And I don’t think anyone who wears tight jeans will be getting one of these (despite the “pro” in its name, the phone is quite youth oriented), so pocketability shouldn’t be a major issue.

Sony Ericsson txt pro

Disappointingly, the Facebook and Twitter icons in the menu are just bookmarks to the mobile sites of both social networks that open in the browser. Still, Facebook just released a Java app, so at least that’s covered (I installed it and it works). There’s Wi-Fi connectivity, so you can use SNS without worrying about data charges too.

The Friends app and the second homescreen offer extensive options to communicate with up to five of your friends – their SMS messages, but also Facebook and Twitter status updates.

Anyway, here’s the video:

It’s important to note that this is an early pre-production sample and the software isn’t finalized, so it lags quite a bit.

Sony Ericsson’s BRAVIA Engine Analysed.

by XB on July 24, 2011

in News

Sony’s BRAVIA Engine has been a core part of the company’s televisions for a number of years now. The technology is used in Sony Ericsson’s 2011 Xperia range (with its Reality Display) to give better sharpness, contrast and noise reduction when viewing media. This is included in most of the new Xperia handsets apart from the Xperia PLAY. 

GSM Arena did some detailed tests using an Xperia ray to determine whether the BRAVIA engine really made a difference. They concluded that the processing algorithms worked “pretty well” enhancing both photos and videos. Click over to the site to see a number of different examples where they compare contrast, noise reduction and sharpness with the BRAVIA engine both on and off. To our eyes there is definitely a difference albeit a subtle one. 

Xperia™ ray preview roundup [Video]

Sony Ericsson has announced a number of new handsets today at CommunicAsia, just as we expected them too. The most exciting is the Xperia™ ray which you should think of a smaller version of the Xperia™ arc. It comes with a 3.3-inch display but retains the same 854 x 480 pixel resolution found in the larger 4.2-inch Xperia™ arc. The Xperia™ ray also is clad in an aluminium frame measuring just 9.4mm in thickness. It certainly looks like one of the sexier Android offerings out there.

As the rest of the Xperia™ range, it will come armed with Android Gingerbread 2.3.3 or 2.3.4 and the new Facebook inside Xperia™ functionality. Other features include a 1GHz processor, 512 RAM, 8.1MP Exmor R™ Camera CMOS Sensor, 720p video recording, a Reality display with BRAVIA® Engine and a front facing camera (not found in the Xperia™ arc). It will also include a 1500mAh battery, which should mean impressive battery life. In fact the only main feature the handset doesn’t sport is HDMI output. The phone is set to launch at some point in Q3 in four colours (Black, Gold, White, Pink).

The dilemma of choosing between the Xperia™ arc, Xperia™ Neo and Xperia™ Ray (all with similar feature sets) now just became a lot harder. A number previews of the upcoming 3.3-inch Sony Ericsson Xperia™ ray hit the web over the last few days. We’ve rounded then up for you in one place below along with a number of hands-on videos of the handset. Initial impressions appear to be quite positive at this early stage , with the handset praised for its slim design, uncompromised features, high-resolution display (ppi of 297 / nearly to ppi of 300).

Check out a number of videos below including a hands-on video, GSM Arena and PhoneArena also have some video recording samples to check out too. All of the sites looked like they were playing with a prototype, so we could see even more improvements before its release in the next few month.

Xperia™ Ray Preview Roundup

GSM Arena: “It’s small, as in a sexy little sports car, rather than small to keep the costs down. The Xperia™ ray is hot and it knows it. That puts a lot of pressure on it to do well in the upcoming review. But as far as we’re concerned, the Xperia™ ray is off to a roaring start.”




PhoneArena: “It is easy to say that the Sony Ericsson Xperia ray is a less-capable version of the Xperia arc, but what you actually get is a more compact version without sacrificing much but an HDMI port and a flash. Actually, the fact that the light emitting diode on the back can only be used as a light instead of a flash. Props for the best-in-class resolution on the 3.3” screen, it really made a difference while reading.”




TechRadar: “Overall, we’re really impressed with the Sony Ericsson Xperia Ray -- given we expect it to come in at around £20-£25 per month on contract, the compact dimensions, decent camera and high-res screen could see this become another winning phone for the Japanese-Swedish alliance.”




Pocket-Lint: “That new screen technology is clearly visible with a vibrant 3.3-inch display that is not only crisp, but has an incredible viewing angle (as our pictures show). The “reality display” 854x480 pixel resolution definitely helps add to the phone’s media and browsing experience.”

Sony Ericsson LT18i = next Xperia flagship?

by XB on July 16, 2011


Sony Ericsson has made public the latest UAProf (user-agent profile) for an as-yet unannounced handset with model number LT18i. The codename makes it likely that this handset could be the next flagship from Sony Ericsson following on from the Xperia arc, which has the model number LT15i. UAProfs are used to reveal a device’s properties for web page rendering and MMS exchange.

We have no idea whether this handset is the fabled dual-core Xperia duo that has been doing the rounds recently. The UAProf tells us that the LT18i will come with the same display resolution as the Xperia arc (480 x 854 pixels).

Little else is known about this model, however engineers at Sony Ericsson posted the first sample photo from the LT18i a few days back on Picasa. The photo has since been taken down although not before we managed to save the snap. The image was downsized to a 2MP image, so we have no idea what resolution the image was originally taken at. This could be running the same 8MP Exmor R sensor as the Xperia arc or perhaps something more powerful. Time will tell on that front, in the meantime check out the sample image below.

Sony Ericsson LT18i sample photo

Sony Ericsson Model Names

Xperia active – ST17i
Xperia arc – LT15i
Xperia mini – ST15i
Xperia mini pro – SK17i
Xperia neo – MT15i
Xperia PLAY – R800i
Xperia pro – MK16i
Xperia ray – ST18i
Xperia X10 – X10i
Xperia X10 mini – E10i
Xperia X10 mini pro – U20i
Xperia X8 – E15i

Sony Ericsson Mix Walkman – WT13i
Sony Ericsson txt – CK13i
Sony Ericsson txt pro – CK15i
W8 Walkman – E16i
Walkman WT18i
 

Sony Ericsson Xperia duo leaks again, launch rumored to be scheduled for September

Okay, it may be only a press shot and not a photo of the real deal in action, but this is clearly the best image of the Sony Ericsson Xperia duo that we have to date. The smartphone looks pretty much identical to the unit seen in the last Xperia duo photos that we came across with the location of the sensors and the front-facing camera being the only visual difference.

According to the source, the Sony Ericsson Xperia Duo possibly uses the NovaThor A9500 chipset (The Nova A9500, built in 45 nm, uses a dual-core Cortex-A9 running at clock speeds of up to 1.2GHz, with Mali™ 400 improving graphics performance up to 20 percent, supporting full HD camcorder capabilities and up to 20 megapixel cameras. It is sampling and in design with ST-Ericsson customers today), which combines a couple of Cortex A9 cores with the Mali-400 GPU. It's basically the same deal that you get with the Samsung I9100 Galaxy S II, except that this time the CPU clock is even higher. The other rumored scenario will see the Xperia Duo packing the Qualcomm MSM8260 Snapdragon chipset, which is the one that powers the HTC Sensation.

The Sony Ericsson Xperia duo is expected to become the company's flagship device when it launches, and judging by its rumored tech specs, the smartphone is going to be quite a beast. First of all, it is said that this will be the first Sony Ericsson handset to have a dual-core chipset under its hood with the ST-Ericsson NovaThor A9500 , U8500 chips and the Quallcomm MSM8260 silicon being the most probable candidates. What is also rumored about the Sony Ericsson Xperia duo is that its chipset will tick at 1.4GHz and will be backed up by a whopping 1.5 gigabytes of RAM.

A 4.5-inch qHD display is very likely to shine on the smartphone's front side flavored with the Mobile BRAVIA Engine for better looking colors and enhanced contrast. Besides that, the Xperia duo is said to be getting a 12-megapixel camera with a second generation Exmor R CMOS sensor for taking great photos in low light conditions. Top everything off with Android 2.3 Gingerbread and a beefy 2500 mAh battery, and you get a smartphone that might very well land straight on top of the Android food chain.

Speculated specs

Specs suggested by Digi.tech include a 4.5-inch touch screen, 12MP camera, 1.4GHz dual-core processor, LED flash, 1080p video recording, 1.5GB of RAM and 8GB of memory, with a 2500 mAh battery to complete the picture.

These specs sound a bit outlandish – more like a wishlist than an actual handset, particularly the 2500 mAh battery which is way bigger than anything else on the market at the moment.

So, should we put our faith in this lot of rumour fodder? The likelihood of there being a handset called the Xperia Duo is high. The likelihood that the leaked image of the handset is legit is low. A September release does sound reasonable, but are any of those specifications really accurate? We're not sure.

To sum up, it's all possible but it wouldn't be prudent to stake your life on it coming true.

It is said that the Sony Ericsson Xperia duo will launch as early as September of this year, but we suggest that you take this with a grain of salt for now. As you could imagine, it's way too early to talk about release dates or pricing yet. We are hoping, though that an official announcement will come in the next few weeks.