Sony Ericsson Dumps Symbian, Favors Android All Around

Not too long ago, Sony Ericsson was in a huge rut and the marriage between Sony and Ericsson seemed to be all but over. Then Sony introduced the Xperia X10 and the X10 Mini Pro and the company seems to have its mojo back. In the glory days of Sony Ericsson, the company used the Symbian OS which is an open source platform much like Google’s Android along with other giants like Nokia and Motorola. That was pre-iPhone. Since then, Motorola has gone nearly out of business, fully dumped Symbian and now is banging out Android phones while it holds onto dear life. Nokia, once-dominant handset maker, has now zero presence in the United States although the company has a huge worldwide market presence, though that has declined from 51% a year ago to current 41.2%. In order to make Symbian relevant, Nokia and the Symbian foundation are dumping a lot of money into revamping the OS and making it a much better competitor to Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android. Let’s not forget that there is Rim with their new Blackberry 6 OS and Microsoft this winter with their Windows Phone 7. You can quickly see how much work Symbian has ahead of itself. In the meantime, Sony wants to make money, not wait to see if Nokia and Symbian can deliver. As Sony Ericsson spokesperson Aldo Liguori bluntly puts it, “We have no plans for the time being to develop any new products to the Symbian Foundation standard or operating system.” With Sony having many new ventures with Google, this news doesn’t come as a surprise as we expect many new Sony Ericsson products with the Android OS. Still, never say never is a universal lingo for Sony’s statement: they will leave the door open for them to develop future Symbian products, pending how well things turn out for Nokia and their new OS.

[Via BusinessWeek]

Sony Joins Team Jacob, I Mean Team Android

Lets say that you are a hardcore Android fanboy or maybe you just need yourself a new T-shirt for free. During the entire month of September, the first 15 people every Saturday who go to a SonyStyle store and tell the employees the secret code will get a free Team Android T-shirt. But that’s not all! If you are planning on buying a Sony Xperia X10, then do it on Saturday as well because the first 25 people each Saturday will also get a Team Android T-shirt.

“Each week during the month of September, we’ll be posting a unique code name to our readers. You’ll also be able to find the code by following us on Twitter or on Facebook. Come that Saturday (Sept 9th, 11th, 18th and 25th), visit your local Sony Style store, walk up to a staff member and tell them that week’s secret code. If you’re one of the first (15) people, they’ll give you the t-shirt off their back. Well not exactly but they will give you one that looks just like it.”

[Via Sony]

HTC Favors Sony SLCD over Samsung’s AMOLED

HTC has a few things going for it with the wave of Android based handsets it has released. With the Droid Incredible, Nexus One and Desire gaining more and more sales, HTC hasn’t been able to actually provide them to the retailers because they simply cannot keep up with demand. As we noted, the popularity of Android is one but the other big contributor is that they currently use Samsung’s AMOLED for the screen and Samsung has not been able to ramp up their production to meet the demand. Of course HTC has a simple choice, wait around on Samsung or switch to a different company and make more money.

Breaking News: HTC switches over to Sony’s Super LCD display (SLCD) technology. HTC said that it will begin using SLCDs in a “variety” of its devices, and points out that the HTC Desire and Nexus One are on the list. Beyond being able to meet the demand that HTC seeks, Sony’s SLCD also offers a wide viewing angle, clear contrast and “natural balanced color.” The displays that HTC will use include Sony’s new VSPEC III technology. This is really good news for the consumer because not only will they get the product they want, but will also now get a superior screen (of course Samsung were sure will disagree).

Sony Ericsson X10 Mini Teardown

Until Sony becomes nice enough to give us units to review by hitting our Contact Us button, we’re going to have to rely on other sites. To the rescue comes the guys over at iFixit who got their hands on a Xperia X10 Mini and decided to take it apart. The inside of the unit reveals no real surprises but shows a very clean and compact interior. I would assume that the Sony Ericsson Yendo will be very similar on the inside.

[Via iFixit]

Sony Ericsson Brings First Full Touch Screen Walkman Phone

Sony Ericsson is introducing its first full touch screen Walkman phone, the Yendo. Now remember, their Walkman phone lineup is different than the other Sony Ericsson lineups, so don’t mistake this for Sony Ericsson’s first touch screen phone. Those familiar with the Xperia 10 mini will note that the Yendo works with a similar design, but is being aimed for a Q3 release date with no pricing yet. The touch screen is 2.6 inch with 262k colors and 320×240 resolution. Other specs include:

• 200MHz of processor
• 3.5 mm audio jack
• Bluetooth
• Micro USB support
• Pre-loaded apps: Facebook, Orkut, and Twitter, FM radio and Java support
• Bluetooth stereo (A2DP)
• MP3/AAC music tones
• Walkman Player and TrackID
• 2.0 Mpixel only with 4x digital zoom.

Look for this phone to come in black, blue, green, orange, pink, purple, red, silver, white and yellow. I believe this is for Asia and Europe only but I can’t be sure of it. Sony Ericsson barely has a presence in the United States anyway.

Hit the jump for an amazingly lengthy (and official) press release.

Sony Ericsson To Make An Android Phone With QWERTY Keyboard

From the looks of this photo and the tipster who is said to have been very reliable in the past, Sony is putting together a QWERTY keyboard-based Android phone that will sport Android 2.1 (the latest software) on this 5.5-inch screen unit. The rumor further states that they are looking to launch this unit in the fall. Now it still seems like this unit is in prototype condition, so expect cosmetic changes to be had, but there you have it folks. QWERTY and Android from Sony Ericsson

Note: Some people think this will actually be the long-rumored PSP phone. Although I believe that such a device is in the works, I don’t believe this is that, but that screen size makes me wonder.

[Via IT168]

Android 2.1 Coming To The Sony Ericsson X10 Family

Remember those sexy Sony Ericsson X10 units and it’s little sister, the X10 mini? Well they currently are using the lackluster Android 1.6 but all of this is set to change in Q4 of this year when Sony Ericsson will release Android 2.1 for the entire X10 family. Keep in mind that for Sony, Q4 2010 starts in September.

Sony Ericsson Posts Surprise Profit

It’s no secret that the Sony Ericsson team has been in trouble the last few years. They have no clear strategy and a wide support of OSes, including Symbian, Windows Mobile, Android and some in-house Sony OSes as well. Regardless, Sony Ericsson posted a €21 million, besting analysts who were expecting a €128 million loss. This marks their first profit since Q2 of 2008. SE managed to bump the average handset selling price to €134 on 10.5 million sold compared to the 14.5 million sold at an average of €120 a year prior thanks, in part, to the launch of its X10 and Vivaz. However, all of this comes at a cost of a decreased global market share of 5% to now 4%. Also to help with this profit was a slashing of employees and some facility closing so this might end up being a short term win. However, we hope that this gives Sony Ericsson enough time to be formulating what we hope is a strategy behind closed doors and will begin some form of road map and not random headsets. A starting point for them would be to leverage the Playstation Brand and PSN Network? A PSP Phone with access to all PSN content and PSN friends list? That would put them right in par with the Windows 7 Series Phone Xbox Live integration and the new gaming network that will be introduced in iPhone OS 4.0.

[Via WallStreet Journal]

Sony Ericsson To Use Android 2.0

At a launch event over in Taiwan, SE Asia-Pacific’s vice president of marketing Peter Ang was quoted as saying that Sony Ericsson is hard at work on their next generation smartphone which is said to be based on Android 2.0. The good news here is that at least Sony is working on an open technology that gives them full control, but is an open platform that can easily expand, adapt and grow without being tied to a particular format. The bad news of course is that Android 1.5 isn’t even out yet, let alone 2.0. With that in mind, I highly doubt that, behind the scenes, Android 2.0 is so far along in production. I see this as meaning only one thing, don’t expect these guys before fall of 2010, easily.

The big problem here is that Sony Ericsson is hurting bad. Profits have dropped 50% over and over and the rumors keep coming that the two companies may split.  All this just puts added pressure on a company that’s on the edge. Now, the good news is though that Sony is at least developing these phones and if they can come out with something that’s really different and maybe part of a larger plan, they have a chance at redeeming themselves and establishing themselves as a game changer. The reason is this: the iPhone wasn’t the first smart phone but it was the first one for the masses and this truly set up for the growth that the smart phone sector is seeing. A lot has came out since then, but it was again the G1 that gained attention and now the Palm Pre is earning its place. This means that the majority of people are just starting to transition to the smartphone market. As good as the Sony X1 is in the Mp3 market, I feel like that market is already fully owned by Apple and they are starting to go towards the smartphone market (Why have an iPod and a phone in your pocket when you can have one device that does both?). If the smartphone market is truly just beginning to grow, then Sony is still not late to the party, as long as they bring a product that’s part of a community of Sony services, yet is open and part of a longer term plan.

[Via Slashphone]