Well well, look what we have in the latest 'Handango Content Partner newsletter'!



Oops! Is that info meant to be in there?

Handango in Hand on device blah blah submit your products blah blah the Xperia X1 will launch in mid-September 2008!

If the Xperia X1 is the device for you, it looks like you have a little while to wait yet i'm afraid!

P

I think this is good news. I don't mind waiting a little longer so that software will be available to work on the somewhat strange sized screen. I have a S710, and it's still irritating when programs don't support the screen rotation. (Yahoo Go has issues) So, I've been worried about the X1's screen rotation AND 800 x 480 screen size. These issues would lead to programs not formatting correctly and making a lousy user experience even though the hardware rocks.

I think this is going to be the first WM device to truely have everything people have been asking for; FM radio, touchsreen, keyboard, bluetooth, aGPS, 3.2 MP camera with autofocus and flash, fast processor, lots of memory, global network connectivity, small, light, etc.

Then the Raphael will come out, adding manilla and eGPS to that, plus TV out (I don't know if the X1 has it, i don't think so...) PLUS the additional form factors of the Diamond and Titanium for those who don't like QWERTY, the Diamond also having 4GB of storage.

To be honest, given the vague "H2" release date we've had till now, September is actually pretty good going for Sony Ericsson - I'll be impressed if they get it out by then. They have a tendency in the past of turning the second half of one year into the first quarter of the next, or at least leaving general release down to the very last minute.

A dissapointment for those who were expecting it in July I guess, but I'm afraid they were always going to be dissapointed.

From the looks of the pics so far, I think the X1 will still win out on build quality and size (although the Raphael may well be cheaper). I've yet to see the point of TV out, personally - doesn't register on my want list at all.

Although not Windows based, I am looking forward to the release of the Sony Ericsson G900.
This looks like a cracking device... small, thin and compact, hi spec (including 5m camera).. anyone else perhpas tempted to jump over to Symbian?

Why won't HTC release a device like the SE G900?? they always seem to hold back on something, whether it is wifi, camera quality (I mean they are only now stepping up to 3.2m quality!!)

Cheers
T

The G900's quite neat, but lacks HSDPA. To be honest, although the camera is slightly better (5mp vs. 3.2) the G900 really adds very little to the current range's P1, which is getting on for a year old now. The P1 may be older, but it's got a higher quality feel, and a full qwerty keyboard, all in a similar weight/size/form factor.

I like SE's UIQ phones, before the Tytn II I had an M600i which was again very similar to both the G900 and the P1 except without the wifi or camera, but they're all quite underpowered compared to WM, and the software support is very very slim.

What's the difference between GPS, aGPS and eGPS?

Thanks.

GPS used GPS satellites, aGPS uses the phone signal to tell the GPS system what area to look in (the cell towers can be used to get a rough location, if the GPS chip knows it's within this area then there's less processing to do), eGPS is like this but even faster

GPS
If there's no phone signal aGPS and eGPS work as normal GPS.

I don't see why, they're made by the same people. Also remember that the X1 is probably further down the development stage than the Raphael and co.

TV out enables you to show pictures or surf the web or type or whatever on a big screen, VGA on 3" is good, but the ability to have VGA on 20 or 30" if you want to look at pictures or websites is better.

They're manufactured in the same plant somewhere, but designed by two different companies. I'm not suggesting that the Raphael will fall apart or anything - build quality is probably the wrong term, I'm generally pleased with the quality of my Tytn II - I'm just wondering if the "Tytn III" will be designed to the same high specification as the X1, eg with an all-metal case etc, or be more like the Tytn II it replaces - ie plasticky, though not in a bad way. They're two different products coming from different design houses, filling two different niches in their respective brand's portfolios, so we can't assume that they'll be the same in anything but paper spec - if that.




I understand the concept, I just can't think of too many practical uses for it. I guess it's useful if you make a lot of presentations, but I can't help thinking you'd be more likely to just use a laptop, or whatever equipment is there already, rather than waving your phone's usb lead around.

I don't see what benefit Manufacturers get by keeping secret their Release dates and more importantly the Prices !

Surely if they tell the world that the X1 will be officially available (for example) from the 15th September and will be priced at £499 without contract ..... it would firstly give Sony a motivation to not slip behind and delay the release ..... and secondly it would help potential customers decide to buy their product !

The fact that most contracts are 12/18 months long, means that if the Diamond/Raphael comes out next month as expected ..... many people who may have bought the X1 will either not bother waiting, or will assume the Sony will be too expensive ..... and will sign up with a different handset ..... not declaring a road-map for the consumer is costing these guys sales !

Fair enough, but we don't know exactly HOW much of the X1 is designed. For all we know, HTC built all the insides and SE just gave them a design for the outside. However, it is entirely possible that HTC are just making them to SE's specs for the entire thing, but if that is the case then why go to HTC at all?




Personally, I would find it handy, but preferences differ.

We don't know the exact arrangements of the deal, but both SE & HTC have made it pretty clear in interviews and reviews that it's an SE designed, SE product. Why go to HTC? Why not? SE outsource the manufacture of all their phones, and in the case of a new WM product HTC are the obvious OEM to choose.

Mind you, as a happy SE owner in the past, and an equally happy HTC owner right now, I don't really mind either way. My point is just that the X1 and Raphael are, potentially at least, two quite different products - and from what I've seen of both so far, the X1 seems a bit classier.

Fair enough. But I'm guessing that seeing as SE have never done a phone QUITE like this before HTC will have had at least a little input into the internals, maybe consultancy etc.

Personally, i don't like the X1's keyboard, from the early pictures the Raphael's looks nicer, plus HTC have had more experience of doing WinMo software.

Sony are very good at design (and have a camera division which is why SE phones have good cameras) and HTC make good WM devices - sounds like a marriage made in heaven - provided the screen size gets the support!
Telling people when you expect a device to ship leads to major complaints WHEN the device slips - I would be very surprised if this is actually available to the end user in September. As for pricing? They probably leave it quite late to decide the exact price point and subsidies make the unit price fairly irrelevant. I could, of course, be talking complete b*ll*x just my opinion. But it does look quite nice....

Don't forget that any date you'll hear is likely to be just the SE release date. If you want to get it on a contract you'll have to wait for the networks to complete their tests, which can sometimes take months.

I'm more looking at the Se X1 but the only problem with ALL these new high powered phones is the operating system. i have Wm 6.1 on my tytn 2 and have had wn 2003 se, WM5 & 6 and WM2002.....but of late there just is not enough of an advance in the software side to warrant a new phone. On the mediaplayer does not know its in a phone? you can not select a music track then use that track a notification for a ringtone/txt/email etc. it only plays a few piddlely codecs?. As for the browser......lets not go there.

I love the look and spec of the new phones but it seems like Sony and Htc will have to put so much of theur own personal programmes (Htc Album/audio player etc) in to make up for the poor operating system. I hope the phones sell well but i just feel deflated by WM 6.1

The HTC Audioplayer will allow you to set a song as your ringtone, and even crop it.

I know but if you got an ipac, samsung or goldfish you don't. I use audio player all the time instead of media player. I just want winmo7 this year but hey we can't have it all can we