I'm in love with an eight megapixel Android

Now that's what I call an Android phone. Actually, that's what I call an Android phone that might just kick some iPhone ass.

The Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 social networking phone is Android powered and feature rich. How rich? Well, how does 1GB RAM plus 16Gb of flash storage and a stunning 8.1 megapixel camera that comes complete with a geo-tagging function strike you?

That's on top of the 4" (854 x 480, 262,144 color TFT) touch-screen and GPS, and WiFi, and Bluetooth of course. OH, and not forgetting the Qualcomm Snapdragon, a 1GHz system-on-chip that you can also find inside the new Acer Liquid phone.

And, of course, there's the all important Android inside. This time working with the Sony UX layer for social networking. The new UX platform, as I understand it, throws a new UI on top of the Android OS which will integrate and sync a variety of social networking and comms media content. From what I can tell it would appear to be the Sony take on the HTX Sense UI.

There will be UX specific apps coming, although they are in short supply right now. So far you get a unified comms management app called Timescape which supports Twitter and Facebook as well as your email and text message services. Plus there is another called mediascape which integrates media content for playback from sources such as YouTube and PlayNow.

Expect the Xperia X10 to arrive early in the new year, with Japan getting first dibs on the sexy 8 megapixel Android.

[ChaseNetwork]

Ooh, that does sound sexy. I must have!

[peter_budo]

Yes, X10 sounds very promising. I just hope that SE not gone prove their attitude of release day extensions as they do so often...

[cwrinn]

My main concern is durability. Motorola has a history of highly durable phones (example, RAZR v3xx with a Titanium casing) these days where Sony Ericsson... not so much. Even the iPhone stands up to quite a high level of abuse. I know multiple people who have had to replace their Ericsson phones within weeks of getting them. Is the X10 going to break this? I hope so.

[bkraft]

It seems the one thing most people still don't understand after more than 20 years of Apple is the philosophy that drives them - simplicity, ease-of-use, less-is-more.

If you think 8 MPix will make you happy, think again. Good pictures have nothing to do with MPix. Formost you'd need a good eye, then good optics. The first depends on you, the latter won't be found in a phone anytime soon. So forget the (Mpix - all they do is slow down your system and clutter your network & disk.

As for the other features - who cares. Sexy? I prefer stuff that works without me needing a PHD and fuddle with the system for 4 weeks before I can use the 2 demo apps that ship with it.

BTW, is anybody out there successfully selling linux laptops? Why not? And why does Apple have such a big share of the laptop segment that actually generates free cash flow? I bet it will be the same with Android - poor fodder for the masses, go waste your life.

I prefer perfection.

[peter_budo]

You know bkraft I have this feeling that your intention of posting was just flaming other people. You reminded me of that silly advert and later video "I'm Mac, I'm PC" where Apple and Microsoft took turns flaming each other. LAME

You correct on count that not everything is about amount of pixel camera can capture, but also lenses and whole support mechanism. For your information most of Sony Ericsson (SE)phones that are not sold as "walkman" type have very good picture quality. I cannot comment on iPhone I do not own one, but as previous user of number of SE products I believe they will do great job on this one.

Sexy. Yeah, marketing word, but wasn't iPhone branded as sexy when was first time introduced to marked? Yes, it was...

>>BTW, is anybody out there successfully selling linux laptops? Why not? And why does Apple have such a big share of the laptop segment that actually generates free cash flow? I bet it will be the same with Android - poor fodder for the masses, go waste your life.

Not sure what is point of this. So call greatness of Apple has numerous faces with which come limitations, including number of limitations while using their products for software/application development (Java has so many flavours for Mac that it hurts), development of iPhone application is limited only to Mac machines (silly it should be open to anyone) and even if you manage to write application some "expert" in iPhone store still can stop you from publishing because he feels that application is no good, you try week later with no changes and no problem at all. How strange... These days Apple is just another trademark.

Oh by-the-way I hope you protect your perfection against another worm that is spreading on iPhone.

PS: iPhone will get also in history as first mobile device on which virus been successfully deployed.

[bkraft]

I don't really have time to waste in flame wars. I am just not getting excited by numbers - never did. To me, something has to work, and work well. If it additionally pleases my senses, the direction is right.

Yes, maybe the original iPhone was sexy, but not because of numbers. Not because it had a gazillion features. It was sexy because it was so simple. No distractions. I have enough distractions in my life.

The point about linux laptops is that you can compare open-source linux and hardware to the android model. Android is important, and I think it is fantastic that it exists - just like Linux.

Android will commoditize the software part of the phone market and create a lot of opportunity and freedom that was dearly lacking before. That just doesn't mean a) that its worth it for Google and b) that the result will be pleasing to use.

[cwrinn]

@peter_budo: To be fair, the worm only works on jailbroken iPhones. and FYI, the first cell phone virus was Caribe and it infected Symbian phones over bluetooth. There have been multiple since.

@bkraft: Actually, your assessment is wrong. I've seen more people utterly perplexed with how to use the iPhone and needing a week or more to get used to how it works, where those same people get an Android phone (Droid, for example) and get the concept within minutes/hours. So where are you basing this? Because Android has a Linux kernel it is OMG scary and hard? Hello 90s, welcome to the 21st century, a lot has happened since you fell asleep.