Sony Brands

Vodafone have already confirmed that the new Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 will become a part of their handset range when it is released in the UK but, so far O2 haven’t confirmed whether they will be offering the X10 as part of their range too. However, O2 have posted up a couple of teasers on their website that leads us to believe that they will indeed be offering the 4.1 inch Android based smartphone themselves.

The X10 has appeared on the O2 accessories part of their website previously and has just been spotted in the O2 smartphone hub too. Not confirmation from O2 that they will supply the X10 but, teasers none the less and we are expecting O2 to release definite confirmation information soon.

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At Mobile World Congress, Sony Ericsson have officially announced the Vivaz and the X10 Mini. Not only that but, they announced the Pro models of the handsets. The Vivaz Pro and X10 Mini Pro will both feature a slide out qwerty keyboard on top of the specs found on the Vivaz and X10 Mini.

The Vivaz will feature a 3.2 inch touch screen display, 8 megapixel camera and run on S60 5th edition. Connectivity wise it will feature Wi-Fi, GPS and HSPA. Also, the Vivaz will come with a 3.5mm headphone jack, allowing you to use your own headphones. Available in black and white, it should be released in Q2 2010.

The X10 Mini and X10 Mini Pro on the other hand, will be powered by Android 1.6, like it’s big brother, the Xperia X10. Because it is the mini version though, it features a 2.5 inch display and a 5 megapixel camera. You’ll also find GPS, Wi-Fi, EDGE and a 3.5mm headphone jack on the handset. Both the X10 Mini and Mini Pro will also be available from Q2 2010. The X10 Mini will come in black, white, red, silver, pink and lime. While the X10 Mini Pro, will be available in black or red.

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The Sony Ericsson Kuraru was expected to be announced at MWC next month but an accidental leak (which has now been removed) gives us more details on the handset, ahead of time. The phone will be launched as Vivaz and feature the same specs as revealed last time. That includes an 8.1 megapixel camera, 3.2 inch touch screen and Symbian 60 5th Edition. The handset is due to be released in April in the UK and Asia following later. It’ll retail for around $670 to $750 and be available in four colors, Cosmic Black, Moon Silver, Galaxy Blue or Venus Ruby.

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Sony Ericsson have been working on the Kurara handset, also known as the U5. Kurara will be part of the Entertainment Unlimited range, following in the steps of the Satio (U1). Design wise, it looks like Sony Ericsson have taken a leaf out of LG’s book as it looks very similar to the LG Viewty Smart (GC900).

U5 is powered by Symbian and has a Cortex A8 processor and PowerVR graphics chip. Other specs include an 8.1 megapixel camera as well as a 3.5 inch AMOLED touch screen. European price is rumoured to be around 300 Euros but, no specific release date. However for the UK, the handset is rumoured to hit shelves in April. Currently the UK price is unknown but, hopefully there’ll be an announcement at the Mobile World Congress with more information.

Source: UberGizmo

The Xperia has got a release date thanks to Play.com. You can now pre-order the handset from Play, who state the release date is January 29th. The RRP for the handset is £549.99 but, with Play it’ll cost £50 less at £499.99. While over on the Vodafone store, the Xperia X2 page has mysteriously disappeared. Instead you are greeted with a page not found page.

The Satio may just be getting back on it’s feet and in stores again after firmware issues but, the handset is still getting bad press. A recent article on UK handsets shows the the Sony Ericsson Satio has the highest radiation emission compared to other handsets on the market. The Satio has about 1.5W/kg of radiation emission, while the next high emitter handset, comes in at 1.36W/KG, which is the BlackBerry Bold 9700. Of the top 10 highest radiation emitting handsets, four of the ten were Sony Ericsson phones, including the W595, W995 and T715.

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Following on from the first of the GreenHeart handsets from Sony Ericsson, the Naite, the company have announced another handset to the range. The GreenHeart handsets are made from recycled plastics, minimal packaging and a low power charger. The new handset is named Elm and is due in the first quarter of 2010.

Specs wise, you can find a 5 megapixel camera on the phone, aGPS with Google Maps support, Wisepilot, noise reduction technology and social networks are said to be easily accessed. No information on pricing yet, but a photo of the handset has been provided.

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The Sony Ericsson Satio may be back on shelves after the firmware update, but many problems still persist. Here I’ll post the known issues and whether they were patched in the update.

• Media limited to 3000 files – Fixed in latest update. Not sure if the limits been removed completely or increased, but I’ve found no problems so far. However, media files are now loading slower after the update.
• Screen is blank when a phone call is received – Problem still persists after update. When I receive a phone call, the display stays black and so I can’t see who is calling me.
• Phone vibrates 5 seconds before ringing – May not be an issue to some, but is causing problems for others, as is counted as a couple of rings from the callers end.
• Lock and unlock – Phone locks and unlocks after the update.
• Pay as You go customers get a zero balance – When using Google Maps, the phone says you need at least x amount of credit to use GPRS (minimum price dependant on network, am using O2 myself). Phone needs to be restarted for the balance to become correct again (have rang up before restart and told I have no credit, upon restart and a balance check, my correct balance shows).
• Facebook App still missing.
• Phone crashes or freezes when certain apps/games are launched. Never had an app make the phone crash or restart but am still having apps freeze the phone for a good minute.
• Home Screen theme – Only the Sony Ericsson home screen themes shows correctly. With the latest firmware, it appears to still be an issue. However restoring all your settings on the phone, should fix it with the latest firmware. Because it didn’t fix it without resetting the settings the issue may crop up again.
• Calls from one contact from different numbers still show one icon, so is unknown where the caller rang from.

Sony Ericsson have rolled out another firmware update for the Sony Ericsson Satio, which should be available for all handsets. I’ve tested the update on my Vodafone branded handset and the update has been detected and installed. While I haven’t had time to test it fully yet, others have been saying the phone is faster with the update and it fixes the homescreen theme problem, where no shortcuts are being displayed, only the Sony Ericsson home screen theme displays correctly. Sony Ericsson have also rolled out an update for the Aino, which has also been experiencing issues, mostly with the touch screen. While no problems have been reported with the Yari, an update is also to come for the handset. It’s also noted on the Sony Ericsson Update page, that the handset does not need to be backed up, as the update does not affect handset data, but it is of course recommended to do so if possible anyway.

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Update, the update has not fixed the homescreen theme problem. Other fixes, or unfixed bugs will be reported.

In time for Christmas, Sony Ericsson are offering both the W395 and W595 in a pink variant. The handsets are available exclusively to UK retailer Phones4u. The phones are only available on Orange.

The W595 is available for £79.95 with a Benefits Cosmetic kit and the W395 for £59.95 with a Bourjois makeup kit. Both include £10 top up.