Product Launch Blog

For a marketer it feels like a privilege to deal with such passionate and expressive audience.  I am still getting warmed up, but have been prepared from the beginning that my posts might not be of complete satisfaction to the very knowledgeable group of people that we have here.  Mattias will introduce more bloggers over time that have much more deeper technical understanding of the product and the platform, so stay tuned.

I have come to learn that android as a platform has reached great stability considering its short time in the market and the wide range of chipsets that are supported. The platform is developing fast, but there are areas that are limited today, which I would expect to improve rapidly.

I understand that android today support 16 bit colour. I don´t have visibility of such capabilities improvements roadmaps, neither do I know what that would imply for Xperia X10 at this time, but will share once we get there and allow my product team to elaborate more on the topic.

Sony Ericsson with Xperia X10 introduces signature user experiences on top, requiring extensive development, which I believe is incredible to use. Rushing out an vanilla android release is one thing, adding value is something else.
The combination of Sony Ericsson core experience and embracing the open platform capabilities is what really makes this product exiting….  I went on  android market  some time ago, browsing through the free applications with my Xperia X10. Found a couple of e-compass apps, that utilises the magnetometer that do exist in the Xperia X10 hardware.

I also found apps combining compass and layered information. Really cool I have to say, even though some of the information layers were geographically restricted.  It is obvious, that me being a marketer is not giving enough depth in the reply, so I will pick up some threads when I get a chance to clarify technical issues with some help from the team.

To begin, these are the answers I have received regarding Android and Open GL compatibility for the X10.

• X10 is running Android 1.6.
• Android 1.6 has OpenGL ES 1.1 APIs (native and Java)
• X10 hardware (GPU) supports OpenGL ES 2.0
• X10 SEMC applications (such as Timescape) rely on a UI framework which is Qualcomm proprietary and indirectly use OpenGL ES 2.0 hardware and functionality.

Conclusion:
With X10 running Android 1.6, OpenGL ES 2.0 APIs are not accessible to all developers (although the HW is there).

Let me introduce myself. I am Sumit Malhotra, Global marketing manager for Xperia X10.

I am very happy about the announcement earlier this week. Using the phone outside the office walls has been somewhat of a relief and it is encouraging to get some remarks and raised eyebrows when people see me using it. The design is eye catching and stands out from normal large screen so getting great response and anticipation, but a lot of questions as well….

One of the benefits of using an open operating system is that we can tailor your phone to your specific needs. As an example, there is not a document editor preloaded, but there are and will be free and premium applications available in the application store.

Now to your questions. I haven’t been able to answer all of them at this point but have tried my best to get to as many as possible.

* Will it have multi-touch in future updates?

Xperia X10 has a capacitive screen. It does not support multi-touch functionality at launch, but is considered for the future.

* What’s a scratch-resistant screen?

Xperia X10 has mineral glass to prevent easy scratching and fingerprint coating.

* Is it based on OpenGL 1.1 or 2.0 for games and other stuff?

Xperia X10 supports Open GL 2.0.

* What is the size of the battery?

It is 1500mAh.

* How many colors does the screen support?

I noticed the confusion in the communction around this topic, but the correct number is 65,536.

* Will the X10 receive Android 2.0 update (for those who bought from the initial batches with Android 1.6) ?

The UX platform used for Xperia X10 will evolve to Android 2.0 over time.

* What would be the camera like?

We’ll try to post a tutorial video of the camera interface within short, but in short it’s quite similar to what’s seen in our earlier touch screen phones like Satio, X2, and Aino.

* When will this be available in the UK?

X10 will be available in selected markets during Q1 next year. We will get back with more details as to more exact timing and where.