Xperia X10 will be upgradeable

February 5th, 2010

Hi all,

Sorry for the long absence.

Some reflections after meeting media, analyst and bloggers around the world over the last couple of months.

I have been confronted with the same questions and discussions that you have been interested in from the very beginning. The underlying OS release version that we will use when launching Xperia X10 -why 1.6 and will it be competetive enough? These concerns are quite on top of mind among industry experts as well as advanced users as yourself, which I do appreciate. I will share my experience from enganging in these discussions giving it a context. It is a bit lengthy, so bare with me. :)  

The OS versions are somewhat becoming a reference point for people I feel. Similar to processor speed in computers and megapixels in camera phones. I as consumer of course evaluate the same things, buying equipment on my own. However when you start evaluating usage, there are more factors to consider than just the specs.

When I do a product demo, the response about hardware is unquestionable in my view. The design, screen size, ”feel” and overall specs leaves an impression right away. “Beautiful and delight to hold in the hand”,  “Sleek and outstanding” are some frequent quotes.

On the other hand when moving over to talk about the user interface,  I have felt some skepticism in the air since people tend to have adopted quickly to Android release version as their context of competiveness. Quite often, the starting point for this part of the demonstration is a 1.6 release remark if I would generalize my interactions to date.  

Interestingly enough the focus on OS version changes over course of a minute or so. Demonstrating the generic Android capabilities with our graphical enhancements is a starting point. The home screen, the immediate responsiveness of the big capacitive screen, the true multitasking that Android allows, the easy and rich access to Google services like maps and android market. All that is there and for me that is the base functionality, which I really appreciate and use on a day to day basis.

Then I introduce the signature applications; Sony Ericsson TimescapeTM and Mediascape and the focus of the discussion shifts from talking about this layer on top of Android, that I refer to as the Sony Ericsson User Experience platform. I now find myself discussing the total  experience rather the OS version in isolation with a great appreciation about what we are bringing to the table. Then the interest of the User Experience platform future roadmap gets to be the talking point instead. What I hope to get across to you all, is that there will be a software update for Xperia X10 that will upgrade the complete Sony Ericsson User Experience Platform based on newer version of the Android OS. 

I have probably painted a positive picture, but I am sharing the discussions I have had and my take outs from them. I am not trying to hide from the fact that there are platform upgrades between android 1.6 and 2.1, if utilized can enhance the experience for developers and users. Having that said, I have had discussions with carriers that are very sensitive and concerned generally about taking on devices in their range that are not competetive enough. I have faced head to head comparisons between Xperia X10 and generic 2.1 Android devices (as well as other OS) and carriers have concluded that we still stand strong in comparison.  This because of the layer that we ad on top of the generic  OS. 

I am both confident and humble at the same time as we can´t anticipate and cover everything when planning ahead. There will be areas that we can´t over bridge between these releases, but on the total experience I am very confident about this product as the feedback received has been extremely positive. Then there will be an update as well, which I hope settles some of the concernes expressed.

 I will not be able to fully understand a developers take on this discussion (and we do have a dedicated community for that), but I would be very interested to hear you feedback. Reading the posts, it ranges from time to market, concerns about whether the product is “future proof” etc, but what are your biggest concerns when it comes to usage? What benefits from the 2.1 release are you most interested in? That would be really interesting for me to get some more input on….

Have a great weekend

Sumit

Written by Sumit Malhotra
Posted in Xperia X10 | 206 Comments »

HD-video in Vivaz – Developer Interview

February 4th, 2010

With the Sony Ericsson Vivaz being our first model enabling HD-video recording I decided to try to learn some more on how this has been developed by our development department and if there were special difficulties or challenges around this. I found a colleague that has been heavily involved and asked him some questions.

Here he is  – Fredrik Ågren

 Fredrik Ågren

- Who are you?

My name is Fredrik Ågren and I am the software architect for video support on Sony Ericsson phones based on Symbian OS. I have been working with software platforms for mobile phones since 2000 and first joined Sony Ericsson as a consultant for the P800 model back in 2002. Through the years I have been involved in many of our platforms and products. Most recently I have focused hard on introducing HD video support in the newly launched Vivaz model.

- What was your responsibility when it came to the Sony Ericsson Vivaz

My responsibility in general is to lead the requirement analysis regarding video related features for upcoming models and identify feasible implementations. This means a great deal of interaction with our R&D sites around the world and also close contact with our suppliers which of course is great fun. When Vivaz was still in the analysis phase I worked pretty much full time on leading the HD support analysis. As the feature moved from prototyping into the implementation phase, I’ve also been leading other improvement work for Vivaz, for instance related to video streaming and video telephony.

- How good is Vivaz really when it comes to capturing HD-video, can you share things like average fps and things from analysis you’ve done?

The HD support on Vivaz is great. Vivaz can record HD video at 24 frames per second and we’ve focused quite hard on the picture quality as well. However, it is not a trivial task to secure such heavy processing all the time in a pre-emptive multitasking environment where the phone functionality always has the highest priority. One cool thing though is that we have equipped Vivaz with golden sample CPUs. These are special units from the production line that can run at significantly higher clock speeds when required. This provides the customer a sufficient margin for an always great HD experience with Vivaz.

- What was the biggest challenge in the development?

Sony Ericsson work with high standards so the most challenging part was not to deliver the basic functionality as such but to deliver it with the overall quality our brand requires and to make that happen in time for the product launch. There are many factors affecting the overall end user experience such as frame rate, bit rate, camera startup time, power consumption and the ability to maintain performance while multitasking. We have investigated HD support in previous models but Vivaz is the first opportunity we have had where we could deliver this feature all the way.

- What was most fun?

Most fun for me has been the international cooperation to get this support in place. For a long time we have worked closely with colleagues in Japan and China, so in the end this is really an international feature from Sony Ericsson. I have gained a lot of experience in foreign social and professional working culture and made good personal friends along the way as well.

- Any surprises along the way?

Yes, for sure things happen that you have not anticipated. Still I have worked with projects like this for such a long time so I try to keep that in mind. One example is the cost of getting our golden sample CPUs which in the early days was so high that it was not really an option for us. Still, we continued to focus on optimizations in software so that when the units eventually came at a more reasonable cost, we really had a great platform to work with. This was the time I realized we were actually looking at what would become an HD video enabled product. We work in a highly variable hardware, software and business case environment, so limiting factors one week may not be significant the next. One needs to have a long term goal focus with a short term agile mindset to take advantage of that.

 - What kind of videos do you shoot yourself?

I especially use Vivaz for those spur of the moment situations when my two daughters Agnes (3) and Linnea (5) do funny stuff. Sony Ericsson has the slogan “Never miss a shot” and that is definitely valid for video as well. When the kids are all grown up, that’s when I will truly appreciate these clips.

Written by Rikard Skogberg
Posted in Vivaz, features, interviews | 19 Comments »

Some HD-videos Shot With Vivaz

February 3rd, 2010

Of course the HD-video recording capabilities of Vivaz really wanted me to start testing it and now it’s time to start showing some of the videos me and my colleagues have shot so far.

As always I’d like to point out that all these are shot with prototype versions of Vivaz with pre-release SW so there might also be further fine-tuning and improvements done before launch. To watch the videos in best quality click the “Watch on Youtube” link and make sure to choose 720p as viewing resolution!

Those who know me wouldn’t have a hard time guessing what kind of videos I’ve shot, of course Stella is in them :-) For this first post with samples I’ve chosen a video interview I made with her after a terrifyingly speedy race in the Stockholm snow. My video is also uploaded directly from my Vivaz over wi-fi.  The second and third videos are shot by Daniel, one outside our office in Lund and the other one at a rock concert he enjoyed a few days ago. The grand finale is a clip from our israelian colleagues who, just as they did with Satio, have mounted a Vivaz to an RC-plane and shot some great landscape scenes. I don’t think this is in HD on YouTube though but it’s still a very cool clip :-)

I’ll shoot more videos to share soon and already know a bit of what you’d like me to test but please feel free to remind me in the comments section as to what kind of set up you’d like to see!

Written by Rikard Skogberg
Posted in Vivaz, sample videos | 24 Comments »

Windows Phone with a GreenHeart

February 2nd, 2010

Hi all,
Today we are announcing an interesting addition to our product portfolio: Sony Ericsson Aspen. This phone is targeting a business user or the consumer who is really into messaging. With both touch screen and QWERTY keyboard it really ticks all the boxes for fast messaging. It will run on Windows mobile 6.5.3 which delivers a really finger friendly touch experinece. Please read the full press release here.

http://www.sonyericsson.com/cws/corporate/press/pressreleases/pressreleasedetails/sonyericssonaspen-20100202

 

Sony Ericsson Aspen
Sony Ericsson Aspen

Written by Mattias Holm
Posted in Uncategorized | 34 Comments »

Twitter and Facebook on Vivaz

January 28th, 2010

Besides showing Twitter and Facebook in this video, we also show how to quickly switch between applications running in the background in parallel. The multitasking ability of Vivaz is very useful is you are a frequent user of several applications and want to instantly be able to access the latest updates, send information etc.

The Twitter app is a good example of an application developed in Flash Lite™ 3.0 that Rikard mentioned in his previous post. Developers are able to develop their own panel application by using Flash Lite. For more information you can check out the developers web at http://developer.sonyericsson.com/site/global/newsandevents/latestnews/newsjan10/p_vivaz.jsp.

Daniel

Written by Daniel Sandblom
Posted in Vivaz, features, video tutorials | 104 Comments »

Catching the Action as It Happens with Vivaz

January 26th, 2010

Here is a video of Vivaz that shows the video capturing and sharing functionality. Besides the ability of shooting in HD video quality, Vivaz has a simple-but-clever dedicated video key on the side of the phone allowing you to capture the action as it happens. You can share the video immediately in different ways: from the camera UI, from the video/photo panel or from the media player. I personally recommend sharing the HD videos over WiFi as this is very convenient and the resolution of HD videos can make some video files grow quite big.

If you don’t have an already set-up YouTube account today, you can do this from the phone during your first upload session.

Daniel

Written by Daniel Sandblom
Posted in Vivaz, features, video tutorials | 50 Comments »

Vivaz From a Developer Perspective

January 25th, 2010

Some of you might have seen it already but my friends over at developer world have made great a demonstration video of the Sony Ericsson Vivaz. They show the phone and talk about it more from a developer perspective mentioning flash-based panel applications etc.

Written by Rikard Skogberg
Posted in Uncategorized | 17 Comments »

The Basics of Vivaz

January 22nd, 2010

I just wanted to post a very simple video to show the basics of Vivaz; that is, how it looks like when you make a phone call or an sms.

I understand from the comments of this blog that a lot of you are very well up to date of the functionalities of Sony Ericsson phones. For those who have or have tried Satio you will recognize the user interface structure. One difference on Vivaz is that you can click up or away the shortcut area at the bottom of the screen by clicking the red call button. This functionality allows you to access the shortcuts from all of the 5 main panels.

Daniel

Written by Daniel Sandblom
Posted in Vivaz, video tutorials | 90 Comments »

Great to Talk Vivaz!

January 21st, 2010

Hello everyone!

First of all it feels great to finally be able to talk about Vivaz with everyone and also to use the phone in public. So many people within Sony Ericsson have been planning and developing this phone to what you now see in the pictures, videos and can read about in the press release.

As Mattias pointed out Vivaz will launch within this quarter so I really encourage you to take a look at a real phone as soon as it is out in the stores. It’s both the looks and the feeling of holding it in your hand that make the design special; this is a bit hard to explain through this blog. Meanwhile, me and my colleagues will add pieces of more information, videos etc during the coming days and weeks.

Looking forward to be part of the discussions!

Daniel Sandblom (Global Marketing Manager Sony Ericsson)

Written by Daniel Sandblom
Posted in Vivaz | 32 Comments »

Meet Sony Ericsson Vivaz

January 21st, 2010

Hi everyone,

Some time since my last post but now back with some really good news. Today we are very glad to introduce and confirm to you Sony Ericsson Vivaz! Sony Ericsson Vivaz is the second installment in our family of communication entertainment phones that will launch to market during the first half of this year. Sony Ericsson Video brings HD video capabilities to our portfolio for the first time and personally I think it is one of the most beautiful phones we have ever launched. I can’t wait to get started with the one I have in my hand right now. You will see Sony Ericsson Vivaz in stores very soon. In a matter of weeks. Please check out www.sonyericsson.com/press for the full announcement press release.

You will over the coming weeks see lots of activity on this blog as we now will add another colleague to the list of bloggers. Daniel Sandblom, Global Marketing Manager for Sony Ericsson, will post information, interact and try and answer your questions in the commentator field. In the meantime please check out this first video which gives an overview of the Sony Ericsson Vivaz. There are more videos to come.

Thanks

//Mattias

Daniel Sandblom – Global Marketing Manager for Sony Ericsson Vivaz giving a short introduction to the product:

Written by Mattias Holm
Posted in Vivaz, video tutorials | 53 Comments »

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