3…2…1… Sony Ericsson blast off with the X2

by Kevin in A/V, Mobile tech

Sony Ericsson launched their new Windows Mobile powered X2 smart phone at the London Design Museum this evening. It runs on Windows Mobile 6.5, has a 3.5” resistive touch screen and is available exclusively on Vodafone from the end of November.

SE have a range of home screens available preloaded on the phone as well as more that are downloadable. Take a look at the pictures above to see two of the panels and the panel picker. Panels range from the typical Windows Mobile look through to something that looks very much like Sim City complete with animated trains and boats. You can add widgets to these panels to further customise the phone to suit your personality.

The X2 has a side slide full QWERTY keyboard to compliment its touch screen and this will probably be the text input method of choice for most people as it feels very stable in use. Having said that if the handwriting recognition is up to the job that might be an even better option. A stylus is neatly stored in the body of the phone to help if you choose the handwriting route.

The screen is clear and bright with video looking quite impressive and I’m glad to see that a 3.5mm standard headphone socket is provided. The X2 has an optical mouse pad allowing you to move around the screen and select functions with ease. Sony Ericsson have made this even better by using icons in place of menu options where possible.

The 8.1 mega pixel camera has autofocus, geo tagging, image stabilisation, face detection, an LED flash and is capable of recording video as well. The X2 comes packaged with Windows Office Mobile and a TV Out cable for those emergency PowerPoint presentations or perhaps just for showing off your family videos.

The phone is aimed at both the business and consumer markets so it will be up against both the Blackberry and HTC phones. Time will tell if it has what it takes to compete with them. Vodafone are promising that the X2 will be available free on contract from the end of November.

We’ll post a review in a month or so once we’ve had a chance to use the phone day to day for a while.

Specifications

3.2” resistive touch screen. (WVGA) 800×400 Pixels, 65,536 colours.
Dimensions: 110 x 54 x 16mm.
Weight: 115g with the standard battery.
Claimed: GSM: Up to 10 hrs, Standby time GSM: Up to 500 hrs.
Claimed: UMTS: Up to 6hrs Standby time UMTS: Up to 640hrs.
Claimed music listening time: Up to 20hrs
Quad Band.
Connectivity: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth (A2DP) and USB.
USB mass storage.
8.1 Mega Pixel camera, Auto Focus, Geo tagging, Image stabiliser, Send to web, Touch focus and LED flash.
Video WVGA 30fps
Up to110MB internal memory.
Memory card support: Micro SDHC™, up to 16GB of additional memory.
A-GPS
Microsoft Office mobile, PDF and text viewers.
TV out via included cable.
Standard 3.5mm headphone connection.