Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1 and T-Mobile 3G…
At the 2008 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on Monday, Sony Ericsson unveiled the XPERIA X1, a Windows Mobile Professional phone that it plans to launch later this year.
The X1 is an impressive device, featuring a big, clear WVGA (480×800) display, a speedy 520MHz ARM11 processor, a 3.2MP camera, GPS, WiFi, a rather slick-looking “arc” slider keyboard, and what appears to be a custom, touch-friendly UI on top of WM 6.1. A big step up from my HTC Wizard (T-Mobile MDA), to say the least!
But what really caught my eye is the fact that the X1 will support UMTS/HSDPA/HSUPA data on the 850/1700/1900/2100MHz bands. That’s right - the 1700MHz band is on the list, which means the X1 should blaze through on T-Mobile’s upcoming U.S. 3G network when it’s enabled this year.
No word on pricing yet, but I’m hoping that carrier subsidies will make this thing reasonably affordable, and that T-Mobile will grab this as soon as it lands. This could very well be my long-awaited step up from the Wizard. :)
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The one thing SE have struggled with thus far - in my eyes at least - is a decent professional model. Their mp3 player’s with phones tacked on, and stupidly high resolution camera phones are great for most people, and the teen-y audience they’re likely targeted at, however they don’t yet seem to have nailed what the average office drone requires on the move.
I’m hoping this new X1, amongst their other new offerings will be the start of some changes for them. My last three phones have all been SE, and I’m getting a little tired of the same old tripe being churned out with prettier graphics for each revision.
Yeah, I know what you mean. In fact, T-Mobile stopped selling SE phones here in the U.S. a long time ago. Their last popular model I remember here was the T610 that *everybody* had…it was almost like the RAZR of its time. :D
Also interestingly, HTC happens to be Sony’s ODM for the XPERIA X1, so that’s probably a good thing too, since they’ve had a lot of experience with Windows Mobile devices already.
I just spoke to one of the TMo customer service reps. He told me that Tmobile is picking up the phone in september or no later than october. As far as pricing, he said that he didn’t have that info but he also said: “I’d rather pay $200 and stay on the Tmobile network than get a new iphone and pay $100/month on other networks”. He also expressed his wanting to get one as well. The $200 price seems reasonable given that most phones right now don’t really pass the $300 mark.