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. :)

Last December, I wrote about the initial release of Live Search for Mobile, Microsoft’s mapping and local search application for mobile phones. As noted in the post, Google only had a slow Java-based client for Windows Mobile devices at the time. Earlier this year, however, a native Windows Mobile version of Google Maps was released, which was a huge improvement over its rather unimpressive predecessor.

Last week, Microsoft improved its offering with the second version of Live Search for Mobile. The update improves performance with better caching, includes user reviews for local search results, and improves upon the GPS navigation features. The most noticeable change, however, is the addition of movie showtimes, powered by data from AMG.

Just like other local search results, movie theater listings can be viewed as a simple, text-only list, or as overlays on a map. Users are given a choice to select either a specific movie to see which theaters are showing it, or a specific local theater to see which movies are playing there. As shown in the screenshot above, the application displays movie showtimes, as well as the address and phone number of the theater so that you can call or get directions in just a couple of clicks. Also included is the option to SMS this information to your friends (with full phonebook integration), which is very convenient.

All in all, a welcome update to a great mobile application.