My First Xperia™

Sony Ericsson unveils its most accessible Android smartphone yet

Sony Ericsson has introduced the latest of its entertaining smartphones, the new Xperia™ X8.  Designed to appeal to a young, fun market who would like try the premium experience of the Xperia™ line of smartphones, the X8 brings together popular functions and features from the line in one exciting yet affordable package.

“The Sony Ericsson Xperia™ X8 is a great entertainment smartphone that sits in the mid-level of our overall portfolio and contributes to Sony Ericsson’s objective to extend the Xperia™ collection of entertaining smartphones to a broader audience by offering an affordable option that combines a compact size with style and performance,” said Dennis Manzano, Sony Ericsson General Manager.

Mr. Manzano said that Sony Ericsson smartphone sales were up, especially with the highly popular Xperia™ line.  Based on its global performance report, nearly 50% of sales in its second quarter were from the Xperia™ collection of smartphones, as well as Vivaz™, its HD video smartphone.  Overall, Sony Ericsson experienced 25% increase in sales in the second quarter 2010, and introduced three more smartphones—the Xperia™  X10 mini, X10 mini pro and Vivaz™ pro.

“Sony Ericsson’s Xperia line creates a unique Sony Ericsson user experience by combining entertainment features, signature applications, social media services and rich graphics with intelligence capabilities.  We’ve tried to humanize how people interact with smartphones,” he added.

Upon its debut in Japan, the Xperia™ X10 immediately became one of the best-selling smartphones on record with some stores having to post sold out signs.  Its miniature versions, the Xperia™ X10 mini and X10 mini pro, have fared just as well.  Both handsets are full featured smartphones but are just about the size of a credit card.  The X10 mini pro is differentiated by a full QWERTY keypad.

The Xperia™ X10 mini has already received two citations for design:  the Red Dot Award for Product Design and the European Mobile Phone 2010-2011 from the European Imaging and Sound Association.

Like the Xperia™ X10 mini, the Xperia™ X8 offers access to favourite applications through a four-corner user interface.  Users can customize this with widgets for quick, one-touch access to the most used apps.  The X8 also has the Sony Ericsson signature application Timescape™, which shows a 3D scrolling menu of the user’s latest emails, SMS, social network updates, photos, music and calls, all in chronological order.

Users can also plug in to 3.5 mm headphone jack, browse the web on the 3-inch touchscreen via WiFi, keep in touch through Facebook™ and Twitter™, and enjoy a virtual universe of applications from Android Market™ and Sony Ericsson’s own PlayNow™.

Following its siblings in the Xperia™ line and in the new Sony Ericsson handsets, the Xperia™ X8 also carries the design philosophy of human curvature.  The back design follows the natural curve of the human hand for users to comfortably and firmly hold onto their phone.  As Xperia™ X10 industrial designer Shigeaki Suzuki points out, the human curvature “reflects the human design aesthetic.”  She added:  “The design theme that we have implemented for 2010 is ‘Human Curvature and Precision’. It means that our products should encapsulate human desire and emotions with a functional handset.”

Sony Ericsson designed a new color scheme for the Xperia™ X8 to further “humanize” the way people use their handsets.  The X8 gets some added appeal from a gradient color scheme for its style covers.  The phone will be available in black and white, but will also offer combinations of white/dark blue, white/aqua blue, white/pink and white/silver.

The Sony Ericsson Xperia™ X8 rolls out nationwide with free pre-loaded apps including leading mobile security service WaveSecure and privileges and freebies from EnjoyPH.

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Sony Ericsson is a 50/50 joint venture by Sony and Ericsson established in October 2001, with global corporate functions located in London and operations in major markets around the world. Sony Ericsson’s strategy is to become the industry leader in mobile Communication Entertainment, through new styles of interaction across the internet and social media. Sony Ericsson offers exciting consumer experiences through innovative and feature rich phones, accessories, content and applications.