Handset maker Sony Ericsson today announced its first Android powered phone, the Experia X10, which will be available early next year.
According to a news release Tuesday datelined London, the X10 is the flagship of a new line of smartphones Sony Ericsson will release in the first half of 2010. The release doesn’t reveal when the phone will be available in the U.S. or through which carrier.
A check of the Web sites of the four major U.S. carriers shows only AT&T and T-Mobile carry any Sony Ericsson models and even then only a handful.
Given the specifications Sony Ericsson has revealed, the X10 might be worth seeking out. One that jumped out at me was its 8.1-megapixel camera with up to a 16x digital zoom. The much touted Motorola Droid, another Android-powered smartphone coming Nov. 6 on Verizon, boasts only a 5 megapixel camera.
Also on the X10: camera facial recognition; Google apps like search, Google Maps, Docs and You Tube; GPS and turn-by-turn navigation; and a 4-inch wide touchscreen.
The operating system is Google’s Android version 1.6. Motorola’s phone will be the first on the market running Android 2.0.
According to a Reuters story on the announcement, Sony Ericsson needs a hit like the X10 to reverse shrinking market share. Its sales for the third quarter of this year were off by 45 percent from the year ago quarter.
"The X10 is a high-value smartphone that will help Sony Ericsson back on the road toward profitability," Reuters quoted analyst Neil Mawston of Strategy Analytics as saying.