The Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 (codenamed “Rachael”) has been announced to the world in early November last year at its official announcement event in London. The XPERIA X10 has been Sony Ericsson’s paper flagship device for a good few months now. However, the latest official word seems to confirm that the wait will be even longer.

NTT DoCoMo has already confirmed it will launch the device in Japan this April, and T-Mobile has now also gone official with an April time-frame for the XPERIA X10’s German arrival. Guess we can consider that February 10 “expected” launch in the UK dead and buried by this point.

Sony Ericsson does not have too great a track record of smartphones, preferring to deliver great features phones. However, with the XPERIA X10, it has branched out into Google Android territory. One look at the device, you will notice that the UI of the XPERIA X10 is not for Sony Ericsson’s standard interface, as it aimed at getting the most out of Facebook, YouTube and other social networking applications.

The Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 Android-phone is a slim, sleek slab with an expansive 4 inches capacitive touch-screen with 480 x 840 pixels resolution. That is the same pixel count but slightly larger than the 3.7 inches screen on the Motorola Droid. Unlike the XPERIA X1 or XPERIA X2, the XPERIA X10 drops the keyboard and also switches from Windows Mobile (WinMo) to Android.

Android 2.0 is on the device at present and has all the features you’d expect, including the new browser and Google Maps. DoubleDT.Com heard of performance issues with early demo version of the XPERIA X10. However, the example at CES appeared to be more polished and ran quickly, as it uses a 1GHz Snapdragon CPU. It is not certain if the Sony Ericsson will embed Android 2.1 on to the device, though that is a logical conclusion given that the Nexus One already uses the newer OS. (Brainstorming: the first commercial Android phone was the T-Mobile G1, launched October 23rd 2008. Initially sold to T-Mobile U.S. and U.K. customers, and has since opened to a worldwide marketplace.)

What’s more? Design-wise, the XPERIA X10 is comfortable to hold, stylish and simple. DoubleDT.Com do wish its designer found a solution to justify an oleo-phobic touch-screen, however, as it was prone to showing many visible fingerprints. Meanwhile, the big screen does not really impact on the overall weight of the XPERIA X10, which at 135g (4.8 ounces) is reasonably light and easy to carry around in your pocket.

That said, it’s the bundled applications that Sony Ericsson is hoping will make this standout device. You will find all the standard Android applications, as well as Timescape for easy grabbing of contacts, and Mediascape for your movies, music, and images. DoubleDT.Com found that both work rather well, with Timescape working smoothly with Twitter, Facebook and email. However, getting them to respond quickly can be dilemmatic, as they do not feel as though they have been fine-tuned for the OS or screen-display.

Sony Ericsson need the success of its new device, the XPERIA X10, as it has lost half its market share in the space of a year, owing in no small part to its lack of a handset like Apple’s iPhone. Sony Ericsson’s strategy to choose Android is a smart move, since the OS is still new, with free open-source code and a growing App Market. Moreover, it’s not plagued by the WinMo or Symbian legacy. Overall, the XPERIA X10 is one magnificent package that will take on the competition with no hesitation.

XPERIA X10 Android-phone at a glance:

• General: GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, UMTS 900/1900/2100 MHz, HSDPA, HSUPA
• OS: Android 2.0
• Platform: Qualcomm QSD8250 Snapdragon 1 GHz CPU
• Display: 4″ 65K-color TFT capacitive touchscreen, 854 x 480 pixels
• Memory: 1GB storage, 256MB RAM, microSD card slot, 8GB card included in the retail box
• Form factor: Touchscreen bar phone
• Dimensions: 119 x 63 x 13 mm, 135 g
• Camera: 8MP auto-focus camera with LED flash and face detection; touch focus, WVGA (800 x 480 pixels) video recording at 30fps
• Connectivity: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP, standard microUSB port, GPS receiver with A-GPS, 3.5mm audio jack
• Other features: Sony Ericsson Timescape and Mediascape UI, built-in accelerometer

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