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Nearly everything down the line is essentially the same for the XPERIA X10 mini & XPERIA X10 mini pro. The phones come with a 2.55-inch TFT capacitive touchscreen. There’s still the recognisable “4-corner” icon hallmark at the Mini and Mini Pro’s screens.

Both mobile handsets run an older Android v1.6 OS (Donut) and are powered by the same 600 MHz Qualcomm MSM7227 mobile CPU. Sony Ericsson assures buyers that the users interface are just as performance-packed as the more recent Android OS’s.

The Mini and Mini Pro comes installed with Sony Ericsson’s own Timescape UI as well as a variety of other essential apps. Both phones are integrated with popular social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and Bebo.

Both XPERIA X10 mini & XPERIA X10 mini pro support 3G HSDPA , HSUPA and WiFi networks, as well as Bluetooth and microUSB connectivity for wireless and cabled data transfer.

Major differences

The X10 Mini is strictly a touchscreen phone with a T9 layout for text entry. In contrast, the Mini Pro comes with a slide-out full QWERTY keyboard located behind the main screen. This sliding keyboard feature adds more weight and dimension to the Mini Pro, and makes it rather heavier and bigger than the Mini.

What’s more, both XPERIA X10 mini & XPERIA X10 mini pro came in different launch colours.

The Mini came in more colours like Gold, Pearl White, Black, Pink, Lime, Red, and Silver whilst the Mini-Pro came only in Black, Red, and Pink.

Sony Ericsson frequently offer users the chance to win an Xperia X10 from their Facebook fan page. Now the company have introduced “Winning Wednesdays”. The first prize they are offering for this, is the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10. Like the other chances to win, you’ll need to provide some details as well as answer a question.

For the Winning Wednesdays competition, you have to Spot the Difference. At first it sounds easy and once you go to the page (found here) to enter, it becomes even simpler. You’re greeted with a picture of a girl jumping and you have to spot one difference between the two photos and you answer by selecting one of three answers. There are five X10 handsets up for grabs, so enter here to have a chance at winning one of the phones.

In partnership with China Mobile, Sony Ericsson chief executive Bert Nordberg has announced that they will be releasing the A8i smartphone in the country, its first TD-SCDMA smartphone.

“China is a hugely important market for Sony Ericsson and we are committed to maintaining our strong position and driving growth by continually introducing new and exciting products into this market”

Looking a lot like an Xperia X8, the A8i will use the Android based China Mobile’s Open Mobile System 2.0 and has the following feature list:

3.5 inch (854×480) display

5MP camera (LED flash, auto focus)

WLAN, Bluetooth

200MB internal memory and supports Micro SD cards

3.5mm headphone socket

CNMB mobile TV, A-GPS, eCompass

Tha A8i will also feature TrackID which will be linked to the entertainment download service already provided by China Mobile.

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As it stands at the moment, the update can’t be performed as an OTA (over the air) update. Instead users will need to use the Sony Ericsson Update Service or PC Companion to update the firmware version. The download totals 153.8MB.

We recently learned that in the UK, Three are the exclusive sellers of the X10 Mini Pro in white. There’s now two competitions up to win the said handset in white.

First up, The News of the World is holding a contest which ends tomorrow. To enter you’ll need to provide a few details and answer one simple question “What colour Xperia™ X10 mini pro handset is exclusive available on Three?”. Vogue are also holding the same competition. Again you’ll need to provide a few details and answer one question, which is slightly harder. “Which young designer has been named as the winner of the British Fashion Council’s MA Scholarship?”. There is however, fortunately a clue page to help you along. Vogue’s competition ends September 2nd.

Along with the handset, with both competitions, you will also win a pair of Ray-Ban sunglasses, an Aspinal of London bag, along with a Marc by Marc Jabobs watch. All provided in white to match the X10 Mini.

Source

The Xperia X10 Mini features Google Android 1.6, which will hopefully be updated soon to Android 2.1. The screen size is the same as the X10 Mini at 2.55 inches but, features a slide out QWERTY keyboard. To make room for this, the X10 Mini Pro is slightly larger than the X10 Mini, which is already available in white, as well as a variety of other colors. However like the X10 Mini, it’s only the back which features a color change, while the front of the phone remains black and the keyboard silver.

There are a couple of videos showing how the problem happens, courtesy of the Unofficial Sony Ericsson Blog.

Originally, the Xperia X10, X10 Mini and X10 Mini Pro were, to many people’s disappointment, due to get the Android 2.1 update in Q4 of this year. With 2.2 announced many people were hoping that Sony Ericsson would skip 2.1 and go straight to Android 2.2 but, they have confirmed this won’t be the case. However they have pushed the release of Android 2.1 forward from Q4 to late Q3. To some this won’t make much difference but, we’re now looking at a September release for 2.1 instead of possible as late as December.

Sony Ericsson have also confirmed they are working on Android 2.2. They have also committed to a Q4 release for Froyo, so we should see the Xperia X10 updated to the latest Android operating system by the end of the year.

It is noted that the low camera resolution at just 3.2MP with no autofocus option is disappointing for what se-first describe as an ‘entry level’ Xperia handset and this is an understandable disappointment as it seems like a step backwards for the range, especially when even the X10 Mini has a 5MP camera to it’s name.

Here are more images from the comparison and hands-on:

More images are available from se-first.com.

We also know the Xperia X8 as the ‘Shakira’ handset which is Sony Ericssons latest smartphone, expected to be released in the fall. The photos show that it is, as predicted, a mid size handset, a mix between the full sized Xperia X10 and Xperia X10 mini in size. Technical details arent confirmed yet, nor is pricing or exact release date information although, specifications are expected to be similar to those of the Xperia X10 Mini.