For some, the Sony Ericsson Xperia X8 has been available for a couple of months now, however South Africa haven’t received the handset which, according to Sonja Shear, Sony Ericsson’s market unit head, was due to the “result of global constraints on the product”. The delay in the handset arriving in South Africa however, does mean that Sony Ericsson will ship the Xperia X8 with Android 2.1, which has recently been released for the X8, instead of the very outdated Android 1.6. This is something many consumers felt Sony Ericsson should have done any way.

While we’ve already seen the Xperia X8 here in the UK, Sony Ericsson have just announced that the “medium sized X10″ is now shipping worldwide. However comments from Rikard Skogberg indicate that although the handset is now shipping, not all markets or networks will release the handset immediately. It was hinted at that some markets may wait to release the Android powered handset until the 2.1 update is released for it. We already know Android 2.1 has been delayed for the Xperia X10 range. Unfortunately the Android 2.1 update will be released slightly later for the X8.