While Sony Ericsson’s budget Xperia smartphone may not be to everyone’s liking, for those new to the world of Android and/or those on a budget, the Xperia X8 steps up to the mark.

Previously the Sony Ericsson Xperia X8 was on sale for around £100 but, now O2 have dropped the price of the handset down to £79.99 for either the black model or white model. A minimum top up is not required and delivery is free. O2 are also offering customers a £20 gift voucher with the Xperia X8, as they are with the Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini Pro.

The £20 voucher effectively makes the handset only £60. You can choose a £20 gift voucher for Amazon, Argos, Boots, Next or Pizza Hut.

An update to the custom ROM CyanogenMod has been released, after a short delay on the expected release date. Version 7.1 of CyanogenMod is now available to those adventurous Xperia owners as it is now working on all of the 2011 Xperia handsets including the Xperia Play, Xperia Arc, Xperia Mini and Mini Pro, Xperia Ray and the Xperia Neo handsets. Even the Xperia X8 is catered for with version 7.1.

The FreeXperia team have been working tirelessly to get this custom ROM up and running on the Xperia range of phones and Sony Ericsson themselves shocked the developer scene recently by handing the team 20 Xperia handsets and technical information in order to help make CyanogenMod work with their products. It has to be noted however that despite encouraging the developers in such a way, Sony Ericsson still stand by the ‘rule’ that if you modify your Xperia handset by flashing a custom ROM to it, you will invalidate your warranty so be warned before taking the plunge.

When Sony Ericsson announced that they had changed their plans for the Xperia X10 and that it would not be stuck on Android 2.1 but, would instead be upgraded to Android 2.3 during the end of Q2/start of Q3, this pleased many customers. However it still left some of Sony Ericsson’s customers rather angry, as while this was great news for owners of the Xperia X10, it was also announced that the X10 Mini, X10 Mini Pro and Xperia X8 were not part of these plans and would remain on Android 2.1 as previously stated.

A lot has been happening in the Xperia line in the past week due to the CES 2011. With new models being unveiled and planned to be released in the coming days it is easy to overlook the older models. Here’s something that should interest you if you are looking for an Xperia X8.  Three UK is now offering the Xperia X8 for only £99. The black version of this Android phone is the one being offered and the deal already comes with a PAYG top up of £10.

If you are looking for a great Android phone that does not cost much then this would make a perfect choice for you. If you are not satisfied with the product you can even return it to Three UK within 14 days of purchase. You have to act quickly if you plan on getting this since this offer will only be valid until January 31.

We all know that Sony Ericsson aren’t great at keeping their upcoming handsets a secret. We saw photos of the Xperia X10 before an official announcement came from Sony Ericsson and even the more recently announced Xperia Arc, we’d seen a while before Sony Ericsson officially announced the handset, in the form of the Anzu. More photos have been leaked of an Xperia handset, this time round it’s the “Xperia Duo”. The Duo appears to be a successor to the Xperia X10 Mini or Mini Pro, which we’ve already seen a photo of before and it’s benchmark. Here are some more photos to whet your appetite.