Monthly Archives: February 2010

Hello everyone

I wanted to share that we have posted an X2 application update on the regular Sony Ericsson Update site at www.sonyericsson.com/update – this is not the full MR1 software release I mentioned in a previous post but a .cab file that will add stability and improved performance throughout the device. The .cab provides updates to many applications inside X2, several are behind the scenes but make sure to check out the new and improved four-tab dialer.

We really wanted to get some high-quality fixes in your hands as quickly as possible.

Update: see this video for a quick demo of how to install the update and to see some of the changes it makes.

Please stay tuned for our first full MR1 software upgrade coming next month. That’s it for now. Aaron

UPDATE 2: Hey all, just wanted to say we’re really sorry for the delay, testing is taking a bit longer than we expected. The update is 99.99% ready and will be posted on sonyericsson.com/update in the next few days. As soon as it is ready I’ll post on the product blog as well.

Technorati Tags: X2,X2 news

The huge 4 inch screen of XPERIA X10 of course is great for watching video. It’s both big enough to make it comfortable and has really high resolution to show all details. In the short tutorial here I show two different video services live in the X10. The first one is the SVT-play service offered on the mobile web page of Swedish public service TV - SVT. The other service shown is the included YouTube client. In that client there is an important option to really experience video in the best way, the option is to “Watch in high quality” which really makes a huge difference compared to the normal mobile service offered by YouTube.

Of course there are lots of other services out there besides these two, both local and global but at least it should give you an idea on what to expect from the screen and the video decoding and streaming capabilities. In my opinion it looks great!

As always please remember that these demos are on prototype hardware and pre-releae software so things might change until release.

The video below is unedited and shot with the Sony Ericsson Vivaz so it also gives you a feel for the 720 HD recording offered there! (remember to click “watch on Youtube and select 720p to see it in full quality)

This post was originally a comment to the post calling for candidates, but I felt it needed its own post as well.

Hi all,

Great response and again sorry for the limitations. Thanks all for taking the time to apply. This is not the same context as for Satio, which was a test pilot programme to allow you to try the phone and blog about your hands on. Ambition is to do larger scale going forward. The original plan was to run conventional research programme only, exploring “average” user behaviour and knowledge. I incorporated you as an addition with the condition that I manage it on my own and that is why there are restrictions as per my physical presence. What I will do is to contact my team in local markets and ask if they can contact you for test pilot programmes in your country. I can´t tell the outcome, but is worth a shot from my side to try.

@Rzay Rza, North Cape. Sounds awesome. The research is aiming to be used for longer term evolution, no impact for launch. My ambition is of course to pick up key things from you and drive that to implementation as soon as possible. Maybe since products gets updates, also within a products life cycle. I want to listen to start with and we take it from there. This is a pilot.
@Freddy. Nice blog. I used to be quite good at Spanish, but hasn´t used it for a long time. Think I will read your blog to brush it up again and Bogata is such a nice city.
@Noc and Manish, same goes for you. Maybe a local programme.
@Brad, thanks for the invite. I was in Sidney and Melbourne last summer. Loved it. Will send a note to MU Australia and to others as per above…
@Pierce, China is indeed interesting. If you don´t mind me asking, could you make a post about what is top of mind with regards to consumer insights on smart phone usage in China? You chose what to write. Really interested and we take it from there.

Impressed by the flexibility offered, and there are so many of you that I could opt for. The selected candidates that fulfil the research programme criteria in terms of agreed engagement will be able to keep their units after the research. However, with a device like X10 it is recommended that you are on a data plan which is something that I should have informed about from the very beginning. So hope that will work with the candidates that I announce below as I didn´t specify that for the application. Looking forward to working with you. The conventional research programme is closed for feedback to the public domain, but here you will be able to follow the participants reports for sure.

Cheers,
S.

Ps. I see that colors are still discussed due to unclear information from our side. The Xperia X10, X10 mini, X10 mini pro all support 16M colors, hardware wise. Software wise there are limitations from the OS and what the future upgrades will imply on leveraging screen capability is not visible to me at this point. We will let you know as soon I have something to share.

The selected research candidates:

Peter Löfström
Hi,
First of the facts:
Age 27
Location central stockholm Sweden
Work Part-time at Car Phone Ware House / The Phone House, Study economics, and full time blogger: Daily iPhone, Daily Android & Daily Mobile
Bloggs:
DailyiPhone.se : My own
DailyAndroid.se : My own, at rest right now(waiting for more models and Google PR)
DailyMobile.se : My partners, help out whit stories, test and reviews.
I have been working whit phones for 6 year, i know them by heart. I place a lot of hope in this series from Sony Ericsson.
Regards
//Peter

Matt Davis
Name: Matt Davis
Location: London
Occupation: Owner and chief editor
Blog: http://www.tracyandmatt.co.uk
Short motivation: Beta tester, blogger and reviewer for more than 5 years. With android since the beginning.

Tej Randhawa
Age: 32
Location: London, UK
Occupation: Analyst
Blogs: http://www.xperiax10.net/
http://www.htcheroblog.com/
http://www.samsungomniahd.com/
Motivation: Passionate about smartphones. Experienced blogger/reviewer using Twitter & YouTube to connect with readership. Android familiarity and dedicated Xperia X10 blog.

Andreas L
Age: 34
Location: Stockholm
Occupation: Student (Bachelor in game development), Stockholm University
Blog or equivalent if applicable: NA
I have a great sense of understanding how people will experience, interact and feel about an artefact and have been working with user experience/usability since 2000.
I’m currently working on a Bachelor’s thesis (text input on mobile devices) and my focus is HCI/Android and AR applications.
Oh, I’m really great and super awesome.

Linda Bjuväng
Age: 22
Location: Malmö, Sweden
Occupation: Bachelor Programme in Social Work Focusing Disability and Aging
Blog or equivalent if applicable: I have a blog, I use facebook and youtube daily.
I have always been using Sony Ericsson and right now i have a Jalou and i love it. I am a very social person and i can promote the phone to a lot of people in a fun and affective way. And i am just crazy about new technology!

Emil Jönsson
February 21, 2010 at 9:02 am (Edit)
Complete name: Emil Jönsson
Age: 32
Location: Malmö, Sweden
Occupation: Student in interaction design, last semester of bachelor degree
Blog or equivalent if applicable: wordpress
motivation: I am using several internet and mobile services and like to test new technology. I have just started to use the android platform and I am familiar with beta testing. I think I would be a great asset to you.

Hi all,

Spent the week in Barcelona for MWC and you probably have followed the reporting. Massive interest in Xperia X10 and overwhelming positive introduction of X10 mini and X10 mini pro, which I can´t help to reiterate.

Back to X10.

One Sony Ericsson research programme that is about to start relates to user experience. From the very first moment of opening up the box, the first period of getting started and views after a weeks usage. This in order to learn from user behaviour and get valuable feedback as input for future releases.

We will run a conventional research programme by recruiting users through our agencies. In addition, I am very happy to announce that we will for the very first time allow recruitment among yourself as I believe you are such a great representation of knowledge and passion. We will be looking for 2-4 persons that are interested to use the device and are committed to give constructive feedback.

However I am at the same time sorry to say that there are some limitations about this recruitment. It will require a face to face meeting and since I am driving this as an additional pilot, we can only cope with Sweden (Stockholm and south Sweden) and UK, greater London area. I am really sorry for that as there as so many of you that I would like to give this opportunity to as you are great contributors to this forum. Your interest about the device is evident from your activeness on the blog to date, which will of course be considered but at the same time I would like to see who else might be interested.

This is a pilot and going further, we might be able to do this in somewhat greater scale for the upcoming products based on interest etc.

The candidate will be needed to answer questions/send a report on the usage a couple of times over course of months time and be willing to meet face to face for a deep interview, either at our premises or even at their resident.

If, you are interested please post a short introduction of yourself in the comments section below, please include the following:

- Complete name

- Age

- Location

- Occupation

- Blog or equivalent if applicable

- Short motivation why you would be a suitable candidate in less than twenty words

I would appreciate If I could close the application process by Tuesday next week.

Have a great weekend

Sumit

I spent the weekend up in snowy Åre of Sweden – of course I shot some pics with both X10 and Vivaz and also some videos with Vivaz. Below you find some snowy landscape pics and also some videos I shot when there was an open session contest in jumping into the BigAirBag that we brought to Åre this weekend. It’s cool to see those guys and girls really spin off in creativity when they are sure that they will land softly I know I’m not experienced in shooting action sports and in retrospect I should have found some cooler angles to shoot from. I guess also some kind of DIY fish-eye lens would have done the tricks better since that’s what we are used to when it comes to action sports