Just a day before the expected release of the Xperia X10 and Sony Ericsson has dropped a bit of a bombshell on the Android Community – the X10 will run Android 1.6.  It looks like SE does not agree with Google’s claim that Android 1.6 was a “minor platform release“.  In a rather lengthy blog post over on the Unofficial Sony Ericsson Blog, the guys dig into the details of the fatal move to run Android 1.6 by claiming that SE is not focused on the version of Android as much as it is the total UI package i.e. Sony Ericsson’s User Experience Platform.  Let’s be honest we’ve seen Motorola and HTC deliver some very clean UIs, but at the end of the day it’s hard to argue that there is not some dip in performance as a result.  On a postive note Sony Ericsson realize that people want the features in the latest Android OS (2.1) and they’ve confirmed an update will come at some point after launch.  When that update will arrive is any one’s guess and by judging from the slow updates for nearly every other Android phone on the market we wouldn’t hold our breath.  Maybe I’m getting ahead of myself, I mean we still need to see the X10 launch as scheduled tomorrow right?

To find out more about Android 1.6 please visit Google’s Android Resource Library here.

[via SE]

As we prepare for the release of the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 many questions are lurking on the minds of fellow Android fanatics.  Today we have confirmed many rumors and speculations regarding the X10 so let’s get straight to nuts and bolts of our findings.  The XPERIA X10 is running Android 1.6 Donut which means OpenGL ES 1.1 APIs (native and Java).  The X10 hardware (GPU) supports OpenGL ES 2.0, but the limiting factor is the version of Android running on the device.  The X10 SEMC applications such as Timescape rely on a UI framework which is Qualcomm proprietary and indirectly use OpenGL ES 2.0 hardware and functionality.  The bottom line is that with the X10 running Android 1.06, OpenGL ES 2.0 APIs are not accessible to all developers despite the hardware being there.

[via SE Blog]

The rumored Android-powered XPERIA X10 is now official, complete with a 1GHz processor and spacious 4-inch OLED display.  The device went live in a Sony Ericsson Press Event early this morning in the far East, but that is not stopping the news from rolling into our West Coast headquarters.  The key specs we must note immediately besides the processor and display are the 8.1-megapixel camera with LED flash, quad-band GSM / tri-band 3G (UMTS) support and Android 1.6.  For the full details on the XPERIA X10 including the official press release check out Cellfanatic here.

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