Sony Ericsson is reportedly getting set to unveil yet another Xperia X10 smartphone codenamed Shakira.
While speculation about the Shakira is rife, it is strongly believed that it will be smaller than the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 but bigger than the Xperia X10 Mini Pro.
The in-between, or Xperia X10 medium phone, was leaked on a Chinese forum and is said to have a similar screen size to the Vivaz, which is 3.2-inches.
Other speculation claims the phone will have many of the Xperia X10’s features, like the Mini and Mini Pro. However, it’s hoped that unlike the latter two smartphones it will have 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor.
Since all of Sony Ericsson’s current Android phones are only running on Android 1.6, many will be anticipating the Shakira to be the manufacturer’s first Android 2.1 phone.
Music phone
The Shakira’s name may be an indication that it will incorporate some of Sony Ericsson’s musical might, either being branded with one of its artists or the Walkman mobile phone player. Shakira, the artist, is singing the FIFA 2010 World Cup anthem and has a big US tour coming up in the autumn - so it’s not inconceivable Sony could cross-promote its act and phone together. And the recent revival of its Walkman brand with the Spiro and Zylo illustrates the manufacturer is trying to capitalise on it again.
It is not known when or where the Shakira smartphone will launch, although some of the rumours do mention the autumn.
The other Xperia X10 smartphones
Sony Ericsson released the Xperia X10 earlier this year and is currently shipping the Xperia X10 Mini and Mini Pro in Europe.
The Xperia X10 was one of 2010’s hotly anticipated releases - it combined an Android operating system with Sony Ericsson’s Mediascape and Timescape features, a four-inch screen, an eight-megapixel camera, one GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and HSDPA which is similar to mobile broadband.
The Xperia X10 Mini is the smallest smartphone on the market. It includes many of the Xperia X10’s features but has a smaller screen at 2.55-inches and a smaller processor at 600MHz. Its camera is of a slightly lower quality too at 5-megapixels.
Its sibling the X10 Mini Pro is practically the same but it also has a QWERTY keyboard for faster typing when using the phone’s messaging, email or social networking features.
Copyright MobileShop.com
Related links
- The Apple iPhone 4 unveiled
- Handsets launching soon
- Register your interest in the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini Pro, due to launch in July 2010.
