Those of you holding out hope that the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 will get an official update to Windows Mobile 6.5 can let that dream die. An SE rep apparently has told Crave Asia that there will be no update, quit asking, now go buy the Xperia X2. (OK, we made up those last two parts.)

The good news? Unoffocial ROMs have been available for quite some time now in the usual places, so long as you don't mind a little hardSPL trickery. And as a reminder, here's the link to the semi-official (and still rather sparse) upgrade list, so check it to see if good news is headed your way. [Crave Asia via wmpoweruser]

Think you have to wait a long time to get the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1? Our friends on the Rogers network in Canada have had to wait even longer. But their wait is finally over, as the phone finally is available, and with carrier subsidy, no less. Here's the price breakdown:

• 3-year: $249.99
• 2-year: $449.99
• 1-year: $549.99
• Outright: $599.99

So congrats, friends. Not only do you get the X1, you can sign away a couple of years of your life and get it on the cheap, relatively speaking.

Rogers via MobileSyrup

So we've had the Xperia X2 leaked shots floating around, and about all we knew was that we were looking at a horizontal slider with an 8.1-megapixel camera. Now we're getting some leaked specs to go along with it, and they're doozies.

• 8.1MP camrea with autofocus, VGA video at 30 frames per second.
• A 3.5-inch WVGA OLED touchscreen.
• aGPS
• 3.5MM headphone jack.
• Accelerometer.
• "Faster processor" (the X1 has a Qualcomm MSM7200A running at 528MHz)
• 512MB RAM
• Custom Windows Mobile 6.5 (SE engineers customized Win6.5 which runs very. very speedy. in par with iPhone and better in some cases)
• Upgrading to Windows Mobile 7 is supported by Xperia panels

If all that turns out to be true, it could very well leave the HTC Touch Pro 2 behind. Of course, if the X2 takes as long to come to market as the X1 did, it might not matter.

Mobile-Review via wmpoweruser

Remember that leaked shot of the Sony Ericsson Xperia X2 from the other day? Here's one, bigger and better, and with a look at it from behind. Looks like the rear-facing camera has a flash, which is good. As for the rest? Start your guessin'.

Fanklub.se via Pocketnow

Update: We didn't notice it at first thanks to the ginormous watermark, but that appears to be an 8-freakin'-megapixel camera there.

One of our favorite rumors that keeps going and going but never really getting anywhere is the Sony Ericsson Xperia X2. The follow-up to the Great Experiment known as the X1 has been seen in fits and starts, but there's still nothing really concrete to go on.

But in this shot obtained by Engadget, we do see a Windows Flag key in the top left of the keyboard. So, that means there's a Windows Flag at the top left of the keyboard. Whether this is a prototype of an upcoming devices or something since scuttled is anyone's guess.

OK, so the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 didn't exactly sell like hotcakes, at least in the U.S. Lack of carrier support (and a high unlocked price) will do that to a phone. And while there have been grumblings that SE was getting out of the Windows Mobile game, we're now getting a brief mention that an X2 is in the works from GigaOm [via] in a piece about Skyhook, a Boston wireless company. Emphasis ours

Once Skyhook was designed into the iPhone, Google folks took notice of Skyhook and started to develop their own competitive offering, which is being offered for free, while Skyhook charges for its offering. Morgan admits that the company has lost a couple of deals because of free offerings. For instance, the X2 edition of Sony Xperia phone (Windows Mobile-based) uses geolocation data from Google.

That's all we get. Assuming this isn't just a typo, it lends a little more credence to an early rumor that SE planned to continue the Xperia line with Windows Mobile. If it is a typo, then a whole lotta people are getting excited over nothing.

This year has flown by rather quickly and it seems like just yesterday Sony Ericsson announced their new Windows Mobile device, the Xperia X1. Way back in February of this year, we reported that Sony had joined the Windows Mobile family by introducing the Xperia during the Mobile World Congress. Since then we've diligently kept on eye on the rumor mill for a release of this device and continue to wait.

During that time we've had countless sightings of the Xperia, a few in-depth looks at the device and even heard that Sony was planning a developer competition for the Xperia's Sliding Panel interface (did that ever happen?). Released dates came and went with no luck in seeing the Xperia hit the shelves. September became November; November became December; and know we all look towards January (almost one year from the announcement) for the long anticipated release. Best Buy teased us by putting the Xperia on their website for pre-order, only to change the ad to "Coming Soon" a few weeks later. You begin to have the feeling that the Xperia X1a (the US version) is Sony's white whale and you're Captain Ahab sailing the seven seas.

Read the rest of this entry »

The Xperia X1a (aka the version with the North American bands) has been wicked difficult to get. Rumor has it that it was being held back for some reason after an initial shipment. Maybe it's the just-mentioned cracks, maybe it's the ROM, maybe it's that any association with Best Buy is a curse. With regard to that last point, Best Buy is cancelling the preorders they took earlier this year (ours included) because they “cannot get stock.”

So yeah, a lot of bad news. Here's some potentially good news, though. We already knew that Canadian carrier Rogers is picking up the Xperia X1 next year, but check out what pocketnow noticed: the bands listed for the X1 are “HSPA 850/1700/1900/2100.” That, friends, is the kind of 3G that T-Mobile users can get jiggy with -- and if any carrier is so retro as to 'get jiggy' with anything, it's T-Mobile.

Anyway, tell us: are you still holding out for the X1a or have you relented and gone for a Touch Pro/Fuze?

We've already mentioned that the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1a (or the SEX1a as Malatesta's taken to calling it) is available for pre-order at Best Buy for the low, low price of $1 million $800 (albeit unlocked).

Now we bring mention of the X1a's romp through the Federal Communications Commission [via Engadget Mobile], including some obligatory FCC-style candid external and internal shots. (Warning: pdf links.)

So head on over to the FCC site if you're wanting to take a look at just what makes this guy tick. And then try to figure out how you can justify that much money for the thing.

Engadget Mobile has word that the phone that's been 'pending' for the US perhaps longer than any other we've been watching finally has an official release date and price. The Xperia X1a (that's the Xperia X1 with the US 3G Bands) will see US release on Friday, November 28th, for a whopping $799. That's an unlocked price, as you may have surmised, which means that as with the Treo Pro, there's no word yet on a subsidized price from AT&T. For now, it appears you'll be heading to sonystyle.com or an “authorized Sony retailer” to pick one up.

It seems like it's been an eternity since we gave the Xperia X1 an hands-on review back in April. In retrospect, it might have behooved Sony to keep the bugger under wraps a little longer. Actually, it would have probably behooved them to beat the Fuze (Full Review) to market or at least let us know a clearer release date before the Fuze came out.

Still, we now know it's coming on Black Friday and we know it's going to cost and arm and a leg. Will you be picking one up?