So you're a Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 owner that salivated at the video of Android 2.1 running on your beloved handset, but you're disappointed that there was no solid release date for the upgrade? Fret no longer, friend, because SE has come forward on their company blog and said that Eclair will be available starting this Sunday evening, October 31st. Users will be notified of the update over-the-air, but because of the size of the download, 2.1 will have to be installed using the companion software that came with your handset. As with almost all updates, not everyone will be notified of the update right away, with availability expected to last through November. Check out the list of key improvements below.
The Xperia line of handsets may not have been the most popular Android phones, at least here in the U.S., but the news that they'll soon be upgraded to Android 2.1 is big news for the platform. This news, combined with the fact that several Motorola devices are finally going to be moving from pre-2.x software, shows that Android is really fighting those fragmentation arguments by bringing newer versions of the OS to most of its hardware. Sure, it'd be better to see Froyo being installed on all of these products, but 2.1 is certainly better than 1.5 or 1.6. The next Android OS Distribution chart from Google sure is going to be interesting...
Xperia X10:
• HD video recording with continuous auto-focus for high quality videos
• Upgrade of the Android platform to Android 2.1
• New back up and restore application, with extended content back up
• 5 homescreens for apps, widgets, shortcuts and folders
• Social phonebook which automatically syncs contact pictures from Facebook and shows when your friends are online
Xperia X10 mini and X10 mini pro:
• Improved Bluetooth functionality with support for sending and receiving pictures, contacts and more
• New backup and restore application with extended content back up
• Automatic synchronization of your contact pictures between Facebook and your phone book
• Improved ways of handling pictures, audio, text and numbers in your messages
• Upgrade of the Android platform to Android platform 2.1
