Barclay Communications

The long-awaited mobile phone XPERIA X2 has been officially launched by Sony Ericsson, Reuters has reported.

The new phone has a Windows Mobile 6.5 platform and features some impressive upgrades on its predecessor. The main difference of the new mobile is its interactive Panel SDK which, as Reuters explains, has a Panelizer – a device for transforming current Flash, Java and Windows mobile applications into panels for the mobile phone.

These panels enable phone users to experience entertainment on their handsets quickly and easily. The development of the panels should also encourage developers to create new content for the phone.

Head of developer and partner engagement at Sony Ericsson, Christopher David said: “Putting developers’ applications directly in front of consumers is a crucial
focus for us. We created the Panel SDK to streamline the development process, minimising the time it takes to get applications directly to the consumer and providing developers with additional revenue opportunities.”

Sony Ericsson’s market place, PlayNow arena, will have applications available which can be used on its handsets as panels. Using the technology developed in the creation of XPERIA X2, these applications will be available to users of other Sony Ericsson mobile phones. Developers benefit financially from the offering with a share of 70 per cent of the net income by PlayNow arena.

The new phone’s other features include a trackpad, a powerful 8-megapixel camera, 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS and an audio jack. In addition, the new XPERIA X2 has 10 hours of talk-time, 20 hours of music playback time and 500 hours of standby time.