Three Reasons Why The Xperia Matters

[Jason Dunn]

This guest column is written by ex-Pocket PC Thoughts Contributing Editor Andreas Sjöström.

Last spring I wrote, in my monthly IDG column, about my dream device and explained why I wanted Sony Ericsson and Microsoft making it. With the new Xperia X1 my dream come true and here are my three reasons to why the partnership is really exciting.

The first reason is that the partnership strengthens an ongoing platform trend on the market. Google chose not to announce a phone, but a platform and this is an example of what is happening. More market players focus on the mobile phone platform. The Symbian companies with Nokia in the lead and the Windows Mobile-makers with Microsoft behind the scenes have focused on the choice of platform for many years, but not until now we see the critical mass awakening.

As a system architect and developer I appreciate the overall perspective in Microsoft’s .NET-platform and how well Windows Mobile fits into companies’ infrastructure. It has been important explaining the relevance of a unified platform, from server, desktops, the web and all the way out to the phones. This challenge has been made easier to manage during the last six months when what is under the hood is in focus. Beyond megapixels, FM-radios and 3G.

The phones that Sony Ericsson has positioned on the business phone market is primarily based on Symbian and this is likely to continue. With the company’s new phone they broaden the product portfolio not only with a new model but with a new platform!

The second reason is that Sony Ericsson now gets the same reach into businesses, as do for example Motorola and Samsung, by offering Windows-phones. Sony Ericsson is also likely to cover new grounds in North America with the new Windows-phone.

The third reason is that Microsoft finally has found what has long been looked for: a brand in Sony Ericsson’s class. From a Nordic perspective, more companies have standardized on Sony Ericsson as a brand than on Windows Mobile as a platform. Sony Ericsson will therefore be a door opener for Windows Mobile.

Back to the platform perspective. When I look beyond the horizon, I believe that the spot between Windows Mobile and Linux will be cold and narrow. With Nokia’s acquisition of the “Linux-in-the-phone”-company Trolltech, I question the long term future of Symbian. The new phone from Sony Ericsson and Microsoft is hopefully just the beginning of a successful relationship. I want to see more models, preferably with sportier designs now that the platform is in place. Sony Ericsson gets a new grip on businesses, better odds in North America. Microsoft gets a top maker and brand behind its platform. The rest of us get dreams fulfilled!

Andy Sjostrom is a principal consultant at Sogeti. He has more than ten years of experience in designing mobile solutions for large companies. He is the co-author of the book “Pocket PC Development in the Enterprise”, has contributed with numerous of technical articles for MSDN, and was awarded the MVP-award five times. Andy is one of the first contributing editors for Pocket PC Thoughts and is now a regular columnist for the largest IT-magazine in Sweden. You can also find him blogging at blog.wmdev.net and itentifierat.

[Jason Dunn]

This guest column is written by ex-Pocket PC Thoughts Contributing Editor Andreas Sjöström.

Last spring I wrote, in my monthly IDG column, about my dream device and explained why I wanted Sony Ericsson and Microsoft making it. With the new Xperia X1 my dream come true and here are my three reasons to why the partnership is really exciting.

The first reason is that the partnership strengthens an ongoing platform trend on the market. Google chose not to announce a phone, but a platform and this is an example of what is happening. More market players focus on the mobile phone platform. The Symbian companies with Nokia in the lead and the Windows Mobile-makers with Microsoft behind the scenes have focused on the choice of platform for many years, but not until now we see the critical mass awakening.

As a system architect and developer I appreciate the overall perspective in Microsoft’s .NET-platform and how well Windows Mobile fits into companies’ infrastructure. It has been important explaining the relevance of a unified platform, from server, desktops, the web and all the way out to the phones. This challenge has been made easier to manage during the last six months when what is under the hood is in focus. Beyond megapixels, FM-radios and 3G.

The phones that Sony Ericsson has positioned on the business phone market is primarily based on Symbian and this is likely to continue. With the company’s new phone they broaden the product portfolio not only with a new model but with a new platform!

The second reason is that Sony Ericsson now gets the same reach into businesses, as do for example Motorola and Samsung, by offering Windows-phones. Sony Ericsson is also likely to cover new grounds in North America with the new Windows-phone.

The third reason is that Microsoft finally has found what has long been looked for: a brand in Sony Ericsson’s class. From a Nordic perspective, more companies have standardized on Sony Ericsson as a brand than on Windows Mobile as a platform. Sony Ericsson will therefore be a door opener for Windows Mobile.

Back to the platform perspective. When I look beyond the horizon, I believe that the spot between Windows Mobile and Linux will be cold and narrow. With Nokia’s acquisition of the “Linux-in-the-phone”-company Trolltech, I question the long term future of Symbian. The new phone from Sony Ericsson and Microsoft is hopefully just the beginning of a successful relationship. I want to see more models, preferably with sportier designs now that the platform is in place. Sony Ericsson gets a new grip on businesses, better odds in North America. Microsoft gets a top maker and brand behind its platform. The rest of us get dreams fulfilled!

Andy Sjostrom is a principal consultant at Sogeti. He has more than ten years of experience in designing mobile solutions for large companies. He is the co-author of the book “Pocket PC Development in the Enterprise”, has contributed with numerous of technical articles for MSDN, and was awarded the MVP-award five times. Andy is one of the first contributing editors for Pocket PC Thoughts and is now a regular columnist for the largest IT-magazine in Sweden. You can also find him blogging at blog.wmdev.net and itentifierat.

[swapnilgyani]

I have used Sony Ericsson phones for over 6 years, and switched to WinMo only 8 months back. While I love how flexible WinMo is, I find the user interface to be awful. Anyone who has used one of the recent SE devices will tell you that user interface is SE's forte - second only to iPhone in my opinion.

So in layman terms, this combination for raw power of WinMo, and a UI that makes up for the Du-UH factors of it ( ) is a solution to look forward to

[pilotz69]

Well put Jason.

I RSS this site, and it's been a long while since I've replied to anything, but this writeup is inspired.

This dream phone is a long time coming for sure, and I look forward to adopting it as soon as available.

Hopefully a late Q2 release means globally. One way or the other I'll gladly pay full price for an unlocked phone of this caliber, even if it means importing it.

[SJ]

I was a big fan of Ericsson phones for a long time. My phone history should be something like GF-388, GF-768, GF-788, T27, T36, R380, R320, T68, T68i, P800, P900, P910.

I've used the phone as my PPC slave for along time until HTC phones started to emerge. I've used HTC/Samsung/Motorola WM phones ever since.

UIQ 1 & 2 is OK but UIQ 3 is a big dissapointment. The interface is so confusing and bug ridden that I decided that I will never buy a Sony Ericsson phone again. Although I really like the multimedia capabilities of the newer SE phones, the SymbianOS in the phone is the deal breaker for me.

This is an excellent news for a long time Sony Ericsson & WinMob fans. Finally a good phone with excellent OS loaded with Sony multimedia capabilities.

Since I'm a bigger fan of WM Smartphone, I hope SE will churn out WM Standard phones as well.

It's time to rediscover my old passion for them again.

Cheers!

[rdecker]

Let's not forget one point. Sony itself is admitting they are using HTC as one of the manufacturers for this. Let's hope they don't hose it up.....

[Kirkaiya]

I bought my wife an iPhone last fall (and living in Thailand, the store did the complimentary "unlock", then gift wrapped it, since it was for her birthday).

The iPhone is an amazing device - she loves it, and I've tried to hold off buying one to see whether either (a) Apple releases an updated version with a higher-resolution screen, or (b) somebody else offers something compelling and similar but running WinMo (since I use a WM5 phone, my Dopod S300 flip-phone) and really really like it, especially OTA activesync.

anyway - the Xperia is the first device i've looked at (in photos on engadgetmobile, anyway) that I think I would buy as my new device, if the price is not toooo ridiculous, and if it becomes available before something else even more remarkable comes out.

800 x 480... in a 3" screen... I just keep thinking about that, about being able to REALLY see webpages (the iPhone's screen is beautiful at 480 x 320, so this Xperia screen must be like... well, like paper, according to somebody who was handling it).

400 MB of RAM and a Micro-SD card means i can stuff a 4 GB card in, and take my TV shows and movies with me (and without having to process them for smaller rez, except my HD stuff I suppose). Hmm... 5 episodes of The Daily Show (at 640 x 480) at 175 MB each would make for a really far less boring plane ride.

Anyway - hopefully we'll see some of these in the wild at some point later in the spring.

[Rocco Augusto]

I love the look of the device and the sleek looking new design. I was extremely disappointed though to find out that once you dig deeper into the phone, past the homescreen, everything is still the same old boring Windows 95ish layout.

This urks me. I'm tired of all of these slick looking devices with really cool homescreens and dull internal menus. It's like they're turning Windows Mobile into the mullet of the cellular world. Party in the front, business in the back...

[Pete Paxton]

Well, let's hope this is true then:

http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/0...f-windows-mob/

[Jason Dunn]

Originally Posted by pilotz69

Well put Jason. I RSS this site, and it's been a long while since I've replied to anything, but this writeup is inspired.

Well, as much as I'd like to take credit for an inspired piece of writing, it was written by Andy Sjostrom as indicated above and below the post.

[Jason Dunn]

Originally Posted by Kirkaiya

...and a Micro-SD card

Sadly, there's no microSD card if reports are to be believed: it's only a Sony Memory Stick Micro (??) slot.