Sony Xperia X10 Users Finally Get to Taste an Old Eclair, Android 2.1

Consumers spent Tuesday morning bashing Sony Ericsson and AT&T for announcing today that it has begun upgrading Xperia X10 phones to Android 2.1, or "Eclair"—the version of Android launched in January 2010.

"WOW!!! And you guys are actually excited to announce this. SE has just lost the plot," wrote one user at Sony Ericsson's blog.

On Tuesday, Sony Ericsson announced the manual update to Android 2.1 in a blog post: "We couldn't be more excited to bring you the news we have for you today. After much hard-work, we are happy to announce that the Android 2.1 upgrade will be available for AT&T XperiaTM X10 customers in the US starting Tuesday, May 31. We can't thank you enough for your patience."

The announcement was met with more sarcasm than the usual tech post, with responses like "Thats great news...everybody open up a bottle of campaign (sic) and lets celebrate this!!se you are a joke!!and a bad one!!" and "No wonder why sony always get hacked, good luck with this."

Xperia X10 users in the U.S. have reason to be annoyed. Android 2.1 is a minor platform update that Google launched in January 2010. The update gives Xperia X10 devices 720p HD video capture, multi-touch support, continuous autofocus on the camera, face detection during video capture, and expanded homescreen support. Click here to download instructions for manually upgrading your phone.

Sony Ericsson can't be blamed entirely for the holdup. In fact, it first announced the upgrade last November for users in Europe and Australia. AT&T had "no comment" on the U.S. delay.

According to Android Developers' May stats, only 24.5 percent of all smartphones still run Android 2.1, a vast improvement from last November when the figure was 77 percent. Since then 70.2 percent of all smartphones have been upgraded to Android 2.2 (Froyo) and above.

In the U.S., the Xperia X10 series launched in August through AT&T and with an outdated version of Android, 1.6.

PCmag

Sony Xperia X10 Users Finally Get to Taste an Old Eclair, Android 2.1

Consumers spent Tuesday morning bashing Sony Ericsson and AT&T for announcing today that it has begun upgrading Xperia X10 phones to Android 2.1, or "Eclair"—the version of Android launched in January 2010.

"WOW!!! And you guys are actually excited to announce this. SE has just lost the plot," wrote one user at Sony Ericsson's blog.

On Tuesday, Sony Ericsson announced the manual update to Android 2.1 in a blog post: "We couldn't be more excited to bring you the news we have for you today. After much hard-work, we are happy to announce that the Android 2.1 upgrade will be available for AT&T XperiaTM X10 customers in the US starting Tuesday, May 31. We can't thank you enough for your patience."

The announcement was met with more sarcasm than the usual tech post, with responses like "Thats great news...everybody open up a bottle of campaign (sic) and lets celebrate this!!se you are a joke!!and a bad one!!" and "No wonder why sony always get hacked, good luck with this."

Xperia X10 users in the U.S. have reason to be annoyed. Android 2.1 is a minor platform update that Google launched in January 2010. The update gives Xperia X10 devices 720p HD video capture, multi-touch support, continuous autofocus on the camera, face detection during video capture, and expanded homescreen support. Click here to download instructions for manually upgrading your phone.

Sony Ericsson can't be blamed entirely for the holdup. In fact, it first announced the upgrade last November for users in Europe and Australia. AT&T had "no comment" on the U.S. delay.

According to Android Developers' May stats, only 24.5 percent of all smartphones still run Android 2.1, a vast improvement from last November when the figure was 77 percent. Since then 70.2 percent of all smartphones have been upgraded to Android 2.2 (Froyo) and above.

In the U.S., the Xperia X10 series launched in August through AT&T and with an outdated version of Android, 1.6.

PCmag

BlackBerry PlayBook to finally get video chat, Facebook app

RIM as part of its BlackBerry World intro detailed plans for two major apps to help round out the feature set for the BlackBerry PlayBook. The tablet is now finally getting an official Video Chat app that will let owners make two way calls between other PlayBook owners on Wi-Fi. Calls can handle both front and back cameras and, like FaceTime, can take incoming calls without having the app running.

The friends list here is tied to a BlackBerry ID but separate from regular BlackBerry contacts due partly to the lack of a native contacts app. Owners can still set the system to a "do not disturb" mode that will ignore calls when involved in something else.

The Facebook app provides a more optimized view of the social network that can use all of its media and live features, including photos and even 1080p video viewing. Media playback is optimized for the HDMI video out, Facebook said. Both Facebook Chat and full friend interaction should work.

Video Chat will be available on May 3, while the finished Facebook app should be available sometime later in the month.

The Video Chat component is significant for RIM, which has been criticized by many for including the dual cameras but omitting one of the more important, promised features. Apple and Google both consider video chat important on their respective tablet platforms and made sure to include it on launch. RIM is widely known to have rushed the PlayBook to stores to have a competitor to the iPad on shelves even though it lacked both video chat as well as e-mail, a calendar, and other important apps.

Electronista