Over on the official Sony Ericsson YouTube channel, the cheeky side of the company is showing as they have posted up 5 videos on their channel showing a variety of different ‘user types’ testing out smartphones. Of course the Xperia X10 is shown off mostly.

The videos are very funny to watch and show toddlers, models, glam rockers, surfers and guidos in the “Product Testing Institute”. The groups test out smartphones including the X10, the Blackberry Bold 9700, the HTC Evo, the iPhone 4 and the Galaxy Vibrant. Of course, as Sony Ericsson do point out, the videos are simply dramatizations and the people in the videos are actors but, they make great viewing all the same.

The five Smartphone Experiment video’s are posted after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

Over in Germany, HTC have lost a patent violation suit to IPCom GmbH. IPCom are claiming that some UMTS patents found in several of HTC’s phones have been infringed and are wanting HTC to pay license fees for these patents. There is no word on if the HTC developed Xperia X1 also infringes on this patent yet, but with both the G1 and HTC Magic both being named as example phones, there is a chance it could affect the X1 as well. If an agreement between the two companies isn’t arranged, HTC could be forced to stop selling UMTS smartphones in Germany.

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While some countries have been able to get hold of Sony Ericcson’s Windows Mobile smartphone, the Xperia X1 for quite some time now, Korean’s haven’t been as lucky. The Xperia X1 will finally launch in Korea next week. The X1 isn’t the only phone not to hit Korea soon after European and US release, the Touch Diamond from HTC only made it’s way to Korea last week and not the newest HTC Diamond either.

The lack of non Korean smartphones is set to change from April when the WiPi restriction ends. While this is good news, it will mean year old smartphones, like the HTC Touch Diamond, should become available. I’m sure many wish this happened sooner though, especially with missing out on such great devices like the X1, for quite some time.

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Over the past couple of months we’ve seen the HTC interface TouchFlo 3D ported to the Xperia X1 as well as the Xperia Panels being ported over to the HTC. Up until now, the cab files for the Xperia Panels on the HTC have been in private beta testing. WMPowerUser has revealed that Paul from Modaco, who’s provided us with many other applications for the X1, has released the xperia panels cab file for the HTC Touch HD.

The application works well, but there’s a couple of issues which are still being worked on. The panel select app takes a few seconds to open and the FM radio and Media Xperience panels currently don’t work properly. TouchFlo 3D also needs to be disabled when using the panels app as the home key will take you back to TouchFlo 3D, but this is being worked on. Apart from that though, the performance of the panels is described as great, and the Panels icon can be found via the start menu. You can download the cab file and view the installation instructions here.

If you’ve been experiencing problems with your X1′s bluetooth recently, it seems you’re not alone. Brandon from PocketNow has reported that the bluetooth on the X1, will randomly turn it self off and isn’t staying connected to other bluetooth devices. Many are waiting for a fix from Sony Ericsson, but in the mean time, an XDA developers forum member, scar45 has provided his own fix for this problem.

To temporarily solve the problem, he’s written a MortScript which checks the status of the bluetooth every x minutes. If it finds the bluetooth off, it will turn the bluetooth back on. You can download his fix and instructions here.

Sony Ericsson’s Xperia X1 was made in partnership with HTC, the same makers of the HTC Touch, Pro etc, but it appears the X2, or another Windows Mobile based phone from Sony Ericsson will cut ties with HTC. The partnership will actually end when the production of the X1 ceases and completes it’s business circle. Instead, Sony Ericsson’s second Windows Mobile smartphone, will have a partnership with Mobinnova. Mobinnova is a Taiwan handset maker under Foxconn Electronics.

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We previously reported on the Xperia Panels being ran on the HTC Touch HD. There were a few errors found in the initial release, but further testing and work has been done on the project. One of the issues was that because there was no Panels button, it wasn’t possible to switch to another Panel, leaving you stuck in the Panels interface.

With further testing this issue has been resolved. The project is up to Alpha 0.02 and some issues still remain, such as the Facebook and Media panel not working, but again these will continue to be worked on. Alpha 0.02 has been sent to five selected testers and their feedback is that it works.

The CAB file is only available to the selected testers, but hopefully it will be released soon for everyone to use. For now though, a video has been released showing the panels on the HTC in action.
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A video comparison of the Xperia X1 and HTC Touch Pro has been posted by WM Power User. This video comparison focuses on the Opera browser and browsing experience. Both of the handsets use Opera Mobile 9.5, with the Touch Pro using build 1522 and the X1 using build 2005. The comparison is done with both handsets and browsers with the default settings. If settings were changed or third party software the results could vary.
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mansonfat from eprice has provided several photos of the Xperia X1 along side one of it’s rivals, the HTC Touch Pro.

Specifications wise, the Touch Pro has quite similar specs to the X1 but appearance and interface give each phone a unique feel. mansonfat has provided comparison photos of both the handsets from various angles for external appearance as well as a software interface comparison. You can view all of the photos after the jump.

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