We’ve recently seen a price reduction from Gameloft on their games for the Xperia Play. The offer saw games reduced from £3 down to £1 for a limited time only. That particular offer however, was specific to the Xperia Play, so users with the Arc or the X10 couldn’t make use of this offer. Gameloft have however got another offer on which ends at 23:59 GMT where all HD games are reduced to just £1.

Since the last offer, more games have been added for the Xperia Play. The Xperia Arc also sees games that are not available on the Play such as Gangstar: Miami Vindication HD, H.A.W.X and Hero of Sparta.

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Over the weekend Sony Ericsson have begun rolling out an update for the Xperia X10, their first Android powered handset. The update doesn’t bring Android 2.3 to the handset though and instead appears to be a performance upgrade. Users with the update are reporting improved battery life. They are also reporting that general usage of the phone is much smoother than before. Google voice is now available in the browser of the handset as well. As of yet, Sony Ericsson haven’t released an official changelog, so the specific changes are unknown.

The update doesn’t affect the ability to root the handset, so if upgrading you will be able to reroot your handset straight away using Flashtool. The firmware has already been pulled, allowing users who haven’t received the update, to install it on their Xperia X10 also using Flashtool which is available from here.

The update brings the build number up to 2.1.B.0.1 and the baseband up to 2.1.67.

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Sony Ericsson have confirmed two new handsets coming to their Xperia range of handsets. The Xperia Mini and Xperia Mini Pro are successors to the X10 Mini and Mini Pro. The Mini Pro naturally features a slide out keyboard and continues with Sony Ericsson’s handset naming system.

Sony Ericsson claimed they had the smallest Android powered handsets with the X10 Mini and Mini Pro, however other phone manufactures have since released their own “mini” smartphones to compete with the X10 Mini’s. So what does the Xperia Mini and Mini Pro offer that’s different? They’re the worlds smallest 720p HD video recording smartphones via a 5 megapixel camera.

Both handsets will be released on Android 2.3 and hopefully, like the Arc and Play will be continually updated, unlike the previous Xperia models. Like the X10 Mini and X8, the Xperia Mini and Mini Pro will feature the four corner UI. The screen on both handsets has been increased to 3 inches compared to the 2.55 inch screen on the X10 Mini. This allows 16 apps to be displayed in the homescreen, improving on the four corner UI. A new service called Facebook inside Xperia will also be present on the handsets, allowing a deeper integration throughout the phone.

When Sony Ericsson announced that they would be releasing a successor to the Xperia X10 in the form of the Xperia Arc, they also announced around the same time, that there would be no further Android updates for the X10 range of handsets. As could be expected, this caused a lot of uproar as many customers bought their X10 in good faith that the handset would be supported for the length of their contract. This announcement came before the handset was even a year old, so even customers who bought the X10 as soon as it was launched were extremely disappointed with the company.

It’s no surprise to hear that Sony Ericsson got a lot of feedback from customers, some of which was over the top and offensive, while other feedback stated the benefits of upgrading the X10 to 2.2 or 2.3. Thankfully, Sony Ericsson have listened to this feedback and announced that the Xperia X10 will receive an Android update at the end of Q2/early Q3.

The update will take the X10 straight to Android 2.3.3, the highest version of Android currently available. The work that the company have done with 2.3 and their new range of handsets has essentially made 2.3 on the X10 possible. Although there are some consequences in doing so. Most of which however, many will happily live without and have not wanted from the start. In some cases such as Moxier, many users rooted their handset to remove this.

In the place of Moxier, the X10 will use the 2.3 native EAS functionality. Also Mediascape will be replaced by the music player and media experience widgets as found on the next range of Xperia handsets. What won’t be replaced by another app or feature however, is the backup and restore app – although there are many alternatives on the Android market. Smile detection and face recognition will also be removed, instead the X10 will use the standard camera interface of Android.

Unfortunately for X10 Mini, Mini Pro and X8 owners this doesn’t apply however and will remain on Android 2.1. Unless of course Sony Ericsson change their mind on that matter as well.

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We previously heard by way of a tipster, that AT&T were to discontinue the Xperia X10, presumably to make way for the Xperia Arc and Xperia Play. At the time however, this wasn’t confirmed but, none the less, left many Xperia X10 owners with AT&T, worried that their handset would not receive the Android 2.1 update which was first released back at the end of October. This has now been further called in to question, as AT&T are no longer selling the Xperia X10. Well not brand new models any way.

The AT&T site shows that only refurbished Xperia X10 models are available, meaning that it seems AT&T are pulling the plug on Sony Ericsson’s first Android powered handset. This also means that the network carrier may not approve or release any further updates provided by Sony Ericsson for the Xperia X10, including the already released Android 2.1 update, not to mention the dual touch update. A petition has been started urging AT&T to honor their upgrade promises with regards to the Android 2.1 upgrade on the X10.

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For those who can’t wait for the Xperia Play, aka the PlayStation phone, Sony have released the PlayStation app, which should keep you going, sort of any way.The first version of the official PlayStation App lets you check your PlayStation Network tropies, while keeping up with your friends and lets you see if your friends are online. You can also keep up with the latest news, hardware and latest games, as well as reading the latest announcements. Only updates posted on the European PlayStation blog will be displayed as the app is only available in Europe at the moment. You will also be able to share the news, or products with your friends via email, Facebook or Twitter.

Compatible countries are: UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy and The Netherlands, with support for other countries coming in future updates. The app is available for Android handsets running Android 1.6 and above. Sony have also released the app for the iPod Touch and iPhone.

While the Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc and Xperia Arc have only just been announced, it seems AT&T are giving the X10 it’s marching orders already. Apparently, AT&T have provided an “end of life” date for the Xperia X10, Sony Ericsson’s first Android handset.

According to a tipster at AndroidCentral, AT&T have given the X10 an eol date of March 6th. Could they be making way for the Xperia Arc or Play in place of the X10? Either way, one thing this will leave many wondering is, whether AT&T will actually release the 2.1 update for the X10, or any future updates released for the Xperia X10.

Folks in Japan recently received the much awaited dual touch update to their X10 handsets. However being only available in Japan has meant the guys over at XDA-Developers have been hard at work to bring the update to non Japanese X10 handsets. Thankfully they’ve succeeded. Those who wish to enable dual touch on their X10 handset will need to flash the update to their phone, using the X10 Flash Tool. To get the full use out of the update though, it is required that the handset is flashed. Without doing so, the dual touch update only works in third party apps, where as if rooted and some adjustments are made using Root File Explorer, dual touch is then enabled within first party apps, such as the browser. Unfortunately no matter what is edited, one first party app that does not support dual touch, is Mediascape, although give the guys at XDA enough time and this may also be possible.

You can download the dual touch update from here. The update can be flashed with the X10 flasher, which can be downloaded here, this app also lets you root the handset. There is also a guide on what to do once rooted to get the full functionality of the dual touch update here.

In the past, flashing your handset has been a bit fiddly, as has rooting. The FlashTool for the Xperia X10 however changes this. Not only does it work with the X10 but, also the X10 Mini, Mini Pro and X8. With the FlashTool from XDA, you can flash Android 1.6 and 2.1 on to your handset. You will need to download the firmware for your handset though to do so. This also works on the Xperia X10a, so allows those in the US to run Android 2.1 on their X10 before AT&T release the update.

As well as being able to flash Android 1.6 or 2.1, the FlashTool also easily allows you to root your handset. Once rooted, the FlashTool also lets you install BusyBox, or remove default apps such as Moxier with just a few mouse clicks. If updating one version of Android 2.1 to a future update, you do not have to wipe user data, however if upgrading from Android 1.6 to 2.1 you should back up your data before proceeding as you will need to wipe the user data for 2.1 to work properly.

We reported the other day that Sony Ericsson were due to release the much awaited dual touch update for the Xperia X10. There have been no delays and those in Japan can now update their X10 handsets and enjoy pinch to zoom within many apps.

The update can be applied through PC Companion or over the air. As of yet there isn’t any information regarding the update availability in other regions unfortunately. No doubt folks in the US will have to have Android 2.1 approved first before they see this dual touch update for the handset.

Users are reporting that the dual touch is fast and smooth. Also there haven’t been any third apps that have been found to not work. The only app that isn’t working with dual touch, is Sony Ericsson’s own Mediascape which, I’m sure many will find ironic.