The past month has seen Sony come under attack from hackers, which resulted in personal details being taken and the gaming PlayStation Network taken offline. Over the past week other companies have also seen hacking attacks including Sony Ericsson website.

The Canadian Sony Ericsson online store has been taken offline temporarily following an attack on the site. Details of more than 2000 customers were extracted during the intrusion however, Sony Ericsson claim the passwords were encrypted and credit card details were not taken and hence may not be as big a catastrophe as it could have been for the company.  None the less, Sony Ericsson have taken the store offline until further notice.

The official release date for the Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc and Xperia Play has been confirmed to be April 28th. However selected Sony Style stores in the Toronto area will have 60 handsets to sell as pre sale handsets. Meaning you could get your hands on either one of Sony Ericsson’s newest Xperia handsets before any one else in Canada. There will be a total of 60 Xperia Arcs and Plays within several different stores. The full list of stores where the pre sale will be taking place is: Toronto Eaton Centre, Yorkdale Shopping Centre, Sony Centre, Smart Centres Leaside and Sherway Gardens.

You will however need a pre sale pass to get hold of an handset. Pricing will be the same as if you buy the handset on the 28th. $99.99 for the handsets on a three year plan, or $549.99 with no commitment.

Canadian mobile giant Rogers have confirmed when they will be releasing the first PlayStation certified phone, the Xperia Play and Sony Ericsson’s other top phone, the Xperia Arc and the date isn’t too far away. From April 28th, Rogers will begin selling both handsets.

Both handsets appear to have the same pricing structure, where as else where in the world, pay as you go and contract options for the two handsets differ. You can pick either the Xperia Arc or Xperia Play up for $549.99 without a contract, or $99.99 with a three year plan.

Sony Ericsson’s recent Android update for their Xperia X10 range of handsets has now been released in Canada, for those with Rogers branded Xperia X10 handsets. Those who own the Xperia X10, or the X10 Mini can now update their handset from the outdated Android 1.6 OS, to the more recent Android 2.1. Arguably it is still relatively outdated, considering most handsets now have Android 2.2 and Android 2.3 is rumoured to be just around the corner.

Despite that, the Android 2.1 update adds quite a few new features for the Xperia X10. Obviously with Android 2.1 installed, there is a wider range of apps to choose from on the Market Place, such as the official Twitter application, which is only available for Android 2.1 and above. For the Xperia X10, the Android 2.1 update brings the ability to record videos in 720p HD format. While the X10 Mini adds better bluetooth support for sending files, something which was previously very limited.

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Once again, Twitter has been proved to be a valuable source of information and an easy way to contact companies. Sony Ericsson Canada have Tweeted that they are working on bringing the Android 2.1 update to the X10 in Canada. It should be available on the Xperia X10 sometime in Q4. They later went on to clarify that Q4 runs from October to December.

Hopefully the update will be an early Q4 release, rather than a late Q4 release, which would take it to December. The UK is due to receive the update by the end of this month, so it is possible that the update will be released before November in Canada. We’ll be keeping our eyes peeled on their Twitter and Facebook to see if they update the time line with a specific week, like Sony Ericsson Spain recently did on their Facebook Fan page, even though the status update was later deleted.

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The lucky folks in Canada have recently been able to get their hands on the X10, following on from the official launch and now we’ve got word that the Mini X10s will also be headed to Rogers. Rogers will get both the X10 Mini and the QWERTY keyboard model, the X10 Mini Pro. Both will be available on a three year contract but, upfront costs vary. The X10 Mini will only be $49.99, where as the Mini Pro will set you back $20, which is pretty reasonable.

The handsets are due to be released on Rogers sometime in May or June. Which also means, Canada will be able to pick the Mini X10 up before North America even has the full sized X10.

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Over in Canada, a launch party event has been held for the Xperia X10. You can now purchase the X10 on Rogers for $549 outright or grab it on contract. On contract, the phone will run you $149.99 and the contract will last for three years. Rogers have also upped the specs of the phone, to a degree. While elsewhere in the world, the handset usually comes with an 8GB card, the X10 is listed on Rogers and noted by RGB Filter, who attended the event, as having a 16GB MicroSD card.

During the event, RGB Filter also got to speak to Sony Ericsson US President, Vice President of Device and Product Management of Rogers. They’ve confirmed that the X10 will get an Android update later in the year, however speak of it coming during the Christmas season, which is much later than expected. Sony Ericsson also plan on taking the “four OS approach” forward and went on to say that, they still have a very close relationship with Microsoft. With regards to Timescape and Mediascape, when asked if that would find it’s way to non Android phones, it was responded with a “no comment”.  You can view the interview after the jump.

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The Xperia X10 from Sony Ericsson is to arrive in Canada Q2 of 2010. The handset will be an exclusive to carrier Rogers. So if you’re hoping to get your hands on the X10, are you willing to switch carriers if not already on Rogers? The Xperia X10 will be the first Android powered handset released by Sony Ericsson. Elsewhere in the world, the expected release date of the handset is February, within Q1.

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Rogers have soft launched the Xperia X1 in Canada, with a full launch coming at the end of the month. The handset had previously been rumoured to cost between $649 and $749, or $299.99 with a three year contract. It seems we now have the price of upgrading to the handset on the Rogers network. A tip has been sent in to Engadget, which states through picture, that the pricing for an upgrade could be $499.99, at it’s lowest. It could even go to $524.99. No official word from Rogers on whether the higher price is for when it’s fully launched or if the amount varies depending on your previous usage.

Canadian network provider Rogers, is set to launch Sony Ericsson’s Xperia X1 in June. It will initially be released on June 9th in selected stores qualifying for the “soft launch”. Stores with high data sales will take part in the soft launch, while for consumers not in those store areas, Rogers will launch the phone fully on June 30th.

The phone will be available for between $649 and $749 without a contract. Getting the phone on a three year contract will bring the price down to $299.99, or  $249.99 if you purchase it during the introductory promotion.

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