Xperia panel creators who wish to release their work, or participate in promotional events within Sony Ericsson channels, such as the next Content Awards event, will now have to have their panel certified. Sony Ericsson have released the Xperia X1 panel certification program so developers can see if their panel passes. The certification program checks for performance and quality in the panel. If the panel passes, the developer can use the certified for Xperia X1 logo on promotional products.

Whether it’s a web panel or a native panel that’s created, the program is able to check both for performance and quality and give it a pass or fail. However the requirements for each type of panel is different and is worth checking before starting. It’s also noted that, while the panel can meet the requirements for the Xperia X1, it may not pass the certification process for Windows Mobile phones, but more information on the certification of Microsoft Mobile2Market can be found on the Intertek NSTL website.

Via: SonyBrands

A while back we reported that the Xperia Panels category in the Sony Ericsson Content Awards was still open for submissions. All submissions have now been sent in and a winner has been announced.

The Traveler Panel by SPB includes many useful tools for travellers such as a phrasebook, currency converter, flight search and a multi-time zone diary. Unfortunately it doesn’t appear to be available for download currently from SPB or from Sony Ericsson’s website.

Other nominees in the competition included an English to Japanese dictionary named Mobisystems, Ping.fm, PlusFourSize, used with the operator 3 and Evernote. Likewise these panels are also not currently available for download but we’ll keep you informed when they’re available for download.

Via: Xperiancer

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.

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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Facebook which has both an iPhone and BlackBerry applications is now moving to another mobile phone using another mobile phone platform. Yes, the latest Facebook conquest is none other than our much anticipated mobile phone Xperia X1 which now have a Facebook panel of its own.

Gigaom is reporting about it, although no official words are available yet from the Facebook blog but the Facebook panel is now available at the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 Developer site.

It will really be interesting to see Xperia X1 owners right now who will install this app and find out how it compares with the iPhone and Blackberry Facebook apps. Would it be as robust and fast loading as the iPhone Facebook app? Hopefully, I get to test this panel when I get my Xperia X1 soon.

Of course, having Facebook as a panel would not really create a big interest among mobile phone users, enough to convince them to get the Xperia X1 despite its high price.