SE's XPERIA X1 Will Run on WinMob 6.1

Sony Ericsson has confirmed that it will be running Windows Mobile on its new arc-slider phone, XPERIA X1. Using Windows Mobile 6.1, together with Sony Ericsson’s unique XPERIA panel user interface (UI), will enable a highly user-focused experience with enhanced connectivity, messaging and multimedia features.

The XPERIA X1 from Sony Ericsson enables consumers to personalize their experiences through a distinctive touch screen, panel-based UI creating an interface which is relevant to them. This continually active desktop allows users to organize the phone’s active dashboard as they want, changing between panels, activity and information needs in the course of every day. “Sony Ericsson’s XPERIA X1 has been developed to ensure that mobile web communication and multimedia entertainment can be tailored, putting the individual at the heart of the mobile experience in a uniquely personal way,” said Rikko Sakaguchi, Head of Portfolio and Propositions, Sony Ericsson.

Operators will also be able to custom build the touch panels that run on the XPERIA X1 to provide the consumer with a rich, aggregated offering of their applications and services. In addition, Sony Ericsson also plans to align with key partners around the panel technology to enable them to develop exciting applications that can be enjoyed by users on the XPERIA X1. Its features also include a touch sensitive optical panel for navigation, Bluetooth with A2DP, a 3 megapixel auto-focus camera with a flash, built in GPS that supports A-GPS, a motion sensor for automatic UI rotation. The Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1 will be available in select markets in the second half of 2008.Source

Google Gears Goes Mobile

For those of you who aren’t exactly sure what Google Gears is capable of or what it is – it's an open source browser extension that lets developers create web applications that can run offline. Gears provides three key features:

• A local server, to cache and serve application resources (HTML, JavaScript, images, etc.) without needing to contact a server
• A database, to store and access data from within the browser
• A worker thread pool, to make web applications more responsive by performing expensive operations in the background

What this essentially means is that in case you’re one of those people who like to take their work with them wherever they go and that would include places that have no access to the net, Gears will allow you workaholics to get things down without being connected.At the moment since it's still in a developmental stage, Gears is being designed for only Windows mobile devices that run on a Windows Mobile 5 and 6 OS. This mobile version supports Internet Explorer on Windows Mobile handsets and is restricted to just such devices. The devices would also have to have applications that are compatible with Gears in order for it to function correctly. Considering this is just an early phase, I’m sure it wont be too long (hopefully) before they’re able to adapt Google Gears for other Operating Systems and handsets.
This means that other smartphone users, such as those using Apple's iPhone, or people using other popular mobile browsers, such as Opera, won't be able to use Google Gears. But Google has said that it plans to expand support to other browsers and cell phone platforms, including its own Android software.Source