Xperia X10 will be upgradeable Tweet

Hi all,

Sorry for the long absence.

Some reflections after meeting media, analyst and bloggers around the world over the last couple of months.

I have been confronted with the same questions and discussions that you have been interested in from the very beginning. The underlying OS release version that we will use when launching Xperia X10 -why 1.6 and will it be competetive enough? These concerns are quite on top of mind among industry experts as well as advanced users as yourself, which I do appreciate. I will share my experience from enganging in these discussions giving it a context. It is a bit lengthy, so bare with me. :)

The OS versions are somewhat becoming a reference point for people I feel. Similar to processor speed in computers and megapixels in camera phones. I as consumer of course evaluate the same things, buying equipment on my own. However when you start evaluating usage, there are more factors to consider than just the specs.

When I do a product demo, the response about hardware is unquestionable in my view. The design, screen size, ”feel” and overall specs leaves an impression right away. “Beautiful and delight to hold in the hand”, “Sleek and outstanding” are some frequent quotes.

On the other hand when moving over to talk about the user interface, I have felt some skepticism in the air since people tend to have adopted quickly to Android release version as their context of competiveness. Quite often, the starting point for this part of the demonstration is a 1.6 release remark if I would generalize my interactions to date.

Interestingly enough the focus on OS version changes over course of a minute or so. Demonstrating the generic Android capabilities with our graphical enhancements is a starting point. The home screen, the immediate responsiveness of the big capacitive screen, the true multitasking that Android allows, the easy and rich access to Google services like maps and android market. All that is there and for me that is the base functionality, which I really appreciate and use on a day to day basis.

Then I introduce the signature applications; Sony Ericsson TimescapeTM and Mediascape and the focus of the discussion shifts from talking about this layer on top of Android, that I refer to as the Sony Ericsson User Experience platform. I now find myself discussing the total experience rather the OS version in isolation with a great appreciation about what we are bringing to the table. Then the interest of the User Experience platform future roadmap gets to be the talking point instead. What I hope to get across to you all, is that there will be a software update for Xperia X10 that will upgrade the complete Sony Ericsson User Experience Platform based on newer version of the Android OS.

I have probably painted a positive picture, but I am sharing the discussions I have had and my take outs from them. I am not trying to hide from the fact that there are platform upgrades between android 1.6 and 2.1, if utilized can enhance the experience for developers and users. Having that said, I have had discussions with carriers that are very sensitive and concerned generally about taking on devices in their range that are not competetive enough. I have faced head to head comparisons between Xperia X10 and generic 2.1 Android devices (as well as other OS) and carriers have concluded that we still stand strong in comparison. This because of the layer that we ad on top of the generic OS.

I am both confident and humble at the same time as we can´t anticipate and cover everything when planning ahead. There will be areas that we can´t over bridge between these releases, but on the total experience I am very confident about this product as the feedback received has been extremely positive. Then there will be an update as well, which I hope settles some of the concernes expressed.

I will not be able to fully understand a developers take on this discussion (and we do have a dedicated community for that), but I would be very interested to hear you feedback. Reading the posts, it ranges from time to market, concerns about whether the product is “future proof” etc, but what are your biggest concerns when it comes to usage? What benefits from the 2.1 release are you most interested in? That would be really interesting for me to get some more input on….

Have a great weekend

Sumit

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