The Android-powered Xperia Mini Pro smartphone from Sony Ericsson, Sony Ericsson unveiled the Xperia Mini and Xperia Mini Pro smartphones in London on Thursday, each running Android 2.3 and powered by 1 GHz Snapdragon processors.
Sony Ericsson said in a blog post that the main goal with the Xperia family of phones "is to offer the most entertaining smartphones, and to do that with choice," calling attention to the high-definition video recording capabilities of both phones.
Both are GSM phones and will be available globally in select markets starting in July, Sony Ericsson said. AT&T has sold a related device, the Xperia X10, in the U.S. since last summer, although AT&T did not divulge whether it plans to sell either of the new Xperia devices. Pricing has not been disclosed.
Both new phones have a 3-in. touchscreen, but the Pro has a slide-out keyboard, similar to the one on the earlier Xperia Pro device. The Xperia Mini Pro comes pre-loaded with the Microsoft Office suite and McAfee antivirus software, and supports Exchange email and Web mail.
Sony Ericsson said it has integrated Facebook in both devices, making the social networking site immediately accessible from the most-used areas of the phone, such as the picture gallery, music player, phonebook and calendar.
Sony Ericsson says the Xperia Mini is the world's smallest HD video recording smartphone.
When closed, the Xperia Mini Pro, at 3.6 x 2.1 x 0.7 inches, and weighing 4.8 ounces, is slightly larger than the Xperia Mini.
Both phones have a 5-megapixel camera with HD video recording. As such, the Xperia Mini is the world's smallest HD video recording smartphone, Sony Ericsson said.
Both ship with a 2GB micro SD card, with support for up to 32GB.
Matt Hamblen covers mobile and wireless, smartphones and other handhelds, and wireless networking for Computerworld. Follow Matt on Twitter at @matthamblen or subscribe to Matt's RSS feed. His e-mail address is mhamblen@computerworld.com.
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