TheWindowsPhone

Sony Ericsson reported its first quarterly profit since 2008. Reporting a profit of 21 million euro for Q1 2010, Sony Ericsson surely hopes this represents the end of a dismal year which saw them lose 293 million euro in the first quarter of ‘09.

But the boost in profits is really just the silver lining, as it all comes from reorganized business activity and other cost savings and not from greater sales. In fact, SE reported a 38% drop in units shipped (10.5 million vs. 14.5 million in Q1 09) and a 23% drop in sales, but noted a 31% gross margin, up almost 400% since Q1 09.

Sony Ericsson has steadily lost market share over the past year as smartphones became the hottest selling phones. While initially praised for the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1, SE’s follow-up, the Sony Ericsson Xperia X2, was a bit of a disappointment. Sony Ericsson is just launching the new SE Xperia X10 running Android, as well as a Symbian-based device called Vivaz, but who knows if this diversification will result in more handset sales.

You can only trim so much…

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The good folks over at Telus Mobility have just dropped a shiny new HTC Touch Pro2 on my front door, so I’ll be giving it a long-term evaluation from now through the summer. I must say… I like!

After the inglorious end of my Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1 last week I was a little hesitant to try another slider, but this HTC is built like a brick house and feels like it might last me long enough to send it back to Telus in one piece.

Beyond the really solid build, the specs are nice and my initial impression is very favourable: I like the TouchFlo interface (first time I’ve used it extensively), the big, bright 3.6” touch screen is beautiful, the camera is nice, and most importantly for a slider phone: the keyboard is great! The keys are huge and spaced apart, with just the right tactile feel, and you can get at almost any character you would ever need without going into a symbols menu.

Anyway, a solid thanks to Telus for the new toy, and I’ll keep everyone posted on my thoughts!

Here is another app from XDA called PPC Configurator that allows you to tweak your Windows Phone without having to hack through the registry. Man, these guys are helpful!

PPC Configurator features:

• SIP Configurator which allows you to select which of the on screen keyboards are active and shown in the list to choose the SIP from.
• SMS Configurator allows you to easily switch between threaded and classic text message display, as well as enable or disable the SMS Sent Notification.
• SIM Contact Configurator for enabling or disabling the ability to show Contacts from SIM card.
• Calendar Configurator for enabling Lunar Calendar.
• Lock Configurator for enabling Auto Lock on the device.

Very useful, especially the SIP Configurator – somehow my Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 always switches over to the symbol pad when I’m not looking…

Users who cherish their Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 will probably bristle when I say that I was never really blown away by the Panel experience on the X1. That said, if you’re using them you probably find the Spb Mobile Shell panel among the most useful.

Well, time to add some variety to your panels with this new Spb Mobile Shell panel for the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1. Simply download the files, unzip them into \Program Files\Spb Mobile Shell directory of your device. Next, tap the Settings icon, click Customize Menu, and enable “My Menu.”  You’ll need to restart for the changes to take effect.

Rumours abound that Sony Ericsson might make the SE Xperia X2 their last Windows Mobile device.

A tweet by Eldar Murtazin, who runs mobile-review.com, low sales forecasts (on the X1 and X2?) are causing them to re-think their commitment to the Windows Mobile platform. The SE Xperia X3 “Rachael” has already been confirmed to be an Android device, but the upcoming X2 is launching with Windows Mobile 6.5.

Most people doubt Windows Mobile 6.5 will stop the steady market share slide Microsoft is experiencing, so let’s hope Windows Mobile 7 does the trick.

Engadget has a hands-on video and opinion piece on the upcoming Sony Ericsson Xperia X2. SE officially announced a Q4 launch of this revamp of the successful X1 (which I’m currently sporting, courtesy of Rogers), and based on what I’ve seen around the web it looks like a solid, Windows Mobile 6.5-equipped replacement, with a very high-end 8-megapixel camera.

The Phone Arena has a great breakdown of the new phone and a lot of nice pics, if you’re looking for more info.

Sony Ericsson’s finally given up the goods — their Canada website now features the long awaited Xperia X1a under phones “Coming Soon”!

We’ve heard rumours that Rogers is scheduled to get the Xperia X1 for an August launch. Fingers crossed!

The Xperia X1 features a 3-inch WVGA touchscreen, full QWERTY keyboard, WiFI, GPS, and 3.2MP camera. Sure, it’s no Toshiba TG01 – but who can keep up with all the new fancy gadgets kids are raving about these days, right?

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Wow, that Steve Ballmer is a public speaker extraordinaire. No, really. No sarcasm intended at all – I’m jealous!

Alright, here’s a quick rundown of what Ballmer spoke about in tonight’s keynote…

Though we’re not exactly sure what Sony Ericsson will be calling their next phone, let’s just call it the Xperia 2. We have no reason to believe that Xperia 2, expected to be released in 2009, won’t be running Windows Mobile, but we do know that HTC is no longer on their list of handset makers in final talks with Sony Ericsson.

The Digitimes reports that “Sony Ericsson is now in final talks with three handset makers, including FIH and Pegatron – the spin-off manufacturing arm of Asustek Computer – for the new smartphone project.” Also in the report: “But HTC is not among them, said the sources, adding FIH or Pegatron is the most likely candidate to win the contract. Sony Ericsson is expected to finalize details with its prospective partner in the first quarter of 2009, with an aim to launch the new Windows Mobile-enabled smartphone before year-end 2009 at the earliest.”

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Thanks to My Sony Ericsson, you can now download an unofficial web app that allows you to create your own Xperia X1 panels!

It’s simple – code up your own HTML files and a few thumbnail screenshots for use in the panel browser, upload the files, and then download the panel the web app creates for you on the site.

Try it out, Xperia X1 users, and let us know how it goes!

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