According to supposedly leaked hardware renders and a new YouTube video, Sony Ericsson may be working on a high-end Google Android device to join the lonely Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 in the Xperia family. Rumors say the so-called Sony Ericsson Rachael will run Google Android with an improved interface design from Sony Ericsson, much like the original Xperia X1 ran the Panels interface on top of Windows Mobile. In fact, the Unofficial Sony Ericsson Blog claims to have a video of the new Rachael interface in action, and they have posted the video on YouTube. If accurate, that video seems to show design elements that keep some familiar Android features, in addition to offering some of the contact cards and other interface ideas from Panels. Still, if this video does show the newest Xperia phone interface, we think its enough of a departure to guess that Sony Ericsson might be giving up on the Panels experiment, at least on the Android side of the family.
The rumored Sony Ericsson Rachael will also use the Qualcomm QSD8250 Snapdragon platform, a super-fast processor and chipset capable of clock speeds up to 1 GHz. The Snapdragon platform has just begun showing up in advanced Windows Mobile devices from Toshiba available abroad, and it offers HSPA network speeds up to 7.2Mbps. The platform also boasts dramatically improved 3D graphics, which will undoubtedly help the complex interface designs we're seeing here.
Further Sony Ericsson Rachael rumors place an 8-megapixel camera on the phone, complete with auto focus, of course. The device might also use a 3.5mm headphone jack and a miniUSB connector. Those might not seem like significant specs, but that's a departure for Sony Ericsson, who traditionally uses their proprietary Fast Port connector for headphones and Memory Stick Micro (M2) for memory expansion. The only exception in Sony Ericsson's lineup so far has been the original Sony Ericsson Xperia X1, which used the more standard ports and slots, lending more credence to the rumor that this phone, if the specs are to be believed, will join the Xperia family.
The phone is rumored to sport a very large touchscreen, up to 4-inches diagonally. We're hearing that the Sony Ericsson Rachael could support screen resolutions up to 800 by 480 pixels, or WVGA resolution, in keeping with current top-of-the-line touchscreen phones, and we have no reason to doubt this.
Sony Ericsson has played coy with us concerning its upcoming Xperia family plans. We specifically questioned the company about upcoming Xperia-branded devices when they gave us a hands-on look at the Sony Ericsson Satio, Aino and Yari phones. Though these 3 new devices will not be joining the Xperia lineup, Sony Ericsson reps at the time made it clear that the Xperia family would not begin and end with the Xperia X1, and that future development would be forthcoming. When the original Xperia X1 was launched, Sony Ericsson also told us that the branding would not be exclusive to Windows Mobile. Therefore, none of these rumors seem far out of line, and all of the rumored specs are in keeping with the best phones currently on the market, so none of this seems unrealistic to us.
In addition to the Sony Ericsson Rachael, rumors are also circulating about a strange new phone called the Sony Ericsson Kiki. Supposedly leaked renders of the Sony Ericsson Kiki don't make clear exactly how this phone will work, but we've seen mock-up ideas of a projected screen, which will appear to the user to have some depth and sort of hover within the phone itself. More details about the supposed Sony Ericsson Kiki have yet to surface, but clearly the rumor mill is churning with thoughts of this unique new concept phone from Sony Ericsson.
As these are all rumors and supposedly leaked information, Sony Ericsson has yet to comment on any of these developments, so we don't have any official pricing or availability on the Sony Ericsson Rachael and Sony Ericsson Kiki. As we said, all of the rumored technology is currently available, though the Qualcomm Snapdragon platform is only shipping on one handset currently, the Toshiba TG01.
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