Apart from the PlayStation phone, we’ve hardly heard a peep out of Sony Ericsson. The only time the company has broken cover was to announce sheepishly that Android 2.1 had only just started rolling out to its flagship Xperia X10.
But pics have leaked of a smart phone that could put Sony Ericsson back in the game — a successor to the Xperia X10 running on Android 2.3 Gingerbread, according to the Unofficial Xperia X10 blog. The info comes from an anonymous tipster, who probably had some spare time to kill after revealing as much as he could about the Playstation phone to Engadget, and spilling a few extra secrets to Mulder and Scully. The pics show it running Android 2.1, but don’t let that fool you — this is going to hit with Gingerbread.
The Anzu has a 4.3-inch display, HDMI output, front-facing camera, and can record at 1080p resolution. From the pictures, it looks very, very slim. There’s no word on processor speed, RAM or storage yet. It’s also supposed to have much better sound than the Xperia X10, hopefully worthy of the Sony branding.
It could be the first Sony Ericsson phone branded as a Bravia, rather than the more obvious Xperia X12. This would certainly be a surprise and may be a good move, considering the bad rep the Xperia phones have suffered in light of their slow Android update, and the good rep Bravia TVs have in the tech world.
If the phone is launched alongside the upcoming Playstation phone, Sony Ericsson may be onto a winner. The slimness of the Anzu looks particularly attractive, and it’s still a brand that attracts a lot of love. Sony Ericsson has lost touch with the smart phone market in recent times, and needs to rediscover that golden touch.
Trouble is, this looks like a very early prototype, and by the time it’s released it will be set free among a new bunch of smart phones, many of which will carry Android 2.3. If Sony Ericsson handles its launch in the same way it has handled getting an update on the Xperia X10, it’s going to have problems.
Image credit: Unofficial Xperia X10 blog