Xperiancers

Win an X1

// October 8th, 2008 // 18 Comments » // ANNOUNCEMENTS

This week will see the last episodes of the Johnny X web drama published, and, as part of the campaign Sony Ericsson is giving away seven X1s. To enter the competition, go to http://www.rocketxl.com/xperia/ watch the episodes, and at the end of each one it asks you how many references to the #9 you see, make your submission and your done. Rinse and repeat with each episode.

Episode 8 came out today and the last one will be out on Friday.

Sam

Update: – The last episode of Johnny X is out later today, check it out to see the whole story.

First X1 camera images available

// September 16th, 2008 // 6 Comments » // MEDIA, TOUCHSCREEN, XPERIA X1

If you visit our images page, you can now see what I think is the first image taken from the camera of the X1. On our fancy photo wall, you click on the image to zoom in then on the circular arrow to flip it over. This gives you a link to the download page (our flickr account.)

It was in low light, (the killer of all phone cameras,) still, I was quite impressed. The touch focus is much easier to use than I had expected and the load time is nice and quick.

We also have a new video taken at yesterday’s preview event.

Thanks to Paul and Matt for the editing

Sam

Xperia Webcast and Developer Q & A

// September 15th, 2008 // 10 Comments » // ANNOUNCEMENTS, X1 EVENTS

The countdown to the Johnny X launch has almost run out, if you want to watch the webcast, it starts here in 15 minutes. We’ll be twittering the whole thing from an Xperia (yes, I’ve actually touched one,) and Paul from MoDaco and Matt from tracyandmatt are already here and running a joint CoverItLive session on their respective sites.

If you’ve got any questions, Twitter them, post them as a comment or Skype chat me with them and we’ll get some answers up here as soon as we can.

Enjoy!

Sam

Getting ready for the webcast

// September 15th, 2008 // No Comments » // ANNOUNCEMENTS, X1 EVENTS

Hi, I’m Magnus and I’m the Senior Product Manager for Xperia X1 at Sony Ericsson. I would have blogged sooner, but I’ve been tied up in lots of launch meetings all week (I can guess what you’re thinking, why didn’t I blog from my Xperia X1 – simple really, I haven’t had time to catch up with the guys from Wolfstar to get my blog account set-up).

This week I’m in London. On Monday I’m doing a live webcast where I’ll be demonstrating the Xperia X1. You can ask questions through the webcast or by following Xperiancers at Twitter and asking your questions. We’ll get through as many as we can during the webcast and will follow up those we can on the blog later in the day. You can log-on to the webcast at www.sonyericsson.com/premiere.

On Thursday I’ll be at TENT London, which is part of the London Design Week. It’s the global launch news conference and it will be a great opportunity for people to actually get their hands on an X1. I’m really looking forward to hearing what people have to say about the X1 and our unique panel concept allowing you to personalise and choose from several active desktops.

See you later.

Busy week for the X1 team

// September 15th, 2008 // No Comments » // ANNOUNCEMENTS, X1 EVENTS, XPERIA X1

Hi, just wanted to give you an update on what’s been happening with the Xperia X1 team. – Last week we’ve all been at CTIA IT & Entertainment in San Francisco showing the X1 to as many media and interested people as possible as part of the build up to the phone’s launch later in the month.  We haven’t announced a launch date for the North American market yet, but our US colleagues will be making their own announcement about the launch over here on November 3rd so watch out for that one.  Sony Ericsson held a Xperia X1 discussion panel breakfast meeting on Wednesday where Microsoft, Handango and SPB joined us to discuss the unique panel interface of the X1 and how opening the SDK to developers will enable us to build a rich panel eco-system for consumers to enjoy.

I also attended a Microsoft sponsored press mingle on Wednesday evening, the apple martinis were a bit on the sweet side, but there was some interesting people at the event.  Spent most of the evening chatting with Chris Davies and Vincent Nguyen from www.slashgear.com which was fun.  Seem to meet Vincent at every event I go to and he’s a lovely chap to have a drink with plus a big fan of the X1. Vincent managed to persuade Kei Kakoi one of the founding members of the Xperia X1 project based here in San Francisco to give him a full X1 demo.

We didn’t stay long at the Microsoft event as we had to head over to the Gracenote party – their parties are always pretty special and not to be missed.  This one was at Bong Su, a fusion Vietnamese restaurant and the food was delicious.

I’m now back in London for a very busy week – what with our Johnny X webcast later today and then the TENT launch Thursday to Sunday at the Truman Brewery, it really is going to be a bit of a week. I hope to see you at Tent as the exhibition space is going to look pretty special – we couldn’t just do a regular tradeshow set-up as we need to be able to hold our heads up among all the design and architecture companies that will be exhibiting.  We’ve really pushed the boat out on the space design and visuals so I hope you can make it down there and give us your feedback.

Xclusive Xperia preview – 1 place available

// September 12th, 2008 // No Comments » // MEDIA

On Monday, (the 15th,) there will be an exclusive media preview for the Xperia X1 in London. It will feature the launch of the 1st episode of “Who is Johnny X,” the alternative reality thriller filmed to promote the X1 over the coming weeks, as well as an in-depth preview of the phone and a Q and A with some of the top Sony Ericsson people from the Xperia team.

When we were planning this blog, we thought it would be a good idea if we held back one place at this event for one of our first readers. If you are reading this post then you certainly qualify on that account.

As it’s a media event you have to be a blogger, and you also have to be able to get to central London under your own steam by 12:45 on Monday. To enter your name, just email us with a bit of background about you and your blog, and at 5:00pm UK time today (Friday 12th,) we’ll pick a name out of the the hat/inbox. If email isn’t your thing, you can dm us via twitter (xperiancers) or skype me during the day.

Sam

It’s the final countdown to the Xperia X1 launch

// September 10th, 2008 // 14 Comments » // ANNOUNCEMENTS, X1 EVENTS, X1 NEWS

The Xperia X1 will launch on September 30, and that’s official.

It will initially be available to customers in the UK, Germany and Sweden, rolling out into other markets across Europe, Asia and Latin America later in the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2008.

In fact, we’ve now got a programme of events which we can talk about with loads of opportunities for those of you who want to get more acquainted with the Xperia X1 to do so.

First off, we’ve got a preview event and a free webcast on next Monday, September 15 at 13:00 UK time (GMT +1). This will include a live Q&A with Magnus J Andersson (the senior product manager for the Xperia X1).

You’ll also see actual production models of the phone. The webcast will also launch the phone’s marketing drive which takes the form of an online thriller split up into nine episodes. If you want to tune in to the webcast, you just need to log on to www.sonyericsson.com/premiere.

After that, the first public previews will take place between the 18^th and 21^st of September at Tent London as part of London Design Week. There will be the opportunity for some bloggers to attend the media preview for this in the early evening on September 18.

The North American, Chinese and Russian launch dates will be announced by the local markets in the coming months.

UPDATE: The official news release is now on the corporate site.