Sunday, February 27, 2011

MWC 2011: Sony Ericsson overview

Press conference

Sony Ericsson kept its tradition of holding a press event right before the start of MWC and doing its announcement business there. This year we got the Android-running XPERIA Neo and XPERIA Pro, plus the full specifications of the gaming-centered XPERIA Play. The XPERIA Arc also made it on some of the slides, even though its official announcement came more than a month ago.


Photos from the Sony Ericsson MWC event

We pretty much knew what to expect way before the event with previews of all newly announced handsets spreading online like wildfire. As we anticipated the side-sliding XPERIA Play was the star of the show, while the other two headed for the lower market segments.

Many of the Sony Ericsson partners also appeared on stage, praising the XPERIA Play gaming potential and declaring their support for the project.

By the way all three new devices run Gingerbread, which comes to show that Sony Ericsson has learned a valuable lesson with its X10 flagship last year. Now they are going for the latest and greatest that the Google OS offers even if that means dropping a few of their home-backed apps.


Photos from the Sony Ericsson MWC event

Probably the most surprising part of the event was the announced partnership between Sony Ericsson and Verizon. The CDMA-loving US carrier get the XPERIA Play, somewhere in April.


The Verizon deal came as a shock to many

Some other markets will be luckier though, getting the new Sony Ericsson as early as next month.

Sony Ericsson also used the occasion to remind us all once again that their goal is to become the number 1 Android manufacturer in the world and the newly announced handsets are just another step towards completing the plan.

Well at least you can’t blame them for lack of ambition.

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Sony Ericsson Booth at the MWC 2011

And now for the really interesting part – the hands-on photos of the new handsets. We are starting with the XPERIA Play right after the jump.

MWC 2011: Samsung overview

Press conference

The MWC kicked off a day early for Samsung. The company held a press event at Palau Sant Jordi hall in Barcelona, introducing the I9100 Galaxy S II smartphone and Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet.

Understandably, given the popularity of the Galaxy S lineup, Samsung tried to focus most of the attention on the I9100 Galaxy S II droid. The slim smartphone packs a huge 4.3” Super AMOLED Plus screen, which should represent a significant update even over the already great Super AMOLED unit on the first Galaxy S.

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The Samsung Unpacked event

The speakers went on and on about the Samsung Galaxy S II dual-core processing prowess, powerful GPU and the four hubs that should take the user experience another step forward. Now we are not sure if those hubs will matter that much to potential customers, but we do believe that this will be one of the best smartphones of the year.

Samsung came up with an innovative way of illustrating the Galaxy S II functionality. They told the story of four imaginary users and how the Galaxy S II helps make their lives better. You can check out that part of the presentation in the video below.

The Galaxy Tab 10.1 announcement came with less fanfare, but make no mistake – the tablet is one of the most capable in its class. You get Android 3.0 Honeycomb and Tegra 2 on the inside and a 10.9mm thin shell, weighing a mere 600g on the outside.


The Galaxy Tab 10.1 announcement

Once the press conference was over we got the chance to spend some quality time with the two Android devices.

MWC 2011: Various brands overview

Acer

The Acer Iconia Smart is official at last - though the 4.8" smartphone/tablet is hardly a surprise after several leaks. Acer call it 100% tablet, 100% smartphone and we're not going to disagree.

We spent some time with the Liquid mini and the Liquid mt too and we are ready to share our first impressions with you.

Acer Iconia Smart

The mysterious Acer smartphone is finally revealed - meet the Iconia Smart. It's a tablet/smartphone crossbreed built around an impressive 4.8" touchscreen of 1024x480 pixel resolution. Yes, that's 21:9 aspect ratio, the same as the LG BL40 New Chocolate, and should be great for watching some widescreen HD movies.


The Acer Iconia Smart

The first thing to note about the Iconia Samrt is the full-metal finish which seems quite durable and finger-print proof. Despite its size, the Iconia Smart has good handling - which is mostly attributed to the screen ratio. It's more of a tall phone, rather than a huge slab, and that's quite comfortable for single-handed use.


The Acer Iconia Smart

The Acer Iconia Smart is based on the Qualcomm MSM8255 Snapdragon platform. It's powered by a 1GHz Scorpion processor and uses the latest Adreno 205 GPU. An 8 megapixel camera is accompanied by a LED flash and 720p video recording is enabled. The Iconia Smart is well-connected with HSPA, Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth, a 3.5mm audio jack, HDMI and microUSB ports. There is a 1.3 megapixel front-facing camera for video calls too.

Acer also put a few status LEDs on top - the same as on the Liquid and the Liquid mini.

The Acer Iconia Smart runs on the latest Android v.2.3.2 Gingerbread, but there is almost nothing left of the original looks. The latest Acer Touch 3D UI 4.2 is all over the stock Android.

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Acer Iconia Smart general user interface

You can check out a video demo we've prepared for you with the Acer Iconia Smart.

Acer Liquid mt

The next device by Acer is actually the Liquid Metal, that has been renamed. All of its specs are long familiar, so enjoy the live photos.

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Acer Liquid mt live photos

The Acer Liquid mt has the same status LEDs on top as the Iconia Smart.

The Acer Liquid mt runs Android v2.2 Froyo, with the Acer Touch 3D UI 4.0 on top.

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Acer Liquid mt general user interface

By the way, the only metal thing on the Liquid mt is the battery cover and this might be part of the reason why Acer changed the name.

Acer Liquid mini

The Acer Liquid mini has also been previously announced. We have some photos of all the available covers that you might want to check out:

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Acer Liquidmini E310 live photos

The Froyo-running Liquid mini comes with Acer Touch 3D UI 4.0 and is expected to hit the shelves in April.

Acer beTouch E210

We also met the Acer beTouch E210. The Froyo-powered messenger should start shipping next month.

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