Sony Ericsson does Windows with XPERIA X1 smartphone

As CNET News.com's Ina Fried reported earlier this week, Sony Ericsson has teamed up with Microsoft to release Windows Mobile smartphones and sure enough, the first such device was revealed at GSMA and its name is the Sony Ericsson EXPERIA X1. In the past, Sony Ericsson smartphones, such as the P1i, have used the Symbian mobile operating system (UIQ). The launch of the XPERIA line marks the debut of Windows Mobile on the company's devices. The X1 is the first in the series, and makes quite the impression.

It has a cool arc slider design (think Motorola Rizr Z8) with a 3-inch VGA touchscreen on the front, and a full QWERTY keyboard underneath. It's as attractive on the inside as it is on the outside. The proprietary XPERIA panel menu gives users the freedom to arrange the screen as they want.

The X1 is a quad-band, HSDPA/HUSPA, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi-enabled smartphone running Windows Mobile 6 Professional Edition. It comes with a 3.2-megapixel camera, assisted GPS, a multimedia player, 400MB of internal memory, and microSD expansion slot.

The X1 has certainly been one of the hot products of GSMA, as evidenced by the number of people swarming around the phone at the Sony Ericsson booth. I'm hoping to shove my way in there today to get some hands-on time and photos of the device, so hold tight. The Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1 is scheduled to ship during the second half of 2008. Not to sound like a broken record, but there is still no word on pricing or U.S. availability.