Sony Ericsson Announces Impressive XPERIA X10 Android Phone

What do you get when you mix Android with a 1-GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon CPU and beautiful hardware? Sony Ericcsson’s new XPERIA X10 smart phone, the company’s first Android device that was officially announced today.

The XPERIA X10, which will be available in the first quarter of 2009 in “select markets,” has a completely revamped “Rachael” UX Android user interface, and features the Sony Ericsson Timescape application, which let you manage social networks like Facebook and Twitter with your contacts and messages. Another application, Mediascape, lets you manage your multimedia and pull down contact from YouTube or PlayNow.

The XPERIA X10 also has an 8.1MP camera, a larger sensor than the current 5MP offerings on devices like the Motorola Droid and HTC Hero. Other features include a 3.5mm headphone jack, GPS, Wi-Fi, a high-resolution 854 x 480 pixels and 4 inches display, an FM radio, and the gamut of Google applications support that comes standard with Android.

The device will run Android Donut, version 1.6, which is not the most recent version 2.0 that’s featured on the Motorola Droid. That means you won’t be able to log into multiple Google Accounts at once for push e-mail and sync, but it looks like Sony Ericsson has a compelling contact management system.

There isn’t currently a confirmation of a U.S. ship date or pricing available at this time.