Sony Ericsson launching first round of XPERIA X1s on September 30

Feel that heat, Touch Pro? That's right -- the Great QWERTY Smartphone War of 2008 is officially gearing up for kickoff now that Sony Ericsson has announced a firm date for the first handful of lucky countries to be scoop up the mighty XPERIA X1. Sweden, Germany, and the UK will be the inaugural launch sites come September 30, with no fewer than 32 more on tap in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America for the fourth quarter of the year. North America, China, Australia, and Russia are also listed as committed launch regions, though dates for those will be announced "in the coming months" -- scary verbiage considering that they weren't even willing to slap the Q4 label there. 2009's a long way off yet, and if there's a Touch Pro in front of us... well, let's just say that a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, if you catch our drift.

[tech-e82 @ Sep 10th 2008 4:02AM]

High-five!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[B.Cherry @ Sep 10th 2008 11:12AM]

All I know is, the Xperia X1 better have a folder that I can toss in a 30 sec mp3 and use it as a ringtone! That and another folder to toss in 2-5 sec mp3 as a ringtone for incomin' sms/mms/im messages! I hope the make a panel for AOL/Yahoo Messenger similar to the SideKick where you can leave long custom away messages with all the cool symbols and be able to load up any picture you transfer or take on your phone as an icon. That and Opera 9.5 we browser. Hey, I can dream can't I?

[Tony @ Sep 10th 2008 11:52AM]

Who voted up "High-five!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"?

This is as bad as "FIRST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

[steve @ Sep 10th 2008 4:04AM]

This is the sort of thing i'm looking for, too bad it'll probbably be over £300 in the uk :(

[Swede @ Sep 10th 2008 4:06AM]

From a press release they are saying 10th of October for the Swedish market.

[jakem @ Sep 10th 2008 4:06AM]

Well I've been thinking about getting one of these for most of the year but I'll definitely be waiting for some reviews to come in before I pony up.

[erhan @ Sep 10th 2008 4:18AM]

God i hate stupid people.
.... I'll take a double stack

[gad get @ Sep 10th 2008 4:22AM]

What's the deal with this guy, anyway?

[Benhur @ Sep 10th 2008 4:23AM]

I'm finished with anything that says 'Start' on it.

[jakem @ Sep 10th 2008 4:24AM]

He's hungry.

[Adderz @ Sep 10th 2008 4:33AM]

By the time its released, its going to be too little too late....Just like the Dell Mini 9.

[ntlam @ Sep 10th 2008 4:42AM]

totally agree.

lost of excitement. There are few product which could actually compared with X1 during the 1st announcement. but now, just look around you, the market is flooded with all nice and great WinMo phone. SE, please, if you want to get a big piece of cake, act early.

[Shinigami @ Sep 10th 2008 4:37AM]

If you think Xperia X1 is good, you might have never seen this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7R90A7ZqLU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_p69T3cWHBs&feature=related

I like the Xperia X1 thing, still hope to see Nvidia Tegra in it :)
But I hate X1's price tag - more than $1000 (at least in my country its expected at $1200-1500 without any discounts).

[neothoms @ Sep 10th 2008 5:33AM]

Shinigami, how can you say that the x1 is not good enough by showing us videos of a prototype that will not be on sale for at least a year and in the same post arguing that the x1 price is too high without knowing the price of your precious NVIDIA Tegra.

At least the x1 will be on sale soon.
The NVIDIA Tegra is not.

[TareX @ Sep 10th 2008 7:33AM]

Tegra will power WM7. WM7 is just around the corner.

There's a leaked paper that showed the Flame II running WM7 to be launched as early as December 08. But note that not all WM7 phones will be powered by Tegra.

This is why I believe the Xperia could be a bit late in the game.

[Zephyr @ Sep 10th 2008 8:26AM]

USD 899 in Sweden incl VAT for pre-order.

[gadjitfreek @ Sep 10th 2008 5:00AM]

It doesn't matter. This will never come to Verizon, so for me, it's a moot point. At least until AT&T has a 3G network as extensive as EVDO. I just want something on VZW with at least a VGA screen, a browser that can actually run Java and light Flash stuff. I like my Treo 700p, I like it a lot...but Palm OS is dead, and it's time to move on. I would consider the WinMo Treos, but with their 320X320 screens, it's just not enough. I want full VGA or WVGA. Hence...it's the Touch Pro for me.

[Down @ Sep 10th 2008 5:09AM]

I don't get why people are getting excited over this - what is so different about this? what does this have that other smartphones don't?

[jakem @ Sep 10th 2008 6:32AM]

A WVGA screen for starters.

[Surur @ Sep 10th 2008 6:33AM]

How about a 800x480 3inch screen?

How about Sony Ericsson's media connections?

How about an open development agenda for their new interface?

Those are the three main things it has over the other smartphones, and of course it also has nearly everything else the other smartphones have.

[Eric Leung @ Sep 11th 2008 12:05AM]

also the 3 MP camera is still a bit on the rare side outside of sony and nokia

[SimbaDogg @ Sep 10th 2008 5:15AM]

oh man, i wish i had one nearby....chicken nuggests w/ one bbq and one w/ sweet n' sour, 1 small order of fries, and a baked potato w/ extra sour cream, and a lil bowl of chili.. cut the potato in half, and save half for later...delish meal

[SimbaDogg @ Sep 10th 2008 5:17AM]

oops, i forgot to add the important stuff...I wish NA wasn't the last region to get a released for every CE device 60% of the time, everytime

[shapey @ Sep 10th 2008 5:19AM]

this is next on my list for sure.
finally a wm phone with a decent screen and a 'real' headphone socket!
i'm guessing that the september 30th is when it will be released to carriers and then there'll be another X months wait while they (t-schmobile/orange/etc) create their crappy front end software and graphics that everyone removes anyway...

[shapey @ Sep 10th 2008 5:20AM]

a nice screen and a headphone jack. does it for me!

[shapey @ Sep 10th 2008 5:21AM]

that was supposed to be a reply to Down. oh never mind, eh?

[Maltass Falcon @ Sep 10th 2008 5:30AM]

Nice try, fanboy. There're still some leftovers from the Let's Rock event if you can get there before the garbage men do.

[Dyranios @ Sep 10th 2008 5:38AM]

is that guy back from Wendys yet?? I want him to get me a couple of things i got the munchies

[Caleb @ Sep 10th 2008 6:19AM]

I fail to see the logic in this. Humans are so hard to unstand, and so emotional...

... er. I still remember back when I was in high school going to Wendys with the rest of the marching band. Someone who will remain nameless worked as an apprentice doing layout at a local printer. Glossy coupons for all my friends in the band with all the typical info on it for Wendys. Only the odd thing about it was that Wendys did not have a four patty burger nor were they realy running a special "Introductory Sale" on the four patty burger for the price of a two patty!! We actualy got them to make some of them... and then we were gone! LOL I'm glad I'm not -that- evil anymore. It alway comes back on you. Couldn't eat there ever again. Still love Wendys and still wonder when the four patty will be coming back. ;->

[Caleb @ Sep 10th 2008 6:20AM]

I fail to see the logic in this. Humans are so hard to unstand, and so emotional...

... er. I still remember back when I was in high school going to Wendys with the rest of the marching band. Someone who will remain nameless worked as an apprentice doing layout at a local printer. Glossy coupons for all my friends in the band with all the typical info on it for Wendys. Only the odd thing about it was that Wendys did not have a four patty burger nor were they realy running a special "Introductory Sale" on the four patty burger for the price of a two patty!! We actualy got them to make some of them... and then we were gone! LOL I'm glad I'm not -that- evil anymore. It alway comes back on you. Couldn't eat there ever again. Still love Wendys and still wonder when the four patty will be coming back. ;->

[Decoy @ Sep 10th 2008 6:27AM]

Marketer. Don't fall for this bs

[Caleb @ Sep 10th 2008 6:33AM]

Still youve got to admit it looks like a cool high tech phone. Interesting. Is the phone made by nVidia or just the graphics chip? Either way it's very interesting considering nVidia's new branding stratagy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdExkuvGySE&feature=related

[thedesolate1 @ Sep 10th 2008 8:38AM]

They are trying to start some viral marketing... but are crawling up the wrong tree. Engadget readers are smarter than your average joe. On another note I sure could use a McWendy fat burger.... oh shiiiiiit... WAIT!

[thedesolate1 @ Sep 10th 2008 8:38AM]

Now if we could only squeeze android ROM into this thing...

[SE fanboy @ Sep 10th 2008 9:09AM]

Nothing for me yet, I'm fasting. (its Ramadan)

[iphonerulez @ Sep 10th 2008 9:16AM]

That's a really attractive-looking handset, I'll give them that. However....

You can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still Windows Mobile underneath.

[bolezhinkov @ Sep 10th 2008 11:59AM]

oh man you guys dont even want to know what I would do to get this before january.

[engadget @ Sep 10th 2008 12:35PM]

Yeah, HTC must be really smarting if the sales of the HTC-built X1 hit sales of their Touch Pro!

[Haro! @ Sep 10th 2008 3:39PM]

I am so totally getting it. Although an Apple fanboy, I also love Sony Ericsson phones, and yeah I'll be getting this. Looks great and the panel interface is interesting.

[loosely_coupled @ Sep 10th 2008 4:13PM]

Nice hardware, but WinMo kills the deal..

[LOLWut @ Sep 10th 2008 6:45PM]

Anyone have an idea where to get that sexy wallpaper being displayed on the phone ???