Sony Ericsson's XPERIA X1a available for pre-order at Best Buy
By Joseph L. Flatley 
posted November 15th 2008 2:06PM
posted November 15th 2008 2:06PM
As one astute tipster's pointed out, the XPERIA X1a is now available for pre-order on the Best Buy site. Now that the phone's really, finally, almost here are you totally psyched? Or have you been too busy playing with your G1 to notice? Like we saw last week, the phone will retail for $799.99 in its unlocked form, and there's no word yet on pricing with a plan. Order now and they claim you'll receive the phone as soon as November 28th. So... what are you waiting for?
[Thanks, Ian]
[Thanks, Ian]
The reason they charge so much is that for the same potential number of customers, they have to invest much more in their infrastructure. The UK is about the size of California. CA has a population of about 36M and UK of about 60M. If AT&T only had to build out towers in California and didn't have to allow for roaming (without a SIM change) outside of CA, they could probably charge a lot less, but when you have to allow roaming in a state the size of Nevada, with only about 3M people, the costs go up.
We all might be better off in the US (at least the more populous states) if the carriers offered state plans and we just bought short term SIMs for when we traveled to another state.
Some of us in Canada get better prices than you'd think.
450 anytime minutes
Unlimited Incoming
Unlimited Top 5
500 text messages / free incoming
Unlimited data ($15)
Caller ID
Voice Mail 5
$50!
Sprint is slightly less expensive at $89.99 before taxes for unlimited data, messaging, and 900 anytime minutes. Their nights start at 7 so that helps a bit...but shit for $99 you get unlimited calling too, so that's a pretty easy upsell. It's still a lot of money per month, but at the very least it's reliable since the only way for your bill to fluctuate is if you use the music store or pay-for apps, cause you shouldn't be charged for anything else besides taxes. Sprint's changes are a step in the right direction (as far as simplifying things goes), but I know they and the rest of the carriers can, and will, do better as consumers are becoming more savvy and less tolerant of the old ways.
All in all, I agree with the lack of cool phones, but I think it's more complicated than simply the carriers wanting to charge more. I can't say I know anything about import laws, but I was under the impression finished goods imported are generally taxed more heavily than parts imported and then assembled in the states, but of course that's just a generalization that could be completely wrong.
But SE did say that you would be paying a premium price for a premium phone.
$800 cell phone?
better say "MADE IN JAPAN" on the back...
are you telling me "Made in Japan" is better than "Made in apple"
are you sure you are iEye ??
730$ cell phone?
http://www.expansys-usa.com/p.aspx?i=174019
better be UNLOCKED...
SIM free new 3G iPhone is about $1000 here in the UK (on ebay - as you can't really the iPhone SIM free!) and most WM6.1 Smartphones are $800 SIM free. Don't but if you don't one. www.expansys.com keep selling out of SIM free X1s as do www.clove.co.uk so $800 obviously is not too much for those that know what they are buying.
Sony you never seize to amaze me on how fucking stupid you are. Who in there right mine in this economy would buy this phone instead making it affordable for everyone to buy you charge 800 dollars for ugly some what bulkier version of the Iphone. No one should buy this phone when it comes out.Give them a month or two and the price will drop. Sony get a new marketing team in this day in time who buys a phone for 800 bucks
Same price as other WM6.1 SIM free devices. Nearly sold out in the UK so perhaps not everyone has you view and can see there is a lot to the design (great build quality, fantastic screen and very high res, Panels software, etc).
"Sony you never SEIZE to amaze me on how fucking stupid you are."
"in there right mine"
Pot...kettle? Your rant is full of mistakes. I counted 14.
Yea, but in UK...its cheaper than here...You can get it on Vodafone for practically nothing on a contract.
I hope all the people that were bit***ng about the price of the iPhone see this!
And the expression "bitching" has become vulgar when?
@ Levi: that IS competitive pricing. your AT&T tilt was $500-600 CARRIER LOCKED. it was $800 UNLOCKED. "carrier locked" and "unlocked" are 2 very diff things. the touch pro (fuze) is STILL $800+ unlocked. $500 carrier locked and $300 with 2yr contract. same for just about every other winmo phone out in the market. the iPhone is also at around $900 "officially unlocked". heck even the nokia n-series phones come out at $800 unlocked. the problem isnt SE's price point. the prob is that some people just LOOK for any reason to hate sony and will complain about anything they do regardless of wether or not other people are doing the same thing. to each his own, i guess. but for an unlocked winmo phone, that price is normal. if you have a prob with wanting it cheaper, than you need to complain about the carriers not getting it.
Oh enough with all these douchebaggery, you could have bought the unlocked known as the...tara...HTC Tytn, rather than the *carrier branded version* known as the ATT Tilt for less than $500.
Even if you were that desperate enough to buy the Tilt through ATT locked at full price, you could have unlocked it for free or next to nothing. Ever heard of xda-developers.com..hmm..hmmm. I have a Sprint Touch Pro and even though it's a damm great phone i would never pay full price to but it outright at $579..not worth it.
Even the original iPhone at $499 and $599 were not worth it and i was telling all my iSheep iHerd douchbag friends not to pay such stupid price, but they wouldn't listen. it must have been mating season and Steve Jobs' alpha piss was too pungent for them not to get a woodie towards. Few months later, it drops to a more reasonable $399.
Point is that the iPhone pricing has ruined it for these uber pricey PDA phones of late. I kinda wish they'd go back to the $399 iPhone (w/or without contract) period. i made a living on those, unlocking them for nothing and *cough* *cough* sending them abroad.
@shakapool: which is it? "enough with all these douchebaggery" or pick it up a notch like you just did?
the at&t tilt or HTC KAISER ran for over $800 unlocked when it was first released. if AT&T didnt subsidize it (even carrier locked phones are subsidized) you couldnt have gotten it at the "full price" CARRIER LOCKED price of $500 and then gone to xda-developers (which i am a member of) and gotten a cooked rom for it. you woulda been stuck having to pay the REAL FULL PRICE of over $800. just like you're stuck having to pay full price for the X1. if it WAS carrier subsidized then you could by it cheap and gotten a cooked rom at "xda". but it isnt. so that's not the point. and has NO place in this discussion. it isnt SE problem. its the fact that unlike the HTC KAISER, or TyTN II, no carrier has been willing to foot part of the bill here in NA. your "sprint touch pro" is $600 CARRIER LOCKED. just because you didnt have to sign a contract it's still locked to a carrier. you cant use it with anyone other than Sprint unless you call and get them to UNLOCK it for you. like it was said before: getting one without having to sign a contract and getting one UNLOCKED are 2 VERY DIFFERENT things. i hope you can understand that. ive simplified it as much as i could since i dont know how to make handpuppets over the web.... as for your example of the iTurd. guess what? if a carrier hadnt subsidized it you wouldnt have been able to buy it for $5-600 then been able to unlock it for free using "pwnage". you woulda been forced to pay the FULL PRICE of $900+ for the officially unlocked one since it woulda been the only one available. like the $800 U-N-L-O-C-K-E-D x1a is the ONLY one available. or the U-N-L-O-C-K-E-D (NOT carrier locked but contract free)HTC touch pro. or the U-N-L-O-C-K-E-D n95/n96. are you understanding? im not saying the price is reasonable. not by a long shot. but it IS competitive and at the same price point as other high-end UN:LOCKED(NOT contract free but still carrier locked) smartphones. are you understanding? hmmm......hmmmmmm
@shakapool: just to reiterate: "contract-free" and "unlocked" are NOT, i repeat, "NOT" the same thing. and the AT&T "tilt" is the HTC TyTN II, AKA KAISER, which originally retailed for +$700 unlocked. but please. dont let petty things such as "facts" get in the way of your "douchebaggery".......
I get $200 rebate from AT and T for a 2 years contract.
Live search $200 cash back.
$800 - $200 - $200 = $400
I'm buying one.
People, the X1 has a 800x480 pixel screen, 256MB RAM and a keyboard in a phone form factor - NO OTHER WM has ALL these features! All the other WM devices may be a $100 cheaper but look at this hardware! Also look at the evidence, in UK/Europe SE don't have enough stocks to meet demand! This should tell you the SEX1 is overall a good value device for those in the market for such a device. But I suppose facts are not that important for some people here ;-)
I don't think these top of the lines were created for fans or for boys. For the first year R&D is recovered from guys with expense accounts. College boys need not apply.
I am waiting for a version with T-mobile 3g bands, which will probably never be made. =(
The evidence is YES. Uk/Europe have shortages of the X1 because of high sales. The effective cost is the same as $800 upfront when bought with a contract. But unlike the iPhone, the X1 is FREE on most £40 per month contracts. Sorry, I keeping forgetting evidence is not relevant :-) And yes the 800x480 screen and memory do make the X1 a more expensive product, again facts which I keep forgetting are not relevant for a lot of posters here :-)
A quick reminder of what the X1 can do that the iPhone can't:
- A2DP
- real, yes real, Sat Nav not simple google maps
- edit office docs
- capture DVD quality video
- replace battery
- 800x480 screen res
- multi-task
- battery life over a day :-)
- etc
The X1 is well worth $800 for all the extras above
It seems nice, and I'd consider getting one if there were a CDMA version that'd work with Sprint (is there? I'm not the most informed when it comes to phones) simply because where I work (Radioshack) there's a killer deal for Sprint that isn't nearly matched by AT&T, yet. I picked up the Touch Pro a few days ago and it's a really nice phone, far and away the most powerful phone I've ever had (up from an LG VX8350...) and I don't have any complaints, but if this phone were an option...I'd have some more considering to do during the remaining return period.
The X1's price isn't bad for a high-end smartphone. I'd rather pay $800 for this instead of what they're asking for the iPhone. Deal with it or don't buy it. Plenty of other people will. :)
Perfect evidence that SNE = one of the stupidest companies. They always made a giant splash on announcement, then fail to execute at prime time six month later. Little hint to Sir Howard Stringer, next time, just launch the damn thing when you are ready, skip the hype.
i am waitting for the money to show up in the mail.
Xperia X1 now delayed until January 2009... We have been hoodwinked... Sony / Best Buy keep moving up the dates.. The latest date on SonyStyle is now January 12th, 2009...