Up Close: The Sony Ericsson Xperia X2 Windows Phone

Sony Ericsson introduced on Wednesday the Xperia X2 touchscreen smartphone. The Xperia X2 will also be one of the first phones to run on the upcoming Windows Mobile 6.5 mobile operating system, which will appear on phones starting October 6.

The Xperia X2 is the sequel to the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1, which was the company's first Windows Mobile powered device. Sony Ericsson did not announce the price of the Xperia X2, but said it will be available sometime in the fourth quarter.

With the launch of the X1, Sony Ericsson introduced its own set of software add-ons called panels. These panels are actually on-screen widgets, which give you access to various services and apps such as Skype or Facebook. The Xperia X2 retains the panel interface, but it is more refined and has a 3-D-like appearance. You can set up which widgets you prefer to have on your home screen depending on the time of the day or according to your business and free time.

Sony Ericsson joined the homescreen widgets fray along similar offerings from Nokia, which also unveiled on Wednesday the N97 Mini, which has social networking integration via on-screen widgets. HTC will also unleash the Windows Mobile 6.1 Touch Pro 2 model on Sprint next week.

Check out the following slides for a run-down of the Sony Ericsson Xperia X2's specifications.

The new Sony Ericsson Xperia X2 measures 4.3 by 2.1 by 0.6-inches thick and weighs in at 5.5 ounces. Though it is quite svelte, the iPhone 3GS and the Samsung Omnia II are a bit thinner and lighter.

As for network capabilities, the Xperia X2 will arrive in two versions: One for GSM and one for WCDMA operators.

The Sony Ericsson Xperia X2 packs a 3.2-inch display with a 480-by-800 pixel resolution, which is great for showcasing the pictures you can take with the 8.1-megapixel camera.

Xperia X2's camera also features auto-focus capabilities (with touch focus like on the iPhone 3GS), an image stabilizer and 16X digital zoom. The Xperia X2's camera also has geotagging capabilities, and can record video as well.

The full QWERTY keyboard on the Xperia X2 makes typing emails faster and is handly for editing documents with the included Microsoft Office Suite. And when your presentation is ready, you can hook up the X2 to an external screen with a TV out cable (in the box).

The Xperia X2 can also recognize handwriting and transform it into text.

The Sony Ericsson Xperia X2 keeps you connected with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth support and can help you find your way around with the built-in A-GPS chip.

Sony Ericsson claims up to 10 hours of talk tome over GSM networks and up to 6 hours on UMTS, while standby could go as high as 500 hours on GSM and 640 on UMTS.

A phone built by the company that introduced the Walkman is sure to have an excellent media player. We were impressed with the X1's player, so we're hoping for even better music features for the X2.

Unfortunately, the Xperia X2 has only 110MB of built-in free memory, but Sony Ericsson says it will ship with a 4GB microSD memory card in the box. The X2 supports up to 16GB of external memory so you can expand storage depending on your needs.