Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 tastes Eclair with 720p video

Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 owners have been waiting in the firmware upgrade lounge for what seems like ages. But Eclair is almost done cooking and it will be served with 720p video capture with continuous autofocus for an extra-sweet result.

The update was pushed back until the end of October, but a release candidate has already been sent out for testing. The Sony Ericsson product blog has a quick video demo of the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 with the new firmware.

To sum up the changes, the homescreen now has five panes instead of 3, each pane can fit more icons and there are a couple of new widgets - a toggle widget for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, etc. and a widget that shows the last three calls.

The lockscreen has changed too - you can now unlock or switch on Silent mode by swiping (like the unskinned UI).The homescreen preview and Live wallpaper features have made their way into the update as well.

But the two biggest changes brought by the update are Android 2.1 Eclair and HD video recording with continuous autofocus. The jump to Eclair is an important one, as it finally brings compatibility for a lot of apps that the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 lacked due to its aging Android 1.6 Donut OS. Other phones are already having a bite of some v2.2 Froyo, but better late than never, right?

The 720p video is a pretty big deal too - it will bring the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 on par with the current top dogs in Android imaging. Check out the two sample videos below to get an idea of the quality (but keep in mind that this is after YouTube compression) and also see the continuous autofocus in action.

And the second video:

The firmware update for the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 is still on track for a release towards the end of October, and as usual it will happen gradually - some regions/operators will get it before others. There's no mention of the other three droids in the XPERIA lineup and when they might get updated though.

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