Sony Ericsson in a new interview put an end to any future plans for Symbian on its phones. New CTO Jan Uddenfeldt explained to Sweden's NyTechnik that his company had "no plans" to make Symbian phones after the existing Vivaz lineup. Most of its efforts are currently placed on Android, with a small amount of attention given to Windows Phone 7.
Symbian got a rare foothold in the US today as AT&T today picked up the Sony Ericsson Vivaz. The S60 device focuses on video first and can snap either 8.1-megapixel photos or 720p movies. As the OS already handles real multitasking, it can upload a video (over Wi-Fi) in the background.
Sony Ericsson ended the week on a positive note by recording a rare increase in the number of phones it shipped. The company moved 11 million phones in the spring; the number was still a decline from 13.8 million a year ago but up from 10.5 million in the winter. Its revenue also saw an uncommon year-to-year increase as it climbed slightly to the equivalent of $2.28 billion.
The Sony Ericsson Vivaz handset was originally spotted in February for North America at the FCC, and now, the device has been confirmed to arrive at AT&T thanks to another filing. An image of the handset with AT&T branding and mentions of AT&T services such as Navigator, Maps and Family Map have been found in the new document. The handset's headline-grabbing feature is its 8.1-megapixel camera with 720p video recording capability.
Sony Ericsson today confirmed that it would give the Xperia X10 a major upgrade in the fall. As part of a refresh of the custom UXP interface layer, the phone will get both an upgrade to Android 2.1 but also new features. It should now get the same 720p video recording as the Vivaz as well as DLNA media sharing support over the local network.
Sony Ericsson today surprised the industry by turning a small profit for its first quarter of 2010. The cellphone designer swung from a $226 million loss as recently as this fall to a $28.4 million surplus in the winter. Some of the recovery came through job cuts but was also helped by a major shift towards smartphones, which included the first full uninterrupted quarter of sales for the Satio but also the late shipping of the Vivaz and its most important phone, the Android-based XPERIA X10.
