During a press event held before the official start of the Mobile World Congress 2008, Sony Ericcson introduced its first smartphone powered by Windows Mobile, Xperia X1.

Xperia X1, which includes 3-inch clear wide VGA display and a full QWERTY keyboard within a quality metal-finish body, is an arc slider phone built to address the customers who need a premium, converged mobile experience.

“Our vision for the XPERIA X1 is to deliver a seamless blend of mobile Web communication and multimedia entertainment within a distinctive design,” said Rikko Sakaguchi, Head of Portfolio and Propositions, Sony Ericsson.

The phone has quad-band GSM (850/900/1800/1900MHz) and 4 bands of HSDPA/HSUPA (850/1700/1900/2100MHz or 900/1700/1900/2100MHz) support. It includes also WiFi connectivity and a 3.2 megapixel camera with auto-focus. Xperia X1 measures 110mm x 53mm x 17mm (4.3" x 2.1" x .7") and weighs in at 145g (5.1oz) and it includes also GPS support.

For those customers who do not like the touchscreen phones, Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 offers a stylus and handwriting recognition. The phone, which will be delivered in two colors, Solid Black and Steel Silver, is scheduled to be available in the second half of 2008.

Building a mobile phone with Windows Mobile is quite a premiere for Sony Ericsson. So far, the company that sold The company sold more than 100 million handsets in 2007 and excelled in sales of imaging and music-enabled devices, such as Cyber-shot and Walkman phones, has used the Symbian operating system for its smartphones.

Besides Xperia X1, Sony Ericsson unveiled other six new models. Sony Ericsson W980 is the latest addition to Walkman phones line. It is a UMTS/HSDPA 2100 GSM/GPRS 850/900/1800/1900 phone, which features 8 GB of internal storage and a built-in FM transmitter, which allows one to send whatever is playing on the phone to other devices with a built-in FM radio receiver.

Designed with the music in mind, Sony Ericsson W980 provides a choice of eight equaliser presets, each of which contains a distinct profile that is suitable to a range of music.

Sony Ericsson also unveiled two touchscreens phones, the G700 and G900, described as “essential tools designed to organize the lives of all those with busy schedules to juggle, both at home and at work”

Both phones feature large 2.4 inch display with single touch control menu, but while G700 offers only a 3,2 megapixel camera, G900 includes 5.0 megapixel camera with touch Auto focus and Multi-shot function and WiFi connectivity.

Sony Ericcson update and its Cyber-shot line with C702 Cyber-shot and C902 Cyber-shot. The C902 Cyber-shot comes with a 160MB built-in memory, plus the possibility to add even more memory with the Memory Stick Micro and it has a 5.0 megapixel camera with Face Detection and Auto Focus.

The C702 model features a 3.2 megapixel camera and it is promoted by Sony Ericcson as the ideal device for those with an active lifestyle, as the phone is splash and dust resistant. Both models will be available in Q2 2008.