After the blurry, noisy image of the rumored Sony Ericsson Shakira we finally get to see it on a bunch of pretty nice looking shots. Apparently, the Android-running smartphone will actually be named XPERIA X8 but we’ll have to wait for its official announcement to see the full specs sheet of the device.

Meet the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X8

While we still have no clue what the XPERIA X8 will come with on board we do know how it will look like. Now, forget about the low quality image of the X8, which leaked a week ago, and enjoy those his-res photos.

More Sony Ericsson XPERIA X8 photos

XPERIA X8 will take the free spot right between the extra large Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 and the super tiny Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 mini. And as the images reveal, on top of the Android OS (version unknown) we’ll see an X10-mini-like UI. Sadly, we don’t know any other features of X8.

Well, nothing grabs attention than adding in something controversial to the mix –or perhaps that is what the marketing gurus at Microsoft were thinking when they gave the thumbs up to use the new video to advertise the new Microsoft branded Kin smart phones.

Sadly, the new ad is hardly anything controversial, but one brief scene has been in such bad taste that critics will simply have to do a collective face palm as a reaction. The video shows a young man taking a photo of his nipple (using the Microsoft Kin shoved up his shirt no less) and sending the image to a female friend who presumably laughs at the gag.

Well, as much as the scene was supposed to promote how easy it was to upload and share images (simply drag the image to the contact you desire), it probably ad more people covering their eyes in disgust at the image seen on the phone display.

Anyway, bad advertising aside, the two Kin mobile devices are both good handsets. Both the Turtle and the Pure are easy to use and the new streamlined social networking centered operating system works like a charm. Of course, adding in QWERTY keyboards to both devices makes all the info sharing, messaging and chatting all the more easier too.

The Kin 1 has been nicknamed the Microsoft Turtle for its unique shape and the Kin 2 is known as the Microsoft Pure, it has a basic touch screen with slide out keyboard form. It is confirmed that bother devices will come loaded with a built in camera (a 5 mega pixel cam for the Turtle and a 2 MP snapper for the Pure). You can find the best deals available for the two new Microsoft Kin phones by visiting Moby1, who compare the best phone contracts available in the UK.

It seems Sony Ericsson Satio is geared for another major update, which should bring over WVGA (864 x 480 pixels) video recording update to the current VGA capabilities. There is some other new stuff as well including direct Facebook and YouTube uploads.

The list of changes continues with threaded messaging, DLNA support and various UI improvements. Unfortunately, there’s no word on the Vivaz homescreen getting officially to Satio.

The official Sony Ericsson blog just announced that the latest update to Sony Ericsson Satio will start rolling to users as soon as this weekend. Availability schedule is region-specific and will continue throughout the next week. Some operator versions might take even longer, but hopes are that the new software version will be available to ALL users within a couple of weeks.

You can get the update through the Sony Ericsson Update Service client.

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Shocking as it may sound, Sony Ericsson will be a little late with getting one of their phones on the market. The Sony Ericsson Vivaz was supposed to hit the shelves in February in a joint launch with the XPERIA X10 but apparently neither of them is going to make it in time.

The Symbian-running Sony Ericsson Vivaz is already available for preorder from Vodafone UK but will actually hit their shelves on 9 March. The phone will be available for free on a 2-year 30 GBP/month contract including 600 anytime minutes and unlimited texts.

There is no UK exclusivity about this deal and other carriers will get the Sony Ericsson Vivaz too, but it’s the first concrete date that we get.

In case you are still undecided about the eventual purchase of the Vivaz you can check out our review. A demo of its impressive panorama feature can be found in our blog as well.

Editorial: This one caused a storm. We guess we need to step up and clear something out. Regardless of what fans might be thinking, we don’t gather at night to burn Sony Ericsson flags and cast curses on the Swedish-Japanese joint venture.

If some of the said fans actually bothered to read the Sony Ericsson Vivaz review, they would know that we quite liked the little fella. Don’t you think that if we wanted to get one back at them, that would’ve been the best place to do it? Not to mention Nick’s blogpost the other day, which says it in plain language: that we are happy users.

But no, god forbid we write about another delay by Sony Ericsson. There might be a point in all this anyway: A Sony Ericsson delay is hardly news anymore.

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