Sony Ericsson launches three new handsets

Sony Ericsson Xperia ray

While Sony Ericsson isn't officially taking part in CommunicAsia 2011, the company has taken advantage of the tradeshow to unveil its latest products at a separate event.

A total of three phones were announced today, with two of them being Android smartphones (Xperia ray and Xperia active) equipped with the latest Gingerbread operating system (OS). The third device is actually a feature phone called the Sony Ericsson txt and it complements the previously announced Sony Ericsson txt pro.

(Update: While Sony Ericsson was reluctant to disclose any prices, we did managed to get some estimated figures from them. The Sony Ericsson txt will probably retail in the region of US$100 to US$150. The Xperia ray will probably end up costing around the S$580 (US$470) to S$600 (US$486). As for the Xperia active, Sony Ericsson declined to tell us the estimated pricing, but indicated that it would be definitely be priced below the Xperia ray.)

If you find the Sony Ericsson Xperia ray familiar (pictured above), it might be because it resembles the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 in both shape and form factor while borrowing some of the design elements of the Xperia Arc. The Xperia ray does get some cosmetic tweaks with redesigned menu buttons, and is slightly smaller and thinner compared to the X10.

Measuring just 9.4mm thin and weighing 100g, the smartphone takes some lessons from the Xperia Arc, though it's not quite as thin, of course.

The phone comes with an 8.1-megapixel camera, front-facing camera, scratch-resistant 3.3-inch screen (854 x 480 pixels) and the Sony Ericsson Timescape UI. It will be available in four colors, black, gold, white and pink.

Sony Ericsson Xperia active

Next up is the Sony Ericsson Xperia active, designed with sporty users in mind. The handset comes packing a 3-inch scratch-resistant display (320 x 480-pixel) that claims to be able to accurately track your wet fingers (though we tested other capacitive screens with wet fingers and they seem to work fine). The phone is also water-resistant (under 1m of water for up to 30 minutes) and dustproof.

Besides these features, the phone also comes with onboard GPS, Bluetooth and barometer. This should come in handy for joggers to plan and track their running routes.

The handset comes with a wrist strap, an arm case, and replaceable back covers to change the phone's back color to white. Otherwise the Xperia active will come in orange or white with a black back cover.

Sony Ericsson txt

Lastly, we have the Sony Ericsson txt, a feature phone meant for the social media crowd. The device has a 2.6-inch screen, QWERTY keyboard and a SMS shortcut key. Like the txt pro, the txt has a "friends" app that lets you see social media updates from Facebook and Twitter for up to five friends.

Now, since the phone lacks 3G connectivity, you will have to pull your updates via the built-in Wi-Fi.

The handset will come in four shades, white, black, pink and blue.

The Xperia ray and Xperia active will be available in Q3 2011 for selected markets, though Sony Ericsson has disclosed that the Xperia ray will definitely be available in Japan. The txt will be available in selected markets in Q4 2011.