14 DAY TRIAL // Among the latest additions to Sony Ericsson's Xperia family of Android devices, we can count the Xperia pro, which was packed with a sliding QWERTY keyboard and with about the same features as the Xperia neo. Sony Ericsson made the handset official a few days ago at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, where it launched another sliding smartphone, the new Xperia PLAY, a PlayStation-certified phone that packs a slide out gaming pad.
With the new Xperia pro, Sony Ericsson also debuted the subtle but fast Type & Send functionality, which enables users create different type of messages without having to open different applications for each of them.
Another new feature packed with this device was Smart Keyboard, which triggers predictive messaging actions as soon as the keyboard is slid open. The phone runs under Google's Android 2.3 Gingerbread platform.
On top of that, the new Xperia pro is expected to prove a great option for business users who are also Android fans, as it comes loaded with various professional functions, such as email, calendar and contacts syncing, or pre-loaded Office Suite Pro for viewing and editing office documents on the go.
Just as other Xperia smartphones, the new handset sports the Reality Display with Mobile BRAVIA Engine for a great multimedia and viewing experience.
The specifications list of Xperia pro includes a 3.7 inch capacitive touchscreen display (854 x 480 pixels FWVGA resolution), a 1 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8255 application processor, and a battery that can offer up to 7 hours of talk time, or up to 430 hours of standby time.
The new mobile phone also sports 320MB of internal memory, a microSD memory card slot (support for up to 32 GB, an 8GB card included), WiFi, Bluetooth, USB, HDMI, and DLNA connectivity options, as well as a 3.5 mm audio jack and aGPS.
Sony Ericsson added to the mix Exchange ActiveSync support too, along with Google Sync and support for various Google Mobile Services, or for applications available for download via the Android Market.
When introducing the new smartphone, Sony Ericcson announced that it would become available for purchase sometime in the second quarter of the ongoing year in Black, Silver and Red.
Note: Fellow editors Cosmin Vasile and Alex Vochin are on the floor at the 2011 Mobile World Congress and are keeping us posted with pictures and live reports on the latest product previews and launches.
