Now however, we’ve got an official confirmation from the O2 blog that the issues are nearly resolved and the handset will be available in O2 UK network next month. Unfortunately pricing is still a mystery at this point, but we should be getting an update on that soon enough.

Yet, we can’t help but wonder about those alleged bugs. After all, the handset hit the shelves as planned elsewhere and we didn’t notice any deal-breaking issues when we reviewed it, which leads us to believe that the issues had something to do with the bloatware that O2 is trying to install on the handset.

In case you are not familiar with the term, we are talking about the custom carrier-branded software that normally does little more than irritate users and slow-down updates.

Just like its brother, the X8, the Sony Ericsson W8 sports a 3-inch capacitive touchscreen with a resolution of 320 x 480 pixels, a 3.5 mm headphone jack, and a 3.2MP camera. Under the hood there’s a 600MHz single-core processor ticking, with 168MB of RAM.

The W8 will run Android 2.1, which is a bit unfortunate, as most Droids on the market are now running Froyo or even Gingerbread. Nevertheless, this is the first Walkman phone to run the Google mobile OS, which will be covered by the Timescape UI.

Being a Walkman, the phone will come with Sony Ericsson’s stereo headset, the MH410.

The Sony Ericsson W8 will be available in China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, India, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam starting from Q2 2011 in a choice of colors – Azure Blue, Metallic Red, and Iconic Orange. Pricing is yet unknown, though.

The Xperia Arc is one sleek handset that you immediately want to touch at first sight. The ultra slim device runs Android 2.3 Gingerbread OS, and was the only Android device to run this latest version of the OS when we saw it back at CES. Unfortunately, while up to speed on software, the Arc, as well as the Play, both lack the dual-core innards that resides in much of the upcoming competition (though the second-generation Snapdragon processor is hardly something to call slow). That said, what the Arc lacks in raw processing power, it makes up with style, and it’s probably one of the best looking handsets we’ve ever seen.

When asked about the US availability of the Xperia Arc on the Sony Ericsson product blog, Rikard Skogberg had this to say,

I just got something from my US colleagues and the current plan is to have an “a”-variant available at retailers this summer. This version will be optimized for use in the US (GSM/UMTS). I’ll keep you posted as I get more details.

Sony Ericsson has yet to really make a splash in the Android world, even though a handful of Android handsets have been released. This may be the year that all of that changes, and by offering the world’s first Playstation-certified phone, as well as the uber-sleek Arc, Sony Ericsson stands to gain a decent following this time around. While many have been waiting for the Playstation phone to become a reality, since it’s aimed at such a specific group of people, the Arc may see better sales than the Play. Maybe not.

So if you’ve been looking into the Arc, you may not have much longer to wait before you can get your hands on one.

Tremendous Growth Opportunity

It is to be noted that India is one of the fastest growing mobile phone market in the in the world and a recent report by research firm Nielson said that the Indian mobile phone market offers huge growth opportunities in the smartphone segment. The report said that only 10% of the country’s youth have smartphones while 90% still have feature phones.

Both the smartphones are powered by 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processors which speeds up the operations of the device. Thanks to the processors users can run several applications on their devices. Xperia Play allows users to enjoy Playstation games and has dedicated familiar keys for gamers

The Acro is basically a re-tooled Xperia Arc, but there are also a handful of differences for this Japan-only variant. The Acro has more beef then the Arc, in terms of physical hardware, and capabilities. The Acro is a step back in design, but a step forward in capabilities, as it adds in NFC support, and a TV tuner. So anything the Acro lacks in design, it makes up for with some snazzy internal tech specs. NFC is more widely used in Japan, so it’s not surprise to see it added in the Acro.

Because of its size, the Acro resembles the original Xperia X10 more than the Arc, in terms of physical design. Specs, however, remain more similar to the Arc. The Acro is an interesting handset that could certainly sell well if priced right. Sporting the same 8 megapixel Exmor R camera with LED flash, 4.2 inch display (854 x 480 resolution), and Android 2.3 Gingerbread brung the Acro up to snuff to its cousin. That also means that the Acro weighs more (135g versus 117g), and is a bit thicker (11.8mm versus 8.7mm). That said, the extra chunk is justified with the new features the handset is packing.

The Arc itself is possibly one of the sexiest Android handsets to date, and we hope that it will be just the beginning of the Xperia Arc line. If the handset shipped with a dual-core CPU of some kind, I’d personally buy the device unlocked and deal with having only 2.5G EDGE data speeds.

No solid date has been released for the Acro, but we’re hearing that it could land on DoCoMo relatively soon, with other carriers possibly following shortly afterwards.

UK retailer Clove who originally reported that release date have stated that: “We published this information on good faith, but since this post, there has been discussion of delays and we have now have official confirmation from Sony Ericsson that the Neo will not be launched until July in the UK market”.

It would appear that the delay stems from the disruption caused by the Japanese earthquakes and as such this has created a knock-on effect to Sony Ericsson’s supply chain. “They are working to find alternative supply solutions, but at this time, July is the earliest release date that Sony Ericsson wish to commit too”.

The delays don’t stop there however as the same supply chain issue looks likely to also stem the flow of SE’s other newest Android handsets, namely the XPERIA Arc and the XPERIA Play. Sony Ericsson have advised Clove that the situation “could change” and supply lines could be replenished between now and July, but don’t hold your breath.

Here are the basics – a 3.7″ FWVGA Reality display with Mobile BRAVIA Engine, 8MP camera with Exmor-R image sensor and 720p video recording, 1GHz CPU running Android 2.3 Gingerbread, HDMI port.

All this gadgetry is fitted into the ergonomic shell of the Sony Ericsson XPERIA Neo, which carries over the curved back and central camera placement from the Vivaz.

Clove UK expect the first stock of the Neo to arrive on 19 April and will sell those for £360 (including VAT). That works out to $585 or €410. The XPERIA Neo is on pre-order in Germany where it’s cheaper but there’s no availability date yet.

We first saw the X10 mini pro successor (codenamed “Mango”, possible real name Duo) break cover when it aced a couple of benchmarks, beating a Froyo-running Nexus One. Speaking of OS versions, the XPERIA Duo is currently running Android 2.3 Gingerbread with an updated version of the small-screen UI by Sony Ericsson.

The four corners of the screen still hold shortcuts, but now each packs four shortcuts at (so something like docking a folder in the big-screen counterpart). By the looks of it the one widget per screen restriction remains though.

The Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 mini pro successor, or SK17i as its model number is, is powered by a Qualcomm processor (MSM7230 Snapdragon probably) running at near 1GHz – 800MHz or 1GHz, it’s not clear. What matters though is good performance, which the Duo has according to those very early benches.

Anyway, the screen on the XPERIA Duo is 3-3.2 with HVGA resolution. The camera is a 5MP snapper with HD video and there’s a video-call camera too. A leak from January puts the amount of RAM at 384MB, but there’s no confirmation on that.

The Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 mini pro successor was a no-show at the MWC, so we don’t know when it will be announced. We’re waiting for a Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 mini2 as well.

Last time we checked, or heard, Sony Ericsson chose never to update the X10 to Android 2.2 because their custom user interface made it difficult, so what really changed so much in Android 2.3 that would allow them to make the upgrade? We are baffled also. We never expected this, we all about thought that Sony Ericsson would have alienated their user base and force them to buy a new phone, so this move by them is pretty awesome.

They didn’t give out a date, but expect it to be in the coming weeks. They are probably testing the update right now to make sure it goes through smoothly when the time comes.

The smartphone, reportedly, has some software issues which need to be ironed out before it can hit the shelves. The delay is a precaution so that O2 customers don’t end up with negative experience, Mr. Hibberd says.

The XPERIA Play was scheduled to launch with all major UK carriers on the first day of April. So far software problems have been reported only by O2, so the launch date should be kept by Vodafone and Orange. This could really end up being a bad blow for O2.

The Sony Ericsson XPERIA Play bound for release with O2 will be an exclusive white color version so that should give the carrier at least a marginal edge.

The expected date for the actual release on O2 is a mystery so far. We hope it doesn’t take too long.