So you know, the fact that we are almost completely skipping the X2 in our minds is probably a really good thing. We get to ignore the flashy, not-so-useful phone and get to something that will be as powerful as the HD2 (Snapdragon FTW) and will be running a mobile OS that is leagues ahead of the Windows Mobile OS that is found on the XPERIA X2.

Yes, I am talking about the XPERIA X3/Rachael/X10 – basically the next full touchscreen phone in the XPERIA line by Sony Ericsson. It is rumored to be powered by the industry’s current favorite powerhouse – the Qualcomm Snapdragon processor. And SE has itself declared that the next XPERIA may not be running Windows Mobile. In corporate speak, that is almost like saying “well, we don’t want to raise your expectations but we too are tired of Windows Mobile.”

There was this leak early in July this year that raised the issue and called our attention to this mysterious SE phone that didn’t look like any of the current phones. Not fully anyway. Those who leaked it said that the internal code name is Rachael. The photos showed a sleek phone with a minimalist face – a dead giveaway that the entire focus is on the touchscreen even if they don’t show you the side. [read]

There was that leaked live image too. That was pretty interesting. That showed us that the phone is further in the development cycle than we thought it was. [read]

So far, we know very little about the device but we do have some pictures as you can see. These were leaked thanks to a prematurely posted expansys product page. That is also the source from which we get the specifications of the phone. Here’s what we know so far: -

Display – 4”, touchscreen, capacitive, WVGA (800×480)

Camera – 8 megapixel, autofocus, LED flash, image stabilizers, smile and face detection

Networks – Quadband GSM/EDGE/GPRS, HSPA/HSUPA (900/2100 MHz)

Connectivity – Bluetooth 2.1, WiFi b/g, aGPS

OS – Android (probably 2.0/Eclair), Custom UI

Processor – Qualcomm Snapdragon 1GHz

Colors – Full black exterior and full white exterior (from the photos)

[read]

Okay, so may be we know a bit too much for something that has not been made official yet.

The expansys page was obviously taken down after that. And then we had the UI demoed for us. The UI definitely looks like a custom job and it does look like it is Android. The focus of the UI is mainly online communication and networking, which are major parts of what we do with our phones these days. The other major part is talking to a person over the cellular network, that obsolete thing that we still do. [read]

Initial reports pegged it at January 2010 but that was probably an estimate because now we have this suspicious looking product launch page that has the mysterious stylized infinity symbol and talks about something magical. This was announced just a day back and the Internet is buzzing with it. [read]

The infinity symbol is (believed to be) associated with the custom in-house UI that we saw in the video earlier. And hence, we all think that this upcoming event is going to be the official launch of Rachael/X3/X10. In the meantime, we have another leak and this is purported to be the brochure of the device. It does feature the Snapdragon but then anyone can print something out and take a grainy video of it. So take these things with a nice helping of salt. [read]

Update: Sony has posted a teaser video for the November 3 event. Check it out.