Sony Ericsson’s first Android smartphone will be a very high-end touchscreen device most likely taking the iPhone head on, a Danish scoop shows. Codenamed the “Rachel,” the phone would fit into the XPERIA line occupied only by the X1 but would emphasize speed, according to Mobil. Like the Windows Mobile-based Toshiba TG01, it would have a very high-end 1GHZ Qualcomm Snapdragon processor at its heart; it may also compete against the iPhone 3GS through “great” 3D graphics capabilities.
The very minimalist device would also sit near the top in most other respects, with an 8-megapixel autofocusing camera, 3G up to 7.2Mbps and a particularly large display. Without a view of the interface, it’s unclear whether the X1′s custom panel interface will carry over to the Rachel or if Sony Ericsson will customize the interface further. However, the company has previously gone on record as saying that its first Android phone will use Android 2.0 and so have at least the device-wide search and other features being added to the release.
No clues are given as to the release date, but Sony Ericsson is unofficially expected to have its first Android phone ready by late 2009 at the earliest.
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