Sony Ericsson’s Xperia X10…now kind of like the iPod line

I’m lying on the floor watching the Olympics with a stomach full of vindaloo and a post-prandial coffee in my hand.

I’ve got to tell you…I’m kind of glad that I’m not in Barcelona right now.

Though I did really want to go to GSMA’s Mobile World Congress 2010, the exciting announcements so far haven’t been anything extremely shocking.

The first noteworthy announcement today was that Sony Ericsson’s first Android device, the gorgeous Xperia X10, is now the parent a full family of devices. The new members of the Sony Ericsson Android family include the X10 mini and X10 mini pro. It’s a bit like the iPod line now, you’ve got the full-sized version, and the miniature ones (one with keyboard, one without, lots of color choices.) Not a bad way to go, actually.

Here’s the features and stats right from Sony Ericsson:
Timescape UI
“Four corner control”
5 megapixel camera and video
QWERTY keyboard – slide and text for quick and easy messaging (Mini pro only)
X10 mini and X10 mini pro support HSPA 900/2100 and EDGE 850/900/1800/1900, HSPA 850/1900/2100 and EDGE 850/900/1800/1900.

Xperia X10 mini:
Size: 83 x 50 x 16 mm
Weight: 88 grams
Phone memory: Up to 128MB
Memory card support: SanDisk microSD, up to 16 GB
Memory card included: 2GB
Operating system: Google Android 1.6
Processor: 600 MHz Qualcomm MSM7227
Talk time GSM/GPRS: Up to 4 hours
Standby time: GSM/GPRS: Up to 285hrs
Talk time UMTS: Up to 3.5 hours
Standby time: UMTS: Up to 360 hrs
The X10 mini will be available in selected markets from Q2 in Pearl White, Black, Pink, Lime, Red and Silver

Xperia X10 mini pro:
Size: 90 x 52 x 17 mm
Weight: 120 grams
Phone memory: Up to 128MB
Memory card support: SanDisk microSD, up to 16 GB
Memory card included: 2GB
Operating system: Google Android 1.6
Processor: 600 MHz Qualcomm MSM7227
Talk time GSM/GPRS: Up to 4 hours
Standby time: GSM/GPRS: Up to 285hrs
Talk time UMTS: Up to 3.5 hours
Standby time: UMTS: Up to 360 hrs

The X10 mini pro will be available in selected markets from Q2 in Black and Red.

Poking around with Electrum Drum Synth

Because I spent many years as a poor musician, my area of gear expertise isn’t with high quality instruments, it’s with bargain equipment (think Zoom, M-Audio, Casio, et al.), pawn shop finds, and things best classified as “musical toys.”

I keep up with the latest toy musical instruments, and delight in their exploitation. Circuit bending brightens my day, and I’m always looking out for the next Stylophone. I got the Korg DS-10 on the day it came out, I have two copies of Traxxpad for PSP, and I consider the iPhone/iPod Touch to be a full-fledged music platform.

I guess i’m a pretty discerning customer in the “Don’t Expect Much” category.

Electrum was made by Niko Twenty and is available for $3.99 in the Android Market. What you get is a 16-step sequencer somewhat like the ol’ TR-808 in design, and each sequence is built with six samples. You can put together up to 32 different sequences and create full songs. The cool part is that you can export your creations as single sequence loops or as a full song. The dumps are 16 bit wav files (mono).

A blurry, late night shot of Electrum's interface

I had originally intended to put in a couple of quick sequences that I whipped up on the “rock kit,” but I’m having some trouble doing that, so I’ll just say that there’s also 808, 909, Orchestral, Hip Hop, and Human Beatbox kits and 6 free downloadable packs. While it’s pretty light on features, the only thing it’s really lacking is the ability to import your own sample set. (See Comments)  I always find myself wishing for a sound recording sampler app so I can make my own Richard James kit of nutty noise captured on the phone’s mic. But I guess I have to wait.

If you’ve ever used BeatMaker on iPhone, don’t expect that level of quality. However, BeatMaker costs 20 fricking dollars and Electrum costs only 4. At one fifth the price of BeatMaker, you get much more than one fifth of the functionality with Electrum. Complaints are few. It does get crashy at times, it has dumped some broken .wavs for some reason, and the UI in Sequence mode looks like it’s unfinished. But it’s a work in progress and junk musicians should applaud Niko Twenty.

This is definitely one of the best music apps we have on the Android Platform, and I’m currently working on a little jam built with beats from BeatMaker, a guitar track from Ubisoft’s Jam Sessions for Nintendo DS, and some Theremin wangling from Bebot on iPhone.