Sony Ericsson Android ‘Shakira’ Picture Leaked

As Apple prepares to launch a new version of its hugely successful iPhone, some details have emerged of yet another Android-based competitor, this time from Sony Ericsson.

Dubbed the ‘Shakira’, details of this handset are still very sketchy, but it seems that it will fit into the X10 product line, somewhere between the X10 and the tiny X10 Mini, which has just gone on sale in the UK at the Carphone Warehouse.

Indeed, the X10 Mini is the world’s smallest Android phone and is so small that it literally fits into the palm of your hand, being approximately the same size as a credit card, with a tiny 2.5 inch display. The X10 Mini is thought to feature a 600MHz processor, 2GB of memory, a 5 megapixel camera, 3G and Wi-Fi.

X10 Medium?

According to a report on SE-blog, the photo of the new device was leaked on the Chinese IT168 forum, and could be dubbed the X10 Medium.

There is speculation that the Android-based device will utilise Android 2.2 (Froyo), as well as a 1GHz Snapdragon processor, with a possible high resolution display also being mooted. The screen size could be 3.2 inches or 3.5 inches and could be an HVGA display.

Reports suggest the phone will make an appearance during the Autumn this year.

Android Competition

Mobile phone vendors are increasingly being plagued by leaks of upcoming products, but the more sceptical suggest that the vendors are actually pushing the leaks themselves, in order to drum up interest in the hugely competitive handset market.

Apple is expected to reveal its iPhone 4G at its 2010 Worldwide Developers Conference, but the company experienced two leaks of the handset prior to launch. The first came when Apple engineer Gray Powell lost the iPhone 4G prototype in the Gourmet Haus Straudt restaurant in Redwood City. A second leak followed when Vietnamese online forum Taoviet posted images and a video of the device’s outer shell and inner processor.

But Apple has been facing a glut of Android-based competition of late, including Google with its Nexus One, the HTC Incredible, and Motorola Droid (otherwise known as Milestone in the UK and Europe).

And analyst NPD Group published a research note in early May which said that Android had supplanted iPhone as the number two smartphone operating system in the United States. Specifically, the calculations pegged Android at 28 percent of the overall market, followed by iPhone with 21 percent; meanwhile, BlackBerry maker Research In Motion held the top spot with 36 percent.

However, Apple has disputed those findings.