While physical keyboards seem soooo 2006 to me there are some who lust after their vulnerable, grime collecting, bulk adding charms meaning news of the Xperia X1's release timeframe will set their Luddite hearts aflutter…


Sony Ericsson partner Handango is the one to let the news deliberately slip as it seeks attention third party content for the super smartphone by categorically stating "The Xperia X1 will launch in mid-September 2008 with the Handango InHand service on the device."


Handango has also given more than a hefty hint at which countries we can expect to see the Xperia surface first since it explains "SonyEricsson (sic) requires your product to support the WVGA screensize (sic) (800x480) and multiple languages (International English, French, German, Italian and Spanish)".


Why should we be excited about this? Well personally I'm not, but for those feeling some physical QWERTY love it does do the business with the aforementioned 3in high res display, HSDPA, a 3.2MP camera with autofocus, assisted GPS, an FM tuner, microSD slot, WiFi and Bluetooth with A2DP.

The choice of Windows Mobile 6.1 isn't likely to be to everyone's taste but it is an improvement on Microsoft's previous mobile aberrations. As with all physical keyboard sporting handsets your pockets will need some reinforcement with the X1 measuring 110mm x 53mm x 17mm and weighing a whopping 145g.

You've four months to bulk up down the gym...

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