Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 on its way to the US

Sony Ericsson today announced the "Black Friday" US launch date of its new Xperia X1 Windows Mobile 6.1 smartphone, which is good news for consumers who had been led to believe the manufacturer would skip America first.

When Sony Ericsson announced availability of the X1 in September, the company gave it a fourth quarter 2008 launch date for a number of markets, but omitted the United States.

Early adopters in America will be able to place pre-orders for unlocked X1s beginning tomorrow (November 13) on Sonystyle.com, but those orders will carry a premium MSRP of $799. Otherwise, the X1 will be available through retailers on Black Friday November 28. No carrier or subsidized price has yet been announced.

The Xperia's most noteworthy feature is its exclusive "panel" interface, a customizable arrangement of up to nine purpose-specific mini-desktops. Panels are pre-designed to contain such things as Google applications, Microsoft Live and Windows Mobile tools, as well as Sony Ericsson content.

Sony Ericsson's new device has a unique arc sliding chassis design that reveals a QWERTY keyboard to supplement the 3-inch-wide 800 x 400 VGA touch display (which also offers handwriting recognition).

Other features include a 3.2 megapixel autofocus camera with 30 fps video capture, aGPS, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, UMTS/HSDPA/HSUPA and EDGE connectivity, an FM radio, plus both IE Mobile and Opera 9.5.