Docomo Offering second Android Smartphone in Japan from Sony Ericsson

Docomo will be offering the second Android smartphone in Japan this April. Unlike the first Android smartphone (HT-03A) that was developed by HTC, this Android smartphone is developed by Sony Ericsson, and is Sony Ericsson’s and Docomo’s attempt to pull customers back from the iPhone.  Rival carrier Softbank has the iPhone exclusive in Japan.

Docomo is marketing the Android smartphone simply as Xperia Smartphone, with a model number of SO-01B. In other regions the Xperia Smartphone is called the Xperia X10. For customers in Japan that are thinking about importing a Nexus one, the Xperia X10 looks to be a good alternative.

What stands out for the Xperia X10 compared to a Nexus One’s 3.7 inch screen is the Xperia has a larger 4-inch screen. Both have capacitive touch screens at the same resolution of 800 x 480.  The Xperia also has an 8 Megapixel camera as compared to the Nexus One’s 5 Megapixel, though megapixels don’t mean much unless the photo clarity and colors are good.

The Xperia has slightly less RAM with 384 MB Ram, while the Nexus One has 512 MB RAM. The CPUs in each are the same, with both the Xperia and Nexus One rocking a Snapdragon processor clocking in at 1 GHz.

However one concern Android fans have for the Xperia, is it will be running Android 1.6 unlike Nexus One that runs Android 2.1. Word has come from Docomo and Sony Ericsson that an update to a 2.x release is in the works though.

Sony has started a big advertising campaign at it’s Sony Building in Ginza, Tokyo. I went to the store to have a look, the first thing that strikes me about the Xperia Smartphone is how big that screen is, even compared to the iPhone the Xperia Smartphone looks quite large.

(Check the photo of the iPhone next to the Xperia above, although they may look similar size keep in mind the Xperia was behind a slate of glass.) The bigger the screen the more difficult it is for people to fit it in their pocket.