Sony Ericsson Kurara crosses Satio and X10

Sony Ericsson is on a roll in its comeback bid for the high end smartphone market. The Satio and Aino have debuted for the advanced multimedia sector, and the Xperia X10 Android superphone is on its way. But what about a phone that combines the qualities of the Satio and X10 – best of both worlds, or a strange camel-like phone?

This mixed-up device, the Kurara, is reported to be coming to Europe in the first quarter, and this week the company itself revealed a few hints, while fairly detailed specs leaked to the blogosphere. The phone looks like a Satio upgrade, with Symbian OS but with the ‘Rachael’ user interface, created for the Android X10, on top. This fits with the strategies of many smartphone makers – rather than having to choose just one OS, keep their options open, but run a consistent user interface across them all.

This could create a differentiated brand experience for the vendor, regardless of the user’s preference for software platform. HTC is doing this with Sense and Samsung with TouchWiz, though Motorola has taken the opposite tack, putting nearly all its eggs into one OS basket, Android, but releasing phones with different user experiences (Motoblur on Cliq, vanilla ‘Google-phone’ on Droid).

The Kurara will make its official debut at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in February and would ship around mid-year. In hardware terms, it will fit somewhat below the Satio (presumably in pricing too). So it will be a fairly heavyweight camera/imaging phone, like the vendor’s old CyberShot models, but not quite as top-line as Satio. It will sport an 8-megapixel camera, rather than the 12 megapixels of its stablemate, which goes up against the imaging-focused Samsung and LG.

Kuraru will also have a smaller screen than Satio, at 3.2-inches. And it will support 720p HD video and run HSPA, A-GPS, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.0, using the same chips as the Satio. Users will be pleased that the Kurara replaces the proprietary FastPort with standard 3.5mm headphone jack and microUSB for connectivity and charging.

This could be a more affordable, but still media savvy, smartphone for the growing midrange market, and with an enhanced mobile internet experience courtesy of X10’s UI. Or it could be a hybrid that falls firmly between two stools, lacking the imaging impact of Satio or the open software credentials (and bulging app store) of X10/Android. Pictures have surfaced, courtesy of GSM Arena.