Sony Ericsson MT15i Gingerbread phone leaks as a Vivaz look-alike, supports CDMA networks

Not many manufacturers are having phones with Gingie right off the bat, but Sony Ericsson obiously meant it when it said they've learned from their Android mistakes. After the svelte Sony Ericsson Xperia arc (our preview here), the Japanese-Swedish venture obviously has a mid-ranger to follow, and it looks very much like the Sony Ericsson Vivaz, which was one of the first to offer 8MP camera with HD video recording last year. Sadly, it ran Symbian, which killed it for many people.

Dubbed the Sony Ericsson MT15i  (Xperia arc is LT15i), the phone has fallen into the fly traps of one Eldar Murtazin, who we are sure you have heard about here and there, mainly around his troubles with Russian authorities re: leaked phones. His blog previewed the handset, and liked it, which is not happening very often over there. The screen seems to be the same as on the Xperia arc, just smaller, maybe 3.7", judging from the comparison with the 4" screen on the Samsung Galaxy S below. It has 480x854 pixels of resolution, and also carried the Mobile BRAVIA Engine, which enhances colors and sharpness when showing pictures or video (see our video review here). Compared to the saturated colors of the Super AMOLED it looks a bit washed out, of course. The interface seems to be the same Timescape UI we preview here.



The Sony Ericsson MT15i is powered by the same speedy Qualcomm MSM7630 Snapdragon chipset with Adreno 205 graphics that is in the EVO Shift 4G, but clocked at 1GHz. The main difference from the one that is in the Xperia arc, is that it also has Sprint and Verizon's 3G basebands inside, apart from the GSM ones. We don't know if these are active, and if it will be appearing stateside, but the chipset certainly allows it, and we already wrote there is an MT15a version, which usually means North American frequencies. Not to mention we had the Vivaz appear on AT&T last year. The phone has 512MB RAM, and 300MB ROM, as in the Xperia arc. Other goodies include an HDMI-out port, and a 1500mAh battery.



What's more, the differences with the Sony Ericsson Xperia arc just got one less, when we saw it has the same 8MP camera with the new backlit Exmor R sensor from Sony (picture and video samples from it here). Thus the handset's main differentiating factors will be the design, and, as we said, it keeps Sony's "human curvature" design on the back that is all the rage in the Xperia line of phones, and also has these curved top and bottom that were present in the Vivaz. All in all, a different design than the Sony Ericsson Xperia arc, and likely a smaller screen will be the differentiating factors from the arched flagship. Oh, not to forget this one seems to flaunt a front-facing camera, something that didn't find its place in the insanely thin Xperia arc.



The handset is expected to launch with several color options, like the Vivaz, and a reasonable $430 (320 EUR) price tag unsubsidized, and before taxes.

What do you think, it seems that Sony Ericsson badly wants to get back in the Android game, and is actually doing a lot about it. At the MWC expo in 3 weeks they will present at least three Gingerbread phones from the Xperia line - the Sony Ericsson MT15i, the Xperia arc, and the game-centric Sony Ericsson Xperia Play. Are you willing to give them a second chance?

source: Mobile-Review via Engadget