Sony Ericsson
Xperia pro

When it was announced, Sony Ericsson described the Xperia pro as offering “best-in-class imaging and display technology from Sony” as well as having an “optimized slide-out ergonomically crafted keyboard”. The phone included Sony’s Reality Display with its Bravia Engine and the company’s Exmor R imaging sensor that was optimised to deliver high quality, bright pictures and HD videos even in low light. Pictures and videos could also be shared on an HD TV via the built in HDMI-connector. The Xperia pro was the sister model of the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play and was released as a similar time. The design of both products was broadly similar and they shared the same CPU and GPU which made it possible to flash the firmware for the Xperia Play onto the Xperia pro. The keyboard was considered comfortable to use and easy to type with and when Sony Ericsson announced it would be its last phone with a physical keyboard, many customers bought a spare Xperia pro in case their current model broke. Notably, the Xperia pro should not be confused with Sony Ericsson Vivaz Pro which came out a year earlier and ran Symbian. Although the Xperia pro was described as “the ideal business phone” it was considered to lack the enterprise credentials of rival products at the time from Motorola and Samsung. The Xperia Pro's enterprise support extended to little more than the ability to sync e-mail, calendar and contacts, and the Office Suite Pro software, which allowed users to edit Microsoft Office documents on the phone. In the end, it appealed more to consumers seeking a qwerty keyboard to access social networks and send e-mail messages, rather than business users.