MWC 2011 Live: Sony Ericsson Xperia Pro Hands-On Preview

The Sony Ericsson Xperia Pro came out of nowhere today as the phone hasn’t really been spotted in any leaks preceding this year’s MWC. We saw the Play (hands-on here) countless times and the Neo was also featured in leaks. As for the Arc, well that handset has been unveiled back at CES 2011, so it wasn’t really that surprising, was it?

The Pro, as the name says, is expected to be some sort of professional device, but don’t think immediately that this Android Gingerbread device will replace BlackBerry handsets and iPhones around the world. Sony Ericsson wants it to be both an “ultimate” entertainment device, and I can see that happening since it has plenty of support for that, but also as a professional messaging device, and I can certainly see that too considering that useful landscape keyboard.

Once you land your hands on it you’ll discover it feels unusually comfortable. Even the keyboard, which, for a person like me that has been used to touchscreen interfaces for a while now, feels natural and quite fast. Although in all honest I’m not looking to adding a keyboard to a modern mobile device. And by modern I certainly mean a touch UI.

The Pro is certainly a welcomed addition to the Sony family and it should gather some fans around it once it gets launched. We only hope it will run flawlessly that Gingerbread built it’s supposed to offer, and that, indeed, will deliver plenty of entertainment to future Pro users.

Naturally we compared the Pro with the iPhone so you can get a feel of its size, and it’s all available for you in the gallery above.

Click here to catch up with all our MWC 2011 Coverage