Sony Ericsson today announced that its new portfolio of Xperia smartphones will offer people an exciting, new social experience. As people are becoming increasingly reliant on their smartphones for instant communication, Facebook inside Xperia integrates social connections throughout the phone. By making Facebook immediately accessible from the most used areas of the phone such as the picture gallery, music player, phonebook and calendar, Sony Ericsson is enabling people to share and comment more easily than ever before through the new range of Xperia smartphones.
Among the notable new features Xperia phones will offer is an innovative type of social music experience. If you find a great new track or are listening to your favourite tune, you can ‘like’ it directly from the media player and then the Wall on your Facebook profile will be updated automatically without you ever having to open the Facebook application. You will also have the ability to keep track of the music and videos your friends have liked, recommended and have been commenting on through services such as YouTube and Spotify.

Beyond music, the integration of Facebook into the Xperia media gallery will bring photos into closer reach, just one click from the phone’s homescreen, while adding the ability to ‘like’ and comment. The Xperia phonebook will also be more social than ever before with your friends’ interests and photos found under their address book entry on the phone. The phone’s calendar also includes your friends’ birthdays to ensure a birthday is never missed.

Stephan Croix, Head of Marketing Partnerships, Sony Ericsson said, “Social media usage via smartphones is now part of everyday life.  Sony Ericsson has enhanced the integration of Facebook in the Xperia portfolio to give consumers a unique and entertaining experience instantly—one they can only experience via an Xperia Smartphone.  Sony Ericsson is working closely with Facebook to ensure that the integration continually evolves ensuring that users have the ability to interact between their preferred social media channels and their smartphones.”

Henri Moissinac, Head of Mobile Business, Facebook said, “We think that mobile devices are the ideal environment for a rich social experience.  Sony Ericsson has created a deeply immersive Facebook experience inside Xperia smartphones and we believe that people will love this new, intuitive experience.”

Facebook inside Xperia integrations

* Instant ability to share the songs you ‘like’ with friends
* Complete end to end social media and music process: Like, share, and buy songs
* Easy access to see what friends are listening to and watching
* Facebook albums and photos integrated into the Xperia gallery application
* See your friends picture, interest and link to profile in your Xperia phonebook
* Facebook Events will synch with the Xperia Calendar
* Facebook notification alerts in the lockscreen to ensure users never miss an update

Existing Xperia arc and Xperia PLAY users will soon be able to access the new integrated features simply by updating their software. The new Xperia™ mini and Xperia™ mini pro – announced today – will include Facebook inside Xperia pre-installed on the phones. Building on the success of the original mini series, these innovative handsets come packed full of features, powered by a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon™ processor, and running the latest version of Google’s Android™ – Gingerbread 2.3.

Facebook inside Xperia will be available in all 2011 Xperia phones from Q2 in selected markets.