Sony Ericsson on Thursday has confirm the second generation of its smallest Android smartphones. The touch-only Xperia mini and QWERTY slider Xperia mini pro are both much closer to full-size smartphones and both pack 1GHz Snapdragon processors, larger three-inch 320×480 screens, and five-megapixel cameras with 720p movie making. Android 2.3 carries over from the high-end phones and has been tweaked to make better use of the screen space than on the X10 minis, allowing as many as 16 apps launchable from hot corners on the home screen.
Also new is tighter Facebook integration that makes relevant parts of the social network available from music, photos, contacts, and calendars.
Either phone should get about 30 percent longer battery life than before, moving up to 4.5 hours of 3G talk on the Xperia mini and 5.5 hours on the mini pro. They come with a 2GB microSD card but can take up to 32GB.
Shipments won’t start until the summer, although Sony Ericsson promises that both Xperia mini models will come in a choice of four colors.
