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Sony Ericsson has announced that Sept. 30 is when the Xperia X1 finally will see the light of day [via].

Just not in the United States.

According to a news release, the following countries will get their hot little hands on one of the year's most anticipated phones:

• APAC: Indonesia, Singapore, Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Malaysia, Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam
• Western Europe: Spain, France, Italy, Switzerland, Netherlands, Austria, Norway, Denmark, Belgium, Portugal
• Central Europe: Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic
• Middle East: UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait
• Africa: South Africa
• Latin America: Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay and Bolivia

Also in the works is a webcast demo on Sept. 15, and more launch events as part of London fashion week starting on Monday.

Check out the full release here.

Edit: True, the UK, Germany and Sweden get the X1 on Sept. 30. Everyone else has to wait a little longer. Curse these early morning press releases! Thanks Lovsten for straightening us out!

Here's a few shots (after the break) of the Touch Pro on GSM. There's not much we don't yet know about the device, of course, including exactly when we'll see it with official support for US 3G bands (that's still the story on the Samsung Omnia too, by the way). You know the TouchFLO 3D, you may know that it turns into something quite a bit more basic when you open the slider (see the photo below). What you may not know is that I hereby apologize for ever calling the thing brick-like.

Sure, it's still relatively thick, but the fact that they've made it much less wide really changes the feel of the thing in your hand. This is easily the best-feeling slider I've ever held and the most phone-like when it's closed. We still haven't had a chance to really put the Touch Pro through any paces on either GSM or CDMA, but having finally handled one here at CTIA we're looking forward to doing just that a little more than we were before.

Engadget Mobile caught the HTC Raphael / AT&T Fuze trying to sneak its way through the FCC with its US-compatible 3G bands showing. How embarrassing. We're still trusting out dart-thrown-at-a-calendar hunch that we'll see an October release of the Fuze and, like Engadget, are dearly hoping that the TouchFLO 3D isn't mucked-up with carrier-folderol.

Speaking of carrier-folderol, the company most famous for it around these parts has been Sprint. We still haven't forgiven them for what they did to the original Sprint Touch. Hopefully the Sprint Touch Diamond (aka the Victor) will be free of the worst of it come September 14th.

Meanwhile there's been precious little rumbling about the CDMA version of the Touch Pro -- aka the Herman. Back in the day the rumblings on the Touch Pro was that it would hit in CDMA first. Guess that's still up in the air, but our tip line is open, just saying.

Looking for a way to make sending text messages a little easier? Give PowerSMS a shot.

The free app is still in beta but is very well put together. With it you can:

• Note to Self: Quickly send yourself a text message without having to lookup your own name first. Makes sense.
• Group message: Just like it sounds. Set up groups and send them messages.
• Auto reply: Again, just like it sounds. Set it and forget it.
• Schedule SMS: Write a text and schedule it for later delivery.
• Cool stats: See how many messages you've received in a given time frame, average per day, most active day, most active hour and who you text most. You're probably aware of these stats, but it's a quick way for a soon-to-be-ex loved one to check up on you.
• Backup and restore: Hang on to those texts, or export as a .csv or .xml file.

Pretty handy stuff. The only thing I'd like to see added is the ability to send pictures, but that'd make it PowerMMS, now wouldn't it?

Check out more at the Trinket Software Web site, or download the CAB file directly here.

And for more SMS options, take a look at our reviews of SMS Chat and Vito Threaded SMS.

[via MSDN]

The HTC Touch Cruise - the keyboardless follow-up to the Touch and precursor to the Touch Diamond - never managed to officially made its way into the United States.

And while that didn't stop people from importing the device, tempers have flared as we've seen other phones in the HTC family receive update after update, most noticeably the Touch receiving updates to Windows Mobile 6.1, and the Diamond getting multiple ROM fixes.

Finally, it appears that the Touch Cruise will get some 6.1 love, at least according to HTC's Twitter feed.

@danyw We're in the process of making sure the Touch Cruise upgrade is rock solid. It should be ready for release soon!

So congrats, all you Touch Cruise owners. Looks like you have just a little bit longer to wait.

Via Mobile Tech Addicts

"Who is Johnny X? Johnny X is in trouble. Find out if Johnny X can regain his memory with the help of his Xperia X1 before the gangsters catch him."

That's the line embedded in the metadata of the advert site WhoIsJohnny-X.com.

Taking a play straight out of Sprint's Samsung Instinct advertising manual, SE is pimping the Xperia X1 in a movie-style web short, complete with Memento-esque memory loss and cryptic scribblings.

The clip is impressive. But we're less concerned with who Johnny-X is, and a little more interested in where's the bloody phone already?!?!?

If you listened to WMExperts Podcast 26, you would have heard that HTC was bringing back something that looks and feels like the original HTC Touch (aka the Elf, and elfin it was) but with the newer features found in the Diamond. Mal and I were a touch skeptical, but it looks as though Anton has been vindicated. Witness: the HTC Opal [via], which seems to fit the bill pretty nicely.

Pretty nicely, but not very nicely, it looks like we're seeing nearly identical specs to the original Touch -- EDGE / WiFi, 320x240 screen, and so on. The thing will run TouchFLO 3D, but we're guessing that it must be getting a little driver/graphics proc help because the TI OMAP 850 ain't likely to be able to get that particular job done. In other words, let's hope this doesn't retail at anywhere near top-shelf prices.