It seems the monopoly of Apple iPhone is challenged every other day by innovations. And this time, the challenger is none other than Microsoft, who from the windows camp is coming up with *Xperia X1 from SonyEricsson. This new device is presumed to cover up all the possible weaknesses Apple iPhone has.

Since the pre-launch of Apple iPhone, Microsoft has been quite critical of certain weak points in Apple iPhone, as *the high cost as well as the missing of a keyboard, which they believe would limit iPhone’s appeal to the end user. Therefore, the Microsoft promoted *Xperia X1 has been developed keeping in mind to compensate the flaws of iPhone, with a size similar to the Apple phone, but with an added 3G support and a slide-out QWERTY keyboard.

The Xperia X1 from SonyEricsson measuring 4.3” x 2.1” x 0.7” is slightly smaller than a cell phone and looks similar to an iPhone (which measures 4.5” x 2.4” x 0.5”). The most visible difference is that it is slightly thicker than the iPhone due to the extra QWERTY

keyboard that is attached and needs to be pulled out from under the screen.

This compact Phone from Sony Ericsson weighs 145 grams in comparison to iPhone, which weighs 135 grams, just 10 grams more along with the slider keyboard. Moreover, the Xperia X1 keyboard serves to offer a better emailing facility than the iPhone.

However, Microsoft points out that the Xperia X1’s biggest advantage would be its supporting regular GSM networks, EDGE, as well as 3G broadband services, including HSDPA, HSUPA and UMTS. Some other advantages listed for Xperia X1 are its advanced featured as compared to Apple iPhones like a 3.2 mega pixel camera (Apple iPhone has 2 mega pixel) and Assisted-GPS, where assistance server as well as a cellphone network is used to determine a location using GPS.

However, since SonyEricsson Xperia X1 is scheduled to be launched into the market in the later half of 2008, Apple Inc. definitely might be contemplating a complementing response to Microsoft’s venture through Xperia X1. In the meantime, the 3GiPhone is also slated for release later this year.