Sony Ericsson weren’t, to be fair, being all that coy about their launch plans for the XPERIA X10 Android smartphone back at its launch a few weeks ago: asked when it was likely the touchscreen Snapdragon handset would arrive within its “Q1 2010″ window, the SE exec told us “it’s not going to be the beginning or the end of the quarter”.  We presumed a February release, then, likely around or about Mobile World Congress, and sure enough Sony Ericsson’s own online store are suggesting a February arrival for the X10.

It’s possible to pre-register interest, though not preorder at this stage, which means we’re still not entirely clear on how much the XPERIA X10 will cost.  Still, this is a premium handset and, as part of Sony Ericsson’s XPERIA range, will be priced accordingly; online retailer Clove are saying £400 ($668) pre-tax, though we’re guessing that’s speculative rather than based on any solid figures.

More interesting than the general release is when the XPERIA X10 might make it to North American shores.  Sony Ericsson did express their intention to launch the smartphone there – complete with its nifty Timescape and Mediascape apps – but blamed carrier issues for what will likely be a release later in 2010.

With the XPERIA X10 splayed open for all to see, attention turns to other leaky Sony Ericsson devices and in particular the Kurara.  Tipped to be the more basic sibling to the current flagship SE Satio, the Kurara is believed to have a 3.5-inch AMOLED touchscreen, 8.1-megapixel autofocus camera and run Symbian S60.

That camera is also capable of recording HD-quality video, which we’re assuming means 720p footage.  In cross section the Kurara resembles a Sony CyberShot camera, indeed.  Known specifications are scant, though it’s apparently been confirmed that there’s no USB connector (which likely means yet another appearance of Sony Ericsson’s proprietary port).

What we also don’t know is whether Sony Ericsson’s new Timescape and Mediascape social-networking and entertainment systems – as debuted on the XPERIA X10 – will cross over to the Kurara.  The company told us earlier this week that their new user-experience was platform agnostic, and would run on both Android and Symbian handsets; however they also confirmed that there would be no retroactive updates and as such the Satio would not see the new apps.  However, with the SE Kurara likely to make its official debut at Mobile World Congress in February 2010, we’re keeping our fingers crossed that it will get what the Satio has missed out on.

The Android race is hotting up, with another leaked live image of the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X3 showing there’s plenty of room in the market for a big-screen slab of megapixel-toting smartphone.  Yet another handset tipped to use Qualcomm’s 1GHz Snapdragon chipset – as found in the recently announced Acer Liquid A1 and expected to make an appearance in the rumored HTC Dragon – the XPERIA X3 will also pack an 8-megapixel autofocus camera.

Up front there’s a 4-inch 852 x 480 capacitive touchscreen, while under the hood lurks both dualband HSPA, WiFi b/g and GPS.  Full specifications for the handset were previewed by a prematurely posted Expansys product listing, though right now there’s nothing approaching official confirmation from Sony Ericsson themselves.

What’s not on show from this snapshot is the distinctive UI that Sony Ericsson are tipped to have included on the smartphone, back when we knew it under the codename “Rachel”.  That UI – which you can see in a leaked video demo after the cut – is expected to replace the standard Android interface perhaps even more fully than HTC Sense does on the HTC Hero.  The XPERIA X3 is expected to arrive on the market in January 2010.