The Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 may have been making the Android headlines this week, but it’s not the first smartphone running Google’s open-source OS to pack a Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset.  That honor goes to the Acer Liquid A1 – though the company have apparently underclocked the CPU to 768MHz – set to be the first Snapdragon Android phone to reach consumers’ hands.  Arne from the::unwired has been playing with the Liquid and has put together a “preview” review.

We’re still not entirely convinced by the Acer’s physical design, and we wish they’d done more to the smartphone’s UI too.  Arne gives them credit for bundling the excellent RoadSync Exchange client  - which goes some way to making up for their choice of Android 1.6 rather than 2.0, which has native Exchange support – along with some of their own apps for streaming media, improved local media control and social networking.

In the end, the Liquid A1 scores highly for its performance and its stability, though it lacks some features many consumers might reckon are becoming essential: an LED flash, for instance, and an integrated Twitter client.  It’s expected to hit shelves across Europe within the next few weeks

Should we be surprised that Peek’s TwitterPeek messenger has pretty much fallen flat in its first review?  The dedicated Twitter messenger has been official for less than 24 hours, but already PC Mag have slated its speed and functionality, not to mention questioning its very purpose.  Among the TwitterPeek’s flaws are poor displaying of messages and mediocre handling of user profiles.

We got our hands on the new Fall 2009 Xbox 360 Dashboard update, which features Facebook, Twitter, Last.fm, and Instant-on 1080p movie streaming from Zune. You can get the full scoop in the video, but in a nutshell, here are our thoughts:

• Facebook: Facebook on Xbox 360 is integrated well into the console. We like that you can see which of your Xbox 360 friends are on Facebook, and which Facebook friends have an Xbox 360 account. The problem is that the Xbox 360’s ridiculous friend limit really stands out here. You have a limit of 100 friends, and if you have a bunch of friends on Facebook that you want to connect with, you will quickly find that you have to pick and choose. You see what I mean in the video. Other than that, being able to view profile data and photo galleries of friends is a nice touch. Updating or commenting sucks if you don’t have a Chatpad.
• Twitter: Twitter, on the other hand, is way too simple for our liking. It shows you the last 50 tweets from people you following, trending topics, and basic profile info. You can also send tweets out from the Xbox 360, but it’s frustrating to do, unless you have a Chatpad handy.
• Last.fm: This works as expected. You sign in, and you get access to all your channels, and you can create new channels on the fly. What sucks? You can’t see your Last.fm friends, which is something I miss. Even worse? The music only plays when you are actually in the Last.fm area. If you leave, the music stops. This means you can’t carry it over to the dashboard, or in-game. So really, what’s the point?
• Zune Instant on 1080p: This was awesome. Definitely blew me away. We streamed a portion of the movie 300. After a bandwidth test, the Xbox 360 confirmed we were good to go for instant 1080p streaming, and it delivered. Fantastic. The best streaming video quality we’ve seen from any service.

There are a few other new details as well, and we give you a detailed look at it all in this video. Sit back and enjoy!

In an ideal world someone would read this and send me a monome of my own to play with, but the button-encrusted control surfaces are in short supply (and not too cheap).  Since controlling music isn’t the sole use of a monome, but still the task most people connect them with, some owners are pushing forward their DIY projects showing that a monome can be pretty much anything you have the imagination for: here, Robert Böhnke repurposes his as a low-res Twitter display.

For the uninitiated, a monome is a board of backlit rubber buttons laid out in a grid; they range from early, compact 8×8 models up to huge boards with hundreds of keys.  One of the most common uses is for controlling music, either directly playing the monome (hooked up to a software synth or music package) as an instrument, or for triggering samples.

However, the open-source nature of the hardware and software means that the sky is pretty much the limit for canny developers, hence Robert Böhnke’s Twitter app.  Not especially useful, perhaps, but still awesome.