Sony Ericsson has revealed two new phones – Mix Walkman and txt pro. Mix Walkman offers an entertaining music experience, while the Sony Ericsson txt pro has a full slide-out QWERTY keyboard combined with a ‘friends application’ for social networking.

Both the phones will work on Sony Ericsson own operating system and will have 3.0 inch capacitive touchscreen displays with a corner user interface similar to that available in the Xperia mini range. The duo also features 3.2 Megapixel camera with video recording ability, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and 32 GB external memory support.

However, there is no information yet on the Processor used in the handsets.

The company has announced the arrival of the handsets through its Facebook page.

The Sony Ericsson Mix Walkman comes with a Zappin key to search music. When pressed, the Zappin key opens preview of next track and lets you decide whether it is a favourite you want to listen to or not. A Karaoke function also enables the vocal track from any song to be lowered instantly so you can sing along with your favourite tune.

The look and feel of the phone can be personalised with different exchangeable colour bands that come with the phone.

The Sony Ericsson txt pro comes with a full slide-out Qwerty keyboard. Its integrated “friends’ application” enables users to add their five best friends to see at a glance updates from their Facebook and Twitter feeds.

The Sony Ericsson Mix Walkman and the Sony Ericsson txt pro will be available globally in selected markets from the third quarter this year (July-September). There is no indication on pricing as of yet, but both the phones are expected to be priced below Rs 15,000 level.

Motorola has launched a dust and water resistant smartphone &#151 Wilder . The New Wilder smartphone comes has 2.8-inch touchscreen with a secondary notification display.

Appearing to be an inexpensive version of Motorola Defy, the new Wilder is aimed at the social network aficionados as it integrates the social network accounts like Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and YouTube. The device has been launched in UK and as of now there’s no clarity on when does the company intend to make it available for rest of the world.

Motorola Defy has been appreciated for being dust proof and water resistant backed by impressive Android performance. Wilder sports 2.8-inch QVGA TFT resistive touchscreen display (240×320) and secondary OLED display (96×16) as small as 1-line Command Line Interface. This OLED display will show the notifications related to incoming calls, messages and more.

Appearing to be an affordable handset, the Wilder has “feature phone” user interface and carries a 2 Megapixel fixed focus camera at the back. This phone has built-in music player, FM radio, and several pre-loaded games like Need For Speed and Tetris.

Integrated social network support will keep users engaged and updated with their virtual world pals. Packing 910mAh battery, Wilder promises Talk time of up to 9.6 hours and stand by time of up to 255 hours.

Motorola Wilder does have a potential market in India as many parents here want a dust as well as water resistant phones for their teenagers. It’s also meant for those who wish to enjoy some feature phone experience but need to be usable without worrying about the monsoons.

Marvel, along with Konami Mobile, has released X-Men Arcade mobile game for Apple iOS and Google Android based devices. The X-Men Arcade is the mobile version of 1992 cabinet arcade classic game representing the popular characters of Marvel universe. Nostalgic Marvel Comic fans should certainly try out this classic game just in case you missed out in early 1990s.

New X-Men Arcade game lets a user choose between six prominent X-Men characters: Cyclops, Colossus, Wolverine, Storm, Nightcrawler or Dazzler. You’ll get an X mark like Analog on-screen button for your left thumb and other action buttons on the right side.

As any of these six X-Men characters, you need to knock down an army of sentinels. Of course, you can enjoy boss fights with the super villains like Pyro, Wendigo, Nimrod, The Blob, Juggernaut, The White Queen, Mysitique and the evil mastermind Magneto.

Best part of this game is the multi-player option where in up to four players can join this game over Wi-Fi connection. Besides that, the game also has OpenFient feature that lets you update your leaderboards and achievement. Similarly, iOS device users can update their leaderboards and achievements in Game Center. Users can also post about their achievements over social networks using Facebook Connect.

X-Men Arcade will work on iOS 3.1.2 running devices and Android devices running 2.1 or higher. The X-Men Arcade game is available for $2.99 (about Rs 135) for Android devices and iOS devices from respective App Stores.

OpenFeint, a mobile social gaming platform, has launched a newsfeed sort of a service, which is named as GameFeed that will tease the gamers with the accomplishments of their fellow gamers.

GameFeed will post running leaderboards for all to see and will allow gamers using different mobile platforms to compete against one another.

“We believe mobile games should connect people, whether they’re living in distant corners of the planet or using completely different mobile operating systems,” said Jason Citron, founder and chief executive officer of OpenFeint.

“GameFeed connects people by taking a simple act, like finishing a level or posting a high score, and turning it into a meaningful, cross platform shared experience.”

Users will have the option of opting in to the Gamefeed which means it won’t be forced down their throat if they don’t want it. Depending on the choice of games being played by the users, GameFeed will also suggest new friends, and games to them.

“GameFeed will help form and strengthen relationships on the network &#151 connecting Android and iOS gamers in ways that make playing games far more engaging,” said Citron.

Apple’s iOS has something similar in its portfolio which is called Game Center &#151 attractive but underutilised. This is also used by developers to tell other users about their friends or competitors’ scores in a game. With the introduction of iOS 5, there will be support for turn based games, with push notifications for the opponents when it’s their turn to play.

A few days ago we reported that Google had removed more than two dozen malicious applications from Android Market. This number now turns out to be far from sufficient.

According to North Carolina State University researchers, assistant professor Xuxian Jiang, and Ph.D. student Yajin Zhou, a new malware called DroidKungFu has been found in certain apps being circulated outside Android Market. DroidKungFu malware possesses advanced techniques that make it capable of bypassing mobile anti-virus software and also enable it to install a backdoor that allows the hacker to take complete control of the device.

The hacker can then steal data and send it to a remote server. Besides that, the hacker can turn the device into a bot, which is a software application that runs automated tasks over the internet.

The malware is found to be in circulation on eight third-party App stores and forums based in China. So far there is no evidence of infected apps being sold in app stores outside China.

Smartphones affected by the malware run Android 2.2 Froyo or older versions. Apparently, the DroidKungFu malware is smart enough to stay undetected by mobile security apps from leading mobile security firms.

Both security researchers are now looking into other Android Market-like app stores to see if the malicious apps are being circulated there or not. Till now there’s no word about any such menace being found.

Android Market has thousands of free apps which are downloaded and installed every day. How would you ensure that your device is free of malware?

Below are a few measures you can employ to protect your device:

Read before you install

We know that reading the privacy policy is tedious, but you must read all the access and permission requests the app you wish to use is seeking.

Install apps only from Android Market

At times, third party application stores don’t have enough regulations and rigorous app reviewing processes to test newly submitted apps for malware. It’s not like they can’t be trusted but the hackers are smart enough to pass their review processes. In short, install applications available only from trusted sources.

Use mobile security apps

Those who deal with confidential and important data on their Android smartphones can buy reputed mobile security apps from companies like Lookout Security, McAfee WavSecure, Norton (beta), BitDefender Mobile Security and more.

Avoid rooting the device

If you don’t know what to do with root access, avoid doing it. Root access permission is like single gate entry to possibly take control of the entire device.

Do not use open WiFi points

Getting lured by open WiFi access points is human tendency but it can cost you heavily later. Avoid using open WiFi for you never know what sniffing tools are being used to collect information from your Android smartphone.

Use of complex passwords and lock pattern

Try using complex passwords that includes letters, numbers and special characters. Entering passwords manually every time is fairly good practice. Also use lock patterns so that no one peeks into your phone if you’ve left it unattended by mistake.

Avoid updates from unknown links (advanced users)

Android enthusiasts who understand firmware and know how to update their operating system should avoid using updates circulated by fishy and unknown sources. There are websites that maintain a log and links to official Android updates.

With these pointers your Android smartphone should be secure and safe to a large extent.