An eight-hour service outage that affected more than one million T-Mobile customers has come to an end. T-Mobile says that all voice and data services are up and running as of 1:25 am Eastern time on Wednesday.

The service outage, which began Tuesday evening, affected 1.7 million T-Mobile subscribers, about 5 percent of the company's 33.5 million subscribers. They were left without access to voice and some data services, including text and picture messaging. T-Mobile says it is investigating the cause of the disruption.

This latest service disruption comes just weeks after users of T-Mobile's Sidekick smartphones suffered a similar service outage. Many Sidekick users lost data in that incident, which was caused by a server crash at Microsoft's Danger subsidiary.

Image © T-Mobile

Sony Ericsson is the latest smartphone manufacturer to jump on the Android bandwagon. The company today announced the upcoming Xperia X10, its first phone based on Google's Android operating system.

The Xperia X10, which is showcased in a promotional video on YouTube, is packed with features. Its highlights include a big 4-inch touchscreen; that's a step up from the 3.5-inch screen found on the iPhone 3GS. The X10 also packs in an 8.1-megapixel camera that includes a flash, zoom, and touch focus.

In addition to its impressive hardware specs, the Xperia X10 also will offer some unique apps. Sony Ericsson says it will include two apps designed to improve the user experience. One of those apps, called Timescape, will organize messages, including phone calls, text messages, Twitter posts, and Facebook updates, for easier access. The other, called Mediascape, will help users organize and access multimedia content, including music and videos from Web-based sources.

Sony Ericsson says the Xperia X10 will be available next year, but has not named a specific launch date or pricing.

Image © Sony Ericsson

The Boston Globe's Sunday magazine has an interesting article today about kids and smartphones, specifically the iPhone. The article talks about how kids take to smartphones with ease and how using a smartphone can actually help kids learn.

I can attest to the fact that kids take to the iPhone with astounding ease. My two- and four-year old recently discovered my iPhone and they constantly amaze me with the way they're able to use it. I handed it to my son to keep him occupied during a long road trip, and he was easily switching between shows on the iPod ("Mommy, I'm watching Arthur!") and playing games ("Mommy, now I'm playing Tetris!").

Now that I know it might actually be good for them, well, that doesn't mean I'm going to allow them unlimited time with an iPhone. And I'm certainly not going to spring for a new one so the kids can have their own. But it does make me feel better about using the iPhone as a way to keep them busy when we're on the go.

Photo copyright Apple

Sprint this week announced an official launch date for the Palm Pixi: November 15. The webOS-based phone will cost $99.99 after a $50 instant rebate and a $100 mail-in rebate.

The Pixi's price is competitive, to be sure. It's half what the Palm Pre cost at launch, though the Pre's price tag has since been lowered to $150. But the Pixi is also not as full-featured a phone as the Pre. It lacks Wi-Fi support, for one, and features a smaller display. The Pixi's screen measures 2.6 inches diagonally, compared to the 3.1-inch screen on the Pre.

But the Pixi also seems designed for a younger crowd. It will feature a new Facebook application that Sprint is touting, which is designed to offer easier access to the popular social networking site.

Stay tuned for a full review of the Pixi.

Image © Palm