Today sees the announcement of the Sony Ericsson LiveView™ micro display, an accessory with remote control functionality. It will enable users to interact with any LiveView™ enabled Android™ application. As a developer, this enables you to create new eye-opening applications, and useful extensions of existing applications.

The Sony Ericsson LiveView™ uses Bluetooth™ connectivity to wirelessly pair up to a compatible handset. The LiveView™ features a 128×128 pixel, 1.3 inch organic LED (OLED) display with four touch areas. LiveView™ also has two additional keys for on/off and select. By default, it can function as a remote control for the music player, display messages and feeds from the phone and social networking services, and also display call information and calendar reminders.

Mikael Henriksson, Head of creation and offering planning at Sony Ericsson Extras, said: “The Sony Ericsson LiveView™ is the first Sony Ericsson accessory to be compatible with the open Android™ platform which gives developers an opportunity to be creative and develop the next must-have innovative application.”

To make your Android™ applications work with the Sony Ericsson LiveView™, you have to create a LiveView™ plugin to your application. For this, an easy-to-use SDK will be announced on the Developer World web site shortly. Once your application or new version of your existing application is ready, you simply upload it to Android™ Market. Users can then download it, as with any application. To find LiveView™ enabled applications, Sony Ericsson have developed the LiveWare™ Manager application. It will scan Android™ Market for LiveView™ enabled applications and present them to the user. The LiveWare™ manager will itself be available from Android™ Market.

With its small size, you can wear the LiveView™ almost anywhere. You can wear it in a watch strap, or you can use it with a smart clip on the back. This way you can wear it on your clothes, or even clip it on your laptop.

The size of the Sony Ericsson LiveView™ is 3.5 cm x 3.5cm x 1.1 cm, and the battery will last up to four days during normal usage. The LiveView™ will work with most phones running Android™ 2.0 and above. A list of compatible phones will later be available on www.sonyericsson.com/liveview.  LiveView™ is compatible with Bluetooth™ 2.1 technology. The Sony Ericsson LiveView™ will be available in selected markets from Q4, 2010.

No mention has been made of the price of this nifty little gadget…

Source: Developer Sony Ericsson Website