Much in the same way that Samsung have its Social Hub and Motorola have its MotoBlur, Sony Ericsson has its own signature social networking software preinstalled on many of its new mobiles – TimeScape.

TimeScape does what will be familiar to many users of Social Hub in that it incorporates all your social networks and communication tools – IM and Email – into one app and displays them in real time – i.e. you don’t need to manually refresh the app as any updates will be displayed automatically as they happen. So far so much the same. However you could go as far to say that TimeScape beats the other two on the basis of its aesthetic qualities. For TimeScape on the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X8 displays these updates in transparent tiles that float on the screen; these can be scrolled and browsed through and a simple click on a tile will lead you direct to the page of the update – for example, the Twitter page for the Tweet or the Facebook page of the person who changed their status. You can compare mobile phone offers for the Xperia X8 when shopping online, to help you get the best deal going.

Furthermore with the Infinity button on the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X8 you can instantly see all content – status updates, photo tags, comments – that are associated with the person who has updated their status. So, for instance, if one of your friends updates their status you can press the Infinity button on their update displayed on TimeScape and it will show all their recent updates and information. Finding the cheapest Sony Xperia X8 contract is easy when you compare deals online.

TimeScape on the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X8 does not differ substantially from either Social Hub or MotoBlur – they all essentially perform the same actions – however it is the design, look and feel of TimeScape that sets it apart from the rest and ensures that mobiles like the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X8 have an edge over the social networking capabilities of Samsung or Motorola.