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A pair of stalwarts in the battle against Microsoft’s entry into the mobile phone business appear to be hedging their bets: One, Sony Ericsson has just expanded its product portfolio to include a Windows Mobile-run smartphone, while the other, Nokia, is apparently in talks to do the same.

At the Mobile (formally 3GSM) World Congress in Barcelona, Spain this week, Microsoft confirmed it is in talks to license Windows Mobile to Nokia. As for Sony Ericsson, it is already showing off its first device, the XPERIA X1, to run on Redmond’s smartphone OS.

During a press conference in Barcelona, Microsoft VP of Mobile Communications Pieter Knook said, "There are a lot of discussions happening with Nokia.” He added, “But before we move on to other operators, let’s celebrate Sony Ericsson coming onboard first."

Like Nokia, nearly all of Sony Ericsson’s smartphones run on the Symbian OS—along with the S60 interface in the former’s case and UIQ platform for the latter. It’s a major change in strategy for either company to climb on board the Microsoft bandwagon. In fact, Symbian originated when a bunch of mobile phone vendors came together in light of Microsoft entrance into their space a number of years ago.

“Our vision for the Xperia X1 is to deliver a seamless blend of mobile web communication and multimedia entertainment within a distinctive design," according to Sony Ericsson senior VP and head of product and application planning Rikko Sakaguchi.

"We thought we could do better than other handset makers with a Windows Mobile device."

Since the X1 is a Windows Mobile Professional-run smartphone, its 3-inch 840 x 480-pixel (WVGA) resolution display is a touch screen. As with many other high-end Professional devices today, you can slide display aside to reveal a QWERTY thumb-keyboard.

The X1 measures 4.3 x 2.1 x 0.66 inches (110 x 53 x 16.7 millimeters) and weighs in at 5.1 ounces (145 grams).

As a quad-band GSM phone, you can use the X1 to make voice calls in most world markets. It supports 3G cellular-wireless data networking in many countries as well.

There’s also Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, A-GPS for location-based services, FM receiver and 3.2 megapixel camera for picture and video.

A microSD slot is available to compliment the X1’s 400MB of internal memory.

According to Sony Ericsson says the X1 won’t ship in the U.S. until the second half of the year. There’s no word on how much it’ll cost or if the smartphone will become available directly from a wireless carrier.

Sony Ericsson has a page devoted to the X1 here.

As for Nokia, CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo asserts his company does not intend top use Windows Mobile, at least for now. A Reuters article quotes him as saying, “We don't have plans to do Windows in mobile at the moment.