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YouView has published its UI and search policy consultation online.

The consultation will run for six weeks, and is a process to determine exactly how the user interface for the subscription-free streaming service will be crafted. One that will theoretically ensure that the EPG (Electronic Programme Guide) is fair and justified in its ordering.

Obviously it’s very important which channels get placed near the top of the EPG, as these are the most likely to snag viewers. Those towards the bottom will inevitably struggle a great deal more.

One concern is that given the fact that YouView is actually a joint venture involving the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5, these stations will be able to give themselves priority.

The draft policy attempts to allay these fears by stipulating: “The allocation of listing positions and UI positions and the configuration of search results will be undertaken without regard to whether the Content Provider is a YouView shareholder.”

“Where a YouView shareholder, who is also a Content Provider, is awarded a listing or a UI position, the basis for such award will be objectively justifiable, having regard to the principles of fairness, reasonableness and non-discrimination on which all UI positions will be awarded.”

Although, of course, the YouView consortium members are likely to get those top spots, and are undeniably big UK channels. Well, except for Channel 5 (just kidding).

YouView recently welcomed an ex-Sky executive on board, Chris Bramley, who became Chief Technology Officer. The service is still apparently on track for an early 2012 launch (although it was supposed to launch early 2011).

It seems that the Sony Ericsson Xperia Pro will finally be arriving with us next week.

The Xperia Pro was revealed at the start of the year, and initially Sony Ericsson had it down for a July release.

However, July came and went, with the expected availability date being pushed right back to October – something to do with component shortages after the Japanese quake disaster, the rumour mill speculated.

So now October is imminent, and it does indeed seem to be the case that the Xperia Pro will finally hit the shelves, at least according to online retailer Clove.

The company announced on its blog page: “We have been informed today that we will be receiving stock of the Xperia Pro on the 6th October. This will please a lot of you I am sure as we have had many enquiries about the ETA of this device.”

So there you have it, a week tomorrow is the date to mark in your calendar. Clove will be flogging the handset for £323 sim-free.

In terms of tech spec, the Xperia pro comes with a 3.7 inch display driven by the Bravia engine (with a resolution of 854×480) and a slide-out Qwerty keyboard.

There’s also an 8 megapixel HD-capable camera and a 1GHz processor, plus an HDMI output. The OS will be Android 2.3 Gingerbread.

Given the price, that’s some pretty nifty technology on board, although the 1GHz processor is looking a little slower these days, compared to some of the 1.5GHz beasts flying around.

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