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Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10
Introduction
Sony Ericsson have been working on the X10 for quite a long time, taking the utmost care to make sure its software offers the best user experience possible. They wanted their first droid to be perfect and perfection requires time. That’s right – the XPERIA X10 is the first Android to roll off the Sony Ericsson assembly line, hard as it might be to believe. But it certainly is not the kind of the phone to quietly disappear in the crowd of first-generation droids.
Androids just keep coming and a look at our front page will tell you any newcomer will need big ideas to make a splash. The popularity of Google’s mobile OS is reaching unprecedented levels and the handsets adopting Android grow in number every day. And while Microsoft will try to unify their Windows Phone 7 and limit customization, Google favor the opposite approach.
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Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 official photos
Sony Ericsson immediately took on board the possibilities offered by customization and really ran with it. Their blue-themed interpretation breathes new life into the familiar Android OS and tries to give the user a whole new experience. But they didn’t stop there. The unique Timescape and Mediascape interfaces are supposed to give the XPERIA X10 a much-needed edge in the high-end class. Trying to compete with the HTC Sense is a tough job, but Sony Ericsson have managed to offer something completely different – giving media and communications a central place in their UI.
XPERIA X10 comes with top-notch hardware to meet its software demands. Here is the impressive specs sheet along with some potential drawbacks.
Key features
* Quad-band GSM and tri-band 3G support
* 10.2 Mbps HSDPA and 2 Mbps HSUPA support
* 4" capacitive touchscreen of WVGA (480 x 854 pixel) resolution and scratch-resistant surface
* 16M-color ready (65K effective colors under Android OS v1.6)
* Android OS v1.6 with complete Sony Ericsson UI customization
* Timescape and Mediascape UI
* Excellent social networking integration
* Excellent build quality
* Qualcomm QSD8250 Snapdragon 1 GHz CPU, OpenGL ES 2.0 support; 384 MB of RAM
* 8 MP autofocus camera with LED flash, touch focus, image stabilization, geotagging, face and smile detection
* WVGA (800 x 480 pixels) video recording @ 30fps
* Wi-Fi and GPS with A-GPS
* 1GB storage, microSD slot, bundled with an 8GB card
* Accelerometer and proximity sensor
* Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
* microUSB port (charging) and stereo Bluetooth v2.1
* Document viewer
* Li-Po 1500 mAh (BST-41) battery
* Great audio quality
Main disadvantages
* No DivX and XviD video playback
* No smart dialing
* No secondary video-call camera (or videocalling whatsoever)
* No free GPS navigation solution
* No Flash support for the web browser
* No FM radio
* An extra xenon flash would’ve made the very good camera perfect
* Feeble loudspeaker
Most of the XPERIA weaknesses are hardly deal breakers and most people could live with them. Sony Ericsson have done enough though to reassure everyone that the XPERIA X10 will be on a par with its Android rivals at the time of release. Don’t underestimate the amount of hard work put into the X10 during the long manufacturing process. The delay was definitely worth it.
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Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 at ours
Sony Ericsson have also promised that Android 2.1 will at some point be available for the XPERIA X10 enabling the full use of the 16M color-ready display. Despite the capacitive technology, the X10 display won't be getting multi-touch support even with the latest OS. As it turns out, there are hardware obstacles to enabling multi-touch, so Android 2.1 can't help here.
But no more small talk. Head to the next page where we start our traditional hardware inspection.
Another iPhone copycat package
It’s been just a week since we saw the tiny retail box of the Motorola BACKFLIP, and here goes another one. In fact, the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 comes in an even smaller box, one that’s certainly not giving away the elaborate device hiding inside. It’s interesting how the minimalist retail package Apple chose for the first iPhone has now been copied by so many other manufacturers.
The cardboard box packs a charger and a microUSB cable. There is also a two-piece headset, but you are not limited to using this since the XPERIA X10 has a standard 3.5 mm jack.
Nobody would possibly expect the XPERIA X10 to be compact. The 4-inch monster of a display occupying most of the front is the obvious reason for all the design decision-making. OK, the X10 is big – it measures 119 x 63 x 13 mm, which almost matches the HTC HD2. But almost is the key word here.
The Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 weighs 20 grams less than the HD2 because of its plastic body, and that’s very noticeable in the hand. Despite the lack of metal on the casing, the X10 is solidly built, but that’s something we’ll go into a little bit more detail about later.
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Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 next to the XPERIA X10 mini and Apple iPhone 3G
One thing’s for sure though: the physical differences between the XPERIA X10 and its mini version tell the whole story. It’s impressive to see how small touchscreen smartphones can get. But equally impressive – if you ask us – what the XPERIA X10 can do for you in terms of screen and media.
A screen to like
Being a full-touch handset the Ericsson XPERIA X10 had little room to maneuver on design. The huge touchscreen covers most of the front, while the back is pretty plain. The rounded edges certainly make it more palm-friendly – essential for a handset this size. The asymmetric chrome accents on the side are subtle and elegant. Any more than that would’ve been improper.
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The subtle styling makes sense on a handset this size
There’s also a white XPERIA X10 and that sure will be a sight to see. The black one we’re reviewing is obviously the more mature and conservative option. It’s a smartphone and it’s a multimedia phone – it doesn’t need to follow a formal business dress code. But again, the sheer size of it doesn’t really allow too much embellishment.
The 4" capacitive touchscreen unit has a resolution of 854 x 480 pixels and great picture quality. Of course, that 65K-color limitation of the Android 1.6 Donut takes its toll occasionally, but unless it's single-color gradients that you are looking at, it won't really bother you in day-to-day use.
The default UI blue graphics have been carefully chosen not to reveal this weak spot. But don’t worry, Android 2.1 is fully capable of supporting 16M colors and Sony Ericsson promise it will come to the XPERIA X10 soon.
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Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 display
Contrast is excellent and the sunlight legibility is the best we’ve seen on a Sony Ericsson handset. In fact out there in the bright sun, the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 is as good as the Apple iPhone. The X10 brightness is just a bit subdued but the image is vibrant and clean. A well-deserved thumbs up for the XPERIA X10 screen.
The sensitivity of the display is great as well - just as you would expect in a capacitive touchscreen. The snappy Snapdragon also matters here as the real response of the system is dependent on the screen and the processor in equal measures.
As far as multi-touch support is concerned, Android 1.6 isn’t capable of working with those kind of gestures. Our hopes go for Android v2.1 - which has native multi-touch implementation - so we might see some of that if the X10 gets an upgrade. Multi-touch support is only a prerequisite for pinch zooming, it’s go to be implemented additionally to work.
Update: Sony Ericsson have officially confirmed that multi-touch the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 cannot be enabled because of hardware limitations.
Eye for detail
As usual above the display we find the centrally placed earpiece. The ambient light sensor is hidden on its left, a small status LED on the right.
The three keys below the display are nicely tactile with soft press and adequate feedback. Left to right, you get a Menu key, Home, and a Back key. Capacitive controls are trendy lately but the XPERIA X10 just took to long to be caught in this trend. There must be enough people anyway who do prefer hardware buttons and the X10 certainly won’t let them down.
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The earpiece at the top of the screen • the Menu, Homescreen and Back buttons under the display
The right side of the handset features the shutter key and volume rocker, which also doubles as a zoom control. Those are both a bit small, but with very distinct and comfortable press.
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Camera key and volume rocker/zoom lever on the right
The left side of Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 features no controls whatsoever. Looking carefully you may find the tiny loudspeaker cleft here. Another aperture further down is possibly the mouthpiece.
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Nothing much to see on the left, except for the loudspeaker
The top of the X10 hosts the 3.5mm audio jack, power key and the microUSB port. The universal connector is covered by a small plastic lid. The audio jack has no protection and you should clean it once in a while to avoid problems.
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The microUSB slot is covered by a plastic lid, unlike the 3.5mm jack
At the bottom of Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 there's a pretty large whole. That is where the lanyard should go if you use one.
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The lanyard eyelet
The back of the handset features the 8 megapixel camera lens and the LED flash. As you might have guessed taking photos in low light is not the XPERIA X10’s strongest feature with this type of flash, but the occasional close-range shot of your buddies might be saved by the tiny LED.
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The 8 megapixel camera is only treated to a LED flash
Unfortunately, there is no protection for the camera lens, so you should be particularly careful not to scratch it. It's recessed enough but any sharp objects in your pocket might get dangerously close.
The microSD card slot is under the battery and that means it's not hot-swappable. Having to restart the handset every time we need to access the card is not really our favorite thing but Sony Ericsson obviously didn't find room for it elsewhere.
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The microSD card slot is under the battery cover
The build quality of the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 is solid. The matt plastic on the back is quite fingerprint resistant and soft to touch. It's only the front panel that takes on an increasingly smudgy appearance as the day goes by.
Although there are no metallic parts to strengthen the overall build quality, this actually turns out to be a good thing. The plastic used to craft the X10 body is excellent: strong and of very high quality. There are no creaks at all, and every single part of the body fits perfectly in its place. Thanks to the lack of metal the X10 is lighter than the HTC HD2 but doesn’t lose out in terms of design.
We really like the rounded edges on the back – the human curvature as called by Sony Ericsson design team. They can easily make you believe that the phone is slimmer than it is. XPERIA X10 is about the size of the original HTC Touch HD (but much lighter) so you can guess its size is very much pushing the limits of convenient single hand operation. We can however assure you, it feels perfectly comfortable in hand.
SURSA: www.gsmarena.com
AdminonMonday 19 January 2009 - 17:47:35  Read/Post Comment: 13
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