Observing how technology has intruded into our lives, we could not resist snapping up the remarkable Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini mobile phone which knocked our doors for a review in an attractive white box. The eye-catchy appearance and compact factor compelled us to scribble down a complete review of this stunning phone.The technological world has uncovered many enthralling handsets which have completely blown away communication issues with distant friends and family. Mobile phones have rapidly spread across the globe and with its advent the concept of communication has been completely revamped. Sony Ericsson handsets perfectly combine powerful technology with innovative applications for mobile imaging, music, communication and entertainment. The company offers enticing products which promise to precisely fit daily and professional needs.
The box bundles together a user guide, a FCC statement, earphones and vibrant replaceable back covers. The device was perfectly dressed in a charming black shade on the front while the rear side flaunts a shiny silver finish. The X10 Mini bundles up four bright back covers such as glossy red, shiny aluminum and pearl white. The Sony Ericsson logo was incorporated on each of these covers. The X10 Mini is light to carry and sturdy to hold as it weighs around 88gms and sizes up to 83mm x 50mm x 16mm. The company extends the limits of portability with the phone’s sleek attributes. Including a handy 2GB microSD card which can be easily expanded to 16GB, the handset offers around 171MB of internal memory.
On opening the back flap, the first thing we spotted was the SIM card and microSD card slot. We were just amazed to observe how the battery has been integrated into the hardware of the handset. The top of the device sports a normal power and lock button while the right side has a dedicated camera key and a volume controller. The lower end of the device features a USB port which is protected with a rubber flap while the area next to it is dedicated to a 3.5mm port. The curved rear side of the phone is equipped with a 5MP camera, LED flash and vibrant speakers. We tossed the device and found a miniscule 2.55-inch QVGA display screen with a handy proximity sensor and earpiece above it. Below the screen we spotted a menu, home and back button. We were little disappointed as we noticed there were no dedicated call and end keys. The onscreen keyboard made it slightly difficult to type whereas its backspace button, placed on the bottom left hand corner, adds to the annoyance. The screen put forth seamless left or right swipe functionalities for numbers and symbols.
The screen is highly responsive and precisely registered our swipes and gestures. Though not all that clear, navigating around the interface is certainly a good option. The flipside pleased us with its shiny plastic cover at the same time. On activating the camera function we spotted a flash on/off shortcut and a direct link to the gallery. We put the camera to use and clicked a few photos which emerged quite good. The phone intuitively offers a preview of the captured image and you can delete, share and set them as wallpaper or contact photo. The images were well detailed and sharp in bright light. The handset delivered about 2592 x 1944 resolution for photos and 640 x 480 for videos. The flash, video recorder, scene type and gallery were easily accessible as they were placed on the four corners as shortcuts.
The Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini is based on the Android 1.6 operating system and navigating through various services and applications was simple with the scrolling list of widgets which function effortlessly with a single flick. Timescape app comes with the custom user interface and uplifted all our communications. The music player is improved and revived as compared to the conventional Android music player. The controls on the screen were easily accessible and we scrolled through a list of songs with a handy scroll bar. Keeping in mind the size of the handset, the sound quality through headphones and speakers was remarkable. The typing experience was great due to the virtual T9 keypad featuring two input methods like Multi Tap and Quick Text. The one-touch zoom was indeed handy and functioned precisely for web and images.
The Xperia X10 mini’s Android webkit browser is pretty fast, thankfully. Pages upload rapidly but it can only display a small portion of a webpage at a time. This eventually made us scroll around web pages a number of times. The overall look was good and the interesting zoom function was really essential but sometimes the text blurred almost to an illegible state, and we assumed it’s probably the low resolution screen. The social networking experience was good but not exceptional since we could not log out easily as the browser gave an error which was annoying. The battery life is decent and the phone easily functioned for one whole day of heavy usage and about two days with minimal usage. The phone will keep you entertained while on-the-move with Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google Talk, TrackID system WisePilot and NeoReader applications.
Perfectly balancing style and functionality, the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini left us with various positive impressions. With excellent audio capabilities, beautiful and elegant UI and unique compact form factor, it proves to be a winning bet. Mobile enthusiasts who want to snap up a really compact phone that’s simple and enjoyable to use, the Xperia X10 mini promises not to disappoint them. The handset may not compete with higher-end Android smartphones but with several interesting elements it gets a good 9 out of 10 rating from us. Priced at Rs. 15,000, the phone can be a good option to sift out considering attractive features integrated into a wee-sized chassis.
This is the first article that confirms the X10 mini can handle a 32gb card!
Did you actually test the device using Andriod 1.6 and a 32gb card?
I was under the impression that Android 2.1 would be supporting the 32gb support but have been waiting for confirmation on this before purchasing a 32gb card.