Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Review
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The worst kept secret in mobile has finally been confirmed – Sony Ericsson are going to be launching a multimedia handset, running on the Android OS, and it is the Xperia X10.
We already knew a fair deal about this handset, with leaks, spyshots and video floating around the web for a while now, but finally the speculation can stop as we have a confirmed list of features to drool over.
The X10 is dominated by a superb, large TFT capacitive colour touchscreen, measuring 4.0 inches across and with a pixel busting resolution of 854 x 480 pixels. The screen supports up to 256,000 colours and is covered with scratch resistant glass; auto rotate is included, as found on almost all Android devices, so the display will automatically switch between portrait and landscape mode, depending on the orientation of the device.
The X10 is by no means a compact device, sporting dimensions of 119 x 63 x 13mm, so it will feel quite big in the hand. You will see in the video clip below, it does appear to be somewhat large. I guess this is the trade off you make when you have a handset with a huge 4.0 inch display. It does help that the X10 is rather slim at just 13mm, though. Weight wise the X10 comes in at 135g, which is to be expected on a phone with these measurements.
The camera on the X10 is an 8.0 Megapixel affair, and has some nice touches, making it one of the most advanced cameras offered to date on an Android powered device. As well as the high pixel count, the camera has autofocus, and also offers a built in LED flash. Other enhancements include support for face detection, smile detection, and image stabilisation. The camera supports geotagging, and focus can be centred in on a part of the shot by touching on the screen.
The X10 is a media rich product, and offers a full range of multimedia options; apart from the 8.0 Megapixel camera, there is a well supported media player, which can handle files in numerous formats, including MP3, AAC, eAAC+, WMA and RA for music, plus MP4, H.263, H.264 and WMV for video. There is a good amount of internal memory available for media storage, with the X10 offering 1GB fixed internal memory, which can be expanded by the addition of a memory card, which in this instance is MicroSD rather than the usual M2 cards Sony Ericsson have used in the past. Memory cards can be supported up to 16GB in size, with the X10 expected to ship with an 8GB card, although some networks may change this to help keep costs down. Another nice bonus on the X10 is the decision by Sony Ericsson to include a 3.5mm audio jack on the device, instead of the more often used proprietary Sony Ericsson port. It would be nice to see this offered on more Sony Ericsson handsets in the future.
The X10 comes equipped with all the major connectivity options you would expect to find on a high end multimedia handset; starting from HSDPA Mobile Broadband at up to 10.2Mbps, plus HSUPA at up to 2Mbps, the X10 also offers WiFi with DLNA support, plus EDGE and GPRS. The X10 is powered by the Qualcomm QSD8250 Snapdragon 1 GHz processor, which should help deliver a smooth user experience. One surprise, is finding the X10 is currently listed as being released with version 1.6 of the Android OS. Version 2.0 is imminently available, and we can only assume that this will be made available to users via an OTA upgrade. To complete the connectivity spec, the X10 will come with Bluetooth 2.1 (although currently Android only supports audio connectivity – no native Bluetooth file transfer on the X10) and there is a mini USB port for connecting the device to a PC.
As we have come to expect on an Android device, all the Google services are tightly integrated into the OS, so things like Google Mail, Google calendar, and Google maps work well. The X10 offers a built in GPS chip, which has aGPS support. Along with the customised UI offered by the X10, there are a few nice touches worth mentioning.
Firstly, Timescape is a system that allows you to integrate all your phone contacts with the online services you use, allowing you to keep up to date with friends on Facebook and Twitter, with their statuses updated automatically. Mediascape is the setup that keeps all your pictures, videos and music files together for easy access to your media whilst on the move, whilst enhanced face recognition on the phone will recognise up to five different faces in one image, and automatically tag your friends and store the info under their name in the contacts list.
There is a lot to like about the X10 – it almost feels like an old phone, in one sense, we seem to have been talking about it so much recently. But in reality it is a cutting edge device, packed with features, and if it is a sign of things to come from Sony Ericsson and Android. If all this has you chomping at the bit to purchase the phone, you may have to wait a little while, as the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 is slated for a 2010 release, expected in Q1.
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March 21st, 2010 at 1:20 pm
I was thinking of buying a Sony Ericsson X10. After reading this article, I guess I will buy it as soon as it is available.
April 9th, 2010 at 8:04 pm
Well after finally getting my hands on the X10 I have to say it was well worth the wait. The photo’s that I have seen looked far more angular (rather ’stealth-like’) but in reality it it really is far more comfortable in the palm than I had imagined. Whilst the combination of Android and Sony Ericssons user interface has taken some getting used to by day 2 I’m loving it! I rarely log onto my facebook account but Timescape is certainly revolutionised my experience. The Links to my email accounts, face book and you-tube are seemless and quick. I actually started using the phone to surf rather than use the PC that I was sat next to until I needed to really use the keyboard.
Do I have any gripes? Well I miss the fact that unlike the W960 for example there is no slot-in stylus and no HD camera like the Vivas. That theres no Multi-touch? Well not really bothered to be honest.
In conclusion, I’ve seen the HTC and was very impressed but I can hand on heart say that you can keep your iPhone and your HTC. The X10 not only looks better and is more comfortable in the hand but it’s unique interface means that it has a far more personal feel than anything else around. A true Personal Interface Device.
April 12th, 2010 at 3:32 pm
I’ve had the Sony Xperia X10 for less than a week and it has stopped working – not sure if it is the handset or the charger, but needless to say it won’t turn on anymore. So we’re not off to a great start on this review.
As for the phones OS, well, the interface is similar to that of most touch screen smart phones – icons you click, new apps you can install – nothing new there, this is almost par for the course now. The screen is a decent size and graphic render really well, sharp and crisp. Great colour and light.
Downside features hit you quite quickly, navigating to options seems to be a bit overly complicated. You can scroll the screen right to left, scroll down from the top from an alternate menu of alerts, or scroll up for applications. This is before we get into the fact that you can have a function open, then use the app key to open yet another set of options that is more specific to the open application or option.
Here’s an example of it being too complicated – you want to change the alert sound letting you know you have recieved a new text message. Let me cut this short – you can’t. You can only use the default sounds. Sounds annoying since, most phones will let you take any audio clip, install it on the phone and apply it for whatever you want – the X10 wont. You find this out the hardway, spending ages clicking through option screens, selecting the ‘change ringtone’ option, only to be stuck with the phones default audio clips. I contacted Sony support on this, for them to tell me ‘unfortunately yadda yadda yadda you can only use the preinstalled audio tracks for text message alert ringtones’. Not so smart or impressive for an apparently ’smart phone’.
It comes with 1GB hard drive, which is also a problem when you want to save a lot of AV to it. Compared with the Nokia X6 (which i trialed last week) that came with 16GB of memory. However, Sony wins on the bluetooth front as idiotically, most Nokia phones will not sync properly with built in car phone systems (I have a saab and I guess it never occured to Nokia to ensure their phones could push the phone book over to the car phone system – even though they are both Scandanavian products – pretty poor if you ask me).
So, the X10 looks great, feels fine in the hand (if you have big enough hands) and isn’t too heavy. Memory is much smaller than I’d like, navigation is overly complex, functions are too limited for an apparently smart phone.
The big question always seems to be, is this phone an iPhone killer…to which I have to be honest and say…nope. Not even close. The X10 is Sony’s latest edition, coming out in time for the PR of the next gen iPhone, which already promises so much more than the X10 can deliver.
As a long standing Sony user, I’m a little bit let down by this – reminding you again that mine stopped working after just a few days and will no longer turn on. Take a risk on this phone if you want, but personally I look elsewhere (although please ignore Nokia if you have a built in car phone kit).