Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 Mini Pro

Editor's Review of the XPERIA X10 Mini Pro

The Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 Mini Pro features a 2.55 inch capacitive touch screen that is capable of displaying 16 million colours, with a screen dimension of 240 x 320 pixels. It features an accelerometer sensor that allows for automatically rotating the user interface. The X10 Mini Pro can also display your received text messages, calls and even Facebook updates in one place with the Timescape user interface.

If you have ever had a touch screen mobile phone and were deathly afraid of scratching the display or the casing, then you can rest easy with the X10 Mini Pro's scratch-resistant surface. For casing colours, choose from an elegant black or fiery red to suit your personality. Further, a full QWERTY keyboard also slides out from the back of the handset, making it easier for you to type in your SMS messages or update your Facebook status.

The X10 Mini Pro is only 90 mm long and 52 mm across. It is a little thicker at 17 millimetres and a bit heavier at 120 grams, but it is still very handy to use and hold in your hand.

This quad band handset works on any GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 network and is perfect for international roaming. You would surely love to take it with you when on the road as its multimedia functions can keep you entertained. The handset can play back WAV, MP3, eAAC+ and WMA music files and MP4, WMV, H.263 and H.264 video files. If that is not enough, you can tune into your favorite radio station with the built-in stereo FM tuner or play games that are preloaded into the device.

See something interesting? Why not capture it with the 5 megapixel camera that brings you pictures with resolutions of up to 2560 by 1920 pixels. The camera can also capture VGA videos at 30 frames per second. Low light conditions or night time photography is also possible with the LED flash and video light. You can also enjoy the camera's auto focus and geo-tagging features.

The SE XPERIA X10 Mini Pro runs on a 600 megahertz Qualcomm MSM7227 processor and Google's Android OS. As such, the user can expect an almost seamless online experience with Google's other products like search, maps, Gmail, YouTube, calendar and Google Talk. Surely, you are going to find yourself online most of the time as this mobile phone offers you Internet connectivity via any class 10 GPRS and class 10 EDGE networks. Or you can surf the Web with ultra high speeds on any HSDPA or HSUPA 3G network. You can even take advantage of wireless connectivity with its Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g protocol.

The interconnectivity fun does not stop there as the X10 Mini Pro also has a microUSB for easy interfacing with any desktop or laptop computer, and a Bluetooth capability for connecting with other Bluetooth devices.

Waiting for an important e-mail? Well you do not have to constantly check your accounts as the X10 Mini Pro allows for push e-mail capabilities, making sure you know just when an e-mail arrives without you having to sit around and wait for it.

The X10 Mini Pro comes with 128 megabytes of internal memory that is useful for the unlimited phone book and call logs storage. For bigger files, you might want to use the 2 GB microSD card that comes with the package or opt for more memory up to 16 gigabytes.

This handset uses a standard Li-Po 930 mAh battery that can provide up to 285 hours of standby power or up to 4 hours of talk time on a 2G network.

Limitations

Sony Ericsson yet again uses Timescape on a 2.55 inch screen. While the user interface may look good on any handset, having all that information may become too much on a small screen like the X10 Mini Pro. The promise of having your messages, YouTube videos, Android Market, and all your favourites on your home screen actually sounds like a potential clutter space.

Also, some Android apps were made for the more common 3-inch screens, so you might have some compatibility problems with these apps when you load them on your X10 Mini Pro. Similarly, Google Maps would have worked better on a bigger screen.

Further, Sony Ericsson has come out with the bigger X10 with the same OS. One would have thought that it was time for an upgrade, especially with most other Android phones now sporting the better and improved Android Eclair.