Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini
The Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini should be nothing more than a shrunken version of the Xperia X10 – but in reality it's a whole new phone that gives Android a complete makeover.
It's very light and could possibly do with feeling a little heavier, if only so it doesn't blow out of your hand in a breeze. But for a phone so affordable – currently going for around £200 on PAYG deals – the X10 Mini has a remarkably high-class feel about it.
Oh yes, it's small. Sony Ericsson isn't joking when it says the Xperia X10 Mini is the same size as a credit card. Obviously it's a lot thicker, but the overall size and weight of the super-small Android phone is about equivalent to a packet of Swan matches. It is tiny.
The exterior is smooth with only three buttons on the face of the phone – Menu, Home and Back – and there's no D-pad or joystick whatsoever here.
The combination screen lock and power button is on the top edge, with a volume up/down toggle and dedicated camera button on the right-hand side.
On the bottom edge sits a 3.5mm headphone jack and the micro-USB connector, which requires a sharp, unbitten fingernail to pull open the little rubber stopper that stops pocket fluff build up. It's a simple, straightforward layout.
People who are afraid of buttons won't find the X10 Mini an intimidating experience.
Inside the box of this unlocked version direct from Sony Ericsson sat the phone, a 2GB microSD card, a micro-USB connector, headphones with inline pause button and five alternate-colour snap-on back panels.
Supplied colours will vary depending on who you buy yours from, as the company's fixed up a few exclusive deals for bundling different colour cases with the networks.
But there's no battery in the box – that's permanently fixed inside the phone. You're not able to replace it yourself, as it's locked within the core of the handset beneath a few layers of circuit boards, behind those funny star-shaped screws.
Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini review
The Xperia X10 Mini's Android 1.6 operating system has been thoroughly, comprehensively skinned, just like its fatter older brother the Xperia X10. Gone is the usual Android Home screen, replaced by a flickable, scrolling list of widgets.
This is a most jarring change if you're an experienced Android user, with each of the X10 Mini's imitation Home pages only allowing one widget to sit right in the middle of it.
But you are allowed to have 20 active widgets on the go at once, all lined up from left to right with a screen all to themselves.
The clever part is what happens when you press the screen's down arrow or the Home button when on a widget screen – it pops up a segmented Android app drawer, with your collection of installed apps neatly tucked away beneath the headline widget in neat, three-by-three grids, so there's no extra scrolling or fiddling about to launch apps.
Basically, every app on the phone is part of this lower extension of the widgetised Home screen, which is a very clever way of maximising the X10's precious screen size and helping users navigate the phone.
Plus, each top screen has a separate shortcut icon space in each of its four corners, letting users add quick launch buttons to favourite apps.
Yes, you only get four of these links across the whole top space – but when pressing Home brings up your entire collection of installed apps anyway, it really doesn't matter. It's simply a nice little extra.
However, being Android underneath means third-party Android Market apps are all fully installable, including the alternate launcher tools and Home replacements.
Of course, we're ignoring the fact it's only Android 1.6 on here – the skin goes a long way to masking this fact, but simply put there are things missing here.
However, with the upgrade coming later this year, Sony Ericsson at least shows it's willing to address the problem.
We tried putting the popular ADW.Launcher on the X10 Mini and it worked perfectly, giving the X10 Mini a standard Android-style desktop layout if that's what you're after – or if you just want to see how silly it looks on a 2.55-inch screen.
Again, we doubt the sort of buyer Sony Ericsson has in mind will be bothered about alternate Home launchers, but if you're worrying that the OS has been dumbed down in any way – stop. It's Android through and through. You can tweak away. Nothing's been compromised.
A particularly nice minor UI touch is the addition of a 'Delete Several' option, which pops up a tickbox on large lists of icons, making it super-easy to trim down your memory card's music or photo library content.
You'll find this a lot when using the X10 Mini – whenever you press a button expecting something to happen, the thing you hoped would happen, happens. It's definitely rivalling HTC's Sense UI, as featured on the five-star HTC Desire, in the usability stakes.
This is a most jarring change if you're an experienced Android user, with each of the X10 Mini's imitation Home pages only allowing one widget to sit right in the middle of it.
But you are allowed to have 20 active widgets on the go at once, all lined up from left to right with a screen all to themselves.
The clever part is what happens when you press the screen's down arrow or the Home button when on a widget screen – it pops up a segmented Android app drawer, with your collection of installed apps neatly tucked away beneath the headline widget in neat, three-by-three grids, so there's no extra scrolling or fiddling about to launch apps.
Basically, every app on the phone is part of this lower extension of the widgetised Home screen, which is a very clever way of maximising the X10's precious screen size and helping users navigate the phone.
Plus, each top screen has a separate shortcut icon space in each of its four corners, letting users add quick launch buttons to favourite apps.
Yes, you only get four of these links across the whole top space – but when pressing Home brings up your entire collection of installed apps anyway, it really doesn't matter. It's simply a nice little extra.
However, being Android underneath means third-party Android Market apps are all fully installable, including the alternate launcher tools and Home replacements.
Of course, we're ignoring the fact it's only Android 1.6 on here – the skin goes a long way to masking this fact, but simply put there are things missing here.
However, with the upgrade coming later this year, Sony Ericsson at least shows it's willing to address the problem.
We tried putting the popular ADW.Launcher on the X10 Mini and it worked perfectly, giving the X10 Mini a standard Android-style desktop layout if that's what you're after – or if you just want to see how silly it looks on a 2.55-inch screen.
Again, we doubt the sort of buyer Sony Ericsson has in mind will be bothered about alternate Home launchers, but if you're worrying that the OS has been dumbed down in any way – stop. It's Android through and through. You can tweak away. Nothing's been compromised.
A particularly nice minor UI touch is the addition of a 'Delete Several' option, which pops up a tickbox on large lists of icons, making it super-easy to trim down your memory card's music or photo library content.
You'll find this a lot when using the X10 Mini – whenever you press a button expecting something to happen, the thing you hoped would happen, happens. It's definitely rivalling HTC's Sense UI, as featured on the five-star HTC Desire, in the usability stakes.
No comments:
Post a Comment