After gauging many of the offered features of the phone in our hand, we are presenting you with a comprehensive review of the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 mini pro. Because Sony Ericsson has managed to hog the limelight many a times when it comes to releasing feature-rich and communication dedicated mobile devices, the newest being this Xperia X10 mini pro. The company’s Xperia series so far features more than a handful of members to entice mobile enthusiasts. The moment the Xperia X10 mini pro arrived at our office for reviewing, we couldn’t take our eyes off its cute form factor.
The handset was delivered to us in a white and blue laconic box that bundled add-ons such as earphones with mic, a FCC statement and charger. Sporting matt black hues on both sides, the device exuded an overall endearing look. Its right edge encompasses a charging cum USB port, while the left side incorporates dedicated buttons for camera and volume adjustment. The top edge jackets a power/unlock switch and 3.5mm audio jack. The anterior side of the phone has the words ‘Sony Ericsson’ pasted on the top region and name ‘Xperia’ placed just above the three metallic Menu, Home and Back buttons. On flipping the miniature device we spotted a LED-flash light just beside a 5MP digital camera lens. The official Sony Ericsson logo can be seen in the middle of the panel with a speaker grille right next to it.
After removing the back cover which posed a bit of trouble, we found a replaceable battery and a slot for the SIM card. On unlocking the screen, the phone’s 2.5” 240 x 320p QVGA capacitive touchscreen lit up rather vibrantly with four customizable icons in the corners of the homescreen. It exhibits a slide-out full physical QWERTY keyboard bolted onto the lower side meant for text input. Anyone can swiftly switch from portrait to landscape mode by simply sliding out the keyboard for ease of navigation. The menu interface includes 3 x 3 grid options which can be extended up to desired number of pages, we chose to configure six pages with most favored widgets on it.
The phones’ touchscreen UI turned to be very intuitive and user-friendly. Users can seamlessly steer through the handset for performing routine functions like checking texts or playing songs by nudging the screen in the preferred direction. The four corners of your homescreen can be highly personalized with great entertainment preferences or apps for quick accessibility. Well, if you have even slightly chubby fingers then you’ll definitely face difficulty when using the QWERTY keypad as the raised miniscule keys are placed close to each other in four rows. Typing with the aid of predictive text input increased our texting speed to a large extent; while users can also choose to stick with the traditional multi-tap input.
The integrated 5MP auto focus camera sprung to life on selecting the concerned widget, the top right corner is a widget that toggles photo and video modes. The top left corner permits effortless switching between auto flash mode or no flash mode and a direct link to the gallery of images or videos can be found on the bottom left corner. The right corner on the base features four different options, namely auto, macro, twilight or sports in image mode or normal and MMS alternatives for camcorder mode. We decided to check out the camera quality and proceeded to click a few pictures which came out gorgeously in good lighting conditions. Although the camera does not capture the most amazing footage ever, it isn’t bad enough for shooting random clips while on the go.
The built-in Sony Ericsson music player belts out loud music in formats like MP3 or AAC and can stream them clearly via the supplied headphones. It is also capable of sorting tracks by artist, album and track with enhanced support for shuffle and smart playlists. The playback controls presented at the base region are easily comprehensible and users can easily access the ‘now playing’ list with the top right key. The icon on the top left side offers a quick link to the music library. The low screen resolution results in the handset not supporting a select few apps which is bit of a dampener. The mobile phone is powered by Android 2.1 OS and runs on the 600MHz ARM 11 processor. Interesting apps such NeoReader barcode scanner, Wisepilot car navigation app, TrackID music identifier and PlayNow are included in the phone.
Sony Ericsson’s patented TimeScape app provides a heightened social networking experience, wherein you can keep a close tab on all of your friends’ activities. It lets anyone instantly access websites like Facebook and Twitter along with an easy option to update status messages. This app displays recent updates from friends in an innovative vertical timeline format. Additionally, people can seamlessly add contact information of any online acquaintance to the mobile device. The device’s USB mass storage feature lets you effortlessly sync media files with your computer. The featured Peggle game kept us glued to the gadgets’ screen for a long time with the exciting gameplay it offered. The battery performance was fairly good as it could sustain heavy usage without draining the charge considerably. Moderate users will be able to employ the device at least for two days on single charge.
Pros:
The device boasts of a compact form factor thanks to Sony Ericsson’s ‘human curvature design’.
It has an intuitive UI for easy navigation.
Cons:
The device renders poor overall call quality.
Its inept QWERTY keypad made typing a tad difficult.
Verdict:
Despite sporting a compressed form factor, this mobile device fits in a very functional UI, better SNS integration and a fairly good quality camera. But the company could have done a far better job with the QWERTY keypad and the call quality. For those in search of a feature-rich as well as a stylish QWERTY cum touchscreen handset, the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 mini pro is a safe bet. Available across markets in black, red or pearl white shades, the Xperia X10 mini pro can be purchased with a price tag of Rs. 14,900. This elfin mobile phone manages to score a 9 out of 10 rating from us.