Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 review

January 14, 2010 12:30 pm

by Joe Minihane

Categories: Mobile Phones Reviews Tags: Sony Ericsson, Xperia X10

We love

Rachael UI looks great, camera is top notch

We hate

Slow on the web, even with Wi-Fi, only Android 1.6, although that could all change with the final model

Verdict

A fine Android phone, we hope the finalised version is as good as it promises to be

Launch Price

£TBC

6 Pages

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Arguably the most hyped Google Android phone yet, the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 is at last on its way to a mobile emporium near you. But can the 4-inch titan beat down Big G rivals the Motorola Milestone and HTC Hero? Or is it just a slick looking paperweight? Read our definitive Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 review and we’ll reveal all.

We’ve laid our hands on an early version of the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10, but there’s no doubting even this model has class. The blower’s biggest draw is its UI, the skin has been hyped as the ultimate way to manage your media and keep on top of your raft of social networking hook-ups. And in terms of looks at least, it doesn’t disappoint.

Every bit as good as HTC Sense and Motoblur, Rachael UI lets you use the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 to pull together your phone’s most important features in one place. The Timescape contacts feature couldn’t be easier to set up: feed it your email, Twitter and Facebook deets and it’ll give you a chronological view of what your pals are doing. Tap the ‘Infinite’ button and you can see where and when you’ve contacted mates, no matter what method you’ve used to tap them up.

Read our Motorola Milestone review

This ‘Infinite’ tab also works in Mediascape to bring you tune recommendations (much like Apple Genius), along with YouTube clips. This all sits neatly next to your movies and tracks. There’s no doubting it makes the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 the very best Android blower for accessing entertainment. With previous Android phones, media has always been second best to the iPhone.

The good times are not simply limited to the UI however. The Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 packs an 8.1MP snapper that smacks down all of its Android phone rivals. SE has a habit of making great camera phones and this is no exception. Shots are crisp, clear and easy to upload to the web.

But that’s not to say the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 is without its problems. The Rachael UI in the preproduction model makes things worryingly sluggish, with web pages taking an age to load, even over Wi-Fi. And although the capacitive touchscreen is fine, the unlock screen is a complete nightmare, failing to pick up our prods. However, we expect such kinks to be ironed out come the X10′s release, slated for February.

And then there’s the version of Android itself. Stuck on 1.6, the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 is well behind the 2.0 Milestone and the 2.1 Nexus One. With promises of an update in 2010, that will change, but it does mean you’ll be well short of the latest features, including Google Maps Navigation. Here’s hoping it’s another isse SE can fix prior to release.

The 13mm frame is thin enough, but the 4-inch screen means it’s tough to slip in your pocket, making the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 an acquired taste. The Rachael UI is great and the phone itself sturdy, but we’re holding out to see whether the final version can make it the first great phone of 2010.

Mobile phones such as the Sony Ericsson X10 are amazing, for more information visit www.phones4u.co.uk

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http://xperiax10phone.com Android Phone Nut

I think the Xperia X10 will become the hottest Android Phone on the market in 2010. Better than Nexus One that’s for sure. Sony Ericsson has been building phones for a long time. Longer than HTC and they offer support unlike Google whom doesn’t give support for anything.
Great review.

Tim

Sony Ericsson has been failing for a long time, particularly in the smartphone field – recent attempts like the X1 and the Satio have promised the world but ended up embarrassing. I just don’t trust SE to get their act together and fix the software problems that obviously plague the model being reviewed here prior to release, let alone implement a wholesale upgrade to Android 2.0.

http://www.electricpig.co.uk Ben Sillis

@Tim The delay with a 1.6 device is what worries me most. We’ve moved beyond even 2.0 with the Nexus One! Sony Ericsson is moving way too slowly, I fear.

http://www.gravatar.com James Holland

Normally, I’d agree. But the Nexus One doesn’t feel like a proper Android upgrade. From the time I’ve spent with it, it’s quick, and prettier than other Android phones, but I wouldn’t say it’s particularly mind-blowing. And don’t forget, all Android phones will run the same apps. Version numbers can be a bit deceptive.

That said, the sluggishness I’ve seen on every single manufacturer re-skin to date tells me that monkeying with Android isn’t a great idea, no matter which 3rd party is doing it.

http://www.electricpig.co.uk Ben Sillis

I’m just about the teflon coating on the Nexus One. It feels disturbingly good, I’d love to see it made mandatory on all phones!

Promo Monkey

How can they call this a “review” when they state they’re using a pre-production model?

viper1f1c

If they’re giving them to Journalists, then my guess is it’s as close to final as it is going to get. I’d rather know now before I rule out any alternatives. I had this on the top of my list. This or the Nexus One. Now I think I’ll take the Nexus One as it has the newer software, even though it’s pretty plain looking.

viper1f1c

Except I don’t want Nexus without contract… so I guess there’s still a wait. Being in the UK really sucks sometimes.

http://www.gravatar.com James Holland

Nexus One is a good phone, but as I said above – it’s not the earth-mover I was hoping for. Personally I love the X10′s looks, but I’d hold out and see what Apple, and Nokia, have up their sleeves in the next couple of months. The Big N simply has to pull out new software soon, and since the underlying architecture is more mature than Android and iPhone combined, if they can give it a facelift, and a fresh suite of developer tools to woo new programmers, it could easily be back in the running as my OS of choice.

Jamie Cameron

SE are really annoying me! They are arguably the best all-round phone producers (we all know the i-phone was all about the apps – nothing new any more), but they are just being so slow off the mark.

I still miss my last SE K850i. I’ve just upgraded to the Milestone, and am so disappointed with it on the basic level. The K850i had so many more basic features that Android now expect you to go search the app store for, and even buy! SE also used to be so ahead fo the time: K850i, which is over 2 years old, had bluetooth remote control for your PC built in; you have to search and buy that off the market for the Milestone, and even then it appears to have more bugs than an ant farm – I know google are trying to catch up with the Iphone App Store, but there is something to be said for quality over quantity!).

I’m looking forward to SE joining the smart phone market, but I hope they start trying to think ahead again (rather than not even managing to play catch-up), but also do not forget to include the basics. Certainly, launching with Android 1.6 is a non-starter and tech-suicide for their platform.

Now, if they could just give the X10 the same “Milestone makeover” that they’ve decided to give the X10 mini, and integrate a hardware QWERTY keyboard… I’d be back to lettign a SE reside in my pocket in no time.

http://www.electricpig.co.uk Ben Sillis

Unless you’re a hardcore emailer I wouldn’t worry too much about typing on the X10 – Sony Ericsson has nailed the on screen keyboard on it. It’s one of the best we’ve tried, up there with HTC and Apple’s efforts.

http://www.epiphanyrisknetwork.com DF

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 Noia 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 and 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).

Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 review

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