The Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 is more than a standard Android phone. It strengthens the standard Android operating system with a serious set of souped-up features. On top of the brilliant basic offerings of Android, the Xperia X10 adds a layer of beautiful solutions to make your life easier. Read on, and we’ll spell them out.
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Messaging mashups
Android has great messaging features, boasting easy integration with Google apps like Gmail and support for IM through Google Talk, but the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 takes them to another level with Timescape. In the Timescape app, you can see all your texts, multimedia messages, emails, call logs and Facebook and Twitter updates together.
Timescape shows your conversations as stacked cards featuring the photo of the person you’re talking to. Flick through them with your finger and you can easily travel back in time, press the Infinity button at the top of the screen and Timescape will show you all your conversations with that person, no matter where they happened, from texts to Twitter updates – all in one place.
Next gen web browsing
The Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 has a huge 4 inch capacitive touchscreen that really comes into its own when you’re browsing the web. The Xperia X10’s enhanced web browser automatically reflows text and columns so they fit the screen perfectly. On large sites with lots of text, you can use the magnifying glass tool to zoom in and navigate with your finger. Open several websites at once, and you can jump back to them using the window button to see all the pages you have open in a handy grid.
Enhanced entertainment
While Timescape powers up Android’s messaging features, Mediascape makes the most of your music, videos and photos. Dive into the Mediascape app and you’ll be greeted with three tabs dedicated to Music, Video and Photos.
Hop into a tab and you’ll be greeted by a gallery showing your most recently viewed or played files at the top of the screen. On the bottom half of the screen, Mediascape will show your Facebook, Picasa or Flickr photos or pull related videos from Youtube and tracks from the PlayNow music store. The Xperia X10 automatically analyses your music, and offers up more of the same from across the web, it’s literally a bottomless pit of entertainment, just waiting for you to take the plunge.
Futuristic control
The Xperia X10 features a redesigned on-screen keyboard that can really take advantage of its roomy touchscreen. While you can still make use of the standard Android keyboard by choosing it from a settings menu, Sony Ericsson’s tweaked Xperia X10 version offers larger, easier to use buttons especially in landscape mode. Meanwhile, for those who can’t stand typing on a touchscreen, the X10 also features handwriting recognition.
Design
The Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 packs Android into a smooth, stylish exterior. The first thing you’ll notice is the Xperia X10’s huge touchscreen. Almost every function of the phone can be accessed through the touchscreen. The other controls on the Xperia X10 are subtle and elegant. On the bottom of the Xperia X10 you’ll find physical Home, Menu and Back buttons, which make it easy to bring up menus and jump back to your home screen without having to make a flurry of finger presses.
On the side of the X10 there’s a dedicated camera shutter key (though you can set the Xperia X10 to snap pictures by touching the screen too) and a volume control rocker that doubles up as a zoom control when taking photos.
On the top of the Xperia X10 there’s a 3.5mm audio jack which means you can use your favourite headphones, the power key and a microUSB connection for synching your phone to a PC, and charging it up. The Xperia X10’s design includes great attention to detail both in the hardware design and in the user interface. For example, you’ll find the USB connector is covered to avoid dust and dirt keeping inside, and when you fire up the X10 for the first time you’ll notice you can change the direction of the curving swipe you use to unlock the phone, perfect for left and right handed owners alike!
