Small but nice – that’s my impression after having tested the Sony Ericsson X10 Mini of the Xperia multi-media smartphone series. Obviously, the small size of the cell phone compels comprises – the Sony Ericsson X10 Mini fits into any pocket but is not suited for all smartphone application. But don’t be fooled: The X10 Mini is a powerful device despite its small size. Read in this review what I like and what I don’t like about the Sony Ericsson X10 Mini.

X10 Mini, Pictures: Sony Ericsson

Hardware

Actually, the Sony Ericsson X10 Mini has the same features as the Sony Ericsson X10 Mini Pro, except for the mechanical keyboard. In fact, the X10 Mini doesn’t even have a virtual QWERTZ keypad so that users of this smartphone must type in messages or textes with a regular cell phone alphanumeric keypad with T9 text recognition. The Sony Ericsson X10 Mini is certainly not a good choice for messaging fans. Everything else is similar to the X10 Mini Pro: Quad-band-GSM, UMS/HSPA with up to 7.2 mbps (download) and 5.76 mbps (upload), WiFi b/g, Bluetooth, USB 2.0, a 5-megapixel camera with auto-focus and video capture offering a mediocre picture quality, a media player with 3.5-millimeter headset jack, an in-ear headset and Bluetooth stereo streaming offering good sound quality, and a GPS receiver for geotagging and other location based services. The storage capacity of the phone of 128 MB can be expanded by MicroSD card by up to 16 GB.

The Sony Ericsson X10 Mini is powered by a Qualcomm CPU with 600 MHz and 256 MB RAM which seems to be enough because the Android 1.6 OS with a trimmed-down version of the UX user interface as well as media applications run smoothly on the smartphone. The 2.6-inch capacitive touch-screen with a resolution of 240 x 320 pixels and 16.7 million colors is sharp but could be brighter and does not support multi-touch like the Apple iPhone. The small-sized screen forces the user to do more scrolling in the menu and on websites and makes reading messages or websites as well as watching video clips more difficult. There are several sensors integrated into the X10 Mini such as an accelerometer and a digital compass.

According to the manufacturer, the X10 Mini offers up to four hours of talk in GSM mode or up to 3.5 hours in 3G mode. These values will not be reached when using the smartphone, though. While testing the device, I had to recharge the 950 mAh battery every two or three days. Voice quality of the Sony Ericsson is fine even though the user will hear some background noise.

Software

The Sony Ericsson X10 Mini can be operated one-handed by mainly using the thumb. There are three physical buttons below the phone’s display for opening the menu, the home-screen and going back. The UX user interface with several home-screens and interchangeable shortcuts in the screen’s four corners offers direct access to the user’s favorite applications. That is nice: The most important applications of the smartphone are always easily accessible. The user can also position a widget in the middle of every home-screen. On the Sony Ericsson X10 Mini there are also the Timescape and Mediascape applications of Sony Ericsson which can be opened by pushing the virtual “infinite” button and integrate messages and social networking status updates into a single view or show further songs of artists in the phone’s memory, at Youtube or at the Play Now Arena download platform.

Like other Android smartphones the Sony Ericsson X10 Mini features Google services such as Google
Search, Google Voice Search, Google Talk, Google Mail, YouTube and Google Maps. Further apps can be downloaded at the app store Android Market. Emails, contacts and calender entries are synchronized with the Google server as soon as the user has activated his or her Google account and the phone is connected to the Internet. Sony Ericsson installed Road Sync on the X10 Mini so that the smartphone is compatible with Exchange servers. Eventually, there will be an OS upgrade to Android 2.1 (Eclair), Sony Ericsson has declared. The webkit browser does not support Flash, the email client (POP3, IMAP, SMTP) comes with push email and Microsoft Exchange Activesync support.

Summary

Because of its size, the Sony Ericsson addresses a particular target group. With fast mobile Internet connections and its great usability, it is suited for regular cell phone services as well as for the use of multi-media and social networking services. However, for writing many and long messages it lacks the physical keyboard of the Sony Ericsson X10 Mini Pro. The X10 Mini is available at stores in Germany for purchase prices beginning at € 220.00 without contract, the X10 Mini Pro for purchase prices beginning at € 260.00.

Product Summary of the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini:
Processor: Qualcomm MSM7227 with 600 MHz
Operating System: Android 1.6 with UX user interface
GSM Networks: 850, 900, 1,800, 1,900 MHz
Data Transfer: GPRS, EDGE, UMTS, HSDPA 7.2 mbps, HSUPA 5.76 mbps, WiFi (b/g)
Connectivity: Bluetooth (A2DP), USB 2.0
Screen: 2.6-inch TFT-touchscreen with 240 x 320 pixels resolution and 16.7 million colors
Keyboard: virtual QWERTZ
Camera: 5-megapixel with autofocus, LED light and video capture (640 x 480 pixels at 30 f/s)
Other: media player with 3.5-mm headset jack, A-GPS
Storage: 128 MB + 16 GB MicroSD
Size: 83 x 50 x 16 mm
Weight: 88 g
Speaking Time: 4 hrs (GSM) or 3.5 hrs (UMTS)