The X10 of the Xperia series is Sony Ericsson’s debut Android smartphone. The list of features is rather impressive, even though it shows that the Sony Ericsson X10 is no high-flier: 1 GHz Snapdragon processor by Qualcomm, 8.1-megapixel camera with HD video capture, HSPA and WiFi connectivity, and A-GPS. On the other hand, it runs on Android 1.6 - an older version of the operating system geared towards the easy use of Google services such as Google Search, Google Mail, Google Maps or Google Talk by mobile. This is why Sony Ericsson has put its own user interface User Experience with its Timescape and Mediascape views on top of the Android OS. How older software and up-to-date hardware work together will this review of the Sony Ericsson X10 show.

As shown earlier in a short video, Timescape is the information hub on the Sony Ericsson X10 pooling status updates from social networking portals such as Facebook and VZ-Netzwerke, tweets from Twitter, emails, text massages (SMS) and photos. The Mediascape section offers an overview of songs, photos and videos stored on the smartphone’s microSD card and of additional content available at web portals such as Picasa, YouTube, Facebook and PlayNow Arena. What’s nice about Timescape and Mediascape: The user can always switch easily between seeing all messages or the entire media content at a glance and focusing on information or content from just one source. Thus, the user of the Sony Ericsson X10 doesn’t lose track of all the information displayed on the screen. Users should consider, though, that the loading time of Timescape message views and of photo and video thumbnails from web portals depend on the strength of the data connection.

Sony Ericsson X10

Beneath the big touchscreen of the Sony Ericsson X10 there are just three real buttons for opening the main page or the menu or for going back. All further operating must be done on the capacitive touchscreen with three homescreens that can be customized with shortcuts, folders, and widgets. Messages must be written on a virtual QWERTZ keypad. Even though the smartphone does not have an AMOLED display, the screen is just gorgeous: It does not lack sharpness, contrast or power of colors. Because of the accelerometer it can display messages, photos and videos in landscape or portrait mode. Kinetic scrolling can be done in a controlled and smooth manner. To say it clearly: Sony Ericsson has announced that there will be an update to Android 2.1 (Eclair) for the X10, but even then the touchscreen of the smartphone will not support multi-touch.

One weakness of the older Android version Donut is that there is no way to synchronize contacts, calendar and emails without downloading new software on the smartphone in advance. Without such applications the Sony Ericsson X10 just supports the synchronization with the Google server over the mobile network or via WiFi. Because of the Moxier software already installed on the phone, the Sony Ericsson X10 supports push synchronization with a Microsoft Exchange server. Media content stored on the memory card of the phone can be transferred on a PC by USB connection, videos can be uploaded directly to YouTube. What I like especially about the X10: You can cut the mobile data connection via GPRS or 3G so that you can still make phone calls when the mobile internet access is blocked – in my opinion this is a very important feature for smartphones that constantly connect to the internet.

In comparison to other Android smartphones, Sony Ericsson has also extended the camera and photo features on the X10. The 8.1-megapixel camera of the X10 has an autofocus/touch-focus, an image stabilizer, a macro mode as well as a face and smile detection, supports geotagging and offers different scene modes. There is almost no shutter lag and snapshots are stored on the memory card quickly. The photos are pretty sharp, show strong colors and there is comparably low image noise. The following video shows the quality of a video shot with the camera of the Sony Ericsson X10:

To sum it up: Sony Ericsson’s Android debut turns out satisfactory. Hardware and performance are fine, the User Experience interface with Timescape and Mediascape and the infinity feature is user-friendly. The manufacturer has tried to compensate for the weaknesses of the older Android version on the X10 with additional software installed on the smartphone, but – as it turns out – this has not been entirely successful. In Germany the Sony Ericsson X10 is available for purchase prices beginning at EUR 430.00 without contract.

Product Summary of the Sony Ericsson X10:
Processor: Qualcomm QSD8250 Snapdragon with 1 GHz
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
Screen: 4-inch capacitive TFT-touchscreen with 480 x 854 pixels resolution and 65,536 colors
Keyboard: virtual QWERTZ
Camera: 8.1-megapixel with autofocus, flash and video capture in HD-quality (720 x 480 pixels resolution at 15 fps)
Other: media player with 3.5-mm headset jack, A-GPS
Storage: 1 GB + 16 GB MicroSD
Size: 119 x 63 x 13 mm
Weight: 135 g
Talk Time: 10 hrs (GSM) or 8 hrs (UMTS)

Read more about the Sony Ericsson X10 at www.teltarif.de (in German).