Shiny! My New Sony Ericsson Xperia X10

“It was love at first sight, you and me it was meant to be.”

Hello world! Meet my new Sony Ericsson Xperia X10. Rachael (UX) UI floored me at very first sight and I boldly proclaimed that Xperia X10 is the Android phone we have all been waiting for.

Since, then of course a lot has changed. HTC has come out with some superb Android offerings. And truth be told, Desire did nudge my desires for a moment. In the end, I decided to put faith in Sony’s promise of continued future support and picked up an X10. I had to shell out Rs. 31,500, however it should be slightly cheaper in metros all over India.

I won’t really do an in-depth review, since there are plenty of them available already. But, here are some of the pros and cons of Xperia X10.

Xperia X10: What Rocks

Looks: The phone looks awesome and feels even better.
Interface: As long as you love blue, you are going to love the UX interface. It exudes style and beauty without feeling over the top.
Display: The WVGA resolution display is both bright and crisp. Its holds on fairly well even under bright sunlight.
Android: meh.
Timescape and Mediascape: As long as your social networking needs are modest, you will be satisfied by Timescape. Mediascape does have a few distinct disadvantages (more on that later), but they are simply too good to be not considered as a pro. A special mention must be made of the ‘Infinity’ button, which is especially handy.
Touchscreen: I didn’t experience any of the niggling touchscreen issues everyone have been complaining about. But, this can be attributed to the fact that I updated my firmware right off the bat.
Earphones: Sounds good for a bundled pair of earphones.

Xperia X10: What Sucks

Volume: The volume is low all around. While the volume of the music player is passable, the call volume is too low for comfort.
Mediascape: Mediascape has some notable chinks in its armor. It’s beyond me as to why SE shipped a premium device without an equaliser or a playlist editor.Even more surprising is the omission of Divx support.
Timescape: My main Twitter stream is like a firehose and I definitely don’t want receiving a dozen updates on my phone every minute. I am perhaps asking for too much, but Timescape would have been a much more usable feature had it supported Twitter Lists.
Battery: Eats up a hell of a lot of battery, even while idle.
Android 1.6: Sony is the only major player that is yet to offer Android 2.1. SE has assured its fans that the update will come in Q4 2010 (September), however by then the rest of the world would have moved on to Froyo (Android 2.2) or even Gingerbread (Android 3.0).
Photo Light: Photo light acts more as a torch than as a flash, making night photography almost impossible.
No Root (Yet): Why does SE have to make things so difficult for modders? Let’s hope that the geniuses at XDA can come up with something soon.

Sony Ericsson Xperia X10: Package Details

1 x 1500mAh battery
1 x 8GB SD card
1 x Earphones
2 x screen cover (one attached)
1 x leather pouch
1x USB Cable/charger

Overall, Xperia X10 is an excellent handset. Don’t get discouraged by the (lengthy) list of cons, as most of them is just nitpicking. The phone performs admirably and is simply a joy to use.