Phones.com » Cell Phones » Review of the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1

The XPERIA X1 is no small baby with physical dimensions of 110.5 x 52.6 x 17 mm and weighing in at 145 grams. The weight is low despite the loaded gadget it is and the stainless steel finish on the front. The X1 has solid looks from the metallic finish and a firm grip. The X1 looks big held like a regular phone on your palm, but the magic starts when you slide open the large QWERTY keypad and use it with both hands. The ergonomics are just right with the 4-row keyboard also equipped with an optical trackpad. The biggest selling point of the XPERIA X1 however is its screen. The 3" display boasts of a WVGA resolution of 800x480 pixels. On top of it the display is touch-enabled, so the user has too many input options. Below the screen are the dedicated hardware keys with a D-pad in the middle section which embeds into itself an optical trackpad. The right side has a volume rocker which can be operated easily even when the keypad is slid down. The top of the device has a 3.5 mm audio jack, the power key and the stylus holder. The XPERIA X1 thoughtfully accomodates four status indicator LEDs on its body, displaying useful alerts and notifications along the lines of elegance.

When it comes to multimedia, most PocketPC's have nothing peculiar to talk about. The XPERIA X1 is Sony Ericsson's exception to this rule, it is fully optimized for multimedia usage. The large, 3" high resolution screen is a big plus to the X1. The XPERIA X1 is equipped with good overall features like the 3.2 MP autofocus camera with Flash, 3.5 mm audio jack, FM radio with RDS and the fast performance of the hardware itself. The X1 could seamlessly support DivX/XviD playback on the large screen albeit with freeware third-party apps. The playback performance was nothing short of impressive and the X1 easily handles the highest bit-rate files its competitors could not handle. Video recording is supported upto VGA resolution, but unfortunately only in low-quality 3GP format. Night mode videography is supported with the assistance from the LED Flash serving as the video light. Coming to music playback, the XPERIA X1 is simply spiffing and beats every other WinMo phone that is on the market. It in fact outdid many of the dedicated music players available in terms of frequency response and low noise levels. Talking of usability features, the XPERIA X1 is a unique experience in itself. Sony Ericsson innovated the XPanels interface for the XPERIA line which scores much better than competitors. At the click of a button there are a variety of panels to choose from, which offer quick access to various sets of applications. All this is customisable easily and the XPanels interface does offer a lot new in conjunction with the Windows Mobile 6.1. SMS supports a great looking threaded view as with the new line of WinMo devices, and the Email client was as good. The phone comes with the standard set of software that can do most office job well, but you have to get your hands dirty if you want more to be done.

Here is where the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1 shines, the connectivity department. The phone basically supports Quadband GSM and Triband 3G/HSDPA, available in two flavors for both world regions. Nothing is lacking with the inclusion of HSDPA 7.2Mbps / HSUPA 2Mbps, WLAN 802.11 b/g DLNA, Bluetooth 2.0 A2DP, and A-GPS connectivity. The bottom of the keypad has the miniUSB connector with support for USB 2.0 speeds. Browsing on the WVGA display was a piece of cake, thanks to the new Opera 9.5 browser which is preloaded. Though there's no full-Flash support yet, you can manage to watch Youtube videos on the large screen. Navigation with Google Maps on the large viewfinder gave us a great experience unlike on any other device. The XPERIA X1 is great for a connectivity geek.

The XPERIA X1 tries to erase the differences between Windows Mobile devices and UMPCs. Sony Ericsson has blessed this WinMo with the best mobile hardware it could find, and brought it up close to perfect. Talking about hardware performance the X1 plays it with ease; there's a Qualcomm 528MHz under the hood fed with 256 MBs of RAM. The large internal memory from the 512 MB ROM accomodates many applications on the phone memory, and there's ample expansion (upto 32 GB) through the microSD slot.The phone is powered by a 1500 mAh battery which promises 10 hours of talk time on 2G.

Value for money is something hard to find on a high-end handset. Even though the XPERIA X1 strives hard for perfection, it does have lacking aspects. Despite this the XPERIA X1 has a very steep price tag. For instance the HTC Touch Pro does almost all that the X1 does (and often more) at a lesser price. Individual preferences may vary but Sony Ericsson could have made the XPERIA X1 more affordable for us.