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Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 – First Impression, Thoughts and Review

posted Friday, November 28th, 2008

I have had a Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 since November 15 and have been playing with it for the past 12 days. So far I am loving the phone.

First Impression

When I first saw the box, I was quite surprised. I had expected it to be bigger for some reason. The next surprise was the phone itself. It looked so small. And if that wasn’t enough I got another shock on sliding out the keyboard. The keys are so small but not in a bad way. It’s just that the photographs give you the impression of the phone being a bit bigger for some reason.

Build Quality

One word. Fabulous! It is a solid phone and feels great in your hands. I got the black one, which has a brushed metallic look. The top part around the stylus and camera and the bottom part at the back are a bit rubbery.

Keyboard

No one was exaggerating when they said the sliding mechanism is really good. It slides out very smoothly with a definite click at the end.

I did not feel the keys were too flush or did not have a lot of bounce. They feel quite alright to me. The top row of keys is close to the phone and you do sometimes bump while typing. I do have small hands so people with bigger hands might find this to be an issue. Try out the keyboard first if you have the opportunity to do so.

Other than that I wish they had dedicated number keys at the top but its not a deal breaker.

Since I was using a Nokia 6670 before, my fingers kept trying to find the alphabets in the dial pad fashion. It took me a couple of days to get used to a QWERTY version on a phone. But now that I have I enjoy typing on it.

Screen

Nice, bright and crisp. The resolution is awesome. My sister tried her IMATE from a couple of years back and was wondering why my phone had a sharper, crisper screen. It is because of the 800×480 screen resolution. Amazing!

However, this does lead to one problem. Very tiny fonts. Although this is a software issue and you can tweak your software to get bigger fonts in most, if not all areas.

Panels

This is a brilliant concept and really makes the Xperia a unique phone IMO. There was a time when I was debating between the HTC Pro and Xperia. However, with the HTC Pro I was stuck with the interface it came with or at max I could install another Today screen plugin. But only one option at a time.

With the panels, I can switch interfaces with the click of a button. Just have to wait for more panels to be developed now as there aren’t too many options available currently.

Responsiveness

I find the touch screen to be responsive. Although people who have used a capacitative screen like on an IPhone may not like it too much. The panels open up fast but once open it takes a couple of seconds to get it fully loaded. You see a screenshot while it loads in the background. Once you are inside a panel, then the phone works fast.

The only place with a noticeable lag is when you change the screen orientation of the panel view. The panels freeze for a split second while changing. But seriously it doesn’t kill you ;-) I hardly ever change orientation in that view anyway. You normally tend to do so when inside a panel to write an sms or to view a website in wide view.

Input

I love the multiple input options. You can use the stylus, touchscreen or keyboard. You can write directly on the screen using the stylus. And with the right software you can even talk to your phone.

–

If you are like me and haven’t used a Win Mo device in years or perhaps never at all, then you might find the phone overwhelming to start with. There are so many options and tweaks that can be applied and so much to learn. But don’t worry, you get the hang of it.

Just think of Xperia more like a computer where it gets better with the utilities and tweaks you add as opposed to a phone you can use out of the box. You can still do that but you will be missing out on the best Xperia can offer.

–

Coming up soon: A list of Xperia Tweaks, Settings, Utilities, Panels, Software, Games, Tips and Tricks

  • http://www.oilpaintingsmarket.com Van Gogh

    Looks great, the sceen is big. but i never seen this one in my country, maybe not yet.

  • http://www.dotsndashes.com Erum Munir

    It hasn’t been released in most countries as yet. So it might be a few months before you see it in stores.

  • http://www.whackedoutmarketing.com Rob

    Excellent review! Once my contract is up with Sprint, I’m moving on over to AT&T. Maybe iPhone since I’ve made the switch to Mac. We shall see.

    Blog Post: Attention Fellow Bloggers: People May Be Stealing From You!

  • http://ultra-green-tea.wetpaint.com/ ultragreen

    One of my buddies is always talking about your blog at work – finally came and checked it out today, nice work! I’m subscribing to your rss feed – keep on posting!

  • http://www.dotsndashes.com Erum Munir

    @Rob Thanks! There are so many new and innovative smartphones coming up that it is getting to be a difficult choice. And there was a time when I couldn’t find a decent touchscreen option.

    You might want to look at Xperia, HTC Touch Pro, HTC Touch Diamond, IPhone, the upcoming Nokia N97, Samsung Omnia, G1 (ugly IMO lol)

    Sadly IPhone is the one with the least amount of features compared to the rest.

    @ultragreen Thanks for visiting. I hope you enjoy my blog :)

  • http://www.whackedoutmarketing.com Rob

    Erum,

    I appreciate the list to check out. Yes, that was what I was afraid would happen… a ton of phones with more features available after the new iPhone… that’s one reason why I waited. :)

    Rob

    Blog Post: Attention Fellow Bloggers: People May Be Stealing From You!

  • http://www.dotcominfoway.co.uk/ Rob Lee

    Nice Phone! I never seen this type of phone in my country,I like to buy big screen like your phone.It so nice.Thank for your post.

  • http://www.dotsndashes.com Erum Munir

    @Rob Lee, The phone has been released in UK, Germany and Sweden to start with. It is currently being released in the US and I’m sure it will be available in other countries in a few months time.

    If you want it right now you can export it from UK. Clove ships phones worldwide. Just make sure you check up on custom duties at your end first.

  • http://www.dotsndashes.com Erum Munir

    @Rob, I’m glad I waited, too. Though in my case the wait was all thanks to Apple not releasing the IPhone in my country. Well they aren’t getting my money now LOL.

  • http://www.flightstoaustralia.org.uk Iamsgf

    I think the bad thing is that big companies don’t launch all their product all over the world simultaneously. Perhaps it is another trick to enhance their sales but this is not good at part of customers. I am still eager to have one.

    Blog Post: Sea World – Queensland, Australia

  • http://www.dotsndashes.com Erum Munir

    I believe one reason is to test market the product in one area and iron out any problems. This way if there is an issue they don’t have to do recalls or deal with angry customers all over the world in one go ;-)

  • M. van Bers

    This are nice reviews and for the people who has the device very handy. I have to wait for three months for I can change my telephoneabo.
    I can’t hardly wait! Thanks!

  • http://ryanpajohnson.blogspot.com Lance@Ryan

    It’s great to hear about the build quality. Usually with a phone that has some form of slider mechanism, I wonder how the mechanism will last after a few years. This phone’s looking pretty good. Would love to see it come out over here, and give it a bit of a hands on test.

  • http://www.dotsndashes.com Erum Munir

    It is always best to test out a phone in person so you see how it feels in your hands.

    The slider mechanism seems pretty solid and from the looks of it, it should last. Something to do with a magnet so there is less wear and tear as well.

  • http://www.conference-tv.de Video Conference Services

    Nice phone, its screen was big great in capturing images. I’m sure it’s so bright and nice in taking pictures.

  • Lance | Ryan

    True. I think I read about that magnet thing. I wonder though how this phone compares to that similar phone which came out from Nokia.

  • http://www.dotsndashes.com Erum Munir

    Noka N97 seems interesting. I would definitely like to play around with it.

    But in the end I think I will still go for Xperia for the one reason that I have the option of multiple interfaces and all it takes is the click of button.

    I just love that option. You just can’t get bored of a phone which has that kind of flexibility.

  • Lance | Ryan

    Good point. I’m a big fan of being able to personalize my device so that it’s fairly easy to make it my own, and to freshen it up every once in a while. And again, any good device which has a physical keyboard ranks up there for me.

  • http://dropit2.blogspot.com/ drop it like its

    Amazing phone.The design is out standing,I could just buy it for the design and forget about the keybaord,It kind of hard to type but who care.anyway I am not afford…;)

    Blog Post: Life, Is One Serious Joke..

  • http://www.sonorika.eu/ Dante

    my friend got the mobile phone, i like it. it is very handy and got many special functions.

    Blog Post: Städtereisen

  • http://www.inscripta.de/ greggi

    i got the mobile phone , i like the special functions and the style is kinda cool , looks so modern. The music qualityis good and loud enough.

    Blog Post: Fehlermeldung PhP Handling

  • http://www.eifel-huhn.de/ maggi

    im thinking about to buy the mobile phone but im not sure yet, got alot nice functions anf so but i dunno its so useful in the daily work?

    Blog Post: Fotoalben

  • http://www.dotsndashes.com Erum Munir

    It really depends on your usage.

    For me the phone serves multiple purposes in one. Apart from using as a phone and for sms (which is a bliss to type out using the keyboard), I find it very useful to check stuff on the net when I’m away from home, I use it as an appointment book, as a calculator, as an alarm clock and let’s not forget the games ;-)

  • http://www.nonchexsystemsbanks.com Non chexsystems banks

    I’m a big fan of Sony Ericsson mobile phones..i like there features on there phones and most especially the camera phone..it has a high quality picture captured..and with this new model phone the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 i wish i could have this one.. :)
    Hoping…. ;)

  • http://www.holtzsaddleco.com horse saddles

    I have bought many mobile phones with different brand. But Sony Ericsson was the only brand that I seem to love. love the features specially the models that have a picture perfect quality. Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 was the first mobile phone that I was so excited to get my hands on. :D

  • http://lasvegashotelsdeal.com Hotels in Las Vegas

    I have a sony ericssin xperia x1.i purchase it august it have many function & so good quaility at last sony ericssion xperia x1 is he best.

  • http://www.icedorchid.com/ Brian@Diamond Engagement Rings

    I feel like I would have problems typing on something that small. Have you noticed any problem with that while you have had it?

  • http://www.dotsndashes.com Erum Munir

    That is what I thought, too. But I’m pretty much used to it now and cannot think of going back to the numeric keypad.

  • http://www.tobeinformed.com/blog/1405 ora-md

    on my first look its look like mini computer to me … such a great review .very stylish phone and has all the options great keypads .the design is really out standing big screen . great post really

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