Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 Full Review

Many serious phone users like myself have been itching to get their hands on a Sony Ericsson Xperia X1, ever since the phone was first announced in January.  I finally got my hands on one two days later, and after giving it a good run for it’s money over the last couple of days I’m going to share what I like (there are lots of things) and what I don’t like (not many) about the phone in my Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 Review.

I’d almost given up getting my hands on a Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 this month as the launch date was constantly moving, apparently due to networks rejecting the handset.  This didn’t give me a lot of confidence and with many purchases where you have to wait a long time for gratification, I started wondering whether or not I’d chosen the handset.  Despite managing to get my hands on a Xperia X1 at the weekend at a shopping mall for a few mins, I still had a few lingering doubts.

These doubts persisted right up until my phone appeared out of the blue earlier this week, a couple of days earlier than I expected.  However these doubts started to disperse as soon as I opened the box and have now gone all-together now that I’ve got to know and personalise my Xperia X1.  All in all it is without doubt the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 is the most advanced and powerful phone I’ve ever owned.

Unboxing

Unboxing new gadgets these days is a real experience, and the packaging for the Xperia X1 as expected is top notch.  I’ve attached a few shots below that were taken with my old Nokia N95, so apologies for some of them looking a bit blurry but I was in a rush to put the SIM into my new Xperia X1!

The box contained a charger that very cleverly doubles up as a USB data cable, hands-free kit, spare stylus and user documentation.  The user documentation was very well laid out.  Rather than throw a big manual in the box, what Sony Ericsson have done with the Xperia X1 is break the manual into smaller documents that are formatted like quickstart guides i.e. they fold out h big images and easy to read instructions.

What wasn’t in the box which I would have liked to see was a case or at least a cloth or something to keep the screen clean.

Physical Appearance

Much has been written about the quality of the Xperia X1’s build, which in opinion is fantastic.  The quality is more on par with an iPod or MP3 player than a phone.  All of the buttons are in logical places and are well thought out.  On the side of the phone are buttons to control volume, start the camera, power on/off as well as proper headphone socket.  On the front of the phone are two menu keys, call buttons, a button to launch the X-Panel, a multi-directional pad/optical joystick and a ‘ok’ button.  The addition of the ‘, Excchangeok’ button allows the Xperia X1 to silence any Windows Mobile haters, as it allows the Mobile OS to be navigated quickly and easily with one hand, particularly in tandem with the D-pad.

The only complaint I have with the phone’s layout are I’m finding it hard sometimes to use the top two menu buttons.  I think this is because they have metal studs on them that I really don’t think help and only make it harder to depress the buttons.  Overall though the phone can be used successfully in portrait mode, although the stylus is needed for writing SMSs if you don’t want to get the screen grubby.

Keyboard

The Xpreria X1 features the arc slider that allows the keys to be more spread out and tilts the screen upwards making it easier to read.  Again this works very well and provides a very easy keyboard to use once you get used to the lack of travel in the keys.  Features I like about the keyboard is again the inclusion of an ‘ok’ key, but also the inclusion of a windows menu key.

What would have made the keyboard perfect for me would have been a better way to access the number keys, or maybe having them a different colour like on my HTC Touch to make them stand out more.

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