Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 Full Review

Screen

The screen on the Xperia X1 is simply amazing.  You just don’t appreciate how good it really is until you watch a video  or use the web browser.  The 800×480 VGA screen is outstanding and sets a new standard for mobile devices.  The amazing resolution is matched by a bright colours, and it performs well in all lighting conditions.

Google maps is another way to showcase how fantastic the screen is – I couldn’t believe how sharp the image was when I zoomed in on my home.  Also bundled with the Xperia X1 is Opera 9.5 which performs very, very well and is on par, if not better than other mobile browsers.

Windows Mobile

I think that Windows Mobile works very well on the device because of the great buttons and keyboard.  Yes, there are sometimes a lot of menus to trawl through.  But, the same can be said of Symbian phones.  In my opinion what makes Windows Mobile great is it’s integration with other Microsoft apps.  Exchange support is the best of any mobile OS, as well as support for windows Messenger which is built into the OS, and so is Microsoft Office support e.g I was able to prepare for a training course yesterday by emailing the revision deck to myself and then reading it on the train down on my Xperia X1. SMS support in windows mobile 6.1 is also greatly improved.  I love the threading that gives an almost instant messenger feel to the sending messages.

The way the Xperia X1 deals with alerts such as new email, sms, missed call, appointment etc is very impressive.  Rather than taking over the whole screen and forcing the user to dismiss each one, a very discreet popup window is displayed at the bottom of the screen that disappears after a few seconds.  If a number of alerts have been displayed then they can be scrolled through all at the same time.

X-Panels

I was a bit worried that the X-Panel functionality that allows the Xperia X1 to run multiple desktops would be really gimmicky and would just slow my phone down.  For a while my fears seemed to be coming true as out of the box my Xperia X1 was unbearably slow.  However, this improved and I think the phone just needed time to do the first couple of background syncs with my mailboxes and to then store all the new data efficiently, as now my phone is running very fast.  It’s still a bit slow to start, needing about 15 seconds before I can enter my pin, but after that it is fine.

To really appreciate the Xperia X1 X-panels you have to get to know the phone first.  Without the panels, it would be very hard to access some of your favourite applications on the phone, as the Windows Mobile Today page is too inflexible.  For instance, without the media panel it would take a few clicks to play music (open Windows Media Player, choose storage area, choose music, then choose play – all driven by menus).  With the media panel it takes two clicks to choose the panel and you’re good to go.

Summary

Am I happy with my Xperia X1?  Extremely.  It does everything I hoped it would do, and it has even surprised me in some areas.  The Xperia X1 hasn’t compromised on delivering a great phone for making phone calls, that also provides great application and internet support.  For me this is why I believe it’s better than the G1 or iPhone.  These phones may have sexier companies involved, but I the Xperia X1 is a much more practical phone that is easier to live with day-2-day.

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