The phone has finally become official. About time too. Over all, the phone that has been unveiled looks pretty much like what we have been expecting to see. Thanks to all the leaked photos of the device, we already knew what to expect. Still, it is nice to have it officially acknowledged and know that it will be here soon. How soon? First half of 2010 soon, which is actually pretty far away in terms of new gadgets.
With a timeline of around 6 months, a lot can change in the scenario and that is what should really bother Sony Ericsson. If they knew they were going to take such a long time, they should’ve kept a tight lid on the entire thing. But then not everyone can be as secretive as Apple. In fact, SE might have been forced to reveal the phone ahead of schedule so that the rumors did not get out of hand.
Getting back to the thing itself – it has a lot to be liked. But we don’t quite know how well those features are going to work in a real life scenario. A few tech bloggers have gone hands-on with a pre-production device but that only tells us what the device is like right now. It might change a lot in the coming months.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYWEFG7iLVU
The two main features that are going to sell this phone are Timescape and Mediascape. Timescape is like a jukebox for all your communications. It has them all in one place, regardless of whether it was a text, an email, an IM or something on Facebook. If you are communicating with one of your contacts on the phone, you will find all of it in one place with Timescape.
Then comes Mediascape. Now Mediascape is more like Zune HD’s UI than anything else, which best describes what it is and what it does. It gives a whole new spin to the entire media browsing experience on a smartphone. It breaks away from the traditional lists of artists, albums and songs and instead starts you off with the recently accessed and the favorite media items. You can always go ahead and browse by artist, album, etc. but this way you get to all things you like and have played recently much faster than almost all other phones. You can also pin items to the list.
On the hardware front you have a large 4inch screen with a WVGA resolution and three physical buttons that change functions with the context on the screen. The design of the device has Sony Ericsson’s high-end aesthetics written all over it. It has smooth curves and a sleek look. It is available in two colors – black and white.
The X10 is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, which is clocked at 1GHz. At that kind of speed, reviewers aren’t too sure about the battery life of the device. Since the device is still pretty far away, the company is mum on details like these. That leaves us with room to speculate about what the phone might be like when it hits.
Another feature that is really quite tempting is the 8.1 megapixel camera. The camera will have a flash, a smile detection feature, geo tagging and also video capturing capabilities. Sony Ericsson is usually good about their camera and sound quality, so we can expect something pretty good on those fronts.
The phone is going to run Android 1.6 (Donut) and not 2.0 (Éclair). That is probably because they have been working to integrate the custom UI with the OS and 2.0 is just too new for them to have it ready. Hands on reviewers have had good things to say about Google Maps and the standard Android webkit browser but they have also complained about the responsiveness and some noticeable lags on the pre-production unit. Hopefully, it will be better when it starts selling. It is currently available from only one place online (US) where the price is $799. It is also on pre-order in the UK.
