Hands on with the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1, we knew it would be full of promise. But would it live up to the hype? Sony Ericsson claims that their new handset offers the 'premium experience' when it comes to 'energised communication'. Our life is mobile so everything that is important to us should be with us all the time. Makes sense. But would great things really lay ahead?
Firstly, decent hardware shouldn't mean oversized or unattractive. Thankfully, the Sony Xperia 3G Smartphone isn't too heavy (146 grams), considering it has a mighty amount of power within that sleek stainless casing. It doesn't feel too wide in your hands either. The slide out Qwerty keyboard has more horizontal separation between keys, which helps reduce incorrect presses for those of us of the fat fingered variety, so two-handed use can be almost as fluid as you would SMS.
The "X" themed main buttons are laid out in four on either side in an inverted diamond shape (modern enough and still respectable on style). Combine this with the arc slider design and you have one really distinctive look, credible in both bar or boardroom. The banana movement or "curved slide" angles the screen up to reveal the keyboard design. Its multiple navigation lets you interact via touch, using the full QWERTY keyboard or the 4-way key and optical joystick. The feel is faultless. Moving around the handset, there really is nothing which would upset the clean lines of its design.
The Sony Xperia has all the technical prowess of a Blackberry, with a generous 400MB of internal memory, 256MB RAM and 512MB storage memory. The software is Windows Mobile 6.1, playing out via a slick panel interface. Onto those panels… nine are displayed at a glance, organised to exactly how you want them to appear. At a light finger touch you can choose what you want to access, and scroll through web pages effortlessly (you can just swipe down on it to scroll). Microsoft Pocket Office allows you to view documents in Microsoft Word, Excel, Powerpoint and PDF format so it's possible to store countless documents and view them, wherever you are. You can also blog pictures and messages on the move and Wi-Fi capabilities mean you'll always be connected.
The glossy, high resolution 3 inch VGA display booms out crisp and vibrant technicolour. This makes accessing your favourite media on the move all that more enjoyable, whether you're watching a choice movie, making a video call to the office or viewing playback of your latest handy work in DVD quality video. And, when you're on the road to nowhere, added to all this is a built-in GPS receiver. Other features include a 3.15 mega pixel camera with motion sensor and picture editing and MP3 player.
If you like horizontal sliders the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 should be your first stop. Young professionals will love this latest offering - a functional yet stylish, magical box of tricks which actually delivers everything it promises.
