FRESH! Full and Deep Review of the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1 (English)

Wow. Lately I have posted many things about the XPERIA X1, haven’t I? I don’t know about you, but I have to say that I am really really looking forward to see the handset soon…Anyway let’s get to the main topic, folks. After a while browsing at the internet, I finally found a large and deep review of the XPERIA X1 from a German website called the AreaMobile. I don’t speak Germans, but thanks to Google Translate I can now share it with all of you. There are five parts of the review, and to make it short, I have summarized it for you (P.S.: Since there are some words kept in Germans, I can only predict what those words means, and therefore I beg your apology)

so let’s go to the first one.

Part I: Delivery, design, processing, display and keyboard

Delivery

The delivery package of the XPERIA X1 somewhat doesn’t match with the price. But we should never judge the book by its cover, right? However, our German friends found out that there was no memory card included in the delivery package. Too bad, but it’s not so bad. We can always search for those cards in the market. Well, beside the memory cad issue, there’s nothing else to be noted down here. The package is filled with standard equipment of common phones.

Design and Manufacturing

In terms of phone design, our German friends have no complaints. They even said that the XPERIA X1 is worthy for every cent they spent (or would spend?). The XPERIA X1 holds a clever combination of metal and plastic material and elegant look will captivated every eye. However, the X1 has a rather thick body (17mm) and a bit overweight (158gr) compared to common phones in the market. Yet by overall they rated the X1 manufacturing process is exceptional.

Display and Keyboard

The X1 display uses a diagonal 3 inches screen with 8000×480 pixels. The comparatively low of 65,000 colors plays a minor role. To save power, Sony Ericsson installed a light sensor, the screen brightness to adjust to the ambient light. You can find a volume rocker, a camera button and a power button on the side of the camera. All buttons have a very good pressure point, yet our folks at AreaMobile sometimes find it a bit difficult to use them since it’s a bit slippery. However, the proper size of individual keys and nice spacing between keys made the keyboard isn’t so bad. The keyboard is covered with elegant aluminum tone. Only the underground of the X1 is actually made of metal, the keys themselves are made of plastic.

Part II: The camera and music functions

Camera functions

3.2 megapixel are long obsolete? Not if the images of the X1 considered. They testify to the high picture sharpness, less noise and intense color. Of course other 5 – and 8-Megapixer still have more to offer, but in comparison to other Handycam with 3.2 megapixels, such as the HTC Touch Pro, Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 is much better. AreaMobile were particularly surprised by the very short tripping of the camera. Even fast moving objects are sharp and without streaks scanned even after a second landing in a photo phone memory. The X1 is thus ideally suited for snapshots and offer more than just ordinary 3.2 megapixel camera. There is a sufficient quantity of options for the camera. They range from the choice of picture brightness on specific shots for dusk to infinity and macro mode. However, AreaMobile are disappointed to the flash, which they believe as useless…

Finally we can find videos in VGA resolution incorporated in a Sony Ericsson phone. Even though the quality is decent, our folks think that the X1 still have to chase Nokia in this area. In terms of media gallery, Sony Ericsson seems to put their great effort, since AreaMobile was very impressed by it. In the same stylized look, the one on almost all new phones by the manufacturer, the program will find photos and movies sorted by date and displayed as thumbnails. Photos can be zoomed, rotated or displayed as a slideshow.

Music Features

The X1 has an internal memory capacity of 400MB, which is pretty small compared to other music phones on the market, and users might have to add some memory from their memory card. The X1 supports up to 32GB microSD cards. The X1 sync with Windows Media Player fast enough.

AreaMobile seems to be disappointed to the player. It does have some important features such as shuffle and repeat, but the player misses an equalizer. They also questioned the quality of the sound output in terms of music. However, there is 3.5 millimeter connector that most people love and a high end Senheiser headphone that has a very good, balanced sound image with a pleasant bass and treble share. Moreover, you can also use a Bluetooth stereo headset thanks to strong A2DP Bluetooth module works perfectly.

The radio software isn’t impressive since there are only six-station memory seats are available and the softkeys do not lead to the advanced settings, but the calendar and contacts.

The large and high-resolution display is ideal for watching video clips or entire films. To demonstrate, Sony Ericsson a trailer of the latest James Bond adventure than mp4 in the phone memory. In fact, the impressive display sharp. But it is a pity that Sony Ericsson say no to Youtube client. And since the browser (still) no Flash support, the door remains closed to Youtube.

Part III: browsing, messaging, PIM functions, connectivity and synchronization

Browsing/Messaging

On the narrow 3-inch display with its high resolution of 800×480 pixels, the Internet just as sharp as at home at home PC. Landscape remain large pages clear, lateral scrolling is with the Xperia X1 is no longer necessary. It’s a bit pity that the display does not automatically rotate 90 degrees when the phone is tilted. The browser is not in the position sensor coupled and only when the keyboard or postponing the browser settings will change, the Internet in widescreen format.

Although there is a panel to Internet Explorer, you still can use Opera 9.5. This superior mobile browser is also available on the Internet Touchphones Omnia Samsung and HTC Touch Diamond preinstalled. The speed of the side bodywork and comfortable control over the highly sensitive touch screen can only be compared with the Apple iPhone 3G. Thanks to the 528-megahertz processor of Qualcomm, scrolling the contents are always soft and fluid on the display.

As I mentioned before, there is no Flash videos in Xperia X1 browser. Therefore you cannot watch Youtube here. However, you can always do a manual update from Flashlite 3-Youtube so that the X1 browser can play the Youtube videos.

The Windows Mobile operating system brings an excellent e-mail client. A mailbox is quickly established, an assistant makes the complicated input of server addresses superfluous. HTML emails are faultless. Display of comfort and functionality of the client exceeds far beyond the average – thanks to the support of PushMail and signatures, the synchronization with e-mail address books on the Web and expanded sorting and editing options. The pull-out keyboard allows comfortable writing longer news. Shortly the AreaMobile equally compare the e-mail convenience of the Xperia X1 with the HTC Touch Pro.

PIM Functions

Contact management and calendar of a Windows Mobile-based smartphones are ideal for private use and professional alike. The PIM functions can hardly be desired – no wonder that Sony Ericsson is no proprietary software has been set up. One of the seven panel shows the monthly view at the Home screen, where you get a quick overview of all upcoming dates. In the phonebook, we have a finger-friendly letters bar that is also without Stylus quickly finding a contact. The rest is known from other smartphones with Microsoft operating system.

Connectivity/Sync

The Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 offers its users connect virtually all possibilities, which it currently exists. They range from a fast USB 2.0 data port via the Bluetooth short-haul transmission up to broadband component WiFi (802.11b / g) and a quad-band GSM module with support for HSDPA (7.2 megabits per second). HSUPA also enables fast uploads up to 1.4 megabits per second. All current Bluetooth profiles are supported, including SAP for the access of the car-free on the phone. Bluetooth and WiFi reception is very good.

For the management of the mobile phone on the PC delivers Sony Ericsson does not have its own software. There’s Microsoft’s own Device Center for simple and intuitive link between mobile phone and PC. Without intervention by the user, the X1 recognized by the computer with just a few clicks can synchronize contacts, install additional programs or data.

For the synchronization of 80 contacts needed the cell phone only a few seconds. Two types of sync are available: ActiveSync for synchronizing contact and calendar data, and hard drive for the copying of music and photos. A music album (80 megabytes) lands in ActiveSync mode in a minute in phone memory, in Disk Mode pass only 30 seconds.

Part IV: Special Applications, Java performance, and navigation menus

Special Applications/ Java

The Windows Mobile-based Smartphone shines with a special performance for Java applications and games. It creates in JBenschmark2 only 232 points, 3D is not supported. No wonder then that the four preinstalled games Sudoku, Bejeweled 2, Bubble Breaker and Solitaire all graphically not particularly demanding.

Word documents, spreadsheets and Excel PowerPoint presentations without major detours can be processed. With zoom and full screen, The Office mobile has prepared nicely the formulas for Excel, Word Bullets and many other features that you know from your PC. It supports next to the new Office 2007 formats (eg. Docx) and even the Open Document Text Format(.odt). Thanks to the high-resolution displays and the extendable keyboard, you almost feel at home or office PC to work. PDFs in Adobe Reader LE, even here the wide screen ensures that you are conveniently located in eBooks can bury.

The Xperia X1 shows with A-GPS support in the 20 second rule after its own location. The reception is stable and no outs in the sprachgeführten navigation can be a loud and clear voice guidance to leave The speaker can not be compared to Nokia N96, but even with road noise yet clearly understood.

Part V: voice quality, reception, battery power and Conclusion

Phone Features and Sound Quality

The voice quality is decent. While sounding a bit dull conversation partner, but that is within the tolerable framework and is much more pleasant than almost frequency shriek of other models.

Even the reception strength moves in the green area. The bar display is hardly refrain from full strength displayed. During our tests there were no dropout conversations to notice.

Battery power

Another Sony Ericsson deserves praise for the battery of the X1. It offers 1500 mAh capacity, which is the strongest among Touchphones. For comparison, Samsung i900 Omnia comes with 1440 mAh from the battery of the HTC Touch Pro offers 1340 mAh. In tough test use in permanently activated WLAN and constant use of various functions, the battery is full by two days. Casual users are likely to charge cycles by a scant week.

Also, the talktime is more than can be seen: 6 hours, the manufacturer as a maximum duration for telephone calls to. In the GSM network extended the talk-even for a further four hours. This should Nokia times a caliper disc off.

Conclusion

The Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 impressed AreaMobile with many superlatives. The wide touch screen has a resolution that can be compared to Toshiba Portege and HTCs Touch HD. But the X1 is still better than all those competitors. It offers the full extendable memory, a good camera with many features and also elegant metal case. Power battery with 1500 mAh is great. Sony Ericsson’s panel operation is not yet mature, but a firmware update is certainly there to help. Thereafter, the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1is a worthy opponent for other smartphones.

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