Xperia X10 Mini Pro review
, i want to show you the whole thing from this phone. From the features, specs, design, connectivity, and many other things. So read on.
Xperia X10 Mini Pro Review
I’ve been really impressed seeing Sony Ericsson march and roll out all of its Xperia series to the market. They all look really awesome and sophisticated and can be the perfect contenders for any of Nokia’s XpressMusic series.
Besides the fact that some of Xperia series have been dipped with Android operating system (which offers the availability to run high technology software and fluid interface), Xperia series should be the best predecessors or core prototypes that can give Sony Ericsson idea to roll out more awesome Xperia smart phones in the future. And apparently, Xperia X10 Mini Pro is one of Xperia series I am talking about.
- Type: Xperia X10 Mini Pro
- Release Date: 2010, June
- Price Purchased: $162.97
- Manufacturer: Sony Ericsson
Readers' Score
NextPhones4u Score
Phone Specs: 2.55 inches, 240 x 320 pixels, 16M colors, Android OS, v1.6 Donut, 5MP camera, QWERTY keyboard, See full specs.
- Pros
- Simple but elegant design; fluid and smooth user interface; brilliant QWERTY keyboard; Android OS; 5MP camera.
- Cons
- Donut OS is the 2nd version, whereas Android currently has reached ICS| small screen | Poor battery life
- Bottomline
- Bottom line, if you are looking for a small sized handset that fits into your small pocket but offers galore of high tech features, Xperia X10 Mini Pro is surely your best destination.
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| Xperia taste in tiny little device |
Performance
Xperia X10 Mini Pro operates in the Android OS, v1.6 Donut (currently, Android OS has already been developed into 7 versions and Donut is the second version), which allows phone users to install and run much more sophisticated and high-tech applications with a smart phone. With support of CPU 600 MHz ARM 11 processor (Adreno 200 GPU, Qualcomm MSM7227 chipset), everything on the screen can be presented beautifully and smoothly with TFT capacitive touchscreen.
Although Java platform in mobile device is considered as outdated these days, especially with the rampant developments of iOS and Android OS, Sony Ericsson still loves this kind of platform. It’s proven to be, Sony Xperia X10 Mini Pro has also been equipped with a Java MIDP emulator, which allows phone users to run applications across java platform, that of course, have been translated into touch screen platform.
Xperia X10 Mini Pro Review - Design
Xperia X10 Mini Pro runs the same framework design with the other Xperia series, and it looks really similar with the older brother Xperia X10 Mini. This phone is a lot smaller than any similar device at the same price range. It’s even the smallest Android phone around the market to date.
Maybe Sony Ericsson wants to target young and modern people that usually don’t really like a wide screened smart phone in front of public. It’s gonna be weird to see old grandma/grandpa hold this kind of phone around the street.
Overall design of this phone looks really cute in our hands. But the great thing about the design of this phone is the chrome trimming that wraps up around the side of the phone, which makes it look really elegant and shinny on the outside.
The sliding out mechanism on the back side of this phone will provide you the landscape QWERTY keyboard. This is the other factor why this phone is designed by the manufacture without any defect. Well, that’s because that fact that this phone has a really small screen on the front, it would be one hell of a pain to type letters in the virtual QWERTY on the screen, right? So, I'm really impressed of how Sony Ericsson is aware of this kind of issue before rolling out this phone to the market.
Screen
With the screen size of 2.55 inches, everything that you see in the 240 x 320 pixel screen resolution looks really small in our eyes, but surprisingly fluid and clean. Maybe it’s helped by 16M colors that being provided in the screen quality. Moreover, Android OS, v1.6 Donut is the one that operates the whole performance of this phone, so it’s guaranteed everything that you touch with your fingers will respond in the smooth and fast interface.
Actually, Sony Ericsson’s Xperia series called Sony Ericsson Yendo is also a touch screen cell phone. But unfortunately, it is only injected with Sony Ericsson's proprietary platform, not Android. So no wonder if the interface of Sony Ericsson Yendo is very lame and slow than Android-based Xperia series.
Xperia X10 Mini Pro Review - Interface and Functionality
Running in the similar design with the other Xperia series means Xperia X10 Mini Pro will also run in the same screen interface with its family. The screen interface of this phone has a standard blue interface with 4 shortcut apps being deployed on each corner side of the screen and real-time TimeScape UI on the center. The Accelerometer sensor for UI auto-rotate is also available on the screen if you want to view the screen in landscape window, while the Scratch-resistant surface can protect the touchscreen from getting scratched by the fingers.
Xperia X10 Mini Pro Review - Connectivity
Browsing internet with this phone can be so pleasing to do because the support of 3G network and Wifi connection have been added to this phone to provide users a great internet connection either inside the house or on the go around the hotspot area.
Xperia X10 Mini Pro Review - Phone Specification
Xperia X10 Mini Pro features some basic functionality for smart phone, such as: Bluetooth, USB, Geo-taggingRadio, Stereo FM radio, GPS with A-GPS support, Digital compass and Document viewer.
Xperia X10 Mini Pro Review - Multimedia and Entertainment
Since this phone is introduced by Sony Ericsson as a mini multimedia smart phone, then the package of multimedia features, such as: the loudspeaker, 3.5 mm headphone jack, TrackID music recognition, MP4/H.263/H.264/WMV player and MP3/eAAC+/WMA/WAV player will certainly have their own area around this phone, while the quick access to Google Search, Maps, Gmail, YouTube, Calendar, Google Talk have been injected to this phone.
Data Storage
Although this phone is really small smart phone, that doesn’t mean the capacity that being provided inside this handset will be small too. With the support of 128 MB internal memory and 2GB included external memory (up to 16 GB on upgrade), all of your favorite media files can be inserted to this device without a problem.
5MP Camera
Xperia X10 Mini Pro also has a really impressive camera quality. With the 5MP camera that can do autofocus, snapping photos or recording videos will be so much relaxing, while the LED flash on the back can be so handy when the dark arrives. The camera interface is also one of the best things you can get from this phone. It’s really simple and easy to use. For example, on each corner of the screen, 4 shortcut keys are deployed. These 4 shortcut keys contain: LED flash, camera/video mode, preset mode and exit key.
Between X10 Mini Pro and X10 Mini
| Differences | X10 Mini Pro | X10 Mini |
|---|---|---|
| QWERTY keyboard | Yes | No |
| Weight | 120 g | 88 g |
| Case Covers | Black, Red, Pink | Gold, Pearl White, Black, Pink, Lime, Red and Silver |
Battery Life
And based on the reliable source, the battery of this phone has the similar problem with other Xperia series and other touch screen smart phones around the market, poor battery life. If you use this phone mostly for gaming, the battery drains pretty faster, around 4-5 hours. Doing WiFi also lasts around 4 hours.
However, just like many other phones, in order to increase the endurance of the battery, you might need to adjust the brightness of the screen, turn off the WiFi connection when it's not being used, close useless applications that run in the background, or you can also use any third party application that will enhance the battery life of this phone.
Conclusion
Bottom line, from all the Xperia series around the market, Xperia X10 Mini Pro is surely the smallest smart phone to date. But the fact that this phone has been injected with a lot of high technology features, including the Android OS, I believe this phone is one of the best pocket smart phones around the market.
Check out Xperia X10 Mini Pro at Amazon where this phone is sold in special price for $137,59.
