Sony Ericsson's XPERIA X1

[ChrisFilter]

Interesting... very interesting. Especially if homebrew Android is on the horizon. It ticks most boxes.

 

[Sunray]

Interesting... very interesting. Especially if homebrew Android is on the horizon. It ticks most boxes.

Don't expect this soon, its an interesting and ongoing project but unless HTC/Sony open up how to control things like the keyboard and touch screen, its always going to be Linux on WM6 which is gonna be slow.

Remember just because Android is open, the hardware it runs on also has to be open to run it. Lots of these phones use their own variants of the ARM CPU which you need to have a compiler to target.

Loads of work.

 

[editor]

I'm full of love for the X1 apart from the price and fucking WM. Which is shit.

 

[Kid_Eternity]

I'm full of love for the X1 apart from the price and fucking WM. Which is shit.

Have you had a chance to try it out/review it yet?

 

[Sunray]

The best bit of mobile hardware ever created in many ways.

What a fantastic Android phone this would make. Come on HTC, leak those documents.....

 

[dada]

saw it in the flesh by london tent.
liked the goldfish interactive wallpaper.

 

[strjms72]

i'm not very impressed, first of all it's an ericsson and i don't really like their phones, secondly it works with windows mobile, third of all i don't like the look of the buttons either, not the prism-like buttons on the front nor the keyboard ones, fourth of all it has a mere 3 mp camera... so not much there

 

[ChrisFilter]

i'm not very impressed, first of all it's an ericsson and i don't really like their phones, secondly it works with windows mobile

Actually it's an htc. But yeah, fair point re: wm.

 

[Kid_Eternity]

A very in depth review here:

What can we say about the X1 then? We can proffer such terms as sublime, magnificent, etc., but they don’t really do this handset justice. If you look at the score we have given this handset it is just a whisker away from being perfect, an eighth away from perfection in fact! But grandiose terms and scores don’t tell the whole story. We need to put the X1 in its proper context to full appreciate it and understand its position in the market. As it stands at present the X1 is arguably the best smart phone available or certainly one of the best. In terms of features it ticks all the right boxes with few serious omissions. In terms of design and build quality it is a triumph. Some of you may have been fortunate enough to have owned a Sony Ericsson P800, the company’s first smart phone and a product that really put Sony Ericsson on the high-end map. Since then we have seen Sony Ericsson’s smart phone line decline somewhat and fail to live up to that promising start. The X1 halts that decline and indeed it reverses it, setting a new height for Sony Ericsson and smart phones in general.

​

The X1 isn’t perfect of course as you will have seen from this review, but its failings are minor and are unlikely to be deal breakers. The design has a few niggles here and there and the feature set perhaps lacks the odd thing here and there e.g. no TV-out and no TrackID, but for the most part the X1 holds its head high above the water line in terms of its capabilities. The one thing that does limit the X1 is the choice of operating system; Windows Mobile 6.1. Most people will admit that Windows Mobile isn’t the easiest mobile operating system to use, especially with a touch screen, and that it lacks the charm and grace of some of its rivals, but it is functional at least. The panel interfaces do a superb job of covering over Windows Mobile’s uglier aspects in day to day use, which is most welcome indeed. The panel interfaces themselves are one of the high points of the handset and a real joy to use, and as developers produce more panels this situation can only get better. One thing to note is the relatively high price, but being that this is a premium product and given the current market pricing, we find the price most appropriate.

​

Long gone is the age when smart phones could be functional and ugly, consumers increasingly look to a handset’s looks as well as its feature set and that includes smart phones. The X1 is one of the market leaders in this respect. There are other smart phones out there of course, but few approach the X1’s combination of functionality and beauty. The X1 really is a smart phone for the everyman; a combination of superb features, great panel interfaces, luxurious design, impressive battery performance and solid build quality make the X1 a handset that will appeal to everyone from the serious business user to the early adopting geek to the multimedia junkie. Sony Ericsson has outdone itself with the X1, and it will hopefully be the spark that sets of a renaissance in Sony Ericsson smart phone sin the years to come. In the present, consumers can look forward to owning a superb piece of technology.​

 

[editor]

Have you seen the price of the thing?!

 

[panpete]

Very nice looking phone this:

On my list of possible next phones to get.

but I'll just dream on.

 

[salem]

Free on a £40/month contract with vodafone.

24 month contract though.

 

[Kid_Eternity]

Have you seen the price of the thing?!

What's the contract price? I think it's $800 which means £450-500...it'll probably be free on some contract and give a few months and it'll drop in price. Anyway, lovely looking phone (with usual Windows Mobile caveat for the naysayers). Would be interesting if Sony did an Android powered variant though...

E2A: just seen the above post....

 

[Kid_Eternity]

Free on a £40/month contract with vodafone.

24 month contract though.

There a fair few 18 month contracts where the phone cost £150 too...