Out of Touch Sony Ericsson’S Xperia X1 Is a Windows Smartphone with a Slick Arc Slider and Customisable Panel-Style Touch-Screen Interface
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More reviews online at Review www.mobilechoiceuk.com Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 Price: From free on contract www.sonyericsson.co.uk Out of touch Sony Ericsson’s Xperia X1 is a Windows smartphone with a slick arc slider and customisable panel-style touch-screen interface. Yet, for all its potential, the device fails to hit the mark ONY Ericsson’s Xperia colour according to your phone’s main menu to begin the lottery the phone’s length, the X1 has been grabbing activity. For example, one fish turns all over again. Xperia X1 lets you reel off S headlines ever since its red when your battery is less than Using the panel interface is also messages relatively quickly unveiling in February. 10% full, one fish turns gold when slow. Click on a panel and it takes a with your thumbs. One of the most innovative phones there is an unread message and couple of seconds before you are As a Windows powered of the year, with its customisable one rogue fish only pops into view able to activate the function. After a mobile, the Xperia offers Outlook panel-style touch-screen user when you have a missed call. short while this is hugely frustrating, for email, calendar and contacts, as interface, tilt (arc) display and large Unfortunately, you may need to as is the lack of a panel to access well as push-email with an Exchange slide-out QWERTY keyboard, the carry a colour chart around to SMS, the internet or GPS. You have server and personal email over Xperia X1 caused a stir when it was remind you what each colour to go into another menu option first. the internet. first revealed that the phone’s means. It is a novel little flourish, As a result, it is a well-rounded hardware was in fact built by Taiwan but you will almost certainly still rely Internet email device with the added benefit manufacturer HTC. on the conventional icons to inform On paper, the Xperia X1 has all the fiddly for fingertips, of MS Instant Messenger, which is As strange as this arrangement you when you have a message or hallmarks of a great internet phone. requiring you to whip out great if you want to enjoy PC-like may seem, HTC is a prolific and whether your battery is flat. It has a huge touch-screen display your stylus and take away half messaging from your phone. But if respected manufacturer of Windows As well as the pre-set panels, and it is also easy to auto-rotate the the fun of using a touch-screen UI. you just want to send a basic text, it Mobile smartphones for third there are a couple of free spaces screen between portrait and All in all it is a disappointing web is far too complicated. parties – most notably, the mobile available for you to add your own landscape by flipping the phone’s browsing experience from a phone For a start, there is no panel (that operator-branded handsets. Even panels from a free online download keyboard open and shut. Meanwhile, that we would expect to excel in we could find) for messaging, so to so, the Xperia X1 is quite unlike zone. Adding a new panel is done the Xperia X1 is HSDPA-enabled, so message: ‘This page contains errors this area. send a text you have to go through anything we have seen before from with just a few clicks. Of the four pages should download quickly, and it and cannot be displayed’. the familiar but fiddly Windows menu. Sony Ericsson or HTC. Although the panels currently available in the boasts an Opera web browser, which To scroll up and down through a Full QWERTY and Once you have selected the SMS usual tried and tested Windows download zone, we chose to add the is usually very reliable. webpage, you have a choice. You can tilting screen option, there is no obvious means Mobile OS function is present and slideshow panel for viewing photos However, we found internet stroke the screen with your finger, The Xperia X1 is larger and heavier that we could see to create and send correct on this device, Sony in slideshow format and the browsing on the X1 a little awkward. use the mechanised joypad or use than your average handset, but the a new text to a new contact, which is Ericsson has added an innovative UI dashwire panel, enabling users to On some sites, the font size is too the phone’s built-in stylus to control body and QWERTY keyboard both arguably the most basic requirement skin that really sets this phone apart back up and share content. small to be read comfortably, so we the virtual scroll bar on the side of benefit from a classy brushed metal on any mobile. Instead, you have to from the crowd. The panel interface is easily zoomed in on the text. However, with the touch-screen. finish and the device is robust and go into the Windows Mobile UI and customisable and any of the panels many of the sites that we browsed, Each method has its drawbacks. well put together without being choose messages, then select SMS, Customisable can be removed and replaced with the pages didn’t automatically render Stroking the screen is a novelty for a particularly sexy. click on the menu key, choose new, touch-screen panels another, except for the Xperia to fit the screen, which meant a lot few seconds, but you don’t get a Arguably the stand-out aesthetic then select SMS. Finally, after six The Xperia X1’s USP is the panel- homepage, which is locked. of scrolling about to find information. great deal of control, meaning that feature, aside from the customisable clicks, you are in a position to style user interface. In principle, this Overall, the touch-sensitive panel This is not generally an issue with the screen can scroll all the way to touch-screen panels, is the arc slider compose a new text message. is a really clever idea, designed to interface is a great concept, but major websites like BBC News, but if the bottom when you only wanted to design. The slight curve of the use the Xperia X1’s touch-screen unfortunately, the execution is only you do a Google search, you will often see the paragraph below. Using the phone’s QWERTY keyboard enables Multimedia features display and it has succeeded in so-so. For a start, aside from the land on a website which does not joypad is a little more reliable, the phone to tilt upwards when the There is a fine array of multimedia boosting interest in the device. instantly recognisable Google render properly. although we would have liked to have keyboard is slid open. functions on the Xperia X1, including The screen is divided into nine application, the clock and the We also found that certain popular seen a virtual mouse, which would Although the tilt is minimal it is a a decent 3.2-megapixel camera with touch-sensitive panels, each enabling calendar, the panels are simply too news websites – The Times Online is allow you to choose and select neat effect and gives the illusion of auto-focus and flash that can be direct access to a key feature, such small to accurately display their one example – did not display at all. specific areas of the screen. The working on a mini laptop. Thanks to accessed via a dedicated key on the as Google, Microsoft Today, world function clearly. Instead we were presented with the virtual scroll bar is just slightly too the spacious keyboard, enabled by side of the phone. You do not get any clock, radio, media experience, a As a result, we found ourselves of the class-leading features, like Sony Ericsson home screen and a opening random panels to find BestPic, face detection or smart seemingly random fish panel. that the feature we wanted was contrast that can be found on Sony Actually, the fish do serve a not there. Even more frustratingly, Ericsson’s Cyber-shot handsets, but purpose, albeit a gimmicky one. As there is no back key on the touch- the results are sharp and render well well as obediently flipping into action screen or among the mechanised on the big screen. The phone also as soon as you stroke the touch- keys. So you have to click the screen display, the fish also change panel key to take you back to the Continued overleaf >> Review Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 continued Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 Size: 110.5x52.6x17mm Weight: 145g Display: Three-inch touch- screen, 65,000 colours Resolution: 480x800 pixels Camera: 3.2 megapixels Video recording/playback/ streaming: Yes/yes/yes Video calling: Yes Audio playback: MP3, AAC, MPEG4 Ringtones: Polyphonic, MP3 Radio: Yes Operating system: Windows Mobile 6.1 Connectivity: Bluetooth, USB, Wi-Fi, A2DP GPS: Yes, A-GPS Internal memory: 400MB Memory card slot: microSD Messaging: SMS, MMS, instant messaging, email Internet browser: WAP, HTML, RSS Features makes it easy to blog photos online to download new authorised third- Java: Yes Arc slider and to easily edit images. party applications. There is also a Games: Bejeweled 2, Solitaire, Touch-screen display As for the music player, the pre-loaded Handango InHand Bubble Breaker, Sudoku Customisable panel-style user Xperia X1 can store and play MP3 application on board the X1, which Data speed: HSDPA 7.2Mbps interface and AAC music files, and it sports gives you one-click access to Frequency: Quad-band HSDPA an MPEG4 player.