Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 mini deals & review

In a word or two

The Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 Mini is a powerful and friendly little Android phone.

The Design

Living up to its name, the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 Mini is a miniature version of the XPERIA X10. As you might expect, some of the features internally and externally have been scaled down to make this super small handset – it is currently the smallest Android mobile available on the market and weighs just 88g.

In appearance, it is a shorter, narrower and thicker version of its significantly bigger brother. Launched together with the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 Mini Pro – which is identical except it has a slide-out QWERTY keyboard – the Minis join the Sony Ericsson range of handsets that includes the X1 and XPERIA Pureness.

The touch-sensitive screen on the X10 Mini measures 2.55 inches and retains the responsiveness and vibrancy of the original X10’s screen. The screen is capacitive and reacts to your light touches and sweeps, letting you scroll between screens effortlessly.

The size of the X10 Mini means it sits really well in the palm of your hand and you can handle the interface with one hand too thanks to the clever shortcuts in each corner of the screen. These shortcuts are customisable so you can place your favourite apps in the four corners, and launch them straight from the home screen.

The keyboard on the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 Mini is a compact version. The accelerometer aids typing, though, automatically rotating the view to landscape when you turn the phone on its side to type. The three chrome keys beneath the screen let you navigate easily and include the main menu launch button.

With a wide choice of colours – pearl white, black, pink, lime, red and silver – the X10 Mini is an attractive mobile phone. Pocket-friendly and portable, you can carry this phone with you wherever you go.

Specifications

The main attraction of the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 Mini over its big brother is, of course, its compact size. However, it houses some pretty impressive features too including the Timescape UI. This interface has social networking integrated into it with apps for sites like Twitter and Facebook, and individual-focused communication. Just like on the Samsung Wave, when you click on a friend in your contacts list, all the texts, emails, messages, Facebook updates and more are displayed – so you can see everything in the one place, without the need to open lots of different apps.

Mediascape is also onboard the X10 Mini so you can listen to music and watch videos from your mobile. There is an FM radio inbuilt and a 3.5mm audio jack so you can listen to your preferred programme or songs in private. As well as watching videos, you can record your own using the phone’s camera – although reduced from 8-megapixels to 5-megapixels, the camera is very good and comes with lots of extras such as an LED flash, autofocus and geo-tagging.

The Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 Mini is full of apps which range from the document viewer for opening Office documents on the move, to Google Talk if you enjoy instant messaging. And if you want more apps, you can easily download more from the Android Market. The internal processor (600MHz) is swift and the 3G and Wi-Fi connections keep things moving quickly when you are online.

Considerations

The screen is only 2.55 inches, which is relatively small for a smartphone.

Verdict

You choose the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 Mini because you want a pocket-friendly version of the original X10. With a responsive interface, high screen resolution and plenty of features, the X10 Mini is an enjoyable and powerful little phone.