Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 Review

Introduction:

Windows Mobile has always been a powerful but clunky OS, but recently we’ve seen manufacturer efforts to clean it up and make it more user-friendly. Sony Ericsson has thus far stayed out of the WinMo realm, but with the Xperia X1 they are making a splash on both fronts. They have developed a new panel interface to match the X1’s svelte design. It has the rich feature set you’d expect from a high-end device, with many connectivity options and a 480x800 high resolution display. The question is, can it live up to the bar HTC has set with their Touch series?
Included in the box you’ll find:

• Li-poly battery
• AC Adapter
• USB Cable
• 4GB microSDHC card
• Stereo headphones
• Extra stylus

Design:

The X1 is a very well designed device, with a large WVGA display and full QWERTY keyboard. It is constructed of brushed metal which leads to a very hefty weight of 5.1oz. It comes in both silver and black, our review unit was silver but we prefer the black finish personally. It is strikingly narrow, especially when compared to a similar device like the Touch Pro.



You can compare Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1 with many other phones using our Size Visualization Tool.

The narrowness leads to a good in-hand feel, though it is definitely on the heavy side. Still, the build quality is top notch and we are quite impressed with the hardware. The screen slides to the right to reveal a four row QWERTY, and it slides at an arc so that it is tilted slightly upwards when opened. The slide mechanism is fantastically smooth; it offers the perfect balance of resistance and sprint and sliding it is actually a pleasure.

The WVGA (480x800) screen is gorgeous, and measures in at 3.0”. Like all other Windows Mobile devices it is only 65K colors, but the increased pixel density mostly makes up for that. As you’d expect from such a high resolution panel videos looked great. It is a resistive touchscreen, and therefore can be used with a stylus or other non-bare finger object, and is very responsive.

The navigation keys sit below the display, and in true Sony fashion much attention has been paid to the styling. There is a square directional pad, and to either side triangular keys that come together to form an X. The soft keys are silver slivers, but raised so they are easy to press. The other keys - Send and Panel to the left and OK and End to the right- are a bit small but have good travel and a slight click so you know when they have been activated. In addition to being clickable, center of the d-pad is also touch sensitive and you can move up/down and left/right by swiping your finger across it. It doesn’t work within every application, and it’s easier to use side-to-side, but we liked the added navigation option.



At the top of the display is the earpiece cutout, with a miniscule forward facing VGA camera and light sensor integrated into this housing on either side. On the rear of the phone is a 3.2 megapixel camera with flash to the right/top. Below it the stylus tucks into the corner, though a bit too tightly for our tastes. Tight is good so that it does not get lost, but it takes too much effort to pull it out and we prefer HTC’s magnetic solution. The battery door has no mechanical latch, and we did have some issues getting it to seat properly.

The left side of the phone has a miniUSB port as well the single speaker at the bottom corner. On the right you have a volume rocker at the top and camera key at the bottom. The top houses the power button and 3.5mm headphone jack and the microphone is on the bottom. The side keys are well integrated into the frame and easy enough to press, though the volume rocker could have been longer. The phone has an illumination effect for certain events, and the multi-colored LEDs are integrated to the side housing.



The QWERTYkeyboard is pretty darn good, but the keys are a bit too small for us. For those with smaller hands the X1 will be excellent, but for thosewith big mitts you might find yourself slightly frustrated. Thespacing between the keys is very good, and like the G1 the keys arestaggered. We would have liked to see a bit more travel in the keys;they feel soft, and while we were relatively accurate it wasn’tperfect. Even though the keyboards are fairly different, the X1 has asimilar feel to the Touch Pro. Being only four rows, numbers do notget their own keys. Unlike most other devices with a traditionallayout among the top row or left side alignment, Sony has chosen tomove the numbers to the right side and arrange them more like the HTC TyTN II.

Sony Ericsson is obviously going for the general consumer with the X1, and we think they have put together a very good design for it. The size is very good, and the screen excellent for multimedia applications. The narrowness makes it easier to hold, although it could be lighter. Fashion was an obvious influence in the design of the X1, and even the silver version is chic. The build quality is overall wonderful, and we are generally pleased with the design of the X1.

Interface:

Running Windows Mobile 6.1 professional, the X1 is similar to other WinMo devices. The homescreen is standard and out of the box simply has the date and time plugin, along with messaging, tasks and calendar.

Where the X1 differentiates itself is the panel interface Sony Ericsson has created. A mix between an application launcher and widgets, the user can have up to nine panels that offer quick access to anything from the homescreen to Facebook to Dashwire to pictures and music. Google and Windows Live both have panels for quick web search and access to your Google and Live accounts. Some panels, such as the Sony Ericsson panel, are customizable and allow the user to tweak the view and content. It basically is a today panel, and the user can add and view things like RSS feeds, weather, calendar events and more. The Media Xperience panel gives the user access to all their media in a Playstation 3 themed layout.

The panel launcher page simply has icons for the panels, they do not actually update, say, if you receive an email or other notification.  When you launch the panel it brings a static picture of the panel to the foreground before cutting to the live panel.  You can only have one panel running at time; to return to the panel overview page simply hit the Panel button.  A minor annoyance is that the standard Windows Mobile homescreen is one of the panels, we much would have preferred a home button that automatically takes you there rather than kicking back to the panel interface and then having to launch it.


We enjoy the panel interface, but don’t think it is anything groundbreaking. Some of the panels are more useful than others; theFacebook panel, for instance, is fantastic, whereas the Google panel is basically a search bar with bookmark shortcuts to Gmail and other Google products. It is nowhere near as encompassing as TouchFLO 3D, which we like better. We would have instead preferred to see the panels incorporated into a custom UI, like HTC has done with their weather and music tabs. Still, it is slick and we wouldn’t mind seeing some of the panels incorporated into TF3D. Developers, get on it!


Phonebook and Organizer:

As a WM Professional device the X1 is as full-featured as it gets. It of course syncs with Outlook, so managing contacts and calendar is simple. Being a GSM phone, when a new contact is added the user is given the option to add it as a SIM or Outlook contact. Only the latter will sync with Outlook when the phone is paired with a computer. There is nothing new with the X1; it runs the standard Windows Mobile Calendar and Contacts application. Other PIM applications are also exactly the same as before, such as Notes, Tasks, Calculator and Clock.

A press of the send key brings up both call history and the dialpad. Its design language matches the X1, but the layout is very similar to the Touch Diamond. Sony has added four onscreen keys: Send, Call History, Contacts and Favorites, which sit above the dialpad and below the call history. The in-call screen is also similar in function to HTC devices, though the design is very different. There are two rows of three icons: Speaker, Mute, and Hold atop Notes, Contacts and Dialpad. Along the bottom is a large end button.
There is no voice dialing software on the X1, which is a shame.

Messaging:

Messaging options are standard as well.  The user can compose SMS and MMS messages, and the X1 features the same email client Windows Mobile has had for years.  Everything works well and as you would expect it.  Stock WinMo onscreen keyboards are available, but especially on the high resolution screen the keys are miniscule and we’d expect the physical keyboard to be used 95% of the time.

Connectivity and Data:

The X1 is a quad-band GSM device with a tri-band 3G radio.  For Europe it supports 900/1900/2100MHz and 850/1900/2100MHz in the US.  It features Wi-Fi b/g, unlocked GPS and has Bluetooth 2.0 with the following profile support: Headset (HSP)/Handsfree (HFP)/Generic Object Exchange (GOEP)/File Transfer (FTP)/Object Push (OPP)/Generic Access (GAP)/Serial Port (SPP)/Service Discovery Application (SDAP)/Human Interface Device (HID)/Advanced Audio Distribution (A2DP)/Audio/Visual Remote Control Profile (AVRCP)/Personal Area Networking Profile (PAN).

On the local side ActiveSync handles all the data transfer between your phone and PC. It interfaces with Outlook, allowing the user to both back up their data and stay connected on the go.  If you are connected to an Exchange Server this can be done over the air.

The X1 ships with Opera Mobile 9.5, but unfortunately Internet Explorer is the default browser.  It is a shame, because Opera Mobile is an infinitely better browser than IE.  We’ve covered both browsers in past reviews, and there is nothing new to report.  Opera works great, IE leaves a lot to be desired.

Multimedia:

With such a large, high resolution screen we have high expectations for the X1’s media capabilities. For the most part it performed well, and videos did indeed look fantastic. It is listed as being able to play MPEG4, WMV, H.263, H.264 video files, and indeed it played our H.264 files just fine no matter the resolution or fps (including 720x306 pixels at 1500fps). One minor annoyance is that when you tap on the screen to bring up playback controls- a requirement to adjust the volume - it automatically pauses the video.


As found on newer SE phone, the music player interface is clean and of a similar layout philosophy as an iPod; anyone who has used the PS3 or Sony TV menus will recognize it. With our own headphones Sony earbuds the sound was excellent; highs were crisp and the bass was rich. It recognized all of our ID3 tags just fine, though only one of the six albums properly displayed the art. The now playing screen has all the essential information, though is a bit crowded for our tastes. These are all minor gripes, however, and what really matters is that the player is easy to use and the audio sounded great.


The 3.2 megapixel camera performed decently. Despite autofocus our indoor pictures turned out blurry, but outdoor shots were nice and crisp. Color representation was perhaps a bit on the dull side, but it was a dreary day when the pictures were taken and the camera captured it admirably. There was little to no noise, pixilation or distortion. The shutter speed was relatively quick, though it did vary based on lighting conditions. The interface is simple and options were good; the user can adjust the scene mode (night, portrait, etc,) focus, flash and shot mode. As the X1 isn’t marketed as a high end camera phone we were pleased with the results.




Software:

The X1 is powered by a Qualcomm MSM7200 processor running at 528MHz. It has an ample 256 MB RAM and 512 MB ROM and microSDHC expansion. In general it ran very snappy, but there was some lag present especially as associated with loading panels. This is to be expected for Windows Mobile however, and all things considered it ran very smoothly. We’d put it just a rung below the Touch Diamond in terms of speed. GPS performance is lightning quick, aided by HTC's Quick GPS program which primes the GPS by downloading satellite data.

Included programs are rather sparse, but of course many third party programs are available. Sony did ship some essential programs like Google Maps and Opera Mobile, and interestingly enough Dashwire, which also has a panel available for download. As we mentioned earlier, many panels like Facebook are basically applications as well.

Confession time: the device is built by HTC. Unlike with the Treo Pro HTC has done its best to hide their fingerprints on the X1, but programs like their Comm Manager, Quick GPS and Streaming Media have made their way onto the device. Unfortunately their wonderful YouTube app did not. No shame in having the world’s best WinMo manufacturer help you break into the game, and the panel interface is said to be all Sony, so it’s not a complete white label effort by HTC.

Performance:

Voice quality was excellent on both sides of the call. Callers rated us at a 9.25, saying that there was a slight cavernous quality but overall our voice came through strong and clear. On our end they sounded just as good, and we were even able to tell they were in a large, empty room by the echo. When they moved into a smaller room it went away. The X1 is one of the better sounding phones we have ever tested.

Battery life is equally excellent. It is rated at an astounding 10 hours of talk time, with 13 days of standby. The battery can even handle 3.1 hours of video calling, which we were sadly unable to test here in the States.

We compared our SPB Benchmark results with the ones of the HTC Touch Diamond and Samsung OMNIA.

Conclusion:

All in all we have to give the Xperia X1 high marks, especially for Sony Ericsson’s first attempt at a Windows Mobile device. Having HTC by your side definitely helps, but we like Sony’s innovative panel interface even if it isn’t quite as good as TouchFLO 3D. The screen is downright gorgeous, and the keyboard one of the better ones we’ve used. There is room for improvement though, and we eagerly await the X2.