Sony Ericsson Xperia X8 Review

Introduction:

Sony Ericsson's Xperia series is probably the manufacturer's most exciting lineup of phones. First, there was the Windows Mobile-powered Xperia X1. Then along came its successor, the X2, as well as the Android-based Xperia X10. We also shouldn't forget those little fellas - the X10 mini and mini pro, which redefined the meaning of compactness. The latest addition to the Xperia lineup is a budget-cautious Android handset, which comes in a stylish outfit - the Sony Ericsson Xperia X8. From first sight, the X8 looks like a pretty decent lightweight smartphone; it has good looks, a passable 3-inch capacitive screen, as well as a pleasant and easy-to-use software. However, does everything the Xperia X8 is capable of come together nicely to form a worthy all-round smartphone package? Let's see!

The package contains:

Design:

You might actually mistake the Sony Ericsson Xperia X8 with the X10 mini (or vice versa), if you're just looking at the images, as both handsets look almost identical. In reality though, The X8 shows its superiority by treating you to its 3-inch capacitive LCD screen with resolution of 320x480 pixels - more than enough for this screen size. Because it is a standard TFT (IPS LCD or AMOLED have yet to work their way to the mid- and low-end), viewing angles are now quite as good. Although it should be capable of showing 16 million colors, gradients are far from perfectly smooth. Not that this is all unbearable of course - we can live with it, especially having in mind the flawless touch registration of the capacitive panel. Outdoor visibility isn't a great issue, especially if you have the brightness bumped to the max, but you'll still have to shield the display in extreme situations.



You can compare the Sony Ericsson Xperia X8 with many other phones using our Size Visualization Tool.

Below the screen you can find the mandatory Menu, Home and Back keys that are totally in the style of Xperia Andorid phones, meaning chrome-like, adding to the stylish appearance of the Sony Ericsson Xperia X8. The right side is where the volume rocker and one-step camera shutter (the 3.2MP camera lacks autofocus) are situated, and on the top you have the power/lock key, microUSB port and a standard 3.5mm headset jack.



The Sony Ericsson Xperia X8 is by no means an unattractive phone. Quite the contrary, it is one of the better looking Androids out there. Well, to tell you the truth, the body has a slight cheap feel to it, mostly due to the plastic rear cover. However, rear covers are also a strong point of the X8, because you can easily replace these with other color variants. All in all, the Sony Ericsson Xperia X8 is a very elegant device, to say the least.

Interface and Functionality:

The software running on the Sony Ericsson Xperia X8 is neatly personalized by the optimized version of the UX interface, or in other words, it's the same personalization we saw in the X10 mini. In our opinion, it is a quite intuitive and convenient solution, perfect for handsets with relatively small screens.



There isn't much to describe here: at the top you have Android's notification bar, in the four corners of the screen you get shortcuts to your most frequently used apps, from the bottom you can pull the main menu, and you also have multiple home screen, with each capable of hosting only one widget.

We noticed that unlike on the X10 mini, there is some noticeable loss of frames here and there on the Sony Ericsson Xperia X8, while using the handset for ordinary stuff. Fortunately, this doesn't stand in the way of usability, since performance is still quite good on the whole.

You can find more details about the interface in our Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 mini Review.

Social networking on the Sony Ericsson X8 is handled by the available applications for the platform, with the exclusive part here being the Timescape app (although 3 inches are fine for multimedia purposes, the Mediascape app is out of business here, but we don't feel too bad about it). What Timescape does for you is to act like a messages and missed calls log, plus it integrates updates from Facebook and Twitter. It's a decent try, but not functional enough. For example, it doesn't show you the whole tweets, and when you attempt to tap on a tweet or update, hoping to see more of it, you get redirected to the mobile web page of the respective service. Not really deep stuff.



To our disappointment, the internet browser lacks pinch-to-zoom or double-tap zooming, which makes navigation very clumsy, since you'll have to use the on-screen zoom keys. It is not unbearable, but it's obviously worse than multitouch-capable phones, or at least phones that rely on much better zooming solutions like double-tap. Interestingly enough, one-touch zoom is available in the photo gallery and works like a charm (you hold your finger for a second and then just slide up or down). Even more, it is a super-easy to use and convenient feature. Why is it not available in the browser is beyond us. You know, one of those questions that will probably never get answered. The bad thing here is that there seems to be no better alternative in Android Market, and this includes Dolphin and Skyfire. Opera Mini 5  is indeed a lot better in terms of navigation, but its functionality is limited. Otherwise, scrolling in the standard Android browser is smooth, pages render like they should, and Flash is missing. There isn't much more to say about it.



The Sony Ericsson Xperia X8 supports Wi-Fi, as well as two-band 3G (900/1200) and GPS. Speaking of GPS, we did experience some problems when trying to get ourselves localized, and had to turn on the A-GPS so that our location could be found in a couple minutes.

The 3.2MP camera without autofocus or flash is powered by the same interface found on the X10 mini, i.e. pretty simple and straightforward stuff, with four presets for the photos (Auto, Beach/snow, Twilight and Sports) and two quality modes for the videos (“Normal” and “For MMS”). The Gallery app works great with its smooth transitions when swiping between photos and the above-mentioned one-touch zoom feature.



Our main concern with the camera is that photos are seriously lacking in detail. Moreover, colors appear dull, while close-ups turn out quite blurry. Moving indoors presents us with similar performance, except for the fact that you're more likely to take a blurry shot. Noise isn't too much of a problem as long as enough light is present, but then again, images are quite soft too.




At least the phone records a decent VGA video at 29 FPS, although some stuttering is observed here and there.

Sony Ericsson Xperia X8 Sample Video:



The music player of the Sony Ericsson Xperia X8 is quite nice, showing album art and some large-sized playback controls. You can easily choose the track you want to play, but more advanced options such as equalizers or effects are missing. The loudspeaker is plenty loud and even manages to produce some deeper sounding tones, which is great. The supplied earphones are useable, but nothing out of the ordinary. You'll probably want to replace them with better ones if you are big on listening to music, while on the go.



The Sony Ericsson Xperia X8's video playback capabilities are quite good, so in case the 3” screen isn't too small for you, you'll be able to enjoy your favorite videos on the handset without much issues. Still, you'll have to convert them to MPEG-4, since DivX and Xvid are unplayable. MPEG-4 videos can be played at up to 800x480 pixels resolution.

A cool app that you get with the Xperia X8 is Creatouch. What it does is to allow you to create some good-looking wallpapers for your device. You don't have endless possibilities with it of course, but it's still fun to use, because you can do yourself a cool-looking panoramic wallpaper in no time.

Performance and Conclusion:

Voice quality on the Sony Ericsson Xperia X8 is predominantly satisfying. The incoming side is treated to some fine tones, complemented with decent loudness, while the outgoing side experiences a bit lower quality sounds, while maintaining the good power.

The 1200mAh battery that supplies the Sony Ericsson Xperia X8 with power is rated at 4.75 hours of talk-time and 18 days of stand-by. Nothing impressive.

The Sony Ericsson Xperia X8 is a very stylish offering that finds a pretty good balance between being compact and functional at the same time. We like its design and interface and believe there's a pretty decent chunk of the market that will find it great. It is pretty decent for almost all kinds of tasks, but doesn't excel in anything, which is normal for a budget handset. Our main gripes with it are the lack of multi-touch and the poor quality of the camera, but if can put up with these, you'll end up with a pretty decent all-round smartphone package in your hands. Moreover, it will come in a stylish white body, with some great personalization options in the form of the additional back panels.

Decent alternatives to the Sony Ericsson Xperia X8 include the smaller, but still a bit higher-end Xperia X10 mini, the LG Optimus GT540 or the Samsung Galaxy 3, which are all well-balanced offerings that won't cause a dent in your pocket.

Sony Ericsson Xperia X8 Video Review: