A cellphone review! Now why would I be doing a cellphone review? All will become clear.
Just over a month ago I bought a new cellphone. It is the new Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini. Aesthetically it is a nice piece of kit. It is said by SE to be the smallest touch screen phone available and it probably is. But unfortunately it is also one one the most awkward and awful phones I have ever owned.
Back view.
Nice and small but awkward to use.
On paper it looks good. Tiny footprint. 5 mega pixel camera and running the Android system too. But and here’s the many buts. Yes it runs the Android system but Version 1 although to be fair I believe there is an update to version 2 coming soon as a download. We shall see.
Next … yes it has a small footprint. Very good until you try to use the camera. Virtually the whole phone face is screen and it is very awkward to take a shot and not hit the touch screen button on the top right of the screen with your hand. This results in it changing between still/video modes without you realizing. Very annoying when you have a great shot lined up and … click … you are videoing it instead. Also due to the phones extreme lightness it is very hard to get a crisp clear shot due to camera shake. Especially when you have to hold it awkwardly to avoid the touch screen.
Beware the touchscreen when taking pics.
Next … texting or any kind of text input is an ordeal to say the least. Unlike the X10 Mini Pro this one does NOT have a qwerty keypad and so you have a touch screen version of a traditional keypad. And boy is it a pain to use. You have to be so so accurate inputting text without writing gobbledegook that I found myself giving up many times and either not replying to texts or calling the sender instead.
Is this the most awkward text input device ever invented?
Finally battery life. Well twice now I have been let down by it going flat on me. Battery life is poor and I find I need to charge it every day if I want to rely on it. This compares very unfavourably with the 2-3 days between charges for my old Nokia N71 which although almost 2 years old is a far finer phone. Also you might think …OK I’ll put a longer life battery in. No you won’t because you can not change the battery as it is permanently built into the phone begging the question of what to do as the phone battery ages and you need to change it?
So all in all do not waste your money on this very poor phone. I wish I hadn’t as it now sits unused in my drawer and I have gone back to using my trusty 2 year old Nokia.
© 2010 Stan Rogers. All rights reserved.
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