Read the full Xperia X10 review
Sony Ericsson's first attempt at an Android phone feels like it's been a long time coming - but the Xperia X10 is nearly here, so TechRadar went back to see if the problems we saw a few months ago have been fixed.
The main selling points of the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 are the Android overlay (Timescape and Mediascape) and the usual range of multimedia-friendly hardware packed into the chassis.
And there's good news - the Xperia X10 is looking a lot slicker than the last time we saw it (which, in fairness, was very much a prototype).
The main thing when picking up the X10 is the sheer size of the thing - a four-inch screen (sadly not OLED, but looking pretty vivid nonetheless) makes up the majority of the phone, with a few buttons on the front and sides for company.
The 13mm depth actually feels quite nice in the hand - but like the HTC HD2, you know when you see the Xperia X10 whether or not you'll be able to put up with the size.
Speaking of HTC, the company has a real reason to quake in its elegant Android boots at the X10 - the Timescape overlay is a real competitor to Sense UI.
While it's not all about the homescreens and widgets like HTC's range is, the Timescape overlay combines all your notifications and missed calls and social network updates into one 'spine.'
We were worried about how juddery this was in our first hands on, but Sony Ericsson appears to have got that Qualcomm Snapdragon chip working well under the hood now.
We could scroll through the list very quickly, and swipe left and right with ease to see specific updates, such as those from Twitter and Facebook.
Your comments (12) Click to add a new comment
toriaoxford
April 10th 2010
12. Beautiful handset to look at, functions well/speedily, although Timescape and Mediascape slow it a little but wait, oh that battery life!!! Battery life is simply appalling to the extend that it is not fit for purpose in my opinion - I had it on for 6.5 hours before the battery ran out and that was with 3G, bluetooth, wifi etc... all switched OFF and I'd only had a couple of short phone calls and text messages. How Sony can expect anyone to carry around a wall-charger with them all day and indeed be guaranteed to be near a wall socket, you're going to have a problem! Imagine what the phone battery would be like with 3G, wifi and bluetooth etc.. switched on!!! I even made sure that things like screen brightness was low and screen timeout was short (10 seconds). Also, the OS is rather out-dated already - it runs Android 1.6 and other handsets are on 2.1 (soon to update to 2.2). Personally I'd avoid getting this phone until Sony can sort out the issue with the appalling battery life!! :-((
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warlord8387
April 7th 2010
11. I'd been waiting since before November to get this phone and having picked it up on Friday I can't say I'm disappointed! I'm new to Android so it may be that I'm just overwhelmed with having a phone that does more than just send text and make calls but I've got to say the X 10 is just great!!!
It may have been overlooked in the hype about the spec's of the phone but the 4in screen makes it perfect for web browsing and the 1GHz snapdragon processor makes the pages load faster than my laptop.
This phone is one of the best on the market at the moment and when they upgrade it to ver 2.0 of Android and it has Googles sat nav and IF it gets remote play for the PS3 i'd have to call it the Iphone killer, just look what happened to HDDVD, if you can hook it up to your PS3 people will go out and buy it before their contracts even up!
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decanem
March 19th 2010
10. its too MASSIVE!
what i really really want is same phone shot with a 3/4 shrink ray or even a 4/5 shrink ray if that's too much to ask.
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bradavon
March 12th 2010
9. This phone looks like one of the best Android phones on the market but camera aside, it's simply not the HTC Legend.
I know which I'd go for. The X10 Mini Pro looks interesting though, for those who want a super small phone.
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xionsmith
February 22nd 2010
8. Multi-touch? DirectX 10.1?
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moody
February 20th 2010
7. A minor point, the screen is actually 480 x 854 pixels not 480 x 800.
I cant wait to get my hands on that beast. =)
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samslater
February 19th 2010
6. No FM tuner is a downer. Yeah, internet radio apps exist but that won't take long to use up your monthly data allowance and streaming music over the net is surely going to run down the battery.
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harry
February 19th 2010
5. Strange that it's coming out with Android 1.6. Doesn't bode well for future improvements and updates from Google. With phones coming out now with 2.1, why are Sony lagging so far behind?
Good to see it's otherwise much improved since the demo last year.
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tommytomtom2212
December 23rd 2009
4. FM is minor really - it's still an awesome touch phone - plus you can download Internet radio apps. It's a win-win.
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boscharun
November 20th 2009
3. So sad it doesn't have FM. Also see a review here-
http://www.toolsbysk.com/skforums/forum/Blah.pl?m-1258702565#Sony-Ericsson-Xperia-X10-review
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pinoytutorial
November 16th 2009
2. Yes you could say that, but then again it will the judgment of the public when they finally used it. Congrats to UK! :D Next, will be Asia?
First time to see Sony-ericcson all "balls-deep" on a new smartphone in particular an android phone? We agree, that Xperia has a bitter history on older models. Hopefully, this X10 release will turned out to be a happy-ending.
detailed preview + official vid from Head of Xperia X10: http://bit.ly/xperia-x10-best-or-worst-android-phone
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deepak_nr
November 6th 2009
1. This phone is really nice. However I am bit surprised it won't come an FM tuner, the X1 had it so why not in this?
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