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The Xperia Mini's text messaging app is pretty straightforward, with Sony Ericsson not doing much more here than styling up the usual Android SMS interface.
The keyboard is, by default, a take on the traditional numeric keypad entry system, which was the only choice on the old X10 Mini. Thanks to the Xperia Mini's larger screen, there's now a QWERTY option in here, which is the simple Android standard keyboard option.
Typing on the tiny screen is a little tough, but there are many customisable auto-correct options to make texting people in a grammatically correct fashion a less tedious task. Or you can have both - the Xperia Mini lets you use QWERTY input when holding the phone sideways in landscape mode, which then automatically switches to the phonepad option when you move it back to portrait.
Email is handled by a standalone app, which manages POP3/IMAP and MS Exchange ActiveSync. You can have as many of these accounts as you like, with the app creating its own combined inbox if you have numerous accounts to manage.
There are options to set the checking interval if you don't want it annihilating your battery, plus there's an excellent sliding preview pane that makes quickly scanning messages a breeze.