I was offered a Sony Ericsson Xperia™ X10 mini pro phone to try and thought why not, is there life outside of the iPhone I wonder?  It made me think about all the phones I’ve had over the years.  I started with Nokia 5.1 – a brick with an extendable aerial – woo, get me!  I bought it in 1997 and I still have the same number and my best friend bought hers at the same time and we have the same number apart from the last digit and she still has hers too – aw, cute!

Remember when phones just for calls oh and playing snake?!  I moved from Nokia to Sony Ericsson for quite a few years when colour screens and cameras were a must as they were the leaders in phone cameras. Then came the iPhone nobody can deny it was totally different (and in a good way) touch screen, user friendly and comfy in your hand.  It had Angry Birds.  Oh and Angry Birds The Seasons! 

First thought was that it is small, really small, look …

I thought it might be too small but its not.  On the first day I thought my fingers might be too big but you quickly get used to it.  The keyboard is small, just like the phone but surprisingly useable.  It’s nice the way this phone fits easily into one hand and can be completely navigated through with just your thumb. 

This was my first experience of a piece of android kit and phone has apps for everything, I almost snobbishly thought there was nothing like the choice of apps in the Apple Store – wrong – it is basically the same choice from my perspective as a user.  I was wrong.  There wasn’t an app on my iPhone I couldn’t get for this, Angry Birds?  Check!

The thing for my that was my favourite and really impressive is the camera, I always have my phone in one hand and used to take lots with my phone in the days before my iPhone (I have a iPhone 3G by the way) but have given up a lot because the camera is pretty rubbish on my iPhone – but this is great, really great 5megapixels –  see my on the hoof Silent Sunday post and I have even printed some new moo mini card with shots taken with the Sony Ericsson Xperia™ X10 mini pro.  Never mind Hipstamatic – this bad boy has a FLASH!  Also as its android it links through your Google account so you can upload straight to Picassa and beyond – I *heart* this function a lot!  

One great app already on this phone was Timescape, if you love social networking *cough* who me? or just communicating with friends through more than just by phone calls this gives you everything in one place as text messages, calls, Twitter and Facebook updates all scroll across this phones touch screen in one at a glance page.

  • I love, love, loved the camera and its FLASH!
  • I really liked its easy connectivity with Google
  • I liked that is was different to the majorities iPhone
  • I was impressed with its price at round about £200 – free with a contract on most networks
  • There is room for improvement with the screen resolution, very occassionally things stuttered
  • Overall this is a great little phone very small but very useable. 

You can check out a video demo of the phone here:

By the way Sony Ericsson sent me the Xperia™ X10 mini pro to try and return which I have.