Review: Sony Ericsson Xperia X1

The highly anticipated Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 has finally arrived and we've had a chance to play with one for a little over a week.

We wanted to love this phone, but there are just too many niggling little faults that keep getting in the way and detracting from the overall experience.

The X1 has a lot going for it, however, and as the first model in the company's new premier Xperia brand, it bodes well for what follows.

We'll start by looking at the chassis. Given that the X1 is a fully featured smartphone with a slide out keyboard it is surprisingly compact. The device is solidly built and the brushed metal body feels good in the hand and doesn't collect fingerprints like some metal cases. Similarly, the slide mechanism is sprung and doesn't feel like it's going to start slipping any time soon.

With the help of HTC, Sony Ericsson has broken away from Sony's proprietary mindset when building the X1, and as a result it features a standard mini-USB port for charging and PC connectivity, a standard 3.5mm headphone jack and a microSD slot for expandable memory.

The front of the X1 is dominated by the 3in WVGA touch screen running at a resolution of 800 x 480. The screen is very impressive; colours are sharp and the touch element is nice and responsive. However, it is here that one of the little niggles surfaces as the screen is slightly recessed, meaning that trying to touch anything on the edges, particularly the scroll bar, can be tricky.

Below the screen are a pair of context buttons, call pick up/end buttons and OK and X-panel keys (we'll discuss the Panels a little further on). Between these sit the optical joystick and the four-way navigation buttons.

Essentially the keys are pretty easy to use with the exception of the up navigation key which often meant we ended up pressing the select button while trying to move up through a menu or list.

The optical joystick took a little getting used to, but worked very nicely, and having the option of sliding your finger over the pad to scroll or select items is very nice for one-handed use and has the added bonus of not leaving fingerprints on the screen. There is also a stylus, although we hardly ever used it as pretty much everything can be done using a finger or the other controls.

There are four LEDs embedded in each corner which can be configured to flash in various ways when there is a missed call, incoming message, low battery and so on. But because they are located under the case they aren't particularly noticeable in normal light.

The keyboard again highlights our frustration with the X1, which came so close but tripped up on a handful of small, but highly pertinent, points. As mentioned the slider is solid and springs out and snaps back nicely, meaning you aren't going to accidentally slide it half way open while using it.

The slide is slightly curved and the keys are nicely spaced, but in order to create a gap between the keys, there are no numbers and there are no arrow keys meaning you have to constantly use the function key to enter numbers and you have to move your hand up to the directional pad or the optical joystick in order to move the cursor around.

The keys all have a good tactile feel to them, except the space bar which feels more like a soggy marshmallow. Typing on the top row is also tricky, even with thin fingers, as the front panel is just a fraction too close.

Sony Ericsson has taken a new approach with the X1 and as result it runs Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional and, as with most Windows Mobile phones, there is a pretty skin over the top. In the case of the X1, this comes in the form of Panels.

Essentially the screen can be made to show up to nine mini-screens, each with a different function. The first screen cannot be altered, but the rest can be moved, added or removed as the user desires. The standard panels include clock, calendar, media player, radio and internet browser, among others. Other panels are in development, and a Facebook panel has recently being launched.

At first glance this seems like a great idea, but unfortunately the panels take several seconds to load so we reckon most users will just leave the most useful panels, largely defeating the purpose of the Panel concept. It's also worth noting that the panels displayed on the main screen are static images and not dynamic, meaning that the Facebook panel won't show any updates, the time won't change and so on.

Once under the skin the interface very quickly becomes standard Windows Mobile, about which many people are divided. Windows Mobile can be something of a resource hog and has a range of issues of its own, but the X1's 528MHz Qualcomm processor and 256Mb of RAM means that with the exception of the Panel loading time, Windows Mobile runs pretty smoothly, even with a few applications open.

The X1 packs a pretty standard 3.2 megapixel camera, and photo quality is good, but nothing exceptional. One nifty feature is that the focus can be adjusted by touching the point on the screen the user wants to focus on, allowing for much better shots in the right circumstances.

Finally it's worth noting that the Xperia X1 packs a good battery and after a few recharge cycles we were getting between two to three days of life out of it even with fairly heavy use including data services over 3G and Wi-Fi.

As highlighted at the start of the review, this phone has a lot going for it, but almost every one of its unique selling points seems to contain a fundamental and vital flaw that constantly irks the user.

For a phone that sells for around £500 on its own and only goes for free on £50 a month and above contracts, there are just too many hindrances to be able to wholly recommend it.

We can only hope that Sony Ericsson listens to user feedback, in which case we are looking forward to the X1's successor.