Sony Ericsson Xperia X10

By Joseph Hanlon on 04 November 2009

Sony Ericsson has finally satisfied our curiosity and thrown the covers off its first Android-powered handset. A veritable powerhouse, the X10 features a 1GHz processor and a high resolution 4-inch display.

  • Specs: Bluetooth, Wi-Fi (802.11b/g) • GPRS, WAP, EDGE, UMTS, HSDPA • 8-megapixel • microSD • See more specifications
  • RRP: TBA

First impressions

Though it's six weeks early, it feels like the 12 days of Christmas to the mobile phonologists here at CNET. First we saw Motorola take the wrapping off its Android baby, the Droid, in the US. Now Sony Ericsson follows suit with a handset that set our hearts aflutter.

Upsides

Though the sleek exterior may suggest otherwise, the Xperia X10 reads like a Hummer on paper — large and powerful. The touchscreen is 4 inches diagonally and features an 854x480-pixel resolution, making it one of the largest and sharpest screens to be released in the near future. Under the hood the X10 packs a 1GHz Snapdragon processor and reportedly has 256MB of RAM, which hopefully is enough guts to run Android plus Sony Ericsson's uniquely designed interface shell.

This shell has two components which Sony Ericsson names Timescape and Mediascape. Timescape is for basic communication and unifies different methods of messaging under a single contact heading, so all of your SMS, email, Twitter and Facebook messages appear when you select the contact from the funky deck-of-cards style menu system. Timescape also pulls tagged images of this contact from a variety of sources.

Mediascape addresses one of Android's shortcomings up until now. Like the iPhone's iPod player, Mediascape unifies all of the media stored on the phone into one central location, with tabs defining music, videos and photos. From the images we've seen so far Mediascape looks to be one of the most attractive multimedia applications available. Add the X10's 8.1-megapixel camera, 3.5mm headphone socket and bundled 8GB microSD card to the mix and you have a very convincing media package.

Downsides

A scan of the X10's specs reveals no gaping holes in what we would expect from a phone of this calibre, but the first thing we plan to test is the phone's battery life. A high resolution 4-inch screen and a processor that is roughly twice as powerful as current generation hardware is bound to tax the X10's 1500mAh battery considerably.

We were also disappointed to read that the X10 will run on Android OS version 1.6, rather than version 2.0 like the Moto Droid. Not only does this mean that the X10 will forgo any performance enhancements in the upgraded firmware, but it also means the X10 will probably ship without Google's new navigation software pre-installed. Hopefully Sony Ericsson has an upgrade solution in mind.

Overall

Watch this space. The Xperia X10 has the potential to be one of next year's hottest mobile phone releases. Timescape and Mediascape bring important features to Android that set it apart from what we see from the competition, but unless the performance is top notch, this handset could end up on the quickly forgotten list. Our fingers are crossed.

The Xperia X10 will be available in Australia in Q1 2010, with pricing to be announced closer to the date. If you want to see more photos of the X10 in action check out the hands-on photo gallery over at CNET UK.

Topics: android, google, mobile phone, smartphone, sony ericsson, x10, Xperia, hopefully, unify, contact

Comments (6)

  • Anna gave a review on 23/11/2009 19:56 Report abuse

    this mobile looks awesome! when is it coming to australia, and any idea on price?

  • HelixWhiza gave a review on 10/11/2009 17:18 Report abuse

    Looks awesome! Bit worried about the price implied by those specs tho!

    Is it possible to wipe the memory of these phones and install basic android 2.0?

  • Paul gave a review on 09/11/2009 17:26 Report abuse

    It all comes down to this on battery life. If it uses a LiPo 1500mha battery like the P1i and many other sony phones, there will be no issue. If its Ni-Mh then it won't last a day of playing music.

  • spatch gave a review on 09/11/2009 16:44 Report abuse

    • Good: Jumbo screen, super-fast processor, 3.5mm headphone jack (FINALLY!!!)
    • Bad: Potentially poor battery life, no Xenon flash (?!?), price

    Back in Feb'09 I heralded the announcement of the Satio as Sony Ericsson's triumphant return to greatness, but the reviews have been lukewarm. The touchscreen looks sluggish and I'm now under-enthused.

    The Xperia X10 (despite the legacy of the awful Xperia X1) looks to be the goods, with a wonderful & innovative new user interface, and the breathtaking potential of Google Android.

    I'm sure it will be prohibitively expensive for us early adopters, but I will give it 6 months after release, and if the reviews are good I'm getting one!

  • Michael gave a review on 04/11/2009 14:25 Report abuse

    It sounds good but wow, with those specs it's going to be very pricey.

    I'm more looking forward to the Droid/Milestone and I hope it launches down here soon.

    "but it also means the X10 will probably ship without Google's new navigation software pre-installed"

    The Droid has launched in a GSM model as the Milestone in Europe, and it doesn't have Google's nav software either. It instead ships with Motonav. The Google nav software looks to be a US-only thing for now so this will have little impact on the Australian market.

  • SamMan gave a review on 04/11/2009 14:13 Report abuse

    This sounds so great, can't wait for it to be released!

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