Tag Archives: Mobile Phone

Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini and X10 Mini Pro

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Sony Ericsson lunched their credit card sized smartphones Xperia 10 and Xperia 10 Mini Pro at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The most striking aspect about these phones lies in the Operating System. For the first time Sony Ericsson have used the Android OS on their phones.

Android seems to have become the preferred OS if the number of mobile phone manufacturers adopting it is anything to go by. Sony Ericsson is the newest Android convert on the block. While the Xperia X10 Mini has a touchscreen interface, the Xperia X10 Mini Pro has a QWERTY keypad which slides from beneath from it’s tiny body.

Xperia X10 Mini Pro

Xperia X10 Mini Pro

The basic specifications of the Xperia X10 Mini series includes a 2.55 inch TFT scratch resistant touchscreen, a 600MHz Qualcomm processor running Android OS v1.6. This sleek phone boasts of a 5 MP camera with auto focus and geotagging.

It has an interesting interface which has four contextual cornet buttons which can be customized according to your needs. Sony Ericsson’s Timescape is being hailed as an interesting feature which tends to integrate all your contacts in one place such that it is easier to access their call history, Facebook, Twitter, Messaging etc all in one screen. But then, we have seen this feature in HTC’s Sense UI, so its nothing really new.

“With the X10 Mini and X10 Mini Pro, we have pushed the boundaries of what is possible with smaller devices and are giving consumers exactly what they want; two high performance mobile phones with a fully customizable user experience platform and a stunning ultra compact design”, said Rikko Sakaguchi, EVP and Chief Creation Officer, Sony Ericsson.

Popularity: 9% [?]

Motorola Motoming A1600 : Another Linux Mobile Phone

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Motorola Motoming A1600 is another Linux-based Motorola Mobile Phone. The A1600 has a rounded profile & comes with a transparent flip which allows one to peek at the screen it protects. The A1600 is touched-based & has a really well built exterior.

The call buttons are small but well laid out with good tactile feedback & the joypad is also easy to use. The volume buttons are on the side & comfortable to use with good tactility intuitiveness. The menu structure is easy to understand & simple. The A1600 has a large display (2.4-inches) that is quite crisp.

Motorola Motoming A1600

Motorola Motoming A1600

Although the fonts used could be better. The lack of a hardware keypad is also felt, although not as badly as on the ROKR E6 because this phone is wider, giving the onscreen keyboards a large area as well. One of the most noticeable features is the addition of a talking dictionary that can translate any world into another language & pronounced the word as it would sound very useful if you are traveling abroad. We tried it for some common words & the result were pretty good.

Other than that the 3.2-megapixel camera is useful & features auto focus & a slightly weak flash unit. Its antenna is strictly OK & call quality could have been better. The A1600 is a decent music player with good hands free quality and decent volume on the loudspeaker. If Motorola had thrown in a QWERTY package, this would be a feature-loaded device at a price of $329. As it stands, it is not a bad phone but has the odd quirk that keeps us from recommending it sans reservation.

Popularity: 1% [?]

HTC Touch Diamond

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The Diamonds looks like an HTC Touch pro on a sever diet. It misses out on the hardware QWERTY & has a smaller battery which is why it is slimmer & a lot lighter. The rear seems to be more solid & is finished in glossy black but a look at the front face & you cannot tell the Diamond & the pro apart.

The name Diamond comes from the sculpted rear that has been cut at various angles to give the appearance of many sides-like its namesake. Built quality is good & the touch Diamond looks clean. It has 4GB of internal storage but no expansion. The screen is a little devoid of colors but bright & crisp enough.

HTC Touch Diamond

HTC Touch Diamond

Fonts are clearer than on the touch viva, although not the best around. Once again the lack of a dedicated keyboard cannot made up for by the onscreen one, simply because of the prohibitively small screen size. The call buttons are touch activated & very well laid out & amply backlit, while the home & back button also aid navigation. In fact most other non-HTC devices do not have a back button & we feel this is a nifty & very utilitarian feature that is simple to implement & should be standardized on all WM devices.

The camera on this phone is decent, actually a lot better than we expected; it out performs some of the other 3.2 megapixel units in this test. The antenna is of mediocre quality & we had slight issues with clarity in zone 2.

The earpiece volume itself is quite good. The hands free is good enough for casual music listening & to make calls but music lovers obsessed with quality will find nothing of interest here. The lack of Expansion beyond the 4 GB of inbuilt memory may also turn some people off.There,s nothing special about this handset to make it stand out.

At a price tag of $350 users would surely expect more & we would expect a QWERTY keypad to make usability better.

Popularity: 1% [?]