Mobile Phones Reviews

Posts Tagged ‘Sony Ericsson’

The first 12 megapixel Sony Ericsson arrives for our first review to examine it, to understand why there is a so exaggerated powerr on a mobile phone. Well… it needs!

Making photos is a show with this Satio Sony Ericsson, but it does not end with the camera although perfect. Under the bodies, in fact, there’s more. See what.

Package

The sales package of the new Satio has everything you need to be able to use this phone all around. We have a proprietary data cable, battery of 1000 mAh, standard stereo headset jack, manuals, and even a memory of 8 GB.

On closer examination, missing only a convenient carrying case. But Sony Ericsson has delivered a very important standard case, in line with the £ 420 requested for the purchase of this new Satio.

First Contact – Features and Materials

The new Sony Ericsson Satio is a device candy bar touchscreen that operates in the dual system UMTS (HSPA) – GSM quadband. Connectivity very complete, featuring as features the wi-fi connection, Bluetooth stereo in addition to the comfortable data cable. Sony Ericsson for this Satio uses Symbian Series 60 5th Edition. Seems to have a Nokia in the hand but with some adjustments and attention typical of Sony.

Aesthetically, we have an ingot in our hands, black color (there are also red and gray satin), a box of metal that gives a great sense of solidity. On the front, takes place the display defined by 640×360 pixel resolution and 3.5 inches in size.

The colors are 16 million, the technology is the touch screen, resistive type.
Do not worry, though: the system reacts quickly enough. Sure, we are far from capacitive, but just get used a bit.

Above the screen there is a small video camera, proximity sensor, a status LED that warns us of missed calls or incoming messages. On the back there is the 12.0 megapixel camera equipped with autofocus and Xenon flash.

Around the optics, we have a blue light, which reflects the one around the release mechanism. Integrated into the bodywork there are also the GPS and the accelerometer.

First Contact – Size and Weight

The ergonomics of the new Satio is pretty good. The bodies are smooth but of metal, therefore with enough grip to prevent your phone slither like a oap.

Satio manages to fit in your hand, despite the large display and the protruding lens cover. It has a height of 112 mm, a width of 55, and a thickness equal to 13.3, for a specified weight of 126 grams.

As already mentioned, the sense of solidity is excellent. Obviously, since no physical keyboard, we must always refer to the touch screen. The resistive technology force us to use the stylus only a few cases, and already this is a victory.

On the shells we have different commands: above there is the power button, which also allows to set the user profiles (like the Nokia phone); on the left of the block, thare are the contact station and the slot for MicroSD card; on the right side ther are the volume, play, access to the photo-video gallery buttons and the obvious key to take photographs, dual race.

Trial – Our test

The new Satio has no branding, and offers the version 9.4 of the fifth edition of Symbian Series 60, chosen to give the device a connotation typically tied to consumer users.

From professional point of view, there is not much about this model from Sony Ericsson, which brands the home screen just as happens to other competitors, especially when we are using Windows Mobile. This time, on the home screen we have an interface that offers some shortcuts, such as those for the photos, the home, the browser bookmarks and those for calling, plus a customized tab.

At the bottom of the display there is another shortcut, which brings us to messaging, web and mobile phone searching, keyboard, etc.. In general, the operating system is fairly quick, but we wanted a touchscreen more ready to resist the continuous commands given by the user.

You should not ever be fooled by the 1000 mAh battery, able, despite the numbers, to provide power to the device for at least a day and a half of not intensive use. However, we managed to close a full day without battery problem. The functions are arranged as usual for icons, placed in a grid with fresh and bright colors.

The phone part works quite well, both from calling and receiving point of view, while on the messaging we rely capabilities of the display. That offers us to write through a reduced QWERTY keyboard (and here you will use the stylus), an extended QWERTY (with the display in landscape), an alphanumeric keypad or by inserting letters with our handwriting, a fact which brings us back to the exceptional P800 but in practice it is not so performing.

We can also send and receive e-mail, but we will have to click the attachment to watch them in HTML (like Nokia ….). In terms of applications and web browsing (good for rendering thanks to the large display) there is not much to say. The true object of desire of this Satio is the camera.

12 megapixels, excellent quality, which can be attained only in 4:3 format. The pictures are perfect, better then the avarage quality of the other cameras, and they have a real important definition. Even in macro or low light will achieve significant results, with the ability to set many settings.

It will be like having in the hands a small compact digital camera with performance rather than discrete. And like any respectable camera, Satio also allows you to shoot video at a maximum quality of 640×480 pixels with 4:3 format (unfortunately no chance to turn them into wide format).

Of course, the multimedia of Satio extends to the reproduction of music, better using the headphones then the external speaker, mono and nothing special. Noteworthy it is also the presence of the radio and of the integrated GPS with Google maps and Wisepilot on trial for a day.

Do you need an all in one device that acts as phone and camera with 12 megapixels of resolution? If the answer is yes and you have more than £ 420 to invest, an investment Satio becomes credible.

CONCLUSION

Value for money
You will find at £ 420 this new Sony Ericsson camera phone. A high price, as the performance of the new Satio from the perspective of the image quality. The camera is wonderful, the other functions are present. Your preference on the complete touchscreen display has to be evaluated.

Packaging and envelope
There is a memory card of 8 GB, the data cable plug, the 1000 mAh battery, stereo headset and manuals. An excellent budget, missing only the case …

Ergonomics
With a shiny metal body, it guarantees solidity being a well assembled and very interesting product. It stays in your hand or in your pocket. The dimensions do not exceed certain average.

Usability
The camera is undoubtedly the added value of this phone, which offers Symbian operating system with good usability. We would have preferred a touch faster, but we can not say that there are delays or slowdowns …

Multimedia
Excellent multimedia, thanks to the camera with maximum resolution 12.0 megapixels, and fitted with xenon flash and autofocus. Well even the video, filmed at 640×480 pixels, and even playing music. And there is also the radio

GENERAL RATING

A model created to take pictures, always, wherever and however.But there is too much, like Symbian, a decent touchscreen, web browsing, full Internet connectivity. In short, an all in one device which has perhaps the only real flaw in the price …

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Sony Ericsson has produced some exceptional handsets over the years, with certain gems like the W950, W300i and W580i (just to name a few) catching the eyes and hearts of casual and hardcore mobile fanatics alike.

Even so, it’s hard to argue that any single phone in the outfit’s history has caused more of a stir than the XPERIA X1. Sure, half of that is because we here in America have been waiting on the thing since February, but the other is due to pure, unadulterated sex appeal.

2008 has been a banner year for smart- / touchscreen-based handsets, and even though this one is lagging behind most of the other guys in terms of time to market, the X1 is still a formidable rival. We had a chance to spend a few quality days with the North America-bound X1a — which is different than the X1i that has already landed in certain parts of the globe — and if you’ve come here looking for opinions, you haven’t come in vain. Follow us past the break for a look at the pros, the cons and the middling minutiae of SE’s slickest smartphone yet.

Design

No need to beat around the bush — the very thing that caught everyone’s attention when this beauty was originally unveiled was its magnificent body. From end to end, top to bottom, the XPERIA X1 is drop-dead gorgeous. Yeah, you could probably credit HTC for that, but either way, there’s no denying just how striking this piece is in the hand. Sure, it’s a bit bulkier than some of the fashionphones we’ve seen lately, but it’s hardly “thick” for a WinMo powerhouse. In fact, we actually admired the heft and felt that it was just thick / heavy enough to feel “solid” without bleeding into the undesirable realm of “chunky.”

Quite frankly, it’s astounding the level of detail that’s here. From the brushed black aluminum body to the tasteful chrome accents to the curvaceous slide-out keyboard, it’s easy to see that every square millimeter of this was combed over before heading to production. The high-end exterior doesn’t end there; flick your thumb against the loose side of the front panel and experience a silky smooth opening that reveals a chrome / silver QWERTY keyboard that’s just begging to be touched. And if you take this gem behind closed doors and flip off the lights, be prepared to be all sorts of impressed with the backlit keys that light up automatically with the onset of night.

After caving to the keyboard’s seduction, we quickly found that the typing experience wasn’t nearly as delicious as we were led to believe. It’s not that we couldn’t bang out comprehensible messages at a decent rate, it’s just that we never felt truly comfortable that what we were mashing was translating correctly to on-screen text. Let us explain. For starters, the entire keyboard is too flush with the body. Unless you’re casting at least a passing glance at the keys while you type, you can easily question whether or not you’ve actually “depressed” a key. Sure, it sounds like a minor grumble, but a little more feedback in the keys would’ve certainly been swell. On a related note, the top row of keys is simply too close to the edge of the display. We can’t imagine that the curved design helps in this regard, but in any case, we often found our reasonably small thumbs clashing with the bezel rather than inputting that all important “R,” “T,” or “O.” Is this something you could learn to adapt to? Maybe. But after a number of days texting and sending e-mail, we still found ourselves having to re-input missed keystrokes and readjust our approach to the top row.

Display

Moving on to the display, we can’t say that we’re altogether stoked about the resistive touchscreen. Yeah, it gets the job done, but after spending a moment or two with a capacitive touch panel (see: T-Mobile G1 and Apple iPhone 3G), it’s hard to go back to the mushy, spongy reality that comes with resistive. Particularly with some of WinMo’s smallest icons, we were forced to angle our fingernail just so in order to finally get the screen to recognize our input in the correct location, and while it performed rather admirably with the stylus, those who tend to keep that thing holstered may take issue with how it interprets finger-based inputs. Not that this is any different than most other resistive touchscreens — it’s just the nature of the beast, so to speak. As for the quality of the 800 x 480 resolution display itself? Striking. And really, did you honestly expect a reaction different than that? We mean, it’s a VGA screen on a handset — that’s a recipe hard to sabotage.

Buttons

A quick note on the hard buttons just beneath the LCD. All of ‘em seemed to do their respective jobs well enough, but the optical joystick in the center was a touch on the finicky side. In some cases (scrolling up and down web pages, for instance), it was easy to love. In others (moving about within the Programs folder), we found ourselves frustrated by how erratic it could be. We’d gesture down, it would move two blocks right and one down. We’d gesture up, and it’d shoot up three and back down two. Thankfully, the quirkiness was somewhat contained after adjusting the sensitivity to an optimal setting (read: very low), though it’s still a matter of personal preference whether one will enjoy this over using the touch panel or the “D-pad.” Of note, the joystick can be deactivated altogether or just in IE, Messaging and Contacts.

Miscellaneous

It is worth noting that the external volume rocker is well placed and much appreciated, as is the marvelous 3.5-millimeter headphone jack. Also, we love how tightly integrated the 3.2-megapixel camera (and flash) is with the body, but we’re not so hot on where the lens is. Time after time, we found ourselves having to move our finger from how it naturally fell when gearing up to depress the shutter button in order to snap a photo. Maybe our gorilla hands are just clumsy like that, but it seems to us the lens is placed precisely where your middle finger on your left hand will always reside when holding the camera for a shot. As for the camera quality? We’d say it’s pretty darn great for a cellphone, but then again, the inbuilt camera tends to be one of Sony Ericsson’s strong suits. Have a look at the sample shots below to see what it’s capable of.

One final thought on the hardware — the removable battery is much, much appreciated, as is the ease in which it is to remove. No atypical hardware is required here. Simply pop the back casing off with your thumb and pull up on the bottom of the cell. We will say, however, that having the micro SD slot hidden underneath of this casing could prove annoying for those who swap out flash cards with any frequency, but it does keep the overall look of the phone less cluttered.

Software / Windows Mobile 6.1

So, now that you’ve combed through the ups and downs of the hardware, we’re logically ready to tackle software. By and large, what you’ve got here is tried and true Windows Mobile 6.1. In fairness, the operating system is beginning to show its age, and unlike the Touch Diamond, there isn’t much here to mask it. Those familiar with WinMo 6.1 will feel immediately at home on the XPERIA X1. Everything is where you’d expect, and everything functions just like you’re used to. Outside of the unique Panels interface, you won’t find anything too out of the ordinary here.

One would think the 528MHz Qualcomm MSM7200 processor coupled with 256MB of RAM could chew through this OS with ease, but in our testing, we found that not to be the case in too many instances. On an annoyingly frequent basis, we found the “OK” button and hard “Exit” trigger to do absolutely nothing for 5, 10, even 20 seconds. Eventually, everything would catch back up and we could resume whatever it was that we were trying to do in the first place, but the frequent and debilitating lag when switching applications, screen orientation, folders or e-mail accounts was downright pestiferous. After awhile, it would often get to the point where a hard reboot was the only option left for getting the system back to its speedy self. When things did decide to run smoothly, we found ourselves enjoying the spoils of Windows Mobile, but too often — for instance — we’d glance down and manually surf over to “Messaging” only to find a dozen text messages that it never bothered to alert us of.

Panels

As for the Panel interface, we found ourselves cautiously optimistic that SE could have a winner on its hands here. Just seven panels come loaded on the X1a, and for those unfamiliar, each panel is essentially a customizable home screen that provides a variety of information based on what panel you have selected. For instance, the included Google panel puts a search box right on your home screen along with one-click links to Maps, Gmail, Gcal and Photos. The multimedia panel puts your tunes / videos at the forefront of your X1 experience, while the more generic calender panel hosts up a clock, your upcoming appointments, the current weather and a small RSS feed of your favorite websites.

We’ve heard that SE has big plans for this initiative, possibly bringing panels for YouTube access, social networking sites, etc. Unfortunately, the “More Panels” download link within the UI was still under construction at the time of this writing, so we’re left to simply hope that what will eventually reside there is enriching and worthwhile. We should mention, however, that our experience with the seven built-in panels wasn’t entirely exhilarating. Oftentimes, just changing panels was a 10 to 30 second affair, and icons on the panels themselves generally took 5 or more seconds to respond to an input (read: not nearly as quickly as what we saw in a Panels promotional vid). It’s possible the panels integration with WinMo could be tightened in future software updates, but as it stands, the lag times put a damper on an otherwise enticing aspect of the phone.

Multimedia

Given that the X1 managed to secure a 3.5-millimeter headphone jack (very much unlike the G1, sadly), we reckon a swath of potential buyers are probably interested in the multimedia capabilities. Thanks to SE’s panel that caters specifically to that, we were able to browse, playback and skip around within our tunes right from the home screen. Our experience was generally positive, with the audio being crisp, clear and plenty audible. The interface itself will also prove satisfactory for most, with the occasional hint of lag preventing us from giving it our largest nod of approval. And as insinuated, not having to buy some unconventional headphone adapter probably helped us love this even more.

Web browsing

It should be noted that the inclusion of Opera Mobile makes the web surfing experience entirely more enjoyable than with Internet Explorer. We pitted the X1 (using Opera Mobile, obviously) against the iPhone 3G to see which would load up the full version (read: non-mobile version) of our homepage the fastest via WiFi, and while Safari managed to load the entire page — graphics and all — before the X1, the X1 did get the first text up a smidgen faster than the iPhone 3G. We did administer the same test via 3G, and results were similar. All in all, Opera Mobile provides a browsing experience that’s enjoyable and usable, and if you’re still not satisfied, there’s always Skyfire (in time, hopefully). Have a look at the video below to see the X1 and iPhone 3G race to the finish.

Performance

We tested the quad-band (GSM 850/900/1800/1900; UMTS/HSDPA 850/1900/2100) Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 using AT&T service, and call quality was good. When making calls, we could hear a slight background hiss that subsided when our friends picked up. Audio was clear and there was very little voice distortion, and we used an airline’s voice-automated response system with no problem. We also didn’t experience any dropped calls during our test period. Friends had positive comments, saying that they couldn’t tell we were using a cell phone and there was good sound.

Unfortunately, the speakerphone quality wasn’t the greatest. Voices sounded a bit garbled and volume was weak. We were able to pair the X1 with the Logitech Mobile Traveller Bluetooth headset and Motorola S9 Bluetooth Active Headphones. Using AT&T’s 3G network, the X1 took about 40 seconds to 1 minute to load graphics-intensive pages like CNET.com, while mobile sites for CNN and ESPN took about 10 seconds. As for multimedia performance, we watched a couple of WMV clips, which looked excellent on the X1’s sharp display. Playback was smooth as the images and sound were synchronized, and there was minimal pixelation to the picture. Of course, it helped that we played high-quality video. As with most smartphones, we weren’t particularly impressed with music playback through the phone’s speakers. Songs sounded very brassy, but we suspect many users won’t be listening to tunes this way, which is why we’re thrilled to see the inclusion of a 3.5mm headphone jack. We plugged in a pair of Shure E3s and enjoyed great sound quality.

Overall, the Xperia X1 was a responsive device. There’s a slight lag when you activate a new panel, and some sluggishness when we had numerous applications open–typical Windows Mobile behavior. No system stalls or crashes, however. Despite the HSDPA support, we found the Web browsing to be a little pokey compared to other smartphones.

The Xperia X1 has a rated battery talk time of 6 hours on 3G and 10 hours on GSM/EDGE and up to 20 days of standby time. The Xperia X1 knocked out an impressive 9 hours of continuous talk time in our battery drain tests.

Usability / Reception

In the end, a phone’s merits on paper are only truly laudable if the end product is easy and painless to use. To that end, we’d like to take this opportunity to focus on some of the handset’s more critical functions, namely calling and navigating. In a fringe area of AT&T coverage, we compared the X1’s reception with that of the iPhone 3G, and unfortunately, our findings weren’t all that copacetic for Sony Ericsson’s offering. In areas where we could eke out a call on EDGE with two bars on the iPhone 3G (with no crackling, drops, etc.), we couldn’t with the X1. In fact, we found it constantly hopping in and out of 3G, EDGE and GPRS (yes, seriously) as it attempted in vain to secure a solid signal. Worse still, a number of calls made with four bars of 3G echoed uncontrollably to the point where we were forced to hang up, move to a different area, and try the call again.

That being said, call quality and reception in major metropolitan areas (or areas of very good AT&T coverage) was second to none. There was no hissing, no echoing, no crackling. Everyone that we called affirmed that we sounded fantastic, and we replied back that they sounded as handsome as ever. The takeaway? Those who know they live in an AT&T fringe zone may want to think twice about snagging the X1. Fringe reception was simply too poor for us live with, and anyone you’d end up calling frequently would probably agree. Of course, we now know that an AT&T femtocell (read: a mini cell tower for your house, to put it simply) trial is slated to get going later this year, so maybe there’s hope for you yet.

As for its GPS capabilities, we’ve nothing but the highest of praise. The Google Maps application loaded up quickly, and the handset managed to get an accurate lock of our indoor location in just under 1.5 minutes. Walking about, we found that the blue orb followed along accurately, and basic navigating tests left us impressed. We know, it’s hard to go wrong with Google Maps, but at least we know the GPS module in this thing is up to the task.

We also ran a quick 3G speed test in Opera just to give you all an idea of how quickly it could suck down data via AT&T’s 3G network.

We never hooked the XPERIA X1 up to any sort of drain tester, nor did we outsource this portion of the review to a robotic yapper who could track talk time down to the nanosecond, but we did go about our days doing what we imagine most cellphone owners would do in order to bring you the following. With moderate usage of 3G data and a moderate amount of talking / texting, we squeezed just under two full days out of the X1.

More specifically, we chatted for a few hours, surfed the web for an hour or so, sent a few dozen angry text messages while in gridlocked traffic and left it completely unplugged (while still on) around the clock before seeing it choke out its last breath around 22 hours later. In all honestly, we were taken aback by the battery life of the XPERIA X1. We’ve owned WinMo devices in the past that wouldn’t last a solid day with moderate usage, so to us, just making it ’til bedtime is a feat in and of itself. Granted, the X1’s not razor thin or anything, and the 1,500mAh battery is surely on the large size, but we never felt as if the phone was made bulkier simply to extend its life between charges.

Good: The Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 features an interactive panel interface that lets you customize the smartphone to your wants and needs. The Windows Mobile device also has an attractive design and a full QWERTY keyboard.

Bad: Without U.S.-carrier backing, the Xperia X1 has an exorbitant price tag. The navigation controls are difficult to use, and the Web browsing experience wasn’t the greatest.

Conclusion

I have been using this phone on a daily basis for about 2 weeks or so, and I find it very easy to live with, the speed, clear screen (albeit recessed) and quality of the device makes it very enjoyable. The battery life for me was the best bit; the ability to switch about in and out of the different panels was fun. I am sure that given time out in the wild, development in these areas, will prove that this is probably one of the all time classic devices.

My doubts on the keyboard and the d-pad are definite put off’s. I think in comparison to the Touch Pro, I have to agree with Matt, it really depends with your personal uses and preferences. My personal decision is that I really don’t use the keyboard enough to warrant having one on a phone; I have convinced myself that I can operate just as quickly on a touchscreen SIP, so for now I will be sticking with my diamond. But I will definitely be interested in the directions that software and ROM developments take this phone, it has a great starting point and can only get better, this is definitely the start of things to come and not the finished article.

As a footnote, whilst in Lund, I took the opportunity to suggest to the Guys in development that a great solution for me would be an X1 / Touch Pro, with a detachable keyboard, so that during the week, it is a business phone, but in the evening and at weekends, detach the keyboard and have the benefits of a slim, pocket friendly, social phone.

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