Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 Review

Look and feel

The Xperia X1 is larger and heavier than your average handset, but the body and QWERTY keyboard each benefit from a classy brushed metal finish and the device is robust and well put together without being particularly sexy.

Features

One of the most innovative phones of the year, with its customisable panel-style touch-screen user interface, tilt (arc) display and large slide-out QWERTY keyboard, the Xperia X1 caused a stir when it was first revealed that the phone’s hardware was in fact built by Taiwan manufacturer HTC.

There is a fine array of multimedia functionality on the Xperia X1, including a decent 3.2-megapixel camera with auto focus and flash that can be accessed via a dedicated key on the side of the phone.

Ease of use

As a Windows powered mobile, the Xperia offers Outlook for email, calendar and contacts, as well as push email with an Exchange server and personal email over the internet.

As a result, it is a well-rounded email device with the added benefit of MS Instant Messenger, great if you want to enjoy PC-like messaging functionality from your phone. However, if you just want to send a basic text, it is far too complicated.

Performance

As well as being slow and clunky and prone to the odd crash, the user interface is poorly thought out. The panels do not really work on either an aesthetic or practical level and I found myself resorting to the Windows UI to locate and access the majority of the features. The other issue is a touch-screen, which is not particularly finger friendly.

Battery life

With a talktime of up to 600 mins and a standby time of of 833 hours the Xperia X1 has a marathon battery.