Sunday, November 8, 2009
Sunday, November 1, 2009
My Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 Xperience
First of all, I would like to let everyone know that I am a certified Sony Ericsson fanboy as some of you might know, however I WILL NOT be biased during the span of this review, if I find something unbearable, and disappointing with the phone I WILL STATE it. Read on guys!
-Right out of the box:
The box that the X1 came in was horizontally long, where this was also evident on some of the high end phones from Sony Ericsson (SE) though at present they are using a smaller box. Upon opening you'll see a large XPERIA word across the whole box, though the letters XP and ERIA are separated into two boxes, the XP part of the package houses the accessories for the x1, the ERIA houses the lust worthy and svelte xperia x1 (I have a black unit). Upon removing the ERIA box/container you see another container which has all the papers inside, userguide, panels guide, browsing the web and messaging guide, a getting started guide, an opera mobile guide, and the PC suite CD. I won't dwell much on this part since all the contents are self explanatory. Overall, the package has what you need for the phone, nothing to go gaga about.
-Phone feel:
Upon seeing the phone, I immediately had a crush on it!(I already did when I saw it over the net when the first photos popped up!), this feeling is what you usually have when you are a certified techie and you see a certified tech in front of you, some people call it a "nerdgasm", some call it a "techgasm", you can use whichever you want, it really doesn't matter. When you hold the phone there are two (three for some people) things that you instantly notice: the metal back cover, and the 3" screen (the third one being the kinda hefty weight, since I am not too keen on weight then it did not bother me). The front portion of the phone sports 6 keys at the bottom of the screen, a left and right softkey, call and end key, Xpanel and OK key plus the directional pad/optical trackpad. On the right side of the phone you can find the volume rocker and the camera button. On the left side of the phone you can find the micro usb port, and the loudspeaker grill. On top are the power key and the 3.5mm audio jack. The bottom is quite bare with the lanyard eyelet only at sight. At the back are the 3.2 megapixel camera, LED flash, and uhmmm...the metal cover. The stylus is at the same spot, where it has been as always. Overall the phone feel is superb, you know that you have a premium device on hand. It's like sitting on a car, when you ride an audi r8 you instantly know and get that feeling that you are sitting on a luxurious car.
-Let it slide:
As you all know, the Xperia X1 sports a full QWERTY keyboard, and you can do so by sliding it out, duh! The sliding mechanism is crisp and smooth, and has a nice feeling to it, good job SE! The screen orientation is activated by sliding the QWERTY keyboard out (no accelerometer here guys), this is mainly because the screen orientation is activated by a magnet. Here is a simple video showing off how the xperia x1 screen rotates(video from pocketnow):
The slider feels somewhat shakey though. When you slide out the keyboard and press on the body you'll feel a slight shake, same goes when the QWERTY is not slid out, when you press on the body you'll feel a slight shake. I don't know if this only exists on my unit but I have a gut feeling that this is also the case with other x1s since the x1 uses an arc slider, therefore the upper body might not be straight, it might have some slight of curve to it to give the arc slider feel, though I'm not sure, ok?Some of you might find it annoying, I find it quite annoying sometimes when I browse the internet in landscape view. Overall the slider is ok and I'll be honest, I have fun playing with the slider! :D
Here's a simple video(again from pocketnow) demonstrating how fast the screen rotation works with the x1 against the htc touch pro, also notice the better screen quality with the x1 :D
-Buttons and Feedbacks:
The buttons upfront gives you great haptic feedback and are easy to use EXCEPT the up button on the directional pad, there's just something different with it, I don't know what it is exactly, but its not a deal breaker...no, really, its not. Now off to the QWERTY keyboard, I'll give it an average score, not excellent yet not poor, though I would have preferred a better keyboard feel. As with other phones, you need to get used to it as well. Another complain I have here is the top row of the keyboard, there are times when my thumb hits the body when I use the top row buttons, especially if you have big thumbs then this might be the case for you. The spacing of the keys are big enough for you to avoid mistakes, one mistake that I usually make though is when I use the "p" key, there are times when I accidentally press the backspace/del key. I would have preferred if they had made the backspace/del key a bit bigger compared to the other keys. With the volume rocker keys I don't have any problems, but the camera key I'm not happy with it, why? Since when you use the camera key, you need to push it down all the way, and when I mean all the way, its all the way, unlike with other SE products this one seems like you need to push it a little more. So when taking photos, my photos tend to get blurry since I need to press it all the way down. The optical trackpad is also a very nice addition and works pretty well, you can set the sensitivity from 1 to 5.
-A hint of Sony Ericsson on Windows Mobile:
The phone comes with Windows Mobile 6.1, and there's only a hint of Sony Ericsson at boot up. Why do I say that? Since the preinstalled panels here are quite few - 3D fish panel, Sony Ericsson Panels 1 & 2, Today Panel, Media Xperience, Google Panel, Xperia radio Panel, erm...I think that's it. Browsing through the deeper part of the phone shows the existence of the dull OS covering up this phone, you can't brag about the looks of Windows Mobile 6.1, you'd rather keep it to yourself than show it off to others. That's the down part with WinMo but the great thing is that it offers great customization and applications, hooray!
-Panels:
THIS IS THE MAJOR SELLING POINT OF THE X1! Did you get that? So make the most out of it, and I'll dwell more on this, okay?
Panels are like small unique interfaces on the phone, the phone offers 6 panels via the X panel button though you can have more than 6 but only 6 are usable and viewable, you can interchange the panels though. The pre-installed panels are as follows (for photos, you can use GOOGLE or BING):
3D FISH PANEL
Overview: There are three fishes swimming around your screen. You can pet them, feed them, teach them tricks.......NOT! Actually, what you can only do with them is touch the screen and look at them approach your finger, that's about it.
Use: Additional fish appears when phone status udpates, e.g. new fish pops up when you miss an incoming call, etc.
Bottomline: Interactive and fun at the beginning though gets boring later on. I use this panel.
SONY ERICSSON PANELS 1&2
Overview: Its like your own personalized and customizable panel which displays certain information e.g. clock whether it be digital or analog, date, temperature of selected city, web feeds, program launcher, contacts, etc.
Uses: Able to show different information, e.g. clock, web feeds, connectivity buttons, appointments, tasks, temperature, and programs.
Bottomline: Very customizable for the owner's like though animations would have been great. Customization are based on blocks, total of 10 blocks. Here's how it works, we'll start of with a blank page, you can add a digital clock, analog clock, calendar, and a mixture, some will use 1 block, others 2, so on and so forth, e.g. an analog clock uses 3 blocks since its quite big, 2 analog clocks uses 5, a digital clock uses 1 block while a mixture of a digital clock and a calender uses 4 blocks, depending on which you prefer you will be left with a certain amount of blocks. So if I use a digital clock and calendar mixture (which is what I really use) I will still have 6 blocks available. You can set the default city as well. Appointment, tasks, programs result, and web feeds result to 1 block a piece so its up to your liking what info you want to display. I use this panel.
GOOGLE PANEL
Overview: Quick access to all of your google accounts and other google applications Google Maps, Google Mail, Calendar, Photos, plus a Google quick search box.
Uses: Search and use all your Google contents.
Bottomline: Its all Google, very useful though. I use this everytime I want to do a quick search, e.g. I installed the Mytopia Panel on my phone and upon opening the panel I became dumbfounded, so I quickly brought up the Panels Manager and used the Google Panel, and Voilah! I learned what Mytopia was, anybody have an account with Mytopia? I use this panel.
MEDIA XPERIENCE PANEL
Overview: A very eye catching way to browse and use your multimedia content, can be found at other Sony Ericsson featurephones.
Uses: View and update your media files - Photos, Videos, Musics, Games, Contacts. Contents shown are owner dependable so you can choose which contents are viewable through the xperience panel. Also, the color of background varies depending on time of day. e.g dark blue at night, orange at afternoon (I think). You can also add background effects - Icons, Squares, Reeds, or none. These float around at the back while you use the xperience panel, I use reeds.
Bottomline: Very useful and eye catching, animations are a plus! Media contents are easily viewable through this panel. I use this panel.
XPERIA RADIO PANEL
Overview: Shows radio information and clock on top, with finger friendly buttons for volume, change/search frequency, loudspeaker or headset. You must have a headset connected since the cord works as the radio antenna.
Uses: A simple radio panel
Bottomline: Shows station information, and clock. I don't use this panel.
-Other notable panels(for photos and other information you can search via GOOGLE or BING):
CNN PANEL
Overview: Shows updated news feeds whether it be international news, sports news, showbusiness, and others.
Use: A one stop panel to get you updated with all the latest news.
Bottomline: Great panel so that you can stay updated with the latest happenings. I don't use this panel.
COOL HUNTING
Overview: Shows you random photos wherein contents and information are stored inside the photo and once you choose a photo, the information pops up. You can also search for photos, data connection is required.
Uses: Gives you interesting facts about photos, you might find something very interesting here.
Bottomline: A unique panel wherein you can learn lots of new information. I use this panel.
FACEBOOK PANEL
Overview: A facebook panel built for your X1.
Use: Gives you instant access to your facebook account.
Bottomline: For facebook fanatics out there, this is your panel. Shows facebook updates though not every update can be seen. I use this panel.
GROWING PANEL
Overview: Shows you a growing plant with flowers on it, mushrooms, bees, etc.
Uses: Gives you access to some of your settings by clicking on some of the flowers. Other contents also show up depending on what season it is, e.g. pumpkins pop up during halloween, and the like.
Bottomline: Just like the 3D Fish Panel, its very interactive but gets boring later on.
ON THE ROAD PANEL
Overview: A panel used when you are driving (eventhough it is illegal to use your phone while driving). Offers finger friendly icons. It gives you three tabs, a tracker, music player, and a call log tab.
Uses: You can track your speed, speed average, and distance travelled via the tracker tab (data connection is required). Music player tab gives you finger friendly access to your musics. Call log shows incoming, outgoing, and missed calls. You can also call up a finger friendly virtual kepad so you can dial a number.
Bottomline: You can use it while driving, though I prefer you not :D Gives you information regarding your speed and distance travelled. Finger friendly as well. I don't use this panel.
SEUS PIXEL CITY PANEL
Overview: Gives you an overview of Pixel City. You can see some walking down the street, some playing football, a band playing, a helicopter and train passing by, an airplane taking off, just like a real city. The Pixel People are pretty cute as well :)
Uses: Not much, same with the growing panel, when you press something you are brought to a program. Here when you click a billboard with the GOOGLE sign, you are taken directly to gooogle maps. There are also billboards here which shows you if you have a message and an email.
Bottomline: Along with the 3D Fish Panel, and Growing Panel, this offers interaction with the homescreen though it also gets boring later on. I prefer this over the other two. I use it just for fun.
POINTUI HOME 2
Overview: Shows applets on top, applets are small screens on top of your screen wherein it previews the certain applet, and you can swipe left or right to access the next applet. Applets available are a today, messageing, world, tasks, appointment, and slideshow applet. There's also a Call History button below the applet, along with My Applications, My Contacts, and Messaging. Call History shows all call logs, from incoming, to missed, to outgoing. On the My Applications button, the user can customize which programs it wants to be viewable here, whether it be the Communication Manager, File Explorer, Opera Browser, etc. My Contacts is pretty much the same with My Applications but it just shows contacts which is pretty obvious, duh! Messaging button takes you to the Messaging department.
Uses: Shows applets on top, and a set of shortcut buttons at the bottom. Finger friendly and GUI is beautiful.
Bottomline: A unique and original panel, finger friendly as mentioned, and animation is ok! The ugly WinMo is covered up by a more eye catching desing, you can also set background image, and them. A recommended and a must have panel, try it out! I use this panel.
SPB Mobile Shell 2
Overview: Three tabs are present - A home tab, programs tab, and contacts tab. Home tab shows you information e.g. time, date, and weather information. Programs tab shows you the programs from connectivity, recenty used, personal settings, and many more. Contacts tab shows contacts information.
Uses: Gives you three tabs, a home tab, contact tab, and programs tab. By swiping your finger left or right you are moved to the desired tab wherein you can access different information.
Bottomline: A very finger friendly panel, animation is ok and customizable. A recommended and must have panel, though I prefer the PointUI Home Panel over this, you might prefer this over the PointUI, so I urge you to try it out! I don't have this panel anymore (reason later on).
HTC TouchFLO 3D (replaces today panel/can also be set as an independent and separate panel)
Overview: TouchFLO 3D from HTC phones. Shows different tabs on the home page with great animation. I can't dwell more on this one since I don't have this anymore (reason later on).
Uses: Shows different types of information and you can swipe through all of them, e.g. message, weather, mail, photos, music, browser, etc. Same HTC TouchFLO 3D UI found on htc phones.
Bottomline: Very eye catching, shows important information on one screen, animations are great! Finger friendly as well. Most of all, it is free! and if you are expecting this to be buggy and laggy when used on the x1, it's not. Everything goes smooth and transitions are all smooth as well. My only grip with this one is the landscape view, this will not come out as it does with other HTC phones but you can find the landscape fix via GOOGLE or BING. I prefer this one over PointUI Home. I don't use this one anymore (reason later on).
SPB Mobile Shell 3.5 (replaces today panel)
Overview: This UI gives you full control of your phone, you are presented with a professional home layout and lifestyle home layout. Just like android, you can add widgets on your home screen, drag them around, replace them, add some more, it's really up to you liking. You can also choose among 1 page, 3 page, or 5 page setup for the professional and lifestyle layout. By clicking the carousel view (or tile view, whichever you prefer) you are presented with even more options - Time layout, Agenda Layout, Weather Conditions, Weather, Contacts carousel, SPB Contacts, Favorite Contacts, Call Log, SPB Menu, and Launcher. Time Layout shows you your current time for your local city, and you can set two more cities so that you can view their time as well, next alarm is also shown. Agenda shows a list view of you agenda (weather conditions are also shown on the right, this syncs with your weather layout) as well as the calendar view at the bottom. Weather Conditions and Weather layout shows weather information for the city of your liking. It separates weather condition into quarters - Night, Morning, Day, and Evening, it also shows the highest and lowest temperature for that day and the next 5 days. Contacts carousel shows all your contacts in a carousel view, and you can set a ringtone and change a picture for a certain contact. SPB contacts gives you three tabs - call log, favorite contacts, and all contacts. Favorite Contacts shows all your favorite contacts which you yourself chooses, you can also set the layout e.g. having you wife at the center with a larger image and you friends around her along with your brothers and sisters, its all up to your liking. Call log shows all incoming, outgoing, and missed calls. SPB Menu and Launcher offers quick access to your programs and settings.
Uses: It can show different information, depending on what the user likes. Much like android. Widgets are replaceable and can be moved wherever you like it. Customizability is superb, from background, theme, widgets, everything. Carousel/Tile view is very useful since you can access different items with this.
Bottomline: The best panel to date, this is the one that I use right now. Very customizable, like android you can add and remove your own widgets, move it wherever you want on the screen, drag it. So the homescreen is your own style. You can add your own flavor on your home screen, BUT, the only downside is you have to purchase this for $29.95. This is my main panel, that is why I don't have SPB Mobile Shell 2 since it replaces it, and HTC TouchFLO 3D since you can only use one to replace the today panel and I prefer this one over touchflo.
-Multimedia plays its part?
The Xperia X1 is equipped with a 3.2 megapixel camera, with LED flash and is able to capture video at VGA resolution at 30fps.
The 3.2 megapixel camera has a so-so performance here, nothing great here. Though you have the ability to use touch focus, wherein you touch an area in the screen and the camera focuses on that point. Nothing spectacular here. Video is at an average level however video playback is superb also mainly because of the beautiful screen.
The one thing that I will dwell on is the music palyer, music quality is at a very poor level, no equalizer option, bass is weak, and sound quality is poor. However, the 3.5mm jack was a nice addition but they could have done a little better with the sound quality.
Multimedia can be accessed via Windows Media or the Proprietary Sony Ericsson Media Xperience, which is a panel. Personally, I prefer the Media Xperience Panel since it is more eye catching and more finger friendly as well.
-Battery Life
I really can't say much about the battery since I don't call or text much, but I do browse the web and play music every once in a while so what I'll do is I'll give you an overview of what I do with my phone on a day-to-day basis and see how long it lasts, you decide if the battery is good enough. I'll start up with 100% battery power level, ok? Everything is recorded with details, and time slots not shown here indicates stand-by mode. I'll show you a two day breakdown of what I do, then you can see how long the battery lasts a day with me.
November 05, 2009
-I removed the charger at 9:19 a.m.
-Alarm rings at 1:45 p.m.
I snoozed it for 15 minutes
-Alarm rings at 2:00 p.m.
I snoozed it for 10 minutes
-Alarm rings at 2:10 p.m.
I snoozed it for 10 minutes
-Alarm rings at 2:20 p.m.
Alarm dismissed
-I started the music player at 2:40 p.m.
-I missed 9 incoming calls
-I received 1 voicemail message
-I made 1 outgoing call (5 seconds)
-Received 2 incoming calls (25 seconds and 4 seconds respectively)
-I stopped the music at 3:22 p.m.
All programs closed
Battery dropped to 90%
-I browsed the internet at 10:15 p.m. via data connection (mainly HSPA)
-I sent 2 text messages
-I turned off data connection at 11:20 p.m.
All programs closed
Battery dropped to 70%
-I sent a text
-I downloaded the update for QuickGPS at 3:33 a.m. via data connection (HSPA)
-All programs closed
November 6, 2009
-Alarm rings at 1:45 p.m.
I snoozed it for 15 minutes
-Alarm rings at 2:00 p.m.
I snoozed it for 10 minutes
-Alarm rings at 2:10 p.m.
I snoozed it for 10 minutes
-Alarm rings at 2:20 p.m.
Alarm dismissed
Battery down to 60%
-I browsed facebook at 2:53 p.m. via data connection (EDGE)
-I switched to the facebook panel at 2:59 p.m.
-Turned off data connection and closed all programs at 3:03 p.m.
-I browsed photos at 3:04 p.m.
-Batter down to 50%
-I made two phone calls at 8:28 p.m. (57 seconds and 15 seconds respectively)
-Made a google search about "carita" (anybody know what this means?) at 8:56 p.m.
-I made an outgoing call at 11:00 p.m.
-I received a voice mail and missed an incoming call at 11:07 p.m.
-Battery down to 40%
-I sent a text message at 11:11 p.m.
-I received a message at 11:12 p.m.
-I sent a text message at 11:12 p.m.
-Battery still at 40%
*Everytime I close an application and let it go to stand by mode, the S2u2 application runs since that is what locks my phone (a la Iphone). Also, all notes were written through my phone so the note application was also running from time to time, activesync as well.
From what you can see above, my average use drains up usually 30% of my battery everyday. So it takes my phone 3 days before the next charge.
-Performance and Multi-tasking
One thing that WinMo phones are known for are their capabilities to multi task, and the x1 is no exception, it multi tasks pretty well being able to handle 5 or 6 applications running at the same time without crashing. Also with all the applications that you'll be able to install here, that won't be a problem for you.
However, I will admit that there are times when I run multiple applications and then when I pull up the Panel Manager, the phone hangs up, so a soft reset is needed. So there are limitations to the multi tasking capabilities that the x1 brings, especially if the panel manager is involved since this is where I usually find my phone hanging up. There are lags sometimes but not that it would really slow down your phone all the way, it will happen for a few seconds then the phone will be up and running once again :)
-Applications and Customization the Windows Way
WinMo maybe FUGLY but it is highly customizable. You can find about anything for WinMo you just have to be dedicated enough to look for it. For me, here are the following apps that I use (windows apps and xperia apps):
-.NET Framework v3.5
-WVGA Fix
-tnyynt SD Tune Up
-SK Tools
-gtrab SEX1icons
-SDKCERTS
-ActiveX Deployment
-S2U2 VGA
-Xperia Tweak
-Clear Temp
-FingerKeyboard
-Flashlite 3.1
-Advanced Configuration
-R3A Panel Manager
-X2 Flash Panels
-PHM Soft Reset
-HTC EZinput
-X1 Soft touch
-Opera Mobile Version 9.7 Beta
-Inhand X1
-Flash Panel Growing
-Point UI Home 2
-Pixel City Panel
-SPB Mobile Shell 3.5
-Windows Live Panel
-Wrap Up
The Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 is the first Xperia branded phone from SE, its a premium device, but does it live up to bringing the premium feel and experience?The poor music capabilities, Ugly UI, not-so-excellent keyboard and shaky build are the things that I am disappointed about the most. So if your looking for a phone with great music capabilities, the x1 isn't for you, if your looking for a phone with a great looking UI, this MIGHT not be for you though the customization capabilities might be able to fix this for you, as it did with me. So at the end of the day, the xperia x1 might not be the best music phone for you, nor the lightest one, and some features that lack may disappoint you (e.g. accelerometer), it just really depends on what your looking for. But if your looking for a premium feel device, with the abilitiy to customize and multi-task, then this is the phone for you! With the customizability offered by WinMo apps plus the additional customizability that the panels bring here for you then you need not to worry. The microSD, optical trackpad and 3.5mm audio jack are great additions as well. The beautiful screen is also one thing to look out for, oh and also the svelte and sleek look of the x1 is not to be left unnoticed. With the price going down right now, this phone should be considered and should be on your list, or you could also wait for the x2 or the much more powerful x10. Overall, the phone delivers for me.
To God be the glory!
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