Cons: Very expensive, Somewhat laggy WinMo performance, Panels UI doesn't offer much just yet, Wonky combination D-Pad/Optical Mouse, QWERTY keys have very short travel

Sony Ericsson's flagship Xperia X1 is their first Windows Mobile handset, and it's been a long time in the making.  I first got my hands on the device back at CTIA in April, but specs and spy shots of the X1 had been kicking around the industry and blogosphere for months before that.  Had X1 actually hit the market back in April it might have seemed more innovative; here in December it honestly just seems like another device running on a platform that's really starting to show its age: There's only so much you can do to dress up WIndows Mobile 6 at this point.

Putting all of that aside to judge the phone on its own merits, I'm still not blown away.  The X1 is nice, don't get me wrong, but while it shines in terms of its "extras," it's okay but not great when it comes to the core competencies of a Windows Mobile smartphone.  The luxurious brushed metal finished, large, high-resolution VGA display, and quality 3.2MP camera are all nice, but the action on the QWERTY thumboard is less than great and the touchscreen itself is resistive plastic and not capactive hardened glass like the latest state-of-the-art devices.  While I like the idea of a combination optical mouse and clickable D-Pad for navigation, SE's implementation of the concept definitely took a little getting used to.  My review sample also exhibited a bit of wobble when the screen was slid shut, though I did like the angle of display to keyboard in the open position; credit SE and HTC (who had a hand in building the X1) for their innovative "arc slider" design here.

Performance was pretty standard for a current Windows Mobile 6.1 device.  I experienced some lags and screen redraw issues when launching and switching between apps, but there weren't any major problems or hair-pulling delays to speak of — at least not relative to performing the same tasks on a Touch Pro or Samsung Omnia (two other recent high-end WinMo handsets).  Radio connecitivity and GPS performance were quite good, and the widescreen display, 3.5mm audio jack, and Walkman/PSP-inspired media player app proved a great troika for multimedia consumption.

The Xperia X1 is touted by consumers and creators alike as the most advanced Sony Ericsson phone to date. Sure, the LG dare has swimming fish, but do they gravitate towards your finger and let you know via color changes if you've missed a call? No, they do not. That's one of the perks you can only get from an X1.

But information and early reviews have been spreading around the Web, and the latest is this post over on the Unofficial Sony Ericsson Blog with some sample photos and videos taken with the X1.  We all get excited about megapixels and specs, but with cameras the quality of the optics and images count at least as much as pure megapixel count does.  With that borne in mind, the X1's 3.2 MP camera is lookin' pretty good so far.  

(Via MobileCrunch)

1. Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 (Carrier Unknown)

Sony Ericsson fans have been waiting on this one for a looooong time, and it will finally drop in Europe on Sep 30.  My interest in the X1 was recently revived by some online videos of the Panels user interface in action.  I've long been a fan of SE's mobile UIs, and if the experience of using the X1 can match its spec sheet and hardware design, this could be my new phone of choice.  Too bad we still don't know when it will be available in the US.  That they'll announce on November 4.

Look out, iPhone, it's the big, bad Touch HD.  HTC took everything that makes the Touch Diamond great and made it bigger and better.  Bigger touchscreen with higher resolution?  Check.  More megapixels on the camera?  Check.  Integrated 3.5mm headphone jack?  Check.  I can't wait to see how TouchFLO 3D runs on ths badboy.

3. LG KC910 (Unlocked GSM)

• 8 megapixel camera with Schneider-Kreuznach certified optics
• Auto-focus and manual focus
• Xenon Flash
• Adjustable ISO sensitivity up to 1600
• Image Stabilization
• Face tracking
• Smile detection
• Blink detection (yes, seriously!)
• aGPS
• Dolby Mobile
• DivX and Xvid movie playback
• 3" WQVGA touschcreen
• Wi-Fi
• 7.2Mbps HSDPA
• Video recording up to 120fps for slow-mo playback

I'm very, very curious about the potentially huge impact Android will have on the mobile phone industry.  But the first Google phone looks like it was designed by nerds (Google's Sergey and Larry) and not designers (the folks responsible for HTC's other recent phones).  Give me Android on a sleeker handset with more consumer-friendly features and I'll get more excited.  I mean, you can partner with Amazon for 89 cent mp3 downloads but you can't build Stereo Bluetooth or a 3.5mm headphone jack into the G1?  Lame.

SE announced a September 30 launch date for the X1 in the UK, Germany, and Sweden.  And they announced a forthcoming announcement regarding a US launch ... but no actual launch date.  Seriously. 

Confused? The deal is that the X1 will drop in the aforementioned markets on the 30th, in other European, Asian, and Latin American markets later in Q4 of this year, and in the US of A ... uh, sometime soon.  And they'll tell us exactly when on November 3rd.

Oh, and SE is going to run a live demo of the device via Webcase next Monday the 15th at 7AM ET.  You can check it out at http://www.sonyericsson.com/premiere.

The X1, which is still on track for a late 2008 release, is a Windows Mobile smartphone that continues the recent trend of layering a custom UI atop the standard WinMo install.  In X1's case, that UI is based around the aforementioned panels - widget-like mini programs accessible directly from the device's home screen.  X1 will feature a 3" WVGA (800 x 480) touchsreen designed for finger navigation, and Sony Ericsson has been hyping the combination of panels and the touch screen as the X1's means to deliver a powerful but easy-to-use consumer experience. 

Then came word that SE's most hyped product in years (in a few years, anyway), the Xperia X1 smartphone, may be delayed past the end of this year.  The X1 was shown off last week at IFA, and Engadget Mobile reported on the sorry state of the mostly non-functional display units in SE's show booth.  That report - along with various rumors about a delay that would push the X1's launch past the "second half of 2008" date SE's been targeting since the phone was announced - forced SE reps to reiterate to the press that everything is, in fact, still on target with the company's first venture into Windows Mobile land.

This could be trouble for SE if it's true.  I had a chance to quickly try out a pre-production X1 back at CTIA in April and thought the keyboard seemed pretty decent.  But BGR and a few others who've gotten longer stints with pre-release units have complained that the X1's QWERTY action is lacking.  Literally: The consensus seems to be that the buttons are too close to being flush mounted and as such have lousy typing action.

Of course, X1's got a lot going for it including an otherwise solid full-metal body, just about every type of connectivity you could think of, an 800 x 480 touchscreen display, 3.2MP camera, and that crazy "Panels" UI that will live atop WindowsMobile.  BoyGenius gave X1 pretty high marks on all of those features (well, the ones that worked on his demo unit, anyway).  So maybe the keyboard won't seem so bad in light of all of those features.  Hopefully we'll get to see for ourselves later on this year.

SE blames the massive drop in profits on high R&D costs as well as the declining average cost of handsets.  According to SE data, the average handset sold for 134 euros a year ago, but only rings up 121 euros today.  SE's marketshare is holding at around 8 percent, which is about the same as it was one year ago.

I'm no economist, but I blame two SE trends for their possibly mounting financial woes - relative to the fact that a slowing global economy impacts the entire industry, of course:

First, SE has gained a reputation amongst handset enthusiasts for huge delays between the time a new phone is announced and its actual ship date.  Higher end handsets are also gaining a bad rap for being launched with all sorts of bugs plaguing their firmware.  Last year's flagship SE cameraphone, the K850i, is a prime example of both negative trends. 

Second, SE's product line has grown oddly confusing.  This probably isn't so apparent to most US customers since very few SE handsets are carried by American operators right now (T-Mobile should be getting back on the SE bandwagon by late 2008).  But in the global marketplace, SE's got something of an oddball lineup right now, with a lot of phones that look very similar, have similar specs, and are differentiated by minutiae lost on the average customer.

The Xperia X1 generated a ton of buzz at MWC and CTIA earlier this year, and is the kind of premium device that could do a lot to get SE back in the handset game.  Along with the w760 3G Walkman phone, SE is looking at the X1 to mark a renewed push in the North American market, which is really just now starting to come of age in terms of consumer knowledge and desire for higher end phones.  But the w760 was launched at CES in January and no US carrier plans have been announced yet, and mum's still the word on when the X1 will actually hit the streets, as well. 

Granted, it's standard practice for handsets to be launched months before they ship, but given the recent "on again, off again" debacle surrounding the K850 coming to AT&T, SE really needs to move things into high gear if they want to maintain (regain?) their status amongst the leading makers of mobile phones.  For my money SE makes the most user-friendly handsets this side of iPhone, but the game has changed in the past year or two and mid-range phones with pretty menus aren't going to cut it much longer. 

Want to turn those sales and profit numbers around, Sony Ericsson?  Let's see those long-awaited high end devices!  Phone geeks want 'em, consumers are ready for 'em, and accountants and investors love their high profit margins (just ask Apple).  Enough with the music playing, 2MP photo taking mid-range candybars.  Where's the touchscreen-based multimedia maven?  Where's the UIQ smartphone for the masses?  Where's the new Cyber-Shot flagship with US-spec 3G and WiFI?

Come on, SE ... we're all rooting for you.  Just step up and do it - give the people what they want.  And soon!

CONS
the battery last long for about 5 hours straight talking

SUMMARY
the screen is big, which is panalo to me however its very heavy and its very mabigat for me to carry it on hand.. i should put it in a pouch or bag always]]>http://www.phonedog.com/cell-phone-research/sony-ericsson-xperia-x1.aspx?utm_source=Rss&utm_medium=CellPhone_sony-ericsson-xperia-x1&utm_campaign=PhoneDog4/2/2008 12:27:18 PM

On the whole I'm pretty excited for this device to ship, though a bit concerned about the still somewhat vague "second half of 2008" availability SE's tell folks about.  SE has something of a tarnished reputation when it comes to long delays between the launch and ship dates for their high end devices.  Hopefully the X1's ship date won't slip much beyond this Summer - early Q3 is still second half of the year, right?

That being said, the demo I saw of the X1's panels system was visually impressive and pretty responsive to the touch, and I liked hearing that SE just announced they'll be opening up the panels system to developers.  Panels can be static HTML pages that link out to Web content or they can be mini-apps, and so it seems there's a lot of potential for interesting uses of the system.  Honestly I'm not sure what Panels offer that standard shortcut links don't, beyond some cool eye candy, but I'm intrigued.

I also was intrigued by the "touch focus" system I saw on X1's camera.  Granted, the camera wasn't actually working on the demo unit (SE stressed that the X1s on hand at CTIA are running "early, early versions of the software"), but the idea is very impressive: launch the camera, frame your shot, and then pick an area to center your focus on by tapping it on the touch display.  Very cool. 

As SE put it, X1 will come "fully loaded" with HSPA (for up and downlink), WiFi, and Quad-Band EDGE connectivity.  The device felt solid in hand, with a heft edging towards flat-out heavy but not quite tipping the scales that far.  The arc slider is a nice touch that puts the display in an ever so slightly easier-to-read position than your standard slider, and the QWERTY keypad features subtly beveled keys meant to make typing easier.

It's way too early to pass judgment on the X1 given the non-complete state of the software.  We'll also have to see just how big a sticker price SE slaps on this thing - they said it'll be positioned "at the high end of our portfolio," which I'm thinking means $600+.  The good news is they are in talks with US operators about carrying the device, which could lower the after contract price substantially. 

If you watch the video of the demo, you'll see me kiddingly offer to trade my iPhone "on the spot" for an X1.  I was only half-kidding.  On paper and in its current semi-functional state the Xperia X1 really does seem to be fully loaded.  Part phone, part high-speed Internet terminal, part multimedia machine, and part extendable mobile computer, the X1 is an exciting device worth keeping an eye on.  Price, ship date, and just what the final software will look like are still x-factors to some degree at this point.  Here's hoping that SE's learned from the problems that plagued some of their P- and M-series smartphones and is able to get the X1 to market quickly and with software that's as polished as the hardware ready to run it.

Sony Ericsson dropped a slew of new handsets on us at their pre-MWC press event Sunday.  The big news is the new "Xperia" line of premium handsets being launched with the X1 Windows Mobile smartphone.  Yep, a WinMob device from Sony Ericsson!  And, SE has abandoned Memory Stick support on the X1 in favor of the more universally supported microSD format (SE's K850 handset supports both microSD and Memory Stick M2 - all other SEs are Memory Stick only). 

The X1 is a candybar device with a horizontally-sliding QWERTY thumbboard featuring an angled "arc slider" design that angles the display towards the user, somewhat like the HTC Tilt.  X1 also packs an ultra-high resolution 800 x 480 pixel wide-aspect 3" touchscreen and a custom UI featuring SE's new Xperia panel interface that lets the user customize a layout of thumbnail shortcuts to various applications ("experiences," in SE parlance).

X1 won't be released until the second half of this year, but will be available in a US-friendly version with quad-band GSM/EDGE and UMTS/HSDPA/HSUPA 850/1700/1900/2100 MHz, which could spell a T-Mobile release when the phone hits the US.  The X1 will also feature WiFi connectivity and a 3.2MP camera and will be available in both black and silver.

Sony Ericsson North America is holding a press conference Monday morning, so if any new details emerge I'll bring 'em your way.  Meanwhile, head on over to the X1 product page and  X1 microsite for full specs, images, and even some video of SE's fancy new handset.