Hands On: Sony Ericsson’s Xperia X10 Mini

Sony Ericsson is trying to build on the successful launch of the Xperia X10. The follow-up? A smaller, more elegant version of the popular handset. We got our hands on the X10 Mini to give you an idea of how it compares to the original.

As the name would suggest, the X10 Mini is significantly smaller than the original Xperia X10. At 3.3 x 2.0 x 0.6 inches it is slightly smaller than a credit card. Sony Ericsson claims it’s the world’s smallest smartphone. In fact, the original Xperia X10 seems giant when you place them side by side! The phone fits nicely into the palm of your hand. Yes, it seems small, but not too small that it seems unusable. As for weight, the X10 mini (88grams) weighs almost half as much as the Xperia X10 (135 grams).

Sony Ericsson's X10 Mini (left) next to the original Xperia X10 (right)

The 2.5 inch screen on the X10 Mini (240 x 320 pixels QVGA) is quite nice. Despite its small size it’s bright and text is easy to read. It is a touchscreen which means all data input, whether its punching in a phone number or surfing the web, is done with your finger directly on screen. Since the screen is so small a full on-screen qwerty keypad is not available. Instead you will be using a T9 keyboard. The Pro version (likely on its way in the near future) will have a sliding keyboard, so if you hate typing on an on-screen keyboard, this phone will not be for you.

The user interface consists of pages which slide left or right with a swipe of your finger. This is clearly done to allow for single-handed operation of the phone. On the main home screen you have access to the phone (yes, it does that too), contacts, music and email. Sliding up unlocks the full menu which continues over four pages. The touchscreen is very responsive making navigation a breeze.

Like its bigger counterpart, the Mini X10 has three physical buttons on its face which include menu, home and back. At the top of the face a notification LED, speaker, proximity sensor, and light sensor to determine when the screen brightness. The right side of the phone has the camera key along with volume controls. The top simply has the power button while the bottom of the phone holds the connection for micro USB cable, 3.5mm headset and strap hole. As for the rear, an additional speaker, camera lens and the camera’s flash.

The backside of the X10 Mini

The X10 Mini has a 5 megapixel camera built-in with LED flash. The camera relies on auto focus but does have a few different smart modes to help you get decent pictures including an auto, macro, twilight and sports mode. You can also manually turn off the flash if you feel the conditions are bright enough. All photos can be geo-tagged which is a nice touch as well. You can take a look at a few pictures we snapped on our demo unit below.

Apple shot in auto mode (no flash)

Apple shot in macro mode

Apple shot in macro mode with flash

I should also mention the phone is capable of recording video as well. You even have the option of turning on the LED light on the rear of the phone to help record in low light. The small LED flash is bright but, surprisingly, the light doesn’t travel very far. I suppose it can be used in a pinch, but most will want to avoid using it when possible.

The back of the phone can be removed by prying it off. The phone comes with two swappable backplates (lime green and a pink) to change the colour of your phone. Removing the backplate gives you access to the SIM card slot and microSD card slot. The X10 Mini uses regular sized SIM cards. As for the microSD, you can use a card that is up to 16GB. An interesting thing to note about the battery is that it’s non-removable. If you need to replace the battery you’ll have to get a hold of Sony Ericsson.

The X10 Mini comes with two swappable backplates to change the look of your phone

Although we’ve only played around with the Sony Ericsson’s X10 Mini for a few hours, first impressions are it seems to be a decent phone with some nice features. The T9 on screen keyboard may be an issue for some, but if you can live with that, this is a phone worth considering. Expect an updated review to come once we have a chance to use more features of the phone.