Help SE X10 Mini worth buying???

[SixtyLion]

Hello everybody! I am new one on this forum, read few threads here and decided to join! I live in NYC and right now, I want to change my current phone for something new, I've been browsing web for a while and Sony Ericsson X10 Mini really caught my attention. I read few reviews, but I really want to ask real users of this phone, does it worth buying? I never used Sony Ericsson phones, also never used Android phones. So I will really appreciate your opinions, maybe you could suggest me few reputable online dealers who can sell this phone to me.
Thank you!!!

 

[MiniDroid]

Hi SixtyLion,
Welcome to the forum.

I'm not a fan of SE, but my first phone was SE back in 96, then I switched to Nokia and the last years I've had HTC windows mobile devices.
Now I'm back with SE and it's not because of the user interface or the custom "skin" and apps and default settings on top of Android.
And not because the phone had Android 1.6 (while 2.2 was out a couple of days later) And not because I rely on SE to deliver the updated firmware on date.
And not because of all the bugs in different firmwares (and there's not only one firmware out there, every market/region has their own firmare so bugs are hard to track and do anything with)

There's only 1 reason I bought this phone and that was the small footprint.

But that 1 reason is worth almost all the tiny bugs here and there.
Because I finally can bring my phone without asking someone to carry it for me
The screen is "ok" in bright sunlight. Not a winner, but ok to be used if you don't want to see a movie on it. You see who's calling and texting.

I'd say it's not typical SE since it's on Android (but I've not had SE for some years).
You don't get to see a lot of Android, it's all tucked inside the SE Skin.
You CAN root it, to get access to some functions (go to xda-developers forum for more on that)

In the end of October (and the following weeks) SE will start to ship the Android 2.1 update. It will fix some anoying bugs and Android 2.1 is anyway better then Android 1.6.

Battery is an issue, after som use it will get better.
And the 2.1 update will also provide better battery.
I'm getting 2-5 days depending on usage.

The small screen won't give you much problem to read/write on.
It's fast and responsive while typing.
But some games/apps are not made for the small screen...
Also some apps ain't available for Android 1.6 (give it a month and this will be history)

I'm not happy with the threaded sms (me against the world it seems).
And I'm not happy with the fact that when you want to write a note - you pop out of the note app and into the "keyboard" screen - where you can write what you need and when done, you pop back to the note app (just an example).
I like the iPhone/iPod approach much bettere here.
But the small screen I guess is the main reason not to do it that way.

I'm loving the phone (the footprint and hardware) but not so happy with the software - give me a month and I might smile again after the Android 2.1 update.
If not, I might jump to a custom Android 2.2. rom (see xda-developers again for more on that)

Hm, more stuff to talk about?
Oh, the wifi.... ok, nothing to talk about there. It works as I want.
The GPS is also wery good (not tried it in a big city like NY but it picks up signal fast even along the streets in a city
CoPilot is very good.

I've got the Garmin n

 

[SixtyLion]

MiniDroid thank you for all info!!! For the last few years I've been using Nokia smartphones, but I had some problems with the money, so I ended up with the simple LG slider phone (CF360), but I need something better and with more features, I am not the advanced user, talking and sending messages this is what I am mostly using phone for, but it is very nice to have some extra features. I really like the size of SE X10 Mini, it is been a while since I had a really small phone. When you will have time could you tell me how is the camera on this phone, and aproximately how long the phone will work in 3G network with 20-40 minutes talking and maybe few sms a day?
Thank you very much!!!

 

[MiniDroid]

Hi,
Glad to be helpfull.

If you like/want a small phone then this is the one to get.
It looks small, but when you get it in your hands it's even smaller!

The camera is not what I use the most, so head over to this site for some sample pictures AND a video
Xperia x10 mini pro side view - Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini / Mini Pro examination | Laptop-DRV

There's no optical zoom.
There's apps to give you digital zoom - but I can't understand why anyone would like blury pictures due to digital zoom.
The camera button can be "hard" to click, so it takes some practice to not shake the phone while taking pictures.

I'm at around 30-50 text messages pr. day (many of them more then 160 chars).
(that's outgoing, even more incoming).
I use from 30-60 minutes calling in/out a day.
And I find that non of this use much battery. As I wrote, I've got 2-5 days uptime on one charge.
And that's not because of the txt/calls, but wifi/camera(to scan apps codes) and some gaming - so if you don't use the phone for more than 20-40 minutes talking and a few sms a day I'd say you will soon se 4-5 days uptime.

Just be patient - give the battery some charge cycles before it gives you this uptime.
Use it normally and it'll end up beeing very good in the end of the first 3-4 weeks I guess. DO NOT totally discharge the battery - if so happens, just plug it into the wall charger and do not turn it on for about an hour. Then it should boot normally again.

Oh, and while you charge the battery, it will stop at 100% ande dis-charge itself to 96% then re-charge up to 100% and keep doing that until you unplug it - just to keep the battery sane
So if you see that after hours the battery is at 96%, that's normal (just leav it for a few minutes and it should be at 100% again).

And a small disclaimer.
Battery usage will depend on reception of signal, poor signal will demand more of the phones 3g radio to keep in touch with the network and drain battery quickly.
Also some firmwares are reported to be better then others when it comes to battery capacity - just look out for the 2.1 update in a month or so to fix this if it becomes an issue with your phone.
Also if you add apps that sync or in other way pull data from the net from time to time it will also affect the battery.