Sony
Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini Pro Review

Phone rating:

In a nutshell: The Sony Ericsson X10 Mini Pro has everything
that the original X10 Mini has, plus a slide-out physical keyboard.
It’s an ultra-compact smartphone running Google’s Android OS, with
a 5 megapixel camera with autofocus and flash, aGPS with Google
Maps, a fast processor, support for 16GB of memory and good battery
life. Connectivity excels with WiFi and HSPA. Only the small screen
size and old version of Android stop it from getting 5 stars.
Best buy:
*Free* with free line rental from Mobiles.co.uk
(Black).

Review:
July 2010.

A strong contender for the mobile phone with the
longest name ever, the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini Pro was released
in the UK at the start of July. We’ve really been looking forward
to the release of the X10 Mini Pro, as we have a soft spot for phones
with real keyboards. So, does the Pro deliver on its promise?

The X10 Mini Pro is almost exactly the same as
the Sony Ericsson Xperia
X10 Mini, except that it has a slide-out QWERTY keyboard. This
adds a little to the weight of the phone, although it’s by no means
heavy. Amazingly, Sony Ericsson have managed to sneak the keyboard
into the design without compromising any of the phone’s hardware,
and adding only a millimetre to its thickness. Astonishing! It’s
not a perfect keyboard, with a somewhat dead feel about it, but
the keys are a good size and they’re well spaced out. After an hour
of use, you get used to the feel and can type quickly.

Apart from the keyboard, it’s basically the same
phone as the X10 Mini, so read our review
of that phone for more insight.

Here’s the thing, though. If the X10 Mini Pro does
everything that the X10 Mini does, plus it has a keyboard and is
hardly any bigger than the Mini, is there any point buying the Mini?
The answer is no, get the Mini Pro instead! The reason it doesn’t
get 5 stars is because of the small screen and old version of Android.
Sony Ericsson have promised to update this in the Autumn. Let’s
hope they do.

Features of the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini Pro
include:

• 5 megapixel camera with autofocus and flash
• Video camera with video light
• Display: 16 million colours, TFT touchscreen,
  240 x 320 pixels with auto-rotation
• Media player with album art, TrackID and PlayNow
• FM radio with RDS
• MP3/ AAC ringtones
• Speakerphone
• aGPS with Google Maps, geo-tagging and WisePilot
  Turn-by-Turn navigation software (demo)
• Messaging: SMS, MMS, email, conversations
• 3D games
• Picture wallpaper
• Personal organiser functions
• Vibration alert
• Internet: WAP 2.0, GPRS, EDGE, HSPA, web browser,
  RSS feeds, YouTube
• Memory: 128MB plus microSD memory card (up to
  16GB supported)
• Connectivity: WiFi, Bluetooth, micro USB, 3.5mm
  audio jack
• Quadband GSM (850/900/1800/1900) plus 3G UMTS/HSPA
  (900/1700/2100)
• Size: 90 x 52 x 17 mm
• Weight: 120g
• Talktime: 3.5 – 4 hours
• Battery standby: 300 – 360 hours

Sony Ericsson
Xperia X10 Mini Pro Consumer Reviews

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Average
rating from 4 reviews:

Reviewed by Chase from England on
14th Jul 2010
Nice compact design but shame about the following which is why I
will return it: – No bluetooth file support with Android 1.6. Downloading
an app to do this does not provide the functionality properly. –
No camera zoom whatsoever, even digital. – Poor camera quality and
LED flash is weak – Poor batterylife – Can’t charge the phone with
the phone turned off. It turns itself back on if you try. – Alarm
does not function unless the phone is turned on. – Not as easy to
use and hold with one hand as sony make out. – Menus not intuitive,
timescape awful. – Lag when pulling phone away from ear and getting
an output on the screen. Not very useable for pressing keys whilst
on phone. – No out of the box spell check for physical qwerty keyboard.
You can download an app at cost for this if you feel like getting
ripped off. – Screen poor in sunlight and no pinch to zoom multi
touch capability. – Auto brightness cannot be turned off. – 3 keys
on the front have no backlight so cannot be seen in the dark. –
Physical keyboard lights up when it thinks it needs to, but not
always accurate. – Keyboard is too small to be useable at speed.
So I’m still on the hunt for a smart phone that is not a brick,
has good battery life and works with no basic issues.
Rating:

Reviewed by Dave from England on
8th Jul 2010
Had it for two days now, such a good phone great camera great os
quick easy to use keyboard is amazing love it
Rating:

Reviewed by karen from england on
8th Jul 2010
Dont even go there! received the phone on Friday, took about an
hour to try and get it to sync with my computer to download my pics
and music. Then it would not accept the memory card, then it wipped
the memory card, battery life is no more than 24 hours max when
not even using it. Texting take half a day, have to press 3-4 buttons
to get to same thing that other sony’s do with one. In the end it
kept re-setting itself to factory setting then, this is what finally
sent me over the edge, it lost my entire photo album, music album
and videos by saying after a week damaged memory card. In my eyes
it is a piece of rubbish which is only fit for the bin, luckily
I was able to return it as purchased it via the web and I have 7
days grace. Thank the lord for that! Never again. Sony what are
you doing, please just go back to the old C905 and C902 days when
you phones were amazing!
Rating:

Reviewed by Mike from UK on 6th
Jul 2010
It’s taken a little while for me to get used to it and – with most
new phones – it’s not without a few little niggles. However, if
you persevere and trawl through Android Market for some apps, you
can better Sony Ericsson’s ‘tweaked’ operating system failures.
I’ll go through the main considerations for what I have bought this
phone for, and what it’s strengths and weaknesses are: – Texting/Keyboard
– is a doddle for anyone with small or ‘normal’ hands/fingers. The
keys are well spaced out. Those who have builders hands will struggle,
however. The keys light up when the sensor decides it’s dark enough
(which is great). – Surfing/web browsing – Standard browser is a
little weak and lacking in features. But, as I say, just download
one of the better free alternatives from the app store. Once done,
it’s a breeze. You’ll have to do a fair bit of zooming in, though,
due to the small screen! – Design & Feel – the phone looks and feels
superb. It feels rugged and strong. The operating system is gorgeous
to look at. I couldn’t believe how small it was when it came out
of the box, but it fits perfectly in ones pocket and hand. – Call
quality – both call quality and speakerphone are of very good quality.
Nothing to really note or say here as they’re perfect; they can
go quite loud if you choose for them to do so. My niggles are the
following: – Camera; no zoom, few options, almost ‘too basic’ –
but it still gets the job done pretty well. – Widgets; you can only
have one widget per page. Some widget apps won’t ‘fit’ on the screen
due to the small size, although these are few and far between –
Physical keyboard spelling; By standard, the phone says that while
using the physical keyboard you *should* be able to have spelling
suggestions (i.e. t9). Fail. Suggestions only come up when using
the touch-screen and not the physical keyboard. A bug, I’m assuming.
I have managed to overcome this by purchasing the far superior Über
keyboard from the app store, however. – Battery life; like a lot
of smart phones, battery life is mediocre. If you use the phone
a lot, you’ll be lucky for it to last a day. Turn lots of the options
off and use it rarely, you’ll manage two days worth of battery life.
Overall, I’m really pleased with the phone and give it 4.5/5 (or
rounding up in this case) .
Rating:

Sony
Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini Pro