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Sony Ericsson has surprised many with the announcement of the touchscreen XPERIA X10 Mini (and Pro version with slide-out QWERTY keyboard), which is basically a miniature version of the upcoming XPERIA X10 smartphone. This is quite an interesting product – it’s like Apple releasing an iPhone Nano. Click here to view Sony Ericsson’s X10 Mini gallery, and the X10 Mini Pro gallery on Picasa.
The XPERIA X10 Mini differs from the bigger version in several ways. One of the most obvious differences is the form factor; the Mini (83 x 50 x 16 mm) and Mini Pro (90 x 52 x 17 mm) are far smaller than the regular XPERIA X10 (119 x 63 x 13 mm). Also, the Mini (and Pro) has a 2.55 inch scratch resistant screen (240×320 QVGA, 16m color) compared the larger 4 inch screen on the XPERIA X10. Oddly enough, this phone will ship with Android 1.6 (instead of the current 2.# version) – something we’re not really fond of but Sony Ericsson has promised that an upgrade path will be available in due time.
We’re curious if this device will cost far less then the XPERIA X10 so no one is left out in the new XPERIA experience.
Both phones will be available in the second quarter of this year. The X10 Mini will be available in Pearl White, Black, Pink, Lime, Red and Silver while the X10 Mini Pro will be available in Black and Red. Great to see a plethora of color choices here for the Mini.
Sony Ericsson is also touting the inclusion of the signature application Timescape which brings all communication together in one place so users can see at a glance text messages, missed calls, and Facebook and Twitter updates, without having to open lots of different applications. We had some hands on experience with Timescape at CES 2010 and it was simply outstanding. As an avid iPhone user, it made me want to switch. The interactive music player also uses the ?infinite button? to pull together all music content from the music store and YouTube.
The processor within the X10 Mini and Mini Pro is a 600MHz Qualcomm MSM7227, which is very impressive and should be more than sufficient for Android. We love the added 2GB microSD card. The included camera is equally impressive at 5 megapixels with auto focus, geotagging, video recording, and other features.
Connectivity is also very solid with the inclusion of Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, FM radio, A-GPS, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. We noticed there is a Micro USB connector, which seems to be the new standard in these little tiny devices. I miss the days of Mini USB.
Other notable software features include Google Maps, Google search, Google Talk, Google Voice Search, YouTube, Android Market, PlayNow, and a WebKit-based web browser (excellent). Business people will appreciate the Exchange ActiveSync support.
Battery life is about what we would expect for a Sony Ericsson device of this size, with 4 hours of talk time for EDGE (GSM/GPRS), 285 hours standby. 3G (UMTS) talk time clocks in at 3.5 hours, while its standby time is quite impressive at 360 hours. The X10 mini and X10 Mini Pro supports HSPA 900/2100 and EDGE 850/900/1800/1900, HSPA 850/1900/2100 and EDGE 850/900/1800/1900.
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