please read here about my bad experience
http://www.mobiphil.com/?p=20


See also the Toshiba Portege G900, which has an 800x480 3 inch screen and a hardware video accelerator (whether it does anything is a slightly sore point) and, unlike the Experia, has actually been available for several months. I hope for E-Ten's (and S-E's) sake that their software is a bit more polished than Toshiba's, though - assuming that it's Microsoft's fault, WM6 is desparately slow and flaky, even when tweaked (it also has a 2MP camera; I hope the E-Ten's doesn't crash when pointed at anything bright). The screen is glorious; the keyboard is a bit unreliable (don't get me started on the text prediction); the responsiveness... well, it's no iPhone, and even 3G only makes up for it a bit. Given how unstable it is, I may as well have gone with a Linux phone - although I've nearly got Emacs running on it, so that's a start.

Back to the Glofiish... describing any keyboard in relation to the ZX81's is a pretty underhanded compliment. I remember the pain; it made a Spectrum's keyboard look good. Hopefully you won't have to stick blu-tak on the side of the Glofiish to stop the SD card falling out. :-)

Why on earth would you want an x86 phone? There are millions (billions?) of ARM-based phones in the world, and every manufacturer has experience with an ARM software stack. Intel's x86 "compatibility benefit" makes as much sense as the same argument applied to Larrabee: x86 helps if you're running on something that looks like a PC and want to run Windows apps. Ship your mobile with a mouse, a 24" screen and a copy of the Orange Box*, and run it off the mains+, and x86 makes sense. Otherwise - unless Intel manage to push their process to the state where they can compete with the entire compatible range of ARM processors (from ARM7 to A9) produced by the ARM partners with only a few chips - it'll be a long time before it's a good idea. Possibly around the time that 64-bit becomes useful in mobiles.

Still, nice to see what's coming up. Maybe, if they've fixed WM6, I might be able to get a software upgrade.


* Okay, you can use the fingerprint scanner on my G900 as a (bad) mouse or plug in a USB device, they're adding microprojectors to mobiles that in theory ought to be able to do decent resolution, and mobile graphics acceleration is improving, but why buy a phone that's the equivalent of a ten year old PC - it still won't run modern software, and it'll be a worse phone than something designed as one.

Not that I object to an Atom (seriously, Intel, be subtle with the Acorn digs) running Linux/XP dual-boot in a Psion 5-style case with one of Epson's 1920x1080 7" screens (if you don't like it, move your head closer or use a bigger font), and I might even try to make one some day, when I'm tired of annoying Eee PC owners with my Libretto. I don't want it to be a mobile phone, though. I carry an 8850 beside my G900 for a reason.

+ We seem to be heading towards this anyway. My G900 gets alarmingly warm. Remember when phone batteries would last for weeks?

Sounds like you want the Sony Ericsson Experia X1, with its 800x480 3inch screen and hardware video acceleration.