Fibre optics - the healthy version of eye candy - Barry Cryer
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Sony adds to Xperia mobile range
SMASH YOUR IPHONE under your heel as Sony Ericsson has unveiled two handsets that, like the rest of them, represent a challenge to the presently dominant Apple smartphone.
The INQUIRER does not suggest that anyone should actually trash their current handset, since most users will still be locked into a 24 month contract, but should anyone be looking for a new device and want to stand out from a crowd, then perhaps these, which include links to Facebook, may appeal to you.
Are they small? Well the clue is in the name. The two handsets vary only slightly, in that the Mini Pro has a slide-out keyboard.
The Xperia Mini - 88x52x16mm and 94g - and Mini Pro - 92x53x18mm and 136g - naming meetings might not have taken long, but that does not mean that Sony Ericsson expects its users to be anti-social. Thus, these smartphones allow for better sharing, easy access to what a user's friends are listening to and watching, and music streaming.
Both handsets have a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, and they both run the Google Android 2.3 Gingerbread operating system. Sony Ericsson said that they are beautifully designed, but no one was expecting them to look bad. The handsets' displays must be equally nice to look at, considering that they offer HD 720 video.
The Mini Pro will be the most interesting option for anyone looking for a phone with a slide-out keyboard, while less professional people will have to satisfy themselves with just the touchscreen on the Mini.
Both models have a 3in screen with 320x480 resolution and capacative touch, and battery life that varies depending on whether you use the phone or keep it just out of arm's reach. It's good for up to 4 hours and 30 minutes when in use, or up to 340 hours on standby for the standard Mini model and about an hour longer for the Mini Pro version.
Sony Ericsson expects to release the Xperia Mini and Mini Pro handsets by Autumn. µ
Tags: Hardware
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Dave - have you ever actually used one of these Minis? The whole experience is confusing, frustrating, cramped, tinny and unintuitive. Not a threat to anyone.
Ok, we know SE has done mistakes in the past regarding it's Android line... BUT the most important thins is that it changed it's vision drastically. All it's new models come with the latest version (2.3) and it has promised to update all of them over time. Then, all the new models come with the possibility to OFFICIALLY unlock the bootloader and after that install custom ROMs. And, last but not least, X10 will receive 2.3 Gingerbread in late Q2 this year. If all of that is not an improvement, I don't know what it is.
For those who have not been owner of Xperia Android phones :
I've owned all of their first line (X10/mini,X8) and the conclusion is this :
nomater how nice hardware might look, it's crippled by some stupid misjudgments like : less ram than any other android (X10) or no multitouch (X8/mini) or some other "nasty" feature.
And thats not the worst problem yet.
SE makes NO UPDATES ! EVER! They are the outsider of Android market and thats why they have no market share.
HTC Desire was updated 3(!) times and is getting latest Gingerbread, while X10/X8 are all stuck at crippled version of Sony 2.1(Eclair) without any way of upgrading and SE officially refusing to release updates.
So think twice, or better ignore all SE products without even thinking.
Anything else will get u happier (LG/Samsung for price/features or HTC if you just want the best)
Yes, I am XDA developer, and I am cooking roms for X8/X10 devices, but all our efforts are useless until we can unlock bootloader, and thats VERY unlikely to happen by now.