Another drool-worthy phone has gone on sale in Singapore: the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1. The bad news: its hefty price tag of S$1,298 without operator contract.
The quad-band X1’s calling card lists three notable features: a 3-inch WVGA (that’s 800×480 pixels!) touch screen display, slide-out qwerty keyboard and customisable home screen. It fights, therefore, in the same arena as the HTC Touch Pro – joining the latter as one of the few touch phones to incorporate qwerty goodness in the market today. The camera resolution of 3.2 megapixel ain’t bad, but is nothing to shout at.
LIke HTC, Sony Ericsson has wisely chosen to bury the phone’s engine – Windows Mobile 6.1 – with its own snazzy shell software. It also includes the Opera web browser (yay!) in addition to Windows own Internet Explorer Mobile. And with its Sony heritage, it should shine as a music playing device.
Let’s hope the phone’s performance doesn’t get bogged down by the oodles of goodies that have been included.
While I’m a fan of QWERTY keypads on phones, the problem with phones of this form factor is what I’d call “impaired one hand usability”. You simply can’t text with one hand if you’re busy eating a Tip Top curry puff with the other. And if you have small hands, thumb typing will be a stretch too when you try to hit the keys down the middle. At least with the QWERTY phones in a candy bar form factor, you can still manage that.
But that said, the Xperia X1 certainly looks like something worth waiting for if you’re sold on the form factor – and Windows Mobile.
Looks sharp. When I saw it at its launch earlier this year, it seemed a little too big for most people. But then again, so is the HTC Touch Pro or Nokia Communicator, which seem to be meant for a niche market looking for a large keyboard… Hope this Xperia makes a difference to SE’s otherwise lacklustre “large-phone” record of late.