Sony Ericsson Xperia

A lot of talk is going around cyberspace about the XPERIA X10 mini & XPERIA X10 mini pro being exact copies. Unless the tech guys at Sony Ericsson have gone over the deep end, there must be some difference or some sort of variation that set these versions apart, no matter how slight they are. Comparing Xperia X10 Mini contracts with X10 Mini Pro contracts online can be a sure fire way to save money on your next mobile phone.

Like features

Nearly everything down the line is essentially the same for the XPERIA X10 mini & XPERIA X10 mini pro. The phones come with a 2.55-inch TFT capacitive touchscreen. There’s still the recognisable “4-corner” icon hallmark at the Mini and Mini Pro’s screens.

Both mobile handsets run an older Android v1.6 OS (Donut) and are powered by the same 600 MHz Qualcomm MSM7227 mobile CPU. Sony Ericsson assures buyers that the users interface are just as performance-packed as the more recent Android OS’s.

The Mini and Mini Pro comes installed with Sony Ericsson’s own Timescape UI as well as a variety of other essential apps. Both phones are integrated with popular social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and Bebo.

Both XPERIA X10 mini & XPERIA X10 mini pro support 3G HSDPA , HSUPA and WiFi networks, as well as Bluetooth and microUSB connectivity for wireless and cabled data transfer.

Major differences

The X10 Mini is strictly a touchscreen phone with a T9 layout for text entry. In contrast, the Mini Pro comes with a slide-out full QWERTY keyboard located behind the main screen. This sliding keyboard feature adds more weight and dimension to the Mini Pro, and makes it rather heavier and bigger than the Mini.

What’s more, both XPERIA X10 mini & XPERIA X10 mini pro came in different launch colours.

The Mini came in more colours like Gold, Pearl White, Black, Pink, Lime, Red, and Silver whilst the Mini-Pro came only in Black, Red, and Pink.

Originally, the Xperia X10, X10 Mini and X10 Mini Pro were, to many people’s disappointment, due to get the Android 2.1 update in Q4 of this year. With 2.2 announced many people were hoping that Sony Ericsson would skip 2.1 and go straight to Android 2.2 but, they have confirmed this won’t be the case. However they have pushed the release of Android 2.1 forward from Q4 to late Q3. To some this won’t make much difference but, we’re now looking at a September release for 2.1 instead of possible as late as December.

Sony Ericsson have also confirmed they are working on Android 2.2. They have also committed to a Q4 release for Froyo, so we should see the Xperia X10 updated to the latest Android operating system by the end of the year.

Orange are once again, serving up an X10 model on the Orange network in an exclusive color. This time round, the X10 Mini will be available in Lime Green from Orange only. The handset is also free on the majority of the tariffs. All contracts last 24 months and the handset is available for free on the Dolphin 15 contract, which is only £15 a month. For that you only get 50 minutes but, you get Orange internet and unlimited texts. Or the £20 a month contract doubles your minutes. The handset is also free on Racoon 20 and Canary 20. Where as the £15 a month equivalents of these tariffs, the X10 Mini will set you back £49.99.

Coming soon to the T-Mobile network in the UK is the Sony Ericsson Android powered Xperia X10 Mini.

The T-Mobile website is now showing the X10 Mini as a ‘pre-order’ and there is a register your interest form posted up on the site for potential customers which can be found on this page.

The Xperia X10 Mini joins it’s big sister, the full sized Xperia X10, in the smartphone range that T-Mobile offer and although pricing isn’t confirmed it is expected that the X10 Mini will be in a lesser price bracket than the X10 which runs out at £35 a month with 900 minutes and unlimited texts and internet usage (with a fair usage limit).

It’s been confirmed that, unfortunate as it may be, the Android powered  handset from Sony Ericsson, the Xperia X10 will not support multi touch.  The same is also true for the X10 Mini and X10 Mini Pro.

The X10 however, doesn’t support multi touch due to the hardware, while the X10 Mini has the supporting hardware. Unfortunately, Sony  Ericsson have confirmed that a software update to enable it will not  be coming. It wasn’t known what the situation was with the X10 Mini  Pro whether hardware could of allowed multi touch. We do know however that Sony Ericsson used a different supplier (Synaptics) for the screen of the x10 mini.

Expansys have listed both the X10 Mini and the X10 Mini Pro for pre-order. Initially the release date for both handsets was listed as the 16th of March but, this quickly changed and is now listed as the 24th of May. The X10 Mini will retail for £299.99 and the X10 Mini Pro will retail for £339.99. The X10 Mini Pro features a slide out QWERTY keyboard.

A handset which looks surprisingly like the Xperia X10 has surfaced through several images. The handset is codenamed Robyn. The handset resembles the X10 in design and features. It also runs on Android and features a touch screen, albeit smaller because it is a mini X10. Robyn also has an impressive camera but, not quite as good as the X10 at 5 megapixels. The handset is currently unannounced by Sony Ericsson. One image shows that Robyn will be available in a variety colors, consisting of white or black, like the X10, as well as being available in yellow and pink. Hopefully an announcement will emerge at the Mobile World Congress event on February 14th.

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