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.

Sony Ericsson frequently offer users the chance to win an Xperia X10 from their Facebook fan page. Now the company have introduced “Winning Wednesdays”. The first prize they are offering for this, is the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10. Like the other chances to win, you’ll need to provide some details as well as answer a question.

For the Winning Wednesdays competition, you have to Spot the Difference. At first it sounds easy and once you go to the page (found here) to enter, it becomes even simpler. You’re greeted with a picture of a girl jumping and you have to spot one difference between the two photos and you answer by selecting one of three answers. There are five X10 handsets up for grabs, so enter here to have a chance at winning one of the phones.

O2 UK have finally released the latest update for the Xperia X10. O2 were the last network in the UK to approve the update, causing many O2 customers and Xperia X10 owners much anger. The software update has gone straight to R2BA026, where as initially it was thought that the older, R2BA020 firmware would be released. The latest update is said to improve the battery life, with many owners agreeing. X10 owners with the latest update are also reporting that the overall performance is much better and especially in TimeScape and MediaScape. Unfortunately, the latest update also includes the WiFi bug. The only firmware users didn’t find this a problem, was in R2BA020, so I’m sure there will be some users who wished it was the earlier firmware released onto O2.

As it stands at the moment, the update can’t be performed as an OTA (over the air) update. Instead users will need to use the Sony Ericsson Update Service or PC Companion to update the firmware version. The download totals 153.8MB.

Sony Ericsson have released another firmware update for the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10, bringing the build number up to R2BA026. It’s recommended however that you don’t install the update if prompted as it brings back a mysterious WiFi problem which we haven’t seen since R2BA016. The issue occurs when you lose the network signal on the phone. Upon losing (and regaining) signal, the Wifi turns itself off, so you lose all connections to the internet, making the phone brick like for a few minutes until the signal returns completely. As well as bringing the Wifi issue back, the update sees the Wise Pilot app taken off. The only improvement in the firmware, is that Timescape and Mediascape are more responsive.

There are a couple of videos showing how the problem happens, courtesy of the Unofficial Sony Ericsson Blog.

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.

The Xperia X10 is a popular handset and the first Android powered handset from Sony Ericsson but, one thing which has let the handset down is the old firmware. The Xperia X10 comes pre-installed with Android 1.6, with 2.1 promised for the end of year. However a lot of apps require 2.1, which means the X10 hasn’t got as vast a supply of apps as other handsets.

With the announcement of Android 2.2 and the update already rolled out onto some handsets, a petition has been started online, asking Sony Ericsson to include an upgrade to Android 2.2 instead of 2.1 when they release the update to the handset.

The Xperia X10’s system firmware has been updated from R1FA016 to R1FB001, and has also had update for the baseband to 1.0.21. There have been reports of dramatically improved system performance, especially with both TimeScape and MediaScape. Run the Sony Ericsson Update Service to update your X10’s firmware, and you’re done. However, currently the updates seem to only be available on the American and Nordic models, but will inevitably become available for all models within the coming days. Additionally, expect to see another update toward the end of the month specifically designed to solve the X10 battery issues.

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.

We already had word that the Xperia X10 would be launching in Australia with Telstra. At the time we didn’t have any release info but, the handset has been released this week. The Xperia X10 is available on pay as you go for $1099 AUD or, if you take the phone on a $100 a month tariff, the handset will be free. As expected the contract length is 24 months.

The Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 is also available through Vodafone and Optus. With Vodafone, the upfront cost of the phone is unclear but, the monthly cost is capped at $79. While on Optus, the monthly cost is $99 to get the handset free. Again, both networks are offering the tariff as a 24 month contract.

Sony Ericsson’s Android powered handset has already been released in the UK, Canada, Japan, India and more recently Australia, the Xperia X10 now has a US release date. The handset is due to be released in week 30 of AT&T’s fiscal year. Week 30 takes us to the end of July/beginning of August.  While we have the release date and the carrier (AT&T), we don’t have any specifics on the tariff plans.