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For those who have been following the Android phone market for some time a number of new devices have been seen to grace the shelves from time to time, ranging anywhere from huge power horses featuring up to 1GHz processors and massive computing potential to turn phones into virtual netbook computers to smaller devices looking to use the Android’s systems to offer some flexibility on minimal power. The XPERIA, Sony’s first venture into the Android phone market, was seen by most to fit into the first category of “big and powerful”, though for most people was simply too big and bulky to be of practical use. Enter the X10 Minis – Sony’s newest Android balance between size, power and flexibility to wow users.
Coming in at a fraction of the size of the original XPERIA released last year with the largest model – the Pro – measuring a mere 90×52x17 millimeters the new Minis are absolutely dwarfed in comparison. This small size has led many people to worry about the phone’s overall speeds as well as hardware has had to be scaled down to 600MHz, though this is more than enough to ensure speedy usage and blazing fast app speeds thanks to the overall reduced processing draw the compact design affords.
For most people looking at the “mini” tag on a touchscreen based device one of the major concerns they may have is on actual capabilities for messaging and data input, and rightfully so – anyone who can get their hands on the X10 Mini tends to feel that the screen is simply too small to accommodate most users with bulkier fingers. In order to compensate this the Mini Pro, in Sony Ericsson style, has an integral slide-out QWERTY keyboard that allows for direct typing into the phone and, even though it is still somewhat cramped compared to what some users may be used to, affords for much more comfortable tactile responses that even cynics find appealing.
Rounding off the Mini’s features is not only it’s processing power but its other functions as well. Coming equipped with a 5 megapixel camera with auto-focus and LED flash in addition to GPS for geotagging and the slew of connectivity options found on most smartphones these days means that you can not only keep in touch no matter where you are in the world but also share your information and exact location easily and effectively. The Mini and Pro also come equipped with a new feature of Sony’s, Timescape, that affords instantaneous notifications whenever an update is posted to your social media account of you receive a new e-mail or message, meaning fewer time is spent going online to manually check your messages and status updates. This is a great feature for social networkers and business professionals alike, though for some they may feel that the pop-up notifications are a big cumbersome on the Mini’s shrunken screen due to the fact that not much free space is available at any given time.
With the screen’s smaller size a big concern for developers the Sony Ericsson team has taken this into consideration as well and added in four customizable shortcuts that allow users to set their favorite programs or apps up to be run with a simply touch – thus cleaning up the home page and making room for updates. This small addition has helped sway those who have been on the edge in the past about the device over to believers and make them avidly await the upcoming release. Unfortunately as of yet no set date has been confirmed, however given Sony Ericsson’s relatively quick turnarounds after announcements these days consumers can most likely expect to see the Mini duo hitting the market sometime in the second quarter of this year.
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