Hands-on with Sony Ericsson's world-beating XPERIA X1
By Sean Cooper 
posted Feb 11th 2008 12:51PM
posted Feb 11th 2008 12:51PM
When we saw the XPERIA X1 announced yesterday we pretty much flipped our collective geeky lids, this handset is the stuff mobile dreams are made of. There is nothing to gripe about here and while our play date was short-lived -- and very supervised -- we did get a chance to peek at the rather unfinished UI, fit and finish, and did we mention the frickin' screen on this phone? Wah! It's like paper. This handset just can't come soon enough -- for those of you not listening earlier, that'll be late Q2 -- but until then you'll just have to live with pics.
Ugh. I can't get excited about this until we have a price. Anyone want to start guessing?
I'm guessing even more expensive than the iPhone.
I'm guessing prohibitively expensive without a contract.
@Kunikos
That's OK, because only the iPhone is "too expensive"...any OTHER phone that costs more than $500 gets an automatic pass.
How about a video Engadget? Pictures tell 1000 words but videos tell 1000000 words.
JAmerican
@JAmerican:
http://digg.com/gadgets/First_Hands_On_Sony_Ericsson_s_XPERIA_X1
Well...
The W960 is probably considered the top of the range mobile for the current line and here in Britain it costs around £350 retail so $700 ish. But you lucky Americans get lower prices on everything so I would guess it's around $400 in the U.S? So in conclusion, I would say more than the W960.
$800-$1000 unlocked.
Isn't AGPS just GPS with a monthly fee?
@Jason:
Simply, no. aGPS is faster, more accurate, and works in more areas.
It depends on the carrier whether they will unlock the aGPS for third party software, or only allow their own services to use it.
Real smartphones cost more. Toy phones should cost less.
@James
W960 is the top of the current line of Sony Ericsson phones, however the HTC TyTN II (aka Kaiser) is the current highest spec phone so you really gotta compare the price with that.
@Everyone Else
Does anyone know for sure that this thing has a built-in GPS receiver and if so how many channels because some sites are giving contradicting reports.
It's already an amazing phone but only if it includes a GPS unit can I actually switch from my Kaiser.
Is the phone due at Q2, or the second half of the year?
Well if it IS due Q2 you'll probably actually see it released around the end of second half.
How's the screen? Glass-y and solid like the iphone, or that usual soft surface from most touch devices?
Glassy.
has anyone even said what service it's going to be out on? i'm on at&t, and something tells me they're not going to let a competitor to the iphone come out on their service, but i've been entirely dissatisfied with sprint and t.mobile in the new york city area.
well its either T-mobile or AT&T because this one will be one of the first PPCs that support 3g for T-mobiles upcoming network. That being said AT&T would certainly release something that competes with the iPhone. I think in a lot of scenarios the HTC Tilt competes with the iPhone head on, it just isnt nearly as pretty...This one seems to up the graphics factor.
Probably both AT&T and T-Mobile USA will carry the phone... hey, it's the first phone that cover BOTH US 3G networks, with HSDPA2100 as a bonus for your fast pr0n needs in Europe.
i want one! or even 2? yeah give me 2 of those!
Umm, you had the phone in your hands and didn't try out the web browser??
It's windows mobile, so the browser is probably the same pocket internet explorer on all winmo phones.
that video shows that it suffers from the same problem as the Tilt: when you open the keyboard the transition from portrait to landscape is slow as balls
@ Dave
That video does not show the finished product. Even in the video you can hear him say that they're still working on it.
Windows Mobile??? SRSLY???
This thing is amazing. I can't believe the rez is 800x480. That's as good as web browsing could possibly get on the go. Does Sprint carry Ericssons?
This phone will most likely never see the light of day in the united states...just like all the phones being shown at MWC...I hate that we always get the scraps!
Agreed! Price permitting, once this thing comes out, I will definitely be selling my iPhone for it.
After having many Symbian smartphones before, I am eager to get back to a true smartphone. I've always wanted to try WinMo, but was always turned off by the mediocre looking interface and non-slick looking WinMo devices thus far.
While this is no WOW amazing SE-design, it certainly is slick in a very basic, serious business way. And I like that. Looks like it took SE to make WinMo pretty.
Hopefully it works as well, too!
At the very least, the iPhone has certainly spurred all other manufacturers to make truly exciting devices. This is what competition is all about!
@Paul34: Please keep in mind that the gorgeous part of the UI is just a layer of veneer over the horror that is WinMO. As noted in the Gizmodo article:
"The demo only went as far as the 3D skin; anything beyond that plunged you into the depths of typical Windows Mobile-ness."
Why else would this flying papers interface be the only thing they show you in that video? The underlying stuff is just as pig ugly and unusable as any other WinMo device.
Makes me wonder why SonyEricsson didn't beef up UIQ instead -- Nokia is adding touch and other niftyness to S60, and since those are both based on Symbian... Should be doable, right?
Windows Mobile comes with Pocket Internet Explorer as the default browser. Browsing the web with that p.o.s. isn't going to suck any less in 800x480 resolution. In fact, it will suck more.
Hopefully Ericsson is talking to their friends down the road at Opera and will see fit to install Opera Mobile 9.5 instead. Otherwise, iPhone users browing on Safari will just continue laughing.
i don't disagree that pie sucks (a lot) but there's nothing saying that if sony doesn't happen to bundle a decent browser with it you can't just go install it yourself.
would be nice if it came pre-packaged though.
also, wouldn't that be something that could also be up to the carrier? i've got an 8925 and there's software on the htc kaiser ii that at&t chose not to include and vice-versa.
@Patrick
The problem is, 90% of the people that buy that phone wouldn't have the first clue about the difference in mobile browsers, and how installing one is better. By bundling it, it not only improves integration (defaults and shortcuts), but also allows the other 90% to enjoy the far better browsing capabilities, and will ultimately sell more phones.
@ Kamokazi
The problem is that 95% of buyers won't be noobs. How many casual consumers will shell out upwards of $500 for something that's "just a phone with a keyboard."
I'll keep it blunt: I think that most adopters will have a significant understanding of cell phone technology. The small percentage of buyers who cannot fully appreciate the phone will probably buy an iPhone instead. No need (or chance) to install programs, right?
Microsoft will NEVER bundle competing browsers, i.e. What version of Windows comes with Mozilla/Opera/Safari?
P.S. Yes, I find it ironic that I used i.e. to preface my example.
@Hung
It's not up to Microsoft to do the bundling. It is up to Sony. ETEN (I think; I know it was someone) bundled Opera Mobile with one of their Windows Mobile devices.
Oh yeah? Good call. Didn't know that.
I don't see what your gripe is. Windows Mobile have never stopped anyone from installing the browser they want. I used the Opera trial and it was great. I only stick with IE mobile because I don't want to buy another browser.
Try Opera Mini. You can thank me later. :D
any word on how much storage will be on board?
400MB but you can insert a memory card because they want to keep the price as low as possible.
iphone fanboys FTL... with WinMo I can install any browser I like... which right now is the opera lite version that runs in Java (it's free too!)... Exceptional browsing experience... and in WVGA it would be AWESOME!
http://solnyshok.blogspot.com/2008/02/breaking-news-xperia-is-based-on.html
this thing is based on the new version of WM (WM6.5?)
Thank goodness this doesn't come out for quite some time. My wife would have a fit if I got another phone so soon. N95 8g still has that new Finnish smell.
Thanks for the gallery. But is it really necessary to include two nearly-identical versions of every shot? Hitting "Next" on a slow connection and then seeing the same is a tad irksome.
You won't have that problem when you're using the high speed X1 connection. Closeups are what make gadgets fun.
Yeah but the close-ups are only 10% closer. Kinda odd.
Everything i have read on this phone says 2nd Half of 2008 not 2q. I hope the guys at EM are correct...but doubtful
I have an iPhone and I love it. But I miss having that excellent camera in my K790a. This phone would be enough to tear me away from my iPhone if it didn't use Windows Mobile for its interface. Windows Mobile is just awful.
Man this phone is hot.
Strictly speaking, the Windows Mobile you knew won't be the interface. This will (like most modern devices) use WinMo as the backbone and application set, and then write their own interface on top of it. Kind of like how OSX is really just a graphics patch on top of BSD.
Is there any kind of estimated date for this phone? Prolly Q4 08?
This handset just can't come soon enough -- for those of you not listening earlier, that'll be late Q2 -- but until then you'll just have to live with pics.
dur?
sorry vampirehunterz... sony ericsson doesn't make CDMA handsets. probably never will. so the chances of sprint or verizon ever seeing a SE handset are absolutely zero. don't kill the messenger. =D