What I didn't like

The disadvantages take on a noticeable advantage. Within a year, all the paint on the back of the phone had been scraped off. It’s impossible to figure out the phone’s functions (I couldn’t find bluetooth for 2 weeks), the usb stopped working and I can’t even sense it. Inconvenient charging and a hole for it in the phone (compared, for example, with the hole from the T700 model).

What I liked

Well, in principle, the phone is good to use. Normal color. Lots of different applications, quite a lot of memory. The touch screen is good.

What I liked

Compared to other models, IZH simply does not!!!

What I didn't like

The impression is disgusting. Complete disappointment. All functions are performed with long delays, the quality of materials is low, the buttons are small, the interface and controls are nonexistent. The device periodically glitches, the alarm system is extremely inconvenient, and it is almost impossible to control the display with your fingers (many buttons cannot be pressed due to their small size). The device and its filling are absolutely not thought out! With all this, it is very expensive, disproportionately, wildly expensive - I paid 27 thousand for this device! Give me back my iPhone!

What I liked

At first glance, it is an outwardly attractive and functional model. But this is only at first glance.

What I didn't like

see comment.

What I liked

In my opinion.....there are not many of them:((

What I didn't like

fragile, inconvenient, very big!

What I liked

beautiful, unique sliding keyboard, touch display

What I didn't like

Very low sensitivity of the phone itself. Very high sensitivity of the sensors (screen, joystick. Doesn’t hold the battery charge well. And it just goes away and doesn’t come back for a long time....

What I liked

What I didn't like

not enough built-in memory, X panel slows down, the fact that the device has Windows, weak speaker, bad camera, uncomfortable qwerty keyboard (you can’t feel the button press) in general the phone is not very good, it doesn’t justify its price!!!
PS: I'm waiting for Nokia N97!!!

What I liked

Made beautifully!

What I didn't like

The touch screen is constantly glitching.
He doesn’t want to work at all in the cold.
The battery costs 1500, but it lasts for a maximum of a day.
Charging after a complete discharge is not possible at all; it begins only after the battery is removed.
All contacts are gone.
It is simply impossible to quickly dial a number; you need to do a lot of unnecessary manipulations to select the required subscriber.

What I didn't like

Camera, surprisingly small buttons.

What I liked

Windows operating system, beautiful design, smartphone.

What I didn't like

The light in the bag turns on spontaneously, apparently from magnets. For this reason, the battery drains quickly. A similar situation is observed with a colleague’s N97.

What I liked

Everything is fine

What I didn't like

Weak antenna, weak GPS, weak speaker...

What I liked

Visually beautiful, the device is already three years old since I bought it, and I’m still not ashamed to take it out.... The battery, I’m still charging it on the third day, not bad for a communicator with a three-year-old battery.... What a winmobile, with all arising from the software, everything you need has been installed for a long time and is free....

What I didn't like

1-Heavy
2-in the menu there are small symbols and inscriptions, this also includes the phone book, VERY small entries, and in the alphabetical index you can only get to the letters with a needle:(((I must say thank you that at least in documents you can zoom in on the text.
The 3-button keyboard is terribly inconvenient, even for women’s small fingers; the buttons are small and close to each other with a beveled surface. As for the display keyboard, I was never able to find a transition to a permanent set of Latin letters; I have to suffer with the push-button keyboard.
4-The battery only lasts for a day; if you listen to music or play kerchief during the day, it will run out twice as fast when watching a video.
5-USB charging is very slow; using a non-original USB cable it is not possible to charge the communicator at all.
6-Periodically freezes, the PDA can only be revived after removing the battery:(((
7-The sound of the external speaker is not the best, and it is also poorly located on the body. When you hold the PDA in your left hand, the speaker closes and the sound is almost inaudible.
8-And the worst disappointment turned out to be that it is IMPOSSIBLE to set your own melody for the call. Only a few standard midi melodies are offered - this is simply a fiasco for a modern multifunctional device. It's a shame that the phone failed at the simplest function!!!

What I liked

Good screen resolution - Separate connection for headphones (mini jack) from charging (mini USB) - A good find of the company - a photocell, convenient to use when viewing lists, text or Internet pages. -The case is assembled soundly without cracks, so tightly that the back cover has to be torn off with force;)

What I didn't like

Slow, the battery lasts for 5-6 hours of active life, moisture damage damages the keyboard.

What I liked

All in one

What I didn't like

the body is fragile. Within a year of use it cracked in several places.
Also, after a year of use, it started to glitch...it takes a long time to switch panels and makes poor contact with the BT headset.
If you carry your phone in your pocket, not only will the paint on the case wear off, but also on your jeans.

What I liked

The phone is comfortable and stylish. camera for 4, convenient retractable keyboard, touch joystick and nice panels

What I didn't like

Now let's talk about the shortcomings. Suddenly, out of the blue, more than half of the phone numbers saved in Contacts disappeared. It’s good that there was a spare Excel file where I prudently dropped the numbers for backup storage. But still, I spent more than 2 hours restoring the information. And many of the recently introduced numbers have disappeared forever. This is really annoying, this is a real problem that calls into question the reliability of the communicator.
In addition, several times there were incomprehensible freezes, which were eliminated by a soft reboot. For that kind of money to have such problems? Question....

What I liked

I’ve written about the advantages before.

What I didn't like

It's a buggy model... you constantly have to reboot for the hangs to disappear. The battery is missing. A very weak case... the lid instantly flew off and the camera was cut off.

XPERIA X1 has not even appeared yet, but has already become a record holder. Record holder for the time it goes on sale. It “only” took her a little over a year to get into our hands, as well as on the shelves of Ukrainian stores. Was our wait worth it?

Specifications

Standard GSM 850/900/1800/1900 (GPRS/EDGE)/UMTS 900/1900/2100 (HSDPA/HSPA)

Dimensions and weight 111×53×17 mm, 158 g

OS Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional

CPU n/a

Memory 256 MB RAM, 400 MB Flash ROM + microSD (up to 16 GB)

Screen TFT, 3", 800×480 pixels

Battery, autonomy Li-Ion, 1500 mAh, 1-2 days

Communications USB (Mini-USB) 2.0, Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR, A2DP, Wi-Fi

Camera 3.2 MP, max. 2048×1536 pixels, autofocus, video recording (VGA, 30 fps), backlight

Working with messages SMS, MMS, e-mail

Audio formats MP3, MIDI, WAV, WMA, AMR, AAC, AAC+, Real Audio

Video formats 3GP, WMV, Real Video, MPEG-4

Internet browser WAP 2.0, HTML, XHTML, Opera Mobile

Additional features GPS SiRF Star III; radio, X-panels, 3.5 mm jack

Design; ergonomics of the QWERTY keyboard; the idea of ​​X-panels, their expandability; multimedia

Ergonomics of the control key block; X-panels need improvement

An extremely interesting WM communicator from a company specializing in multimedia devices. The result almost met expectations

Verdict

Product provided by Sony Ericsson

At the time of its announcement, XPERIA created a sensation. Of course, the first Sony Ericsson communicator on Windows Mobile, a new user interface, an “advanced” multimedia component, etc. Then it turned out that the release dates were postponed, then postponed again... Soon HTC Diamond, Touch Pro, Samsung Witu appeared. Both journalists and users began to forget about XPERIA. And finally she reached us, and interest awoke with renewed vigor. I desperately wanted to know what we had been waiting for so long. As it turned out, the interest of potential users also did not fade away: this was demonstrated both by the activity of readers on and the reaction of people who saw this device in the hands of the editorial staff. It remains to be seen whether the product is worthy of such attention, whether the competitors managed to get ahead during the time they received as a head start? Our detailed test is designed to answer these questions.

Appearance

The device looks very cool. We got the black version. It’s impossible to say with certainty that it’s more interesting than the combined one (we haven’t seen the second one live), but this one looks its best. The metal body with a dark coating evokes associations with blued steel and generally suggests that this is a device capable of solving any combat mission and reliable, like a Kalashnikov assault rifle. In a word, XPERIA really looks cool, is built well, and really doesn’t let you part with it. Moreover, when open, the device is no less impressive: the light, again metal, keyboard block contrasts favorably with the dark body. In general, a solid A for appearance.

Display

With a diagonal of three inches, the XPERIA display has a resolution of 800x480 pixels. To clearly imagine how much it is, it is worth making a picture of this size and displaying it on the computer display in “full size”. Naturally, there can be no question of any graininess - the display is magnificent. There are also no complaints about the picture quality and displayed colors. In the sun, the screen fades, but not too much, remaining quite readable. There is a light sensor, thanks to which the brightness of the backlight can be adjusted automatically, saving your battery power and vision. Processing of clicks is carried out without problems - everything is typical for such devices. There is only one minus, and it is not even related to the display as such, but to its design. According to the old “communication” tradition, the screen is recessed into the body, which contributes to the accumulation of dirt around the edges. There is an opinion that this is even better - there is somewhere to glue the protective film. But we believe that in modern devices with an interface focused on control without a stylus, this should no longer be the case.

Ergonomics

But ergonomics, especially some of its aspects, are perhaps the weakest point of the XPERIA. Although the problem is most likely not even in the communicator itself (by and large, everything is “on the level”), but in the fact that we are gradually getting used to the best and want everything to correspond to this best. However, first things first.

Our complaints are primarily caused by the controls of the communicator. An external keyboard is a prime example of the victory of design over common sense. The layout as a whole is unsuccessful - the keys are located too low and close to the edge of the case, you need to reach for them, as a result of which the rather heavy device is outweighed. But the keys themselves are extremely inconvenient. Not only are the accept/end-end buttons the smallest of all, but also “thanks to” their shape, you have to press the very edge. Doing this without aiming is quite difficult. Apparently, the one who designed these buttons himself did not believe that they would be used, but would rely more on the touch interface.

The joystick is really interesting. Firstly, it is large, protrudes above the body and is very comfortable. With the OK button in the middle - everything is as it should be. And secondly, this same OK button is also a touchpad, quite suitable for scrolling. But if the company, so to speak, went all the way and added a free cursor to this joystick, which could be controlled like on a laptop, there would be no price for such a solution! But this is already from the category of “used to the best.”

We have few complaints about the full QWERTY keyboard. The buttons are small, but well separated, the action is clear - everything is just great. And although not all the Cyrillic layout fits into its usual places, there is a slight shift at the bottom right, but there are a minimum of key combinations. You can complain about the lack of cursor control arrows, but in principle it’s easy to do without them thanks to the joystick on the right side, which your thumb can easily reach.

Functionality, performance

In terms of functionality, if you don't take into account the X-panels, the Sony Ericsson X1 seems quite ordinary. To paraphrase the classic, all Windows communicators are the same inside, only each user interface is original in its own way. So the XPERIA, as far as “panels” are concerned, is, in principle, a typical communicator, which, due to the high resolution of the display, looks rather poor in performance tests. The only plus we can put is the presence of a 3D accelerator, which has proven itself excellent in games, but the device turned out to be too tough for unconverted video, which is somewhat disappointing, especially in comparison with regular phones, because some of them can easily cope with VGA resolution and video stream. 1.5 Mbit/s.

X panels

Finally we got to the most interesting part - X-panels. What is it? X-panels is an interface within which the user can work with individual applications, panels, the capabilities of which are very wide - from performing one simple function to complete control over the communicator. They are called by a special key; no more than nine can be displayed on the screen at a time. Actions with panels are accompanied by beautiful animation - everything flies around the Desktop and turns over. It just slows down a bit - we hope that the programmers will be able to optimize this moment. The user is free to place panels at his own discretion, choosing the most necessary ones. Only one is firmly fixed - the Today screen, which provides access to the traditional Windows Mobile desktop. Unfortunately, the choice of panels is not very wide; there are only a few on the official XPERIA page, and third-party developers have not yet paid enough attention to this niche. Installation of new panels is very simple: they are familiar .cab files that can be installed using a synchronization program or downloaded directly to the device. Unfortunately, the implementation of the panels cannot yet be called final. There is a serious drawback - the lack of multitasking. So, after launching the player, you cannot exit this panel and go to Facebook - playback will stop. But click Start and launch Opera - please. Only if you then click on X-panels will the playback still stop. It’s an annoying flaw, but, as far as we know, the company is actively working on this and promises to fix everything in the next software versions.

Multimedia

And now, armed with the knowledge that using X-panels from a multimedia point of view is possible with some reservations, we proceed directly to studying the possibilities.

Multimedia panel. In fact, we have a painfully familiar multimedia menu, which can be found in almost every new Sony Ericsson phone. In any case, it looks very similar - the same Image Viewer, Music and Video Players, Contacts (read below for why they were brought here - read below) and Games. Moreover, the games are not only preinstalled, but also installed by you. Magic, no less. But seriously, the presence of Contacts in the multimedia panel amused us at first, but then we realized that such a solution is quite rational. Since we can’t implement multitasking, let’s give the user the opportunity to at least conveniently make calls, write SMS and e-mail directly from here, from the player. The solution is extraordinary and probably temporary, but, as they say, thanks for that.

The music player is interesting - it looks great and is not lacking in functionality. An organized library with metadata and tags is welcome. Everything is updated automatically, right up to the instantaneous appearance of newly recorded music in the menu. But the most important thing is the sound. It is simply magnificent, and without discounting the fact that this is a WM communicator. This is the best thing we have ever listened to on this platform; the terminal definitely “plays” in the same weight category as the leading music devices of our time. Record your favorite tracks on a memory card, take your usual headphones, go to the store and listen. It's worth it.

The video player is also implemented very well. True, as we have already said, it cannot cope with unconverted video, but if you adapt a video specifically for it, with a stream of up to a megabit and a resolution up to VGA, in a digestible format, for example the H.264 codec (container.m4v), - the result will please you. You can get such a video in a hundred different ways, and any iPod/iPhone/PSP video converter can help you with this.

Exploitation

In the best traditions of multimedia devices, Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1 is equipped with two speakers designed to provide high-quality stereo sound. Indeed, the device plays well and is quite loud. But on the street this is still not enough, and it is very easy to miss a call. The vibration signal doesn’t help either; in fact, it’s very weak - the device is heavy, and it’s not so easy to “shake” it. The body does not show a tendency to rub off, and apparently the paint will last a long time. The autonomy of the device is not outstanding: browsing, GPS, Wi-Fi/3.5G network, conversations - all this drains the battery very quickly.

conclusions

What's the end result? Not a revolution, unfortunately. Rather, he is a good, very good communicator, who still needs some time to be “processed with a file.” Multitasking of the panels will be added, their work will speed up a little, the software will become stable - and here it is, an excellent multimedia communicator. But this does not mean that he is not interesting now. On the contrary, it’s sometimes nice to feel like a pioneer, to be the first to try new panels and firmware, to see how the device improves before your eyes. I want to believe that all this will happen. In the meantime, we have before us an interesting communicator, excellent in appearance and not at all empty inside. And only time will tell whether Sony Ericsson will be able to develop the full potential of not only this device, but also the future XPERIA line - if it is destined to appear. The result is a well-deserved four stars and recommendations to take a closer look at it when choosing a new device. I would really like to give it a five, but we don’t like to give ratings in advance.

Alternatives

XPERIA X1 or HTC Touch Pro?

HTC Touch Pro

These communicators are very close to each other - due to the fact that the X1 was created on the basis of the HTC model. The product form factor and basic configuration elements are the same, but the prices are currently almost the same. The most significant hardware differences are the resolution, and therefore the aspect ratio of the screen and the associated features of the QWERTY keyboard layout and, of course, the case materials. The XPERIA is more elongated, which makes it feel more like a “phone” and fits more comfortably in the hand when talking, and its “sparse” alphabetical keyboard is easier to work with. Both communicators are equipped with specially developed software shells, with the HTC TouchFLO 3D being less functional, but more ergonomic and better integrated into the system. Ultimately, when choosing between these two models, we would prefer the XPERIA.

XPERIA X1 or top all-in-one communicators?

Samsung SGH-i900 Witu

If you plan to use your communicator as a universal device, that is, to constantly make calls from it, it makes sense to compare the XPERIA with two models of a similar class, also designed as “phones”, but in an all-in-one case - the HTC Touch Diamond and the Samsung SGH-i900 Witu. All three products differ significantly from each other, so it will be interesting to choose. To briefly describe its competitors, HTC is a “designer” device, beautiful and unusual, with a convenient TouchFLO 3D interface, the brand of which is quite prestigious, but the equipment looks rather weak in modern times: 4 GB of non-expandable memory and a 3-megapixel camera are no longer available to anyone today. You'll be surprised, although the VGA screen is very good.

HTC Touch Diamond

Samsung is a fairly technological product; in terms of equipment, it is the strongest of the three. There is 16 GB of memory plus a microSD slot, a 5-megapixel camera, a touch joystick with a “virtual mouse” function, and a gyroscope that works in all applications. However, the name Samsung is not as popular among “technomaniacs” as the other two, and in our experience it is better to replace the TouchWiz software shell with the paid Spb Mobile Shell 2.0. As for Sony Ericsson, it has the best ratio of “external data” (design, body materials) and equipment, and the QWERTY keyboard is still very important for a Windows communicator. Therefore, the decisive argument in this dispute will be the price: if you are willing to spend $800, take XPERIA, if you want to save money, pay attention to Samsung.

XPERIA X1 or glofiish M800?

glofiish M800

At first glance, these communicators are very similar, and the product from glofiish promises significant savings. And in terms of equipment, the devices are not very different from each other, because the M800 is practically an analogue of the HTC Touch Pro, also with a 640x480 pixels screen. But the quality of the Sony Ericsson product is objectively higher in many respects, therefore, despite the difference in price, we recommend the XPERIA.

XPERIA X1 or “super communicators”?

ASUS P835	HTC Touch HD

Recently, a large number of devices have appeared with the same screen resolution as the X1 (800×480 pixels), but with a larger diagonal - 3.5-3.8". We compared the XPERIA with two such products - ASUS P835 and HTC Touch HD - with similar equipment. The result in both cases is the same: with a seemingly insignificant difference in screen diagonal, the devices are perceived completely differently, because the “supercommunicators” are noticeably larger. And ASUS and HTC products are aimed more at those who are very interested. actively uses mobile Internet and multimedia, accordingly, the difference in screen size is of great importance for them. A comparison of the external design and dimensions of the products reveals the more fashionable nature of the XPERIA - it seems that the Sony Ericsson device is “for people”, while its competitors are “for people”. “computer geeks.” This is exactly how you should approach the choice, although no one will deny the benefits of the XPERIA QWERTY keyboard, including “computer geeks.”

Communicator Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1 - review

The first WinMobile communicator from Sony came out quite a long time ago - in 2008. But, unfortunately, I only now managed to study it. However, it’s better later than not at all, so I’ll still state my impressions, especially since this communicator is still quite actively on sale, and the mysterious XPERIA X2 model has not appeared on sale. First - technical specifications.

Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1

Specifications

CPU- 528 MHz Qualcomm MSM7200A
RAM- 256 MB (200 MB available)
ROM- 512 MB (280 MB available)
Expansion cards- microSD (microSDHC)
Display- 800×480 (WVGA), 65,000 colors, 3"
Communication standards- GSM Quad-band 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, EDGE/GPRS, UMTS/HSDPA 900/1900/2100
Interfaces- Bluetooth 1.2, WiFi 802.11 b/g
Navigation- GPS on the gpsOne chip of the Qualcomm platform
Battery- 1500 mAh
Camera- 3 megapixels
operating system- Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional, X-Panel shell
Dimensions- 110.5 × 52.6 × 17 mm
Weight- 158 g (with battery)
Additionally- FM radio, light sensor, accelerometer, touchpad. The equipment, as we see, is serious. The processor is quite powerful, the memory is just a flood. The screen resolution is excellent, but the non-standard aspect ratio is somewhat confusing: instead of 640x480 - 800x480, that is, the screen is noticeably elongated vertically. However, we'll see how this turns out.

Equipment

The package contents are more or less standard, with no surprises: the device itself, battery, USB-minUSB cable, power supply, wired 3.5 mm stereo headset, adapter with 3.5 mm output, CD with software and documentation.

Communicator XPERIA X1 and comrades

Appearance and Controls

XPERIA X1 is a keyboard slider. That is, it has a QWERTY keyboard extending from the bottom of the case.

Pull-out keyboard

Such a decision is not always certain. A sliding keyboard increases the weight and thickness of the device, and in my opinion, it’s as good as a goat’s milk - the on-screen keyboard and stylus are much more convenient to use. However, there are users who find such keyboards convenient. They have a right. The front and back parts of the case are made of metal and look impressive and stylish. (There is also a model in this line whose body is covered with black rubberized plastic.)

Back cover

The device seemed a bit thick to me: it fits quite comfortably in the hand, but you can’t put it in your jeans pocket - it’s not the right size.

Thickness visible

The stylus of this model is inserted into a special groove in the upper left end. This is also a very strange decision: for right-handed people, it is more than inconvenient to take out the stylus. It is usually placed in the upper right end (the best option) or in the lower right (worse, but still tolerable), and the upper left is clearly too much. Contrary to established traditions, the sound control buttons are not on the upper left side, but on the right. But, in my opinion, there is nothing wrong with this - it’s even more convenient to drive on the right.

Right end

There, on the right side, at the bottom there is a button for calling the camera and viewing photos - this is in strict accordance with tradition. On the left side there is a standard miniUSB port for charging and communication with a computer. The top end is a headphone output (usually it is at the bottom) and a power button, which is designed correctly: you won’t accidentally press it, since it is slightly recessed, and it’s quite convenient to press.

Top end

At the bottom end there is only a recess with a crossbar for attaching a carrying loop. Now let's talk about the control keys, of which there are six in addition to the joystick: Sony didn't skimp.

Control keys

Four-way joystick with a central button that doubles as a touchpad. By the way, an interesting solution - in all other options you had to select a control style in the settings: either a touchpad or a joystick. Buttons: two standard telephone buttons (pick up the handset, put down the handset), two standard contextual ones, located immediately below the screen, the “OK” button (it has other functions than duplicating the central joystick button) and a button for calling a special X-panel shell. The solution, on the one hand, is interesting, but it must be said that in this version the buttons for raising and lowering the handset are quite inconvenient to press. But the top contextual buttons are pressed perfectly - thanks to well-made sides. The same edges on the handset keys would not be out of place.

Screen

I didn't like the screen on this model. For two reasons. Firstly, at a time when the whole world has long switched to edgeless displays, here the screen is framed by a fairly noticeable edge. This both interferes with finger control (given the large number of programs for WM that try to implement a similar model), and is not very aesthetically pleasing - dirt gets clogged under the sides. But even more disappointing is the screen geometry at this resolution. On a three-inch screen, 800x480 is wildly small!

Screenshot

As it turned out, I was wrong when I wrote in the review of the Samsung SGH-i900 communicator, which has WQVGA, that this is supposedly a small resolution for such a screen. As the XPERIA X1 showed, QVGA is much better in this case, because in this case you can still at least see something on the screen. With VGA (at least on this screen) it looks so small that it can break your eyes. Although on the same HTC Touch Diamond, where the standard VGA screen is 640x480, VGA looks just great and is clearly better than QVGA. In addition, not all programs work correctly at such a non-standard resolution.

Software and operation

The communicator runs on Windows Mobile 6.1. I have already reviewed this operating system so many times in reviews of communicators that I will only dwell on the features of this model and the specific software that is installed here. The main software feature of the XPERIA X1 is a shell called X-panels. It does not appear by default when you start the communicator - the usual "Today" screen appears there, but it can be called up with the corresponding button.

X-panels main window

The panels can also be positioned vertically to the left or right - using a special button at the bottom.

Fan arrangement

It's kind of like a desktop of desktops. The main X-panels window hosts up to nine different desktops: the standard Today screen, native X-panels applications, and some other desktop applications like SPB Mobile Shell. Switching to fan mode and back can happen quickly, or it can slow down for up to eight seconds. The panels on the screen shake slightly, and the currently active desktop also attracts attention with its animation. If the list is not touched for forty seconds, then this window closes and the currently active desktop appears. When you click on one of the desktops, its screenshot (always the same) is first displayed on the entire screen, and then, after about five or six seconds, the active desktop appears. When you click on the settings icon, the layout of the main desktop is displayed, where you can edit, add and delete desktops.

Setting up the main window

When you add a desktop, a list of already installed panels is displayed, and when you click on “More panels” in Opera Mobile, a window opens with a section of the Sonyericsson.com website, where you can download (purchase) several dozen additional applications for X-panels.

Additional Applications

Now let's see what applications (desktops) are offered there.

Sony Ericsson Panel1

Panel 1

Time, weather, communication settings buttons, links to SMS and missed calls, calendar and task buttons, recently launched programs and links to quick launch applications. All this is configured as follows.

Settings

Sony Ericsson Panel2

This panel differs only in that instead of a clock it has a calendar linked to the Windows Mobile calendar. The rest is all the same.

Panel 2

Mutants

An incredibly feature-rich business application. The date and time are displayed on the screen. There are three mutants floating on top of this. If you click on any mutant with the stylus, it begins to swim noticeably faster. Nothing else happens in this application. It is probably intended for meditation or practicing sadistic skills.

Mutants

Multimedia

A good multimedia shell that works on the Sony Playstation principle.

Multimedia

Viewing Images

In full-screen image viewing mode, options for slide shows and some manipulations with pictures are available.

View image

Audio files are sorted by artist, album, track, and playlist. The player itself is good and convenient.

Player

In the contacts section, you can view the listed subscribers in a mode similar to viewing audio tracks. There is very little sense in this, because there are a lot of specialized applications for working with contacts in the form of pictures, which are much more convenient. When viewing a video in the player, you can pause, skip forward and backward, adjust the volume and scale the viewing window. It is interesting that the demo videos attached there in an MP4 container were with a resolution of 800x480, but played without any brakes or jumps. The quality was simply amazing. However, when I loaded the converted AVI with XViD inside and tried to watch it with a regular TCPMP player, the result was much worse. And 640x480 slowed down like crazy, and even 320x240, which could be played without problems even on the first HTC Touch, which was too weak.

Radio

A simple but fully functional FM radio. It works, as in other communicators, only when a headset is connected - it acts as an antenna.

FM radio

Stations are memorized like in car radios: you need to press the desired number and hold for a couple of seconds.

Google app

Well, that's all from X-panels applications. I must say that I am not at all delighted with the system itself or its applications. The system itself is cumbersome, sluggish, and periodically, when switching desktops or calling up some icons in applications, it pauses for a noticeable number of seconds. In addition, you need to keep in mind that all desktops are loaded only single-tasking. That is, if you call the radio, start it and are going to watch pictures at the same time as listening, the Oblomingo bird will immediately fly over you, because as soon as you close the radio, it immediately turns off. The same applies to any media playback. Thus, in my opinion, X-panels are completely useless, unlike, for example, the very impressive applications in the Samsung SGH-i900. Even Touch Flo 3D in top HTC models, while slow, is noticeably more functional. To be honest, I thought that Sony would be somehow more decent with its software. In this case, X-panels must be replaced with SPB Mobile Shell, and this will be an order of magnitude more functional, and most importantly - faster. However, X-panels cannot be uprooted from there using the usual methods - the shell will stick out in RAM and take up precious megabytes. And if you consider that the XPERIA X1 has nothing else installed except the usual bare Windows Mobile 6.1, then for equipping this business with software, I note that the model can easily be given a three with a minus. Samsung SGH-i900 deserves a B+ in this regard. True, instead of a stylus, he has a pussy on a string. So everyone has their own problems.

Keyboard

As I said, I don't see much point in a slide-out keyboard. The keys are small, it’s quite difficult to press them even with small fingers, and their layout is always absolutely wild, if we talk about numbers, special characters and control keys. And here the cursor movement keys are not yet enabled, so when you make a mistake when typing text again, you won’t be able to use anything other than backspace. Well, in my model there was no Cyrillic alphabet on the slide-out keyboard. However, as I understand it, officially sold devices should have Cyrillic alphabet. The on-screen keyboard here is only the usual WinMobile one (HTC offers a much more advanced and convenient option in its communicators), and considering that the screen is unnaturally narrow, then typing on the on-screen keyboard even with a stylus is not very convenient.

Screen keyboard

In landscape mode, the on-screen keyboard behaves amazingly - like this.

Portrait mode

Camera

I drove the camera. It takes decent pictures (for a communicator camera, of course), autofocus misses not so often, and the settings are quite advanced.

Camera settings

Outdoor photographs turned out quite well, with natural colors. And even with very poor lighting at home, the results were more than tolerable. Although, of course, autofocus often missed.

Shooting under the light of a table lamp

Working hours

The battery here is 1500 mAh - this is normal for such characteristics of the device. With active use, the charge lasts for a full day. In phone mode with rare use of other functions - for two days. When reading at normal brightness, the battery lasts about fifteen hours. In the mode of listening to music with the screen off - almost the same. Watching a movie at normal brightness is five hours.

conclusions

Rather disappointed. With a price of about twenty thousand rubles for this device, there are too many shortcomings. Yes, the characteristics are rich, the body is stylish, and the communicator looks like an absolute business class, but, in my opinion, there are a lot of disadvantages. Let's list the pros and cons. Pros:

stylish case design; powerful processor; a lot of memory; GPS; good management; the joystick is combined with a touchpad; good screen resolution (but this is also a minus in this case); sufficiently capacious battery; standard headphone jack; good camera.

Minuses:

high price; completely incomprehensible software; heavy and thick body; inconvenient slide-out keyboard; non-standard screen size, on which, at this resolution, standard text turns out to be very small; screen with sides;

: Hooray! Less than a year has passed since the almost final pre-commercial sample of the Xperia X1, a communicator that forced many to reconsider their attitude towards Windows Mobile, reached the hands of your humble servant. Is this communicator worth reconsidering your attitude towards these devices? Let’s try to figure it out in our review today.

Introduction

We can talk about this device for a long time, we don’t have to talk at all, but one point remains a fact: on the first day of MWC’08, the public’s main attention was focused on the Xperia, which then still existed mainly in the form of dummies or fully working prototypes, but with a basic version of Windows Mobile 6.0 Professional. A little later, by April of last year, the first samples with the operating system version 6.1 began to appear, and at the same time with the beginnings of one of the main functions that were actively promoted for this new product. But the device’s journey to the shelves was truly long, if we consider November 2008 as the start date of sales.

What was the first reason for the delays in the release of the model, which was planned to begin implementation in July–August? The first reason lies in the original intention of Sony Ericsson to become the first manufacturer to use the Windows Mobile 6.5 operating system in its device, the announcement of which was planned in June 2008. But already in May, all the company’s plans began to slowly collapse, as Microsoft decided to concentrate on the early announcement of Windows Mobile 7.0, which was originally planned only for 2010. In this situation, Sony Ericsson programmers faced the fact of final use of Windows Mobile 6.1 only at the moment when HTC spectacularly announced Touch Diamond, with the same OS 6.1 and its own Today screen shell, called Touch FLO 3D.

But this only partially delayed the communicator’s entry into the market, while other ambitions associated with unusual hardware and software components ensured that Sony Ericsson was simply unprepared for parallel development of the communicator before its launch in England, and in a number of other markets where the option was not ready local keyboard layout. Russia was also included in the number of countries with unfinished localization, which is why the communicator did not manage to hit store shelves before the new year, but at the moment when you are reading these lines, the new product has probably already taken its place in store windows, so now is the time take a closer look at it.

Appearance

Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 can rightfully be called one of the most beautiful communicators based on Windows Mobile, which is due to one simple property. Unlike most other devices from E-TEN, ASUS and HTC, the Xperia's body is made primarily of metal, and metal is not aluminum, which is often used in other Sony Ericsson products, be it steel.

As a result, Xpreria, made in the form factor of a side slider with dimensions of 111.2 x 52.7 x 18 mm, fully corresponds to the title of a technological image solution. If you compare the dimensions of the Xperia X1 with other communicators based on Windows Mobile, it will not be difficult to notice a certain minimalism of the new Sony Ericsson product, although comparison with it reduces the size of the communicator to a minimum.

If we take smartphones based on the Symbian OS for comparison, we won’t be able to notice a significant difference in size, and this is taking into account the fact that this is not a candy bar, but a slider.

The Xperia X1 lies comfortably in the hand, completely concentrating tactile impressions on the steel parts that make up the lion's share of the surface of the communicator. Initially, in the mechanics of the communicator, you can notice a tight transverse play of the lower and upper edges of the front half, which is caused by the mechanics of the guides without any frills, as in a monolithic one. Additional sophistication is given to the tightly assembled body of the X1 by a significant weight of 158 grams, which removes the breast pocket of a shirt and trousers from the list of places to wear, while in jeans and a jacket the communicator can be worn all day without negative sensations.

The entire front surface of the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 is made of one sheet of steel, most of which is concentrated at the top. We are dealing with a matte surface, the corners of which are polished to a glossy finish. Unfortunately, since this is not stainless steel, abrasions in the matte areas appear after only a week of use, and after a month there is no doubt that the device was used daily.

Close to the upper edge of the front surface there is a narrow rectangular cutout in the steel panel, on the left of which a light sensor is visible, and on the right there is an additional camera for video calls. The rest of the space is occupied by a protruding silver insert, from the bottom edge of which you can see a slot for a speaker.

A centimeter lower, another cutout begins in the sheet of steel, this time much larger, since it ends only 5 mm from the bottom edge. The purpose of the cutout leaves no doubt thanks to the familiar film touch screen, which acts as the main means of controlling the communicator.

The actual area of ​​the touch screen suggests that it protects a widescreen TFT matrix with a diagonal of 3 inches, capable of displaying up to 65,536 colors. The physical dimensions of the communicator's screen are 38.7 x 65 mm, but the matrix resolution is 480 x 800 pixels. It would seem that a similar screen was used in the communicator, but the similarity between the matrices remains only in terms of the record small grain size of 0.08 x 0.08 mm, while the color rendering and white balance parameters are clearly on the side of the Xperia X1. The image on the communicator’s screen is distinguished by a rich color palette, only limited by software to 65,536 colors, with a good level of brightness and contrast, but the elaboration of white color is slightly shifted towards the warm range of 5000-5700K, which made it possible to achieve deep black color without going into gray tones. As for the brightness of the backlight, here we are presented with a uniform scale of 11 gradations, the minimum value of which is comfortable in the case of reading texts at night, and the maximum value is perfect for watching videos or reading the same texts during the day.

In the sun, the behavior of the Xperia X1 screen is quite expected due to the use of a film touch screen, which reduces the sharpness of the image by half, while also reducing the image contrast. Accordingly, comfortable viewing of images and graphics is already difficult, although all contrasting areas are readable, and navigating through the menu is not satisfactory. In addition, the X1 screen matrix used also provides excellent viewing angles without inversion, both horizontally and vertically, and when viewed from the corners of the screen.

Immediately below the screen display, a black area of ​​the key block begins, the beginning of which is a monolithic strip with a logo and floating corners along the edges. Significantly protruding thin keys are inscribed into these protrusions, duplicating the virtual strip of the lower contextual elements. Continuing along the edges, we see triangular call answer/end call keys, the last of which is also used to lock the keys and screen. The keyboard block at the bottom is interesting with the OK key on the right, as well as the panel launch button on the left, which we will talk about in more detail in the corresponding part of the review.

All the remaining space is given over to a large navigation key with elongated triangular edges on the left and right. Due to the millimeter protrusion above the surface, working with the four-way navigation key is quite convenient, although some may not like the clear click of all the buttons with a ringing mechanical click. Only one button has a silent click, namely the recessed confirmation key inscribed in the center, whose soft stroke adds ease of use. And one of its interesting features may discourage the use of mechanical cursor deflection keys.

We are talking about the presence of an optical navigation pad, along which you just need to move your fingertip in the desired direction to move the cursor to a position to the side. Using only an optical element for navigation, no particular problems arise, but in conjunction with the navigation key, erroneous actions are too frequent to not take advantage of the option to disable the “optical joystick” in the settings.

Continuing our movement downwards, we again come across a steel front panel, tightly adjacent to a plastic chrome insert at the bottom end. At their junction you can see a tiny hole for the microphone, and from the end of the main half you can see the hole for fastening the strap with a thin loop.

On the upper side of the case, the slightly recessed power button is of interest, located right on the edge of the spectacular end kink strip, which forms the angular relief of the ends of the Xperia, with an arcuate bend of the edge at the bottom and top. In addition to the power key, another interesting feature is the 3.5 mm headphone jack - a first for Sony Ericsson, but familiar to communicators based on Windows Mobile.

On the left side of the case there is an ordinary miniUSB connector for connecting a communication cable with a PC, which, in turn, can be connected to the charger’s power supply. At the bottom edge there is an empty recess in the ribbed edge of the case, identical to the other three, also located at the edges of the left and right ends. Closer to the back surface, under the recess, you can see a hole in the polyphonic speaker, which is often blocked by a finger during operation, causing the sound volume to decrease by 70%.

The right end of the case is no less interesting, fortunately there is a key on top - a volume rocker with an adjacent central notch. Working with the key is inconvenient for one reason only: the distance between the volume up and down buttons is less than a centimeter. In addition, the flat shape of the button and the indistinct click with a short stroke do not add any ergonomic points. At the bottom edge of the end there is a silver key of identical size, also equipped with two levels of pressure, but this time we are talking about the shutter button. The focus pre-pressure is quite expressive and accurate, but to release the shutter you will have to double the pressure, resting your thumb directly on the speaker hole on the opposite edge of the body.

Instead of moving on to a description of the rear surface, we suggest taking a closer look at the left and right ends of the case, where two black stripes on the front half of the case are clearly visible. Along the edges of these plastic inserts, four LEDs are inconspicuously placed, effectively acting as an indicator of missed and ongoing events by pulsating blinking.

And now we return to the lower and upper edges of the case, where a curved gap between the halves is clearly visible, suggesting an unusual opening mechanism. The mechanism really looks interesting, although we are talking about two ordinary guide rails made of steel, as well as a mechanism for finishing the half halfway. On paper, everything looks ordinary, but in practice, the side shift of the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 can surprise those who have tried the HTC Touch Pro in practice. Holding the device in your right hand, your middle finger easily pushes the front half of the case to the right, and halfway through the journey the auto-close is triggered, completed by a dull metallic clap. After this, the thumb easily feels the rebounded edge, and the half is easily pushed back. And again there was a clap with a pleasant dull sound. It’s funny, but you can just clap the halves of the communicator with nothing to do - some owners find exactly the same entertainment interesting, so there’s nothing strange about it.

Keyboard

Opening the Xperia X1 body, we immediately encounter a large QWERTY block - a keyboard consisting of 4 rows of keys separated from each other, the total number of which is 42, and 32 keys can be used for various keyboard layouts. As you understand, it was the letter “Ё” that was included in the write-off of Cyrillic characters, while all other letters found their place on the layout, and the symbols were placed on the keyboard in the same way as the NUM block on the keyboards of ordinary laptops. By the way, since we remembered about laptops, it’s time to talk about two interesting points:

• The Xperia X1 keyboard looks similar to the Sony VAIO P-series keyboard unit


• The rectangular keys are spaced apart in the tradition of Sony laptop keys.

In addition, enhancing the similarity of the communicator keyboard is provided by the presence of a massive Enter key, as well as a brick structure of horizontal rows located at a 50% offset from the adjacent block. Minor points include the presence of a layout change button, a large Tab key, a small Shift key, a monstrous space bar, and duplicate Start and OK keys.

And now it’s time to move on to impressions of working with the keyboard, albeit in the case of entering text in English, due to the lack of factory Russian letters. The buttons themselves practically do not protrude above the surface, so the only guide for the fingers is their rough matte texture, in contrast to the glossy panel framing the keys. A funny thing is the peculiar convex texture of the keys, with a diagonal relief for the thumbs of the right and left hands. Due to these bevels, the tactility of the keys is quite acceptable, while their mechanics leave only a pleasant impression. The noticeable elastic movement of the buttons is completed with a clear click with a dull click. As for the text input speed, the situation here is quite comparable with the HTC Touch Pro, so we can take the speed at 80 characters per minute as a base value, with possible deviations to the side.

The back surface of the device continues to please the eye with brutal protrusions and a metal surface. From the top edge, two screw plugs are easily visible, immediately under which there is again a rectangle, and again with corners at the edges. Included in this protruding frame is a slightly recessed protective glass with a black backing, under which hides a weak LED flash and a 3.2 MP camera module with autofocus optics.

From the opposite edge of the case there is another protrusion, together with the first one, protecting the steel cover of the battery compartment from unnecessary contact with the surface. The metal is under such symbolic protection for a reason, since its textured matte surface is prone to the appearance of small abrasions, which will become noticeable after a couple of months of using the device.

The lid floats significantly onto the ends of the body, where you can see the grooves under the nail, allowing you to hook it and pull it towards you. As you understand, you have to pull on the end of the sheet steel, so it’s better to forget about preserving the manicure, since the external shape of the communicator is designed primarily for a man’s hand, where even a nail remains a tool. The lid is secured by metal protrusions soldered on the inside and two guides on top, which contact the recesses in the plastic frame, the condition of which has not deteriorated over the month of using the communicator.

But before we look under the cover, let's look again at the upper part of the back surface. On the right edge there is an inconspicuous stylus cap with convenient marks for prying off with a fingernail. The stylus fixation is devoid of magnets, but the tight fit of the cap to the groove in the body ensures moderately tight movement of the control element in the slot. Having taken out the stylus, all that remains is to note the convenient design of this thin steel stick with a small plastic tip, as well as the comfortable length of 85.7 mm.

So, the battery compartment cover has already been removed, so it’s time to head to the microSDHC memory card slot, located on the left side. Removing and installing cards does not require long nails, and you can easily use the edge of your fingertip, which is convenient.

Now is the time to take a look at the massive lithium polymer battery BST-41, whose capacity is 1500 mAh. It seems that everything about it is good, and the capacity is optimal for such a functional device, but it reminds me of something. To answer this question, it wouldn’t hurt to take a look at their battery. Also lithium-polymer and also - 1500 mAh. We take both batteries in one hand, and doubts disappear by themselves. We are dealing with an accessory produced by Panasonic for both companies, so you can rest assured that after a year the battery capacity of the Xperia X1 will remain at the proper level.

This means that on one charge you can:

• read books on minimal backlight for about 22 hours


• 5 hours of watching video at maximum backlight


• 17 hours listening to music or radio


• 6 hours of surfing the web via Wi-Fi.

In normal operation, with half an hour of calls a day, an hour of using Wi-Fi to view WEB pages, two hours of listening to music and 20 minutes of destroying balls in a standard game, the battery charge reaches a critical 2% after three days. If you use the communicator even more harshly, the operating time will be about 1.5 days, and a more gentle mode is no longer relevant for Xperia. Accordingly, we suggest counting on 2 days of work, deviations from which will be insignificant.

Under the battery we find an interesting slot for installing a SIM card, with a large plastic stop that is pressed down when removing the card. To install it, first thread the edge of the card into the black casing, after which all that remains is to drag it in until the plastic stop is flush with it.

Hardware Features

Taking into account the well-known fact, regarding the production of the Xperia X1 by HTC for Sony Ericsson, it seems quite logical to use the Qualcomm MSM7200A complex component, which is based on a computing processor with a clock frequency of 528 MHz, as the basis for the computing power. On the one hand, this is an optimistic picture of a high-performance device, but in comparison with the HTC Touch Pro, one small detail immediately becomes clear. The HTC communicator uses the MSM7201A, which is different from that used in the Xperia X1, an active video processing component with the QTv codec, while in the hero of our today's review all tasks are performed by just one processor, and nothing more.

As for memory capacity, Xperia looks more than interesting here, offering the user:

• 256 MB DDR RAM - memory, of which more than 200 MB is available for running applications


• 512 MB ROM – memory for storing user data, although in practice only 281 MB is available


• slot for microSDHC memory cards up to 32 GB.

The characteristics look quite impressive, but they are clearly not worthy of the title of records. However, this is another result of the long delay between the announcement and the release of the communicator for sale.

Software features

As was said in the introduction, Sony Ericsson had many plans to be the leader in the use of the Windows Mobile 6.5 operating system, but in the end the Xperia X1 received a by no means new operating system from Microsoft with the index 6.1 Professional. In terms of basic capabilities, the system is so typical that it makes no sense to describe the software again.

But we will definitely tell you about all the other interesting applications today. Let's start with the panels.

X-Panels

It is under the Xperia Panels brand that Sony Ericsson has been promoting this software idea in the minds of users for almost a year to bring personalization to the standby mode, since the capabilities of Windows Mobile Crossbow allow you to place anything on the Today screen, from standard shortcuts to 3D applications with level graphics PC, model 2000. In theory, these possibilities looked so tempting, and HTC's first step, with its Home plug-in utility in Touch Cruise, looked so bland that the February announcement of the panels managed to surprise many fans of Sony Ericsson, and communicators in general. But time turned out to be so fleeting that now the panels already have a tough competitor in the form of Touch Flo 3D, where the level of visualization is an order of magnitude higher than all sorts of third-party add-ons, and the convenience is quite sufficient for real use, which could not yet be said about Touch FLO with its laggy animation triangular bookmarks.

The original idea behind the panels is to be able to use the entire Today screen space to place main windows, the format of which depends on the current situation or the need for entertainment functions. From the company's perspective, the panel profile provides users with the opportunity to:

• use the device as a regular communicator;


• keep abreast of current affairs and promptly monitor communications;


• quickly view current tasks and quickly launch applications of interest;


• use Multimedia Menu without any restrictions;


• listen to your favorite radio stations;


• be able to quickly find the necessary information on the Internet.

On paper, everything looks tempting, but in practice we are dealing with the same add-ons on the standby screen, which can be changed by pressing the dedicated panel key, after which a window with thumbnails appears before our eyes.

Our attention is drawn to two small virtual buttons at the bottom of the screen, the first of which switches the display of panels, and the second allows you to customize the matrix of 9 panels to your liking by deleting an existing panel or selecting other panels from the Sony Ericsson/Fun website. At the moment, no interesting panels could be found there, but they promise to develop the service for at least six months, which
already makes me happy.

Panels

Clock, screen and more

The first and second panels are identical in capabilities, and differ only in content. By the way, the miniatures of these panels are drawn anew each time, so you won’t be surprised at the discrepancy between the depicted content and the real appearance. Having called up the panel, we are presented with rows of various icons and indicators, where you can turn on/off any wireless communication, view the date and weather in the selected region, and at the same time be aware of the current time.

If you are not satisfied with this content, the best step is to go to the settings, where you can change the clock, select a different window theme, adjust the number of bars on the callouts, and also add application shortcuts.

Fish

After the service panel with many shortcuts, the most natural look is the description of fish that are much easier to master, leisurely swimming around the virtual aquarium of the Today screen. There are four fish in total, all of which carry various functions on their shoulders, or rather their backs. So, a small goldfish can suddenly turn white as soon as you turn on the silent alert profile. And if there is a missed call, another one will join the trio of funny fish. But these are just some of the variations on the theme of the life of fish on the screen, while we are interested not so much in their serene life as in the reaction to the user’s subconscious desire to knock on the wall of the aquarium when a fish swims nearby. And this point was well taken into account by the creators of the panel, since not only blurry contours of the impact appear on the screen, but also the reaction of the fish remains quite expected. Any of the fish immediately swims to the side, sometimes releasing bubbles, which looks interesting, even after 2 weeks of using the communicator.

Those who often resort to the help of the Google network search engine will probably find it interesting to be able to return to the search bar along with returning to standby mode, and at the same time use the capabilities of Maps, Gmail and Picasa web services.

Multimedia menu

Recently, not a single Sony Ericsson product in the upper price range can do without a proprietary multimedia menu, first seen in. In the Xperia X1, the menu has found its place in a number of panels, which automatically puts this add-on among the most functional and well-implemented panels. However, let's take a look at how Sony Ericsson programmers managed to port the menu to Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional.

When you turn on the panel, we are greeted by a pleasant, unobtrusive menu background, whose color scheme depends on the current time, varying between sky blue and bright orange. At first glance, you are presented with exactly the same menu items as in the A200, but after scrolling the list a couple of positions down, you will find a contacts shortcut, immediately after which you will find settings.

In the settings, you can change the size of the icons, select an animated effect of interest, and at the same time hide unnecessary menu items, be it contacts, or music, or something else that is not interesting specifically for the owner. As for the animation and speed of movement between points, everything here is implemented much more interesting and . and in comparison with phones on the A200, during navigation, items literally fly, and the background animation runs smoothly and without delay. As for the description of the remaining points, in our opinion, it would be much more correct to describe them in a separate part of the review, while we will move on to the last point.

Radio

Of course, from a certain point of view, displaying the radio separately from the multimedia menu does not look the most logical, but from the point of view of expanding the number of panels, this step is quite justified. We can only state that while listening to the sound of your favorite radio station, viewing photos using the multimedia menu is impossible, but through third-party programs no restrictions arise, as for other programs.

The radio receiver interface is made without any animation or other interesting aspects that we could observe in the same . Moreover, the interface does not have a list of memory cells, instead there are only six shortcuts to which you can save the currently found radio station. But before this, the receiver must be turned on using the virtual key in the lower right part of the screen, after which the current radio frequency will appear under the large digital clock. To navigate the supported range from 87.5 to 108 MHz, you can use the automatic search with the two outer virtual keys with double arrows, and fine tuning in 0.1 MHz steps can be done with the central navigation buttons. In addition, there is a 12-step volume control, the maximum value of which does not put pressure on the ears, but is quite enough for most situations.

As for the visualization capabilities, the scope of thought is limited only by the description of the supported RDS line output function, as well as AF adjustments. There are no complaints about the quality of signal reception, and there are no complaints about the sound quality. Moreover, the sound has a pronounced emphasis on low-frequency Kick BASS, which is relevant in the case of radio stations broadcasting rhythmic electronic music.

Panels in practice

To be honest, I wanted to avoid any particular desire to describe subjective views from the panels, but it still turned out that there were no other justifications for the idea. What is the main convenience of the panels, and can they make life easier for the user? Look at the picture: if you need to call the right person, you can display the multimedia panel, go to the contacts tab, scroll through the list, select the person you are interested in and call him. Or you can press the call button, dial the first digits of his number, or start right away, enter his first/last name according to the T9 scheme, after which the Windows Mobile filter system will quickly display the required number, to which the call will be made. You can call up the multimedia menu and get to the music, or you can install Pocket Music with an equalizer and a bunch of different themes, or limit yourself to Windows Media Player. Photos can be viewed with a standard program included with the OS, or you can install a much more functional and convenient utility from a massive list of third-party software. You can display a bulky panel with shortcuts and a calendar, or you can take SPB Panel. You can disturb the fish on the screen, or you can look at the top line of indicators, where silent mode and missed calls are succinctly indicated by their icons.

It turns out that the meaning of the panels lies beyond ergonomics and convenience, allowing you to diversify the communicator's desktop only in cases where you do not see in the device a really popular means of facilitating work with various tasks outside the PC. To some extent, the situation is reminiscent of the multimedia menu in Nokia smartphones, where the ergonomics are also questionable, and a separate key is reserved for start. However, we are talking more about a functional smartphone, and the relevance of such functions in similar devices was clearly shown back in the G700/G900, while a communicator based on Windows Mobile is too flexible in terms of individual adjustment, and the panels reduce the capabilities of the Today screen to the area of ​​widgets. If we give some intermediate ratings to the panels, they deserve the attention of fans of Sony Ericsson solutions, and for users of other communicators this feature in the Xperia X1 will seem fun in the first week of use. Then, every day the feeling will grow that the device is unsuitable for thorough adjustment to the necessary tasks, since simply switching to another panel deprives you of all the information available in the previous version.

Communications

In terms of communication capabilities, the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 does not open up new opportunities for us, as is the case with, and the implementation of existing wireless communications is standard.

There is a Bluetooth 2.0 communication module with support for EDR and most other profiles, including:

• Dial-Up Networking Profile


• File Transfer Profile


• Generic Access Profile


• Generic Object Exchange Profile


• Handsfree Profile


• Headset Profile



• Object Push Profile


• Personal Area Network Profile


• Serial Port Profile


• Service Discovery Application Profile


• Synchronization Profile


• Sync ML OBEX binding


• Phonebook Access Profile.

The data transfer speed to another device with similar characteristics does not exceed 120 Kb/s, but data reception can occur at speeds of up to 130 Kb/s. In the case of using wireless headsets using the A2DP profile, there are no complaints, since everything is identical to other communicators on Windows Mobile.

The communicator also has a Wi-Fi communication module IEEE 802.11b/g, to work with which a standard utility is used that combines extensive options for adjusting WLAN parameters - access points and wireless networks, with a frankly inconvenient interface.

Finally, it is worth noting the possibility of changing the usual connection to a PC by launching the Active Sync utility to a removable disk mode, which blocks access to the installed memory card through the communicator, and at the same time displays only the connected media on the computer. On the one hand, this connection method deprives us of the ability to synchronize, but on the other hand, the read/write speed increases to 6 MB/s.

Performance

The use of Qualcomm MSM7200A hardware components in the communicator seems quite justified from the point of view of the balance between power consumption and performance, although in reality everything is limited by HTC’s reluctance to improve the QTv drivers - the image output algorithm for Sony Ericsson, and those, in turn, were more interested in the panels. As a result, we are dealing with exactly the same speed results for displaying images on the screen as in Touch Diamond using Direct Draw. The only amendment concerns the screen resolution of the Xperia X1, which is equal to 800 pixels in length, imposing certain restrictions on maintaining 100% image sharpness when encoding an image.

Sample 1
489 Kbps, 320 x 188
1.31 Mbps, 267.42%

Sample 2
1.29 Mbps, 640 x 272
1.35 Mbps, 105.15%

In addition, in the applications section you can see a utility for working with JAVA midlets from Esmertec, which provides the ability to work with MIDP 2.0 applications, while MIDP 3D is not supported. Accordingly, it was possible to test performance only using the first two versions of JBenchmark.

JBenchmark: 5408
Text: 1415
2D Shapes: 2446
3D Shapes: 413
Fill Rate: 184
Animation: 950

JBenchmark 2.0: 228
Image manipulation: 232
Text: 386
Sprites: 291
3D transform: 347
User interface: 68

Yes, Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 has SIRF Star III - a signal receiver with
GPS satellites, and it is quite functional. Yes, this is the same common component from HTC solutions that most navigation software can work with. Accordingly, since there are no hardware differences, the start-up time and signal reception quality can be taken from memory, focusing on 30-40 seconds of a “warm” start and a couple of minutes of a “cold” start. As for navigation out of the box, we have nothing to say yet, since there seems to be a disk with Wifinder 7, but the program itself has to be installed from a PC, initially having only a utility for loading data similar to that received via aGPS.

Menu items

We have already mentioned the graphical component of the multimedia panel in the description of Xpanels, so now is the time to go directly to the description of the menu items themselves.

First of all, let's take a quick look at the games section, where two demo versions and a standard set of ball solitaire are hidden.

Next come contacts, where you can search for records by subscriber names, or boringly scroll through the list. The selected contact cannot be edited, but communication options are not limited to calls. In the drop-down list of actions, you can also switch to a message editor that supports displaying correspondence as a chat.

Video

In the video section, you can view all the MP4 and 3GP videos available in the memory, among which you can initially find a trailer for the latest film about agent 007, since Sony Ericsson remains one of the brands actively advertised in this series of films.
Having selected the video of interest, the video immediately opens in landscape orientation on the entire screen, and by simply touching the display, playback is interrupted by a navigation bar that supports scrolling along the scale, changing the display mode between real
resolution and scaling, and the list is completed by a volume scale of 16 gradations.

Photo

As you might imagine, the possibilities of the photos section are also not very diverse, although there is the same sorting by month, displaying pictures separately from photographs, and the animation has not become less. We are not talking about a library of images, but about the implementation of the image viewing itself.

Having selected the image you are interested in, a full-screen image viewing window with navigation icons appears on the screen. The top line contains icons for deleting an image, viewing information about the image, calling up the zoom window, and rotating the image. Of these functions, special attention should be paid to image rotation, since in this mode you rotate the image with your finger around the corner along the central axis, and it automatically centers itself in the nearest position. Taking into account the smoothness of the rotation animation, working on changing the position of the pictures may well occupy you for several minutes, throwing aside thoughts about Multi Touch - navigation. However, thoughts about controlling the screen with two fingers come again when scaling the picture, since the speed of image magnification is not at all pleasing to the eye, although then you can move around the picture area again with smooth movements of the picture on the screen.

The following miracles of animation for Windows Mobile communicators open when you scroll through pictures with your finger across the screen, as a kind of carousel of thumbnails appears here with reflections drawn, and the choice of image is again tied to centering.

The last thing worth noting in the image viewing utility relates to the bottom line of virtual keys, where there are tools for scrolling through pictures, returning from the library matrix, as well as the Play button, which launches the usual Xpict Story, without any advanced features and other delights from the G700, G900 .

Music

For listening to music, there is a completely familiar tool from the multimedia panel, reminiscent in organization of the library in the Sony Ericsson G700, G900 and only then similar to phones on the A200. It is quite natural that a different level of hardware capabilities entailed getting rid of possible slowdowns in the process of moving between menu items. And in the music section, items can be presented sorted by artist, album and playlist. However, to top off this meager list of criteria, there is also a display of all songs en masse, which can hardly be called an actual listening mode. Among the interesting features of displaying lists, it is worth highlighting only the viewing of albums with the cover displayed in the upper right corner of the screen, while all other lists are more than standard.

In playback mode, the screen is literally crammed with all sorts of buttons and icons, although the hand first reaches out to the album cover in order to display it on the entire screen. But this does not happen, and you don’t have to look for visualizations in the player, while the rest of the possibilities are present, with the exception of one more. We are talking about an equalizer, which is simply not present in the music player, and in the options menu there is a list setting, turning on/off repeat and random playback mode.

Sound quality

You can pay a lot of attention to this parameter, since in the Xperia X1 we are dealing with dense sound at a sufficient volume level, a third higher than the latest A200 phones. There is clear reproduction with a minimum of noise, deep bass, and soft highs, which could indicate an excellent implementation of this parameter. But, alas, good elaboration of individual frequencies does not at all indicate high-quality reproduction of the music itself, where complex elaboration of the frequency range is important. And here we are faced with the low bit depth of the DAC, which results in a flat, unexpressed midrange and a decline in the lows on multi-instrumental compositions. And we have no way out of this situation, just like there are no sound settings. Accordingly, at the output we have the usual audio path of HTC communicators, with a slightly larger volume reserve and an unnaturally flat sound without color or dynamics. However, for pre-installed jazz compositions at a bitrate of 192 Kbps, the quality is quite enough, but for audiophile sound you should turn to other solutions.

Camera

The Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 has a 3.2 megapixel camera module with autofocus optics and a weak LED flash. The module used in the communicator is quite comparable to what we saw in the C702, although this is where the similarities between the cameras end and a series of differences begin. The interface for working with the camera is partially adopted from the G900 smartphone, where we also actively used the touch screen for most actions, but here the widescreen display allows you to move out the main buttons and indicators without affecting the main area of ​​the full-screen viewfinder. By the way, if you are still interested in using the entire screen area for the viewfinder, there are always image size options available to match the Xperia X1's 16 x 10 aspect ratio screen.

But the user’s main attention is quite naturally drawn to the virtual settings key in the lower right corner of the screen. The key is assigned to call up the menu that is already familiar from the company’s last two smartphones for setting up various shooting modes, be it:

• selection of ready-made shooting scenes


• selection of focusing type to suit your taste (usual auto, macro, infinity and focusing on a part of the frame indicated by your finger)


• turning on/off the LED backlight.

As you can see, the possibilities are by no means surprising in their breadth of coverage, although everything basic for operational adjustment is collected here. For other camera settings, please refer to the other settings section, located behind the same button in the lower right corner. In this settings section you can find almost everything that we were missing in the initial shooting adjustments, be it adjusting the white balance and color effects, choosing the image resolution and other small settings, which include adding Geo Tags and changing the sound of the electronic shutter.

It’s better not to evaluate the quality of the communicator’s photos initially, since everything here is still divided into tolerable and good quality of the photos. Actually, as you can see for yourself in the following photo examples, the Xperia X1 not only belongs to the category of good cameras in a communicator, but also raises the quality bar one step higher.
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Like a phone

Despite the abundance of metal in the body decoration, Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 boasts good signal reception quality of cellular networks, slightly superior to most of the company's phones and smartphones. The speaker in the device has a 40% volume reserve in the room, but in a noisy subway car you can increase the volume to the maximum. In the interlocutor’s speech, it is worth noting the somewhat unusual harsh transmission of mid frequencies, slightly muffled clean highs and a certain hint of the low-frequency range. The polyphonic speaker cannot boast of loudness, and it is not difficult to completely block it. Apart from the average volume level, you won’t be able to hear anything interesting in the polyphonic dynamics, since there is practically no low end. And the middle wheezes at 70% volume, not spoiling us with quality. The vibration motor in the communicator performs a little better, providing vibration across the entire area of ​​the device that is noticeable in clothing pockets, and again thanks to the steel case for this.

conclusions

It's funny, but more than a year has passed since the announcement of a certain mythical flagship from Sony Ericsson in the form of the Xperia X1 communicator. Now we are again being fed some kind of new product without an index in the face, and we can calmly present to your attention our review, and to top it off, talk about the realities of the product on the market. This communicator today occupies an indistinct niche on display in communication stores, providing a frightening mixture of an image product with an impressive price tag of 32,000 rubles, and on the other hand, this is the same “Xperia” about which there were rumors and some opinions of a varied nature a year ago. Oddly enough, over the past year the veil of novelty characteristics has really disappeared, the spark of technology has faded, and only two strong features remain in the product, if you forget about the Sony Ericsson logo for a moment. The product has a good, brutal design with a Sony Style keyboard, and there is thick steel in which this fashionable communicator is forged. And everything seems to be good, but its cost somehow does not justify the year of waiting for the device on the market. At the same time, not every connoisseur of phones from this manufacturer wants to get many functions and new sensations from the unhidden Windows Mobile, and a lover of high-quality communicators has already made a choice in favor of Touch Pro or MAX 4G. It turns out that the core of potential buyers of the Xperia X1 can amount to no more than a few hundred thousand? And so it is, because you cannot create the perfect product for everyone, and any attempt will be broken by a barrage of criticism from reviewers.

© Tikhonov Valery, Test laboratory
Article publication date: March 3, 2009

Here is an excerpt from the press release: “The XPERIA X1 mobile communicator is distinguished by its unusual design and powerful functionality. A unique arc-shaped slider with a horizontal QWERTY layout and a 3-inch diagonal touch screen made entirely of stainless steel...”

Indeed, the design of the XPERIA X1 is very unusual: a large number of decorative and functional elements, the triangular shape of the keys of the external unit, the edges on the QWERTY keyboard keys, the metal body - all this creates a very pleasant, attractive, expensive look. The only thing that is not entirely true in the quote is that the body is completely metal. Yes, the front panel is entirely metal, with a characteristic “steel” texture, the silver edging on the sides of the slider is also metal, and only the back side of the case, divided into three parts, is not entirely steel. Only the battery compartment cover is made of metal, although this “only” steel occupies about two-thirds of the surface. But the edges of the rear part are still made of plastic, although of very good quality. The steel is also quite good, does not bend, and, most importantly, practically does not get dirty with fingerprints. On plastic, by the way, fingerprints and other body parts are not visible at all. Yes, looking ahead, I will say that the buttons are also made of plastic - both the black block under the screen and all the keys on the QWERTY keyboard.

The slider mechanism is excellent - it opens without any significant effort, the auto-close does everything itself, all you need is a desire to open the device and an initial push with your finger. When opened, the upper part of the case moves away and is fixed with a slight inclination towards the keyboard. The lower inner part (also metal, by the way), on which the QWERTY keyboard is located, has a slightly concave shape. Plus, the design of the end with a silver edging emphasizes this concavity. Due to this, the effect of a “unique arc-shaped slider” is achieved. In addition to the beauty of this effect, the concavity of the keyboard and the elevation of the upper half make typing more comfortable; when the device is open, it fits perfectly in the hands and rests on the index fingers.

Let's talk about the keyboard right away: there are only 42 keys, separated from each other by a fairly large distance, each of which has a diagonal edge (and the “big” keys: Tab, Enter and spacebar have two whole edges!). The direction of the edges is from the edge to the center of the keyboard block, from top to bottom. On two standard keys (F and J) there is a no less standard tactile designation of the center of the letter part of the keyboard - corner protrusions. It's really hard to find them, but they look beautiful.

Switching the language is convenient: you need to hold down the Fn key (the leftmost one in the bottom row, with a blue rectangle) and the Sym button adjacent to it (that’s what it says on it). The only bad thing: you can't see what language is currently enabled.

There was no room for navigation buttons in the full layout, so moving the cursor will have to be done using the joystick on the external key block.

The keyboard backlight is quite bright and uniform, all characters are perfectly readable in the dark.

There are no complaints about the convenience of typing: the keys have a small, clear stroke, accompanied by a soft click, and due to the spaces between the keys, there are practically no erroneous presses. Working with the keys of the top row is also comfortable, since when typing with your thumbs, the latter (fingers, not keys) are located almost parallel to the sliding part of the body, and your fingers do not rest against it.

Now about the external keyboard: firstly, it is plastic, and secondly, the keys are triangular in shape, which, however, does not impair their ease of use. Two narrow silver soft keys are raised high above the surface, making them very comfortable to press, although the first impression of their shape and size evokes exactly the opposite thought. In the center there is a large black rectangle - if you click on it, it will be the confirmation key. And if you run your finger over it, it turns out to be a touch panel. Although it is small in area and recessed quite deeply into the body, holding your finger over it will scroll through four items in the menu if you move along the long side, and three if you follow the short side. If you swipe your finger more slowly, the points already passed will be five and four, respectively. It’s quite a convenient replacement for scrolling on the screen, especially if the scroll bar is narrow but long, and you only need to scroll through anything. For example, in the phone book. The scroll bar will help you find the first letter of the contact name, and the touch panel will help you scroll the list to the desired entry. Don't need a touchpad? It can be disabled.

Around the touch key there is a rectangular frame with sort of triangular “wings” on the sides. These are navigation keys. The navigation block is slightly raised above the surface, and there are no problems with keystrokes: the “winged” ones already have a large area, and the narrow ones stand out clearly against the background of the flat touch panel and are easy to find blindly.

Screen. The screen here is a TFT touch matrix, which has a widescreen resolution of 480 by 800 pixels, its physical dimensions are: 39 x 65 mm, diagonal 3 inches (75 mm). It is possible to display up to 65,000 colors, which won’t surprise anyone now, but this is quite enough: the picture is bright, viewing angles are quite wide, grain is practically not noticeable at all. The only bad thing is that the screen is very dirty. This is not visible when it is turned on, but in standby mode all traces of its use appear. When you open the case, the screen turns to a horizontal position - it slows down a little, though.

Above the screen there is a silver insert, under which a slot for the earpiece is hidden. To the right of it is the front camera peephole for video calls, and to the left is a light sensor that regulates the brightness of the screen backlight. The microphone hole is hidden at the junction of the front metal panel and the side edge at the bottom end of the device. It’s a small hole, and it’s made not round, but in a corner. It would seem like a small thing, but even here they thought about how to make it beautiful. At the same end there is a mount for a strap - only those about to drown themselves would hang such a device on their neck, but it would do just fine on their hand so as not to drop it. The top end is notable for its 3.5 mm jack - a first for SonyEricsson! (in this case, the device is not positioned as a music model, please note) – and the device’s power key.

There is a stylus socket in the upper corner of the device. The stylus can be removed from its socket with some effort, but it is rarely needed. But it won't get lost.

On the back side, in addition to the metal cover, there are two plastic sections. On the cover there are only engraved the names of the manufacturer (Sony Ericsson), the line (XPERIA) and a small insert with the name of the model (X1). The plastic parts are also not without built-in elements - closer to the bottom of the device there is a green Sonerik logo and an incomprehensible protrusion. On the opposite plastic side there is a 3.2 megapixel camera module with a flash, all this is slightly raised above the surface of the body, but slightly recessed relative to the edging that frames the whole thing, so the camera window can get scratched (it certainly can, how could it not be) ), then not immediately and not much.

Under the steel cover you can find a BST-41 lithium-polymer battery with a capacity of 1500 mAh, and already under it there is a connector for a SIM card. Also under the cover on the side on the right (if you look at the device from the back) there is a slot for MicroSD memory cards; hot-swapping of cards is supported (without turning off the device).

The sides are also not devoid of any buttons: on the left side there is a miniUSB connector and a polyphonic speaker hole, and on the right side there is a volume rocker at the top and a camera power button at the bottom. If you look closely, you can also notice black narrow stripes on both sides of the device. Light indicators are hidden there - with any action from the list specified in the backlight settings (the user can choose which actions should be “highlighted”), two indicators on each side begin to blink, and in different colors: the spectrum contains not only pure green or pure red color; the device, for example, notifies about recharging using a three-color signal: orange, violet and green. He is just captured below in the photograph. If flashing lights annoy you, you can turn them off completely.

We’re done with the exterior, we’ve looked at it from all sides, now let’s move on to the “insides” of the device.

Hardware and software components, communications

SonyEricsson XPERIA X1 is built on a Qualcomm 7200 processor (528 MHz), has 256 MB of RAM, of which about 200 MB remains for the user after turning on the phone - this is quite enough for simultaneous operation of several “heavy” applications. Of the 512 MB of memory for storing data, about half is initially available to the user, this is not much, but given the support for memory cards, there should be no problems with free space (though, alas, a memory card is not included in the package).

SonyEricsson XPERIA X1 runs Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional with the proprietary X-panel shell. There is nothing unusual in the software: there is a contact manager on the SIM card, Adobe Reader, QuickGPS for updating satellite data, Google Maps for navigation, a Java application manager, the Handandgo InHand application - something in the spirit of a program catalog, where they are all paid.

GPS is represented by a built-in gpsOne chip on the Qualcomm 7200 platform, there are no surprises here. To work with navigation, the manufacturer offers only Google Maps, but you can install the program according to your own taste, if you wish. Google Maps is good for everyone, except for downloading the map via GPRS, you can use navigation only if you have Internet access. A-GPS finds the location quickly, but not entirely accurately, and finding satellites took about five minutes during a cold start. Subsequently, the launch was carried out faster - 1-2 minutes.

The OperaMobile 9.5 browser is installed as an alternative to the standard IE; it is familiar to us from HTC communicators. The browser supports bookmarks, history, screen settings (fit to width, mobile view, disable pictures, change font sizes), cookies, CACHE, and simultaneous use of several windows (up to three tabs), which is not the case in Internet Explorer by default.

For ease of use and activation of supported wireless networks, a wireless connection manager is provided, which, like Opera, is illustrated in the style of the Touch Flo 3D shell from HTC.

Wi-Fi works flawlessly, connected access points and settings for them are remembered for repeated connections. It is possible to adjust the module power to save energy.

Bluetooth version 2.0 + EDR, all modern services are supported from the profiles, including the transmission of stereo sound to Bluetooth headphones (A2DP), and the module itself works quite correctly.

When the device is connected via USB, it is possible to synchronize all information with Outlook and work with the built-in memory using ActiveSync, or work in removable disk mode (this is for a memory card).

SonyEricsson XPERIA X1:: Review:: X-Panel

X-panel is a proprietary interface for working with the communicator; one of the soft keys on the external keyboard unit is specially dedicated to it. Each panel is a kind of desktop, which can be changed using the Panel key.

Let's press this key. In total, up to 9 panels can be installed simultaneously. If you don’t like any of the panels, you can delete it and load another one in its place; a link to the available panels is in the first line. The only exception is the first panel - it is completely standard and cannot be removed. Let's start the description with it.

Today panel– a standard desktop that can be found in any WindowsMobile communicator. All its capabilities and settings are standard and are carried out through the Settings menu.

SonyEricsson Panel 1 And SoyEricsson Panel 2– functionally identical panels, two of them were made so that they could be configured differently. Here everything gets more interesting: let's start with the fact that the Panel Settings item is assigned to the right soft key. I quite rarely change the settings of my phones, be it the interface theme or adding/removing application shortcuts on the desktop, but I use the contact book every day and many times. The developers of this panel apparently change settings more often than use the phone book, so here we have the Settings key assigned to the right soft key instead of Contacts. In principle, it is very clear - after activating the panel, the user immediately sees that the panel settings are here, no need to go to the Start menu and look for where to change something on the desktop. But it is impossible to remove these Settings from the soft key, even after making all possible settings until you are completely satisfied with the functionality of the desktop; instead of the usual access to Contacts, the user is asked to change the panel settings again and again. Why not make a Settings Wizard that would turn on every time the panel is activated again? Or turn on the touch button in the corner of the desktop, and put all the settings on it? Of course, you can display Contacts on the desktop as a button - at least in the list of recently opened applications. But the right soft key is more familiar.

Now let's move on to the panel settings themselves: the desktop can simultaneously include a certain number of blocks, in both panels - a maximum of 10 pieces. The number of required blocks for each type of data can be different: a clock, for example, can take up as many as 5 blocks (two analog clocks and a calendar), or maybe just one (a simple digital clock). You can display only 10 or fewer blocks on the desktop. There is even a special counter for this at the top right; it shows how many blocks are activated. If the limit is reached, the system will not allow you to save the panel settings, you will have to remove something.

You can display tasks and calendar entries, you want one entry at a time, you want any number you need (but don’t forget about blocks!), RSS feeds, recently launched applications, necessary program shortcuts, quick access to any contacts, communication buttons (turning on Bluetooth modules , Wi-Fi, volume, etc.). Alas, you can’t select only the buttons you need: if you want to display only the Bluetooth button, you will get four more buttons along with it - in general, an almost complete set of Comm Manager.

The nice thing is that there are two inactive buttons: they become active when you receive a new message or there is a missed call. This is very convenient.

See for yourself what kind of desks you can get.

Here you have access to all game-photo-video-music files, as well as contacts. The gallery is made according to the same principle as in SonyEricsson photo-musical devices.

You can customize its appearance: select a comfortable font size and disable or change the background animation.

Contacts are a basically useless thing here, although they are nice. When you come to listen to music or watch a movie, the last thing you will probably need is contacts.

You can make a slide show from the photos or scroll through them with your finger one at a time, you can expand them if they are in the wrong orientation, you can delete them, and you can zoom in using the “Magnifier” button and the zoom bar.

The video is shown only in horizontal orientation, photos can be shown in any orientation.

Games - there is Sudoku, Bejeweled 2 (like Tetris) and two standard ones - gorgeous Bubbles and just Klondike.

The music player is not very functional; there are no sound settings except volume. The screen displays information about the track name, album, artist, rewind bar, a standard set of player control keys and two buttons: shuffle and cyclic playback. Through the Menu button, you can only add a song to the list and view full information about the track. No equalizers or other sound enhancers for you. But there is a 3.5 mm jack. The sound quality and volume with the included headset are quite good.

Google Panel– here popular Google services are simply displayed on the desktop: Search, Maps, Mail, Calendar and Photos. All.

3D Fish panel– splash panel. I'm tired of all? Turn on and enjoy the white screen with a gray clock and three fish: two orange, one purple, swimming across the screen. If you click on a fish, it swims away. No settings, contacts instead. Although this is where you could make the settings: change the fish, their number, gender, color.

XPERIARadio Panel- this is a radio. We connect the headphones, adjust the frequency manually or automatically, and save the stations you like by holding down the number key. The keys to which waves are already assigned have a small circle in the corner, but there is nowhere to see the name of the saved station, fortunately RDS is supported. You can output sound to the built-in speakers - there is also a special button for this.

There is another interesting panel in “Downloads” - SPB Mobile Shell. Its functionality is exactly the same as if it were on any other communicator. Quite comfortable, but “ordinary”.

SonyEricsson XPERIA X1:: Review:: Camera

The communicator has a 3.2 megapixel camera with flash, the settings are standard:

Shooting conditions: automatic, portrait, landscape, twilight, sports, document

Focus: Flashlight, Auto, Macro, Infinity

Backlight: turn on and off

Shooting mode: single frame or series

White Balance: Automatic, Incandescent, Fluorescent, Sunny, Cloudy

Effects: negative, overexposure, sepia, black and white

Image size: 3M (resolution 2048x1536 or 2048x1280 pixels), 2M, 1M, VGA, QVGA

Image quality: high quality, normal and economical (meaning the mode, probably)

What can we say about the quality: outdoors in good lighting, the pictures turn out quite well, indoors noise appears and color is distorted with automatic settings. Macro photography is not sharp as often as we would like, however, the text in the Document shooting mode can then be read. Such a camera will be quite enough for a spy tourist to shoot a secret A4 document and click a few sights for cover.

Video recording is carried out in VGA resolution (QVGA is also possible) at a speed of 15 frames per second. There are fewer settings than for a camera, but they are also available. In terms of quality, everything is quite good, the footage does not slow down.

SonyEricsson XPERIA X1:: Review:: Impressions and conclusions

The quality of communication is at a good level, the network did not disappear, but it was not found where it did not exist. The vibration and ringer volume are rather weak, and if the device is in a bag, it’s easy to miss a call. The device showed good operating time: under an average load (20-30 minutes of calls per day, Internet via Wi-Fi for about an hour, listening to music for 40 minutes, very frequent changes and adjustments of panels) the device lasted two days and in the evening it began to ask for recharging, threatening to lose all unsaved data.

What can you say about the communicator as a whole? Externally, everything is great: a high-quality case, pleasant heaviness, a good display with a good response to pressure. Internally, there is an unusual X-panel shell; for those who are unfamiliar and inconvenient with their functionality, there is the SPB Mobile Shell panel, the Start menu and a sea of ​​applications on the Web; for users who do not need the SPB Mobile Shell, there is 3D Fish and the regular Today screen.

By the way, if we ignore the idea that all WM communicators are created only for the business segment of users, even the most beautiful ones, then you can notice the same HTC Touch Diamond in the hands of many girls and men who are far from belonging to the business segment. They are not so interested in the bells and whistles of the system, synchronization with Outlook, the amount of RAM and ROM, and the functionality of SPB Mobile Shell. They are much more interested in a beautiful, unusual design and a beautiful, unusual interface where they can scroll through photos with their finger and find out the weather for tomorrow in a very beautiful design.

For such a user, the SonyEricsson XPERIA X1 is a godsend. Not only is it expensive, and therefore not widespread, it is also beautiful in appearance, with still decent functionality. X-panels may not be the most convenient for those whom we mean by the term “user of the business segment of devices,” but for the user of the fashion segment everything is quite good and quite convenient. The XPERIA X1 is unlikely to be chosen for its advanced functionality or for the “optimal price-to-anything ratio”; it will be chosen for its design. And the design is top notch. By the way, do you still think that a QWERTY keyboard is only needed by business users who write a lot of emails on their PDA during the day? Not true. For ICQ, such a keyboard is just right.