Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1...the first step

As a mobile phone fanatic, I've been dreaming to buy this phone when it surfaced couple of months ago. I'm quite excited as Sony has decided to take the first step in Windows Mobile arena. But somewhere down the line my interest fizzed out of this phone after reading reviews and specs in comparison to HTC Touch Pro. Don't get me wrong, this will still be one of the best phones when launched in Oct/Nov 08, but i believe there are certain factors and personal choices due to which i won't be opting for this phone anymore, which I'll explain later. Rumors of this phone started appearing when HTC was in a big mess due to driver issues for Kaiser/Touch Cruise. I guess many people at that time decided not to go for any HTC phones in future. But we all know that life is too short to hold any grudges ;-) specially when all these cool mobile devices are being launched every three months or so.

As far as the features of this device are concerned, the most talked about them are Panels. These are customizations done by Sony over Windows Mobile OS just like other manufacturers but it's a bit different. These Panels are like different home screens/desktop which you can choose with a single touch. You can set each Panel for different mood or situation like home/office etc. It also has a cool arc slider design when you slide out the keyboard. The VGA screen is also bigger and better then most of the devices out in the market today. Nowadays most of the devices have a cheap plastic feel but it seems Sony has got it right and XPERIA X1 has good metal body, which i hope will not result in reception issues like First Gen iPhones. Even though this device is feature packed, I've tried to explain why i prefer HTC Touch Pro over Xperia X1.

One interesting piece of detail related to manufacturing of XPERIA X1 is that HTC is involved in building this phone, but overall design and specifications have been provided by Sony. HTC is just a manufacturer and Sony has the overall control.

Xperia X1 Highlights

1. Beautiful 480 x 800 VGA screen
2. 3" Screen
3. Arc Slider Design for Keyboard
4. Panel Concept for OS
5. 3.5mm headphone Jack
6. Nice Metal Body
7. Backlit Keyboard
8. Camera AutoTouch Focus

Sony Xperia X1 vs HTC Touch Pro

• Features where HTC Touch Pro scores over Xperia X1
  

1. Motion Sensor - This is a cool feature which Xperia lacks and one of the deal breakers for me.
2. Front face Camera - Even though very few will be using this feature but still Xperia lacks here as well.
3. TouchFLO 3D- We just have got a glimpse of Xperia's Panel, but somehow i still prefer HTC's TouchFLO 3d.
4. Keyboard - Touch Pro's 57 keys compared to Xperia's 42.
5. TV Out - No TV out in Xperia.
6. RAM - Touch Pro's 288MB compared to Xperia's 256MB. I know this hardly makes any difference but just added for fun.

• Features where Xperia X1 scores over HTC Touch Pro

1. 480 x 800 VGA screen - Touch Pro has 480 x 640. Not a big deal for me.This is a cool feature which Xperia lacks and one of the deal breakers for me.
2. 3" VGA Screen - Here where i had some concerns as Touch Pro has 2.8" but compared to other features I'm ready to ignore this.
3. 3.5mm headphone Jack- Touch pro has 2.5mm due to which you need to carry the converter all the time and can be annoying sometimes. Sony did a good job here.
4. Nice Metal Body - Body build is better than Touch Pro which i believe is plastic. This better from long term maintenance perspective.
5. Backlit Keyboard- Not sure but i think Touch Pro lacks here.
6. Camera AutoTouch Focus - This is a cool feature in Xperia where you can touch the screen in camera mode and it will focus on it.

Specifications(pdadb.net): Sony Ericsson Xperia X1

Videos
Here are some video previews from PhoneDog and the Unwired.