Presumably reasoning that the Xperia X10 - reviewed here - is a little on the large side, Sony Ericsson has cooked up two diminutive variations on the theme: the Xperia X10 Mini and the Qwerty keyboard equipped X10 Mini Pro.
Xperia X10 Mini Sony Ericsson's Xperia X10: diminutive
Maybe calling them the X6 and X7 was just too …
Regarding your comment about BeebPlayer not showing in the market place, you can't blame SE for that - it has been discontinued and removed by the developer - http://androidforums.com/android-applications/84573-beeb-player-alternative.html
If you really want a Qwerty Keyboard, you can install ThickButtons : http://www.thickbuttons.com/
I've tried it on mine, and it works, although the buttons are still a bit teeny to type on - I found I could type much faster going back to the 9 key predictive text system you get by default.
I've had my x10 mini for about 3 weeks now, and am, on the whole, very happy with it. The only quirks I've found is that it has a habit of losing wifi signal until you turn the wifi off and on again (though this may be related to my ancient belkin router, as I haven't noticed the problem when connected to other hotspots) and its weird habit of being a bit sleepy in the mornings when it wakes to sound an alarm, leaving you stabbing frantically at the snooze button trying to make it shut up until it registers the press
The other half got one of these last week and despite my reservations it's not half bad. Maybe just a little too small, but very easy to slip into a jacket pocket without ruining the hang of the old whistle and surprisingly easy to use. Makes my Desire look like a breeze block when you put the two side by side. Impressive battery life too.
My partner has just given her Blackberry curve up for the new Mini Pro - the same, but with a sideways slide-out keyboard. Most people would probably want the real keyboard instead, I would imagine. Nice device, though, but it does have a constraint or two. Some we've already noticed is the selective implementation of cut/paste and the inability to save a picture that someone sends you into your own gallery (you can add it to a contact or use it as a wallpaper, but can't save it). Hopefully that'll be rectified in a future release.
There is another bbc iplayer app on the android store. Search for myPlayer. It was very flaky at the start but its working much better now (though needs more work on the interface).
by default QVGA screens aren't supported by an Android application - the developer has to explicitly specify in the application manifest that 320x240 screens should be supported. This is basically all the developer needs to do - apps get automatically downscaled to the smaller screen perfectly fine without a single line more code required other than this XML attribute set to true - but unless developers remember to do this, it won't appear in Market.
Got one last week - Was a bit wary as it's my first touchscreen phone (I like proper buttons) but I'm liking it so far and no problems with the small screen. I wanted a small phone to use mostly as an mp3 player and this fits into my pocket quite nicely. One thing I would say is that the shipped music player app can be a wee bit iffy, so any suggestion of a good replacement is welcome.
You say the X10 mini is "free with contract" from several providers. This is a contradiction in terms, and it is definitely not free -- the monthly costs are increased over standard contracts so as to cover the cost of the phone.
If you want to mention a price, mention the minimum total cost during the contract period. All other prices are suspect, and "free" most of all.
No "Non-user-replaceable battery...? How DARE they!??!" whingers...?
Maybe you could change the title to something with "Apple" or "Jesus phone" to lure them in? I mean, SURELY, it couldn't be that it's only an issue for them when the product comes from Cupertino...
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Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini
Presumably reasoning that the Xperia X10 - reviewed here - is a little on the large side, Sony Ericsson has cooked up two diminutive variations on the theme: the Xperia X10 Mini and the Qwerty keyboard equipped X10 Mini Pro. Xperia X10 Mini Sony Ericsson's Xperia X10: diminutive Maybe calling them the X6 and X7 was just too …
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Posted Monday 5th July 2010 12:31 GMT
nordwars
Beebplayer discontinued #
Regarding your comment about BeebPlayer not showing in the market place, you can't blame SE for that - it has been discontinued and removed by the developer - http://androidforums.com/android-applications/84573-beeb-player-alternative.html
Posted Monday 5th July 2010 12:31 GMT
benjymous
Thickbuttons #
If you really want a Qwerty Keyboard, you can install ThickButtons : http://www.thickbuttons.com/
I've tried it on mine, and it works, although the buttons are still a bit teeny to type on - I found I could type much faster going back to the 9 key predictive text system you get by default.
I've had my x10 mini for about 3 weeks now, and am, on the whole, very happy with it. The only quirks I've found is that it has a habit of losing wifi signal until you turn the wifi off and on again (though this may be related to my ancient belkin router, as I haven't noticed the problem when connected to other hotspots) and its weird habit of being a bit sleepy in the mornings when it wakes to sound an alarm, leaving you stabbing frantically at the snooze button trying to make it shut up until it registers the press
Posted Monday 5th July 2010 14:04 GMT
Danny 14
aye #
although it isnt free, SWYPE is a fantastic replacement too. I can use swype faster than a small qwerty keyboard most of the time.
Posted Monday 5th July 2010 12:35 GMT
Jim 48
BeebPlayer #
The BeebPlayer has been removed from the Market by it's author; http://davejohnston.posterous.com/?tag=beebplayer
Posted Monday 5th July 2010 12:35 GMT
Peter Bond
Nice little handset #
The other half got one of these last week and despite my reservations it's not half bad. Maybe just a little too small, but very easy to slip into a jacket pocket without ruining the hang of the old whistle and surprisingly easy to use. Makes my Desire look like a breeze block when you put the two side by side. Impressive battery life too.
Posted Monday 5th July 2010 12:54 GMT
Al Taylor
@ nordware #
Ah, that would explain it! Thanks for the heads up.
Posted Monday 5th July 2010 12:55 GMT
mrdalliard
Nice #
My partner has just given her Blackberry curve up for the new Mini Pro - the same, but with a sideways slide-out keyboard. Most people would probably want the real keyboard instead, I would imagine. Nice device, though, but it does have a constraint or two. Some we've already noticed is the selective implementation of cut/paste and the inability to save a picture that someone sends you into your own gallery (you can add it to a contact or use it as a wallpaper, but can't save it). Hopefully that'll be rectified in a future release.
Posted Monday 5th July 2010 13:53 GMT
EdC
Alternate iPlayer app #
There is another bbc iplayer app on the android store. Search for myPlayer. It was very flaky at the start but its working much better now (though needs more work on the interface).
Posted Monday 5th July 2010 13:53 GMT
K Price
Games are missing because... #
by default QVGA screens aren't supported by an Android application - the developer has to explicitly specify in the application manifest that 320x240 screens should be supported. This is basically all the developer needs to do - apps get automatically downscaled to the smaller screen perfectly fine without a single line more code required other than this XML attribute set to true - but unless developers remember to do this, it won't appear in Market.
Posted Monday 5th July 2010 14:31 GMT
Neil 51
Yup, not a bad phone #
Got one last week - Was a bit wary as it's my first touchscreen phone (I like proper buttons) but I'm liking it so far and no problems with the small screen. I wanted a small phone to use mostly as an mp3 player and this fits into my pocket quite nicely. One thing I would say is that the shipped music player app can be a wee bit iffy, so any suggestion of a good replacement is welcome.
Posted Monday 5th July 2010 15:13 GMT
Robert E A Harvey
Don't know about the phone, #
but 12/10 for "Android 'andset".
Posted Monday 5th July 2010 17:59 GMT
Anonymous Coward
a bit too small? #
i havent used it, but those dimensions are a little too small from just a quick square drawn
on paper...i think the smallest I'd want to go for such a device is the HTC Wildfire
http://www.htc.com/www/product/wildfire/specification.html
Posted Tuesday 6th July 2010 10:13 GMT
Mr Brush
Yes but... #
Android 1.6? Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
Custom UI? Noooooooooooooooooooooooo!
New phone should be running 2.1 as a minimum, and custom UIs just complicate things further.
Posted Tuesday 6th July 2010 15:32 GMT
Lottie
Looks impressive #
I'm looking around for a decent smallish smartphone. This looks promising!
Posted Tuesday 6th July 2010 15:32 GMT
Torben Mogensen
Not free #
You say the X10 mini is "free with contract" from several providers. This is a contradiction in terms, and it is definitely not free -- the monthly costs are increased over standard contracts so as to cover the cost of the phone.
If you want to mention a price, mention the minimum total cost during the contract period. All other prices are suspect, and "free" most of all.
Posted Tuesday 6th July 2010 16:20 GMT
Mike Moyle
I'm shocked -- SHOCKED, I say...! #
No "Non-user-replaceable battery...? How DARE they!??!" whingers...?
Maybe you could change the title to something with "Apple" or "Jesus phone" to lure them in? I mean, SURELY, it couldn't be that it's only an issue for them when the product comes from Cupertino...
FLAME ON!
Posted Tuesday 6th July 2010 20:40 GMT
Kathode Ray
Sunny Swinton #
The town hall and memorial gardens are looking good. El Reg gets about
Posted Wednesday 7th July 2010 13:03 GMT
EvilGav 1
X10 Mini Pro #
I bought one of these at the weekend and it does have a user replacable battery, as well as the physical keyboard and is only £20 more than the Mini.
The tiny screen is remarkably usable and the form factor is such that you don't notice carrying it around.
Posted Wednesday 14th July 2010 16:39 GMT
Rob Davis
SonyEricsson making a comeback: dinky size, flourishing Android OS, microSD not memorystick #
A Xenon bulb flash would have been welcome, but at least there is an LED one, rather than not at all.
I'd go for the mini pro though for the qwerty keyboard as predictive text becomes tiresome sometimes.
Posted Thursday 15th July 2010 10:04 GMT
spencer
picked up a mini pro on monday... #
Really good phone, one thing to consider if you pick one up (a pro) is that it doesn't have any sort of prediction or spellcheck.
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