SE Xperia X10

Multi-touch is a great feature, because you can "pinch and zoom" in/out. I think multi-touch wasn't in OS 1.6, but if/when the phone upgrades to 2.x then you should have this feature included.

...SE is a little behind-the-times it seems. Not sure why they are shipping new high-end phones with an outdated OS . I think Android is just moving ahead too fast and the phone mfgs are having a hard time keeping up. I'm pretty sure an OS upgrade will come, since this phones hardware specs can support the newer features in 2.x releases, it's just a matter of when SE will do it...

 

As I understand it, the X10 has been out for some time, with lots of US buyers waiting for it, but available only outside the US. Version 1.6 was good when they 1st built the phone. I guess my question is why introduce it to the US market this far into its life cycle & when there are so many other great phones that have 2.1 or 2.2? And the Xperia panel UI seems to be something people either like or dislike. It's not universally popular. Perhaps, this is a way to ready the US market for an upcoming version?

 

OK. So, what do you like better than the Captivate & what do you dislike?

 

You're going to do this to me, aren't you? Make me have to decide between 3 phones.

1. So, after previous conversations, how's the screen & how well does it handle bright sunlight?

2. How's battery life?

3. Couldn't really tell from reviews & articles, but does it have a flash for the camera?

4. Coming from BB, how's dealing with not having a physical keyboard? Do they include swype?

5. Does having a glass screen & its thin shape make it fairly pocketable, even though it's a pretty big phone?

 

Well, sounds like I take a trip Sunday to the AT&T store to check out the Captivate, the X10 & the Torch in person. I was told the store could do the early upgrade, no questions.. I was just trying to go thru CS because I've usually gotten a better deal that way. But it's going to be the same, either way, this time. So, a little trial & error, see how bad the Captivate screen is for me in sunlight. & decide from there. Unless, of course, I win the unlocked 9800 from BBLeaks.

 

Checking out various Android sites, I'm still going to look at the X10, but:

1) user experience with SE seems inconsistent & less than stellar for support, slow release of updates & battery life,

2) the X10 in particular seems to be inconsistent in what people experience for battery life -- the Torch & Captivate seem more consistent with problems being phones made either at certain locales or early runs, but fixable by tweaks &/or replacement,

3) the US "hands free" requirement, that can be met by BT voice dialing, isn't handled 100% (or at least sufficiently) by Android until version 2.2 -- the X10 is going to get updated, but from 1.6 to 2.1 (which does have voice dialing, but not BT voice dialing support), where the Captivate is supposed to be updated from 2.1 to the fully compliant 2.2 -- the X10 may get a 2.2 update, but reports don't put that on SE's near future radar,

4) where multitouch is part of the best of Android experience, most reports seem to indicate that it's not possible with the X10, because of hardware limitations, not OS limitations, so even updates to 2.1 or 2.2 are not likely to see multitouch -- even the Torch has some multitouch features.

BTW, is my status, "fresh member" anything like "fresh meat", fully chewable by the wolves?

 

One other note. While all three have tethering potential, , the X10 seems to require either jumping through technical hoops or a paid app. Blackberry has both paid & free apps. The Captivate has the tethering ability built in, not crippled by AT&T.

And, for an unashamed plug. if you're into tethering & need an assist, try PDANet by June Fabrics. When I couldn't get anything else to work on several WM phones, PDANet worked "right out of the box", no added configuration needed. There are now versions for Blackberry & Android, as well. But I haven't tried those yet.

 

Well, it's your appreciation of the X10 that's going to get me to still take a look. So, it still may be a 3 horse race.

As for the difference in respect, I'm not sure that's true. My first phone was an SE TDMA flip phone. Even then, they had a reputation of being slow on updates & support. And there seems to be a concensus, across the Android boards, wondering why, at this point, that SE brings out new phones now that are still running 1.6 when everyone else has 2.1 or 2.2 working well & with more features.

The company that's like me & Rodney Dangerfield , here in the US, is Nokia. Do you remember the N80? It came out Spring '06. I still have one, still use the alarm on it, occassionally throw my SIM card in & call with it. Four years old & I'm still recharging the original battery. It's off a lot, so I'm not certain how much life the battery really has. But you just don't see that kind of quality in most of what gets imported or made here. :crying: And Nokia's been #1 worldwide, but almost unknown here.for years.

Well, I think we are in agreement. We each want the other to be happy with the experience they get from their phone. It's kind of like cars. Some need to have a Porsche, some need a Jeep & some need a Ford or Chevy. But we're all mostly happy with our choice of what gets us down the road. And we hate to hear of someone's vehicle breaking down, but we can share in the joy someone has with their choice, even if it might not have been our choice.

 

PDAnet worked on my Eris when I had 1.5 and 2.1. Now that I'm rooted, it's not really needed.

You can probably find an apk for swype if you google for it. They are hanging out there where you can pick them up without being registered for the beta. I got in on the beta.

Looks like the x10 forums on XDA have some good movement & posting to them, if you're looking for answers to specific questions.

 

I can not remember where I read it, but in one article they talked about the the X10 is actually capable of multi touch and they had a video demo of it. If I remember where, I will post the link.

 

here are a couple of conflicting links:

Xperia X10 may indeed receive multi-touch

3D maps demoed on Sony Ericsson X10, Snapdragon paying off -- Engadget


Lets hope that ti will be true.

A few more:

http://blog.se-nse.net/black-x10-will-include-multi-touch-support/

http://blog.se-nse.net/x10-multi-touch-why-did-se-say-it-might-come/

 

PDANet is one of my favorite apps. I used it on several WM phones. After looking at the Captivate & the X10, I bought the BB Torch & PDANet's now on there, too.

I've tried swype on a WM phone, never natively in Android. It's the one "must have" app that I'd love to see on the touchscreen BBs.. The BB onscreen kb is just OK.

And the X10 forums on xda having good movement doesn't surprise me. I think everything has good movement on xda. :biggrin: Having a BB, all the help, apps, expertise, etc. at xda are things I'm really going to miss. They go beyond the normal forum stuff. It's the Rhodium xda version of Android that I tried on my Tilt2 that gave me a taste for it.

 

I am looking forward to the review.

So will you be keeping it then, Charlyee?

 

Same here and I was wondering the same thing if she will be keeping it or not

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Glad you found a Android device you like. And your nutshell comment is perfect.

I do have one question though. Is their a way to make the notification bar normal size? The x10 I tried had the smallest notification bar I have ever seen, unreadable IMHO.

 

It is not cute, at that size it is pointless. I love the notification bar on Android, it is so swiss army knife like, I use it for so many things. And because of that I keep my three screens simple.

 

I have pretty simple screens, too - I like to look at my son & the dog at the pond on my background! Jorte widget, power control widget. All my readily accessible apps are in my LauncherPro drawer (3 scrolls worth!)

Glad you're loving it. I'd be upset about AT&T app/OS blocking me, too. I LOVE being able to install what I want.

 

Nice. I'd be very comfortable with all of that, having used various flavors of linux.