A survey has recently been conducted in Korea by Smartphone Now, the only dedicated smartphone news channel in Korea which asked 202 consumers what they thought was the worst smartphone. The Xperia X1 had a bad start in Korea with several complaints, but over all it was a sucessful launch. Based on the survey, 22% of the respondants voted the handset as the worst smartphone available in Korea, where as 18% voted for the HTC touch screen smartphones. While 22% isn’t great, the Xperia X1 from Sony Ericsson fairs much better than the Nokia 6210 smartphone. A resounding 50% of voters chose the 6210 as the worst handset.

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Rumours are rife that Sony Ericsson will be producing a smartbook. A smartbook is a step down from a netbook and slightly smaller, but about the same size as the Sony Vaio P. With many consumers using the X1 for business activities it makes sense for the company to create a device a bit bigger than an Xperia handset, but smaller than traditional laptops and even netbooks.

The smartbook from Sony Ericsson is said to be coming soon. With hardware limitations it won’t run a full Windows XP OS but could possible run Windows CE, or even Android like the upcoming X3. While it’s not confirmed, it is also likely to use Qualcomm Snapdragon inside.

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If you’re on the Three network, the Xperia X1 comes with the “Planet Three” panel which gives users access to common Three links. However not all the links you may need are listed and some customer service reps don’t know the URLs for either. The great news is though, that the actual cab file is made up of HTML making it very editable. Visserlabs have listed the common URLs which you can add into your Panel. The links below are for Three in Australia, but the links can be edited according to region.

• Planet Three – http://three.net.au/go/to/30017
• Internet Packs – http://three.net.au/go/to/30018
• My 3 – http://three.net.au/go/to/30019
• Email & IM – http://three.net.au/go/to/30020
• Entertainment – http://three.net.au/go/to/30021
• Games – http://three.net.au/go/to/30022
• Call Me Tones – http://three.net.au/go/to/30023
• Facebook – http://three.net.au/go/to/30024
• YouTube – http://three.net.au/go/to/30025
• Apps on 3 – http://three.net.au/go/to/30026

Ben of IntoMobile has received an email from Expansys to sell subscribers that the price of the Xperia X1 is now down to £374.99. But that isn’t all. If you purchase the X1 at this great price, which is at least £5 cheaper than other leading retailers, they’ll also give you a £20 voucher.

It’s made up of two £10 vouchers, which unfortunately, you can only use one per order. While it says it can be used to purchase accessories for the handset, if you’re after a memory card to go with it, you’re out of luck. Memory cards and USB thumb drives can’t be used to purchase either product. Either way though, it’s still a great deal if you haven’t got an X1 yet.

From CNN comes a mobile application that allows users to read the top stories from around the world, at any time. For the Xperia X1, it comes in the form of a panel with customizable options. Users can select two categories to receive news from, as well as select their home town, or any town of their choice to get a five day weather forecast. Additionally, the news can be viewed on the handset through email, by emailing and adding ireport@cnn.com.

Currently the app is available for Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Russia and the Asia-Pacific, but not Japan. Hopefully the app will become compatible for Japan, US, Australia and other countries soon.

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The popular Shell panel by SPB has been updated to 3.0.1. However, only the Korean version has been released so far. Fortunately though, Xperiancer have posted a way of making the panel work in English. Once installed on the X1, by going to the install path (my device/program files/spb mobile shell) you’ll find a file named SpbMobileShell.txt, which when deleted makes the panel run in English. Speed is improved in this release, which you can download here.

It wasn’t that long ago that Xperia X1 owners in Korea were making complaints about the handset from Sony Ericsson, after waiting so long for it. However it seems the handset has been a hit, with nearly 24,000 sold in the first three months. Korea had high WIPI standards, which meant many phones, including smartphones like the X1 and HTC Diamond, were hard pushed to be launched in Korea and took some time for them to arrive. A month later after the X1 was released, WIPI standards were relaxed, but some companies are still struggling to bring their handsets to Korea. The X1 was also the first phone in Korea, that didn’t have the WiFi removed for market, which is sure to be one of the reasons for it’s success. Along with the initial complaints, the X1 also had a hefty price to contend with for success, but it clearly didn’t stop the sales of the X1.

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Fancy making your X1 stand out above others? Then take a look at how one Xperia user has pimped out his X1.

As the phone carries a metal finish as opposed to plastic, Whitesites blog have taken the battery cover and given it a chrome finish. Paul lists the items which are needed to achieve this look, which are Blue Magic metal polish creme, couple old cotton t-shirts, 1000 grit sand paper and 240 grit sand paper. Paul then goes on to explain how he got the cover to how it looks now, but notes many would say it had been the done way and doesn’t make it 100% perfect, but this method has worked for him. For those who want perfection, he also lists how it should be done, which involves more grits of the sandpaper, but he used what he had at home, which gives it a great look none the less. You can view the instructions and images of the procedure over at Paul’s blog.

Coming back from behind the limelight of the Xperia Rachael is Vulcan, the Xperia X2.  Photos have been taken of the Xperia X2 side by side with it’s predecessor.

It’s clear while next to the X1, how similar in design the two handsets are, but it also makes the X2 appear bulky compared to it’s sibling. For the extra size though, the X2 flaunts a 3.5 inch display. The keyboard is designed more like a laptop keyboard than the X1, which should make typing easier.

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For those of you who have got the Xperia X1 and cracks have started appearing around the case, while a flaw, it seems Sony Ericsson aren’t ignoring the issue. Many have been able to get the problem fixed by sending their handset in for repair to Sony Ericsson. One such X1 user noticed a change in his X1 when he got it back. Sony Ericsson have changed the design of the case slightly, which should hopefully prevent this problem re-occurring. Those who do have the cracks in their case should try and send it in to Sony Ericsson for repair and hopefully will also get the better designed X1.

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