Last week saw the start of Sony Ericsson’s new “Winning Wednesdays”. This is a weekly competition from Sony Ericsson, carried out on Wednesdays, like the name suggests. Last time the prize was an Xperia X10, something we’ve seen Sony Ericsson offer before.
This week the prize is for a Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini. The competition style is the same as before. Spot the difference in the pictures and choose from a selection of three answers. As always, you’ll need to provide some basic information to enter the competition and agree to the terms and conditions of the competition.
The Sony Ericsson Facebook page also has the regular weekly competition, which ends on the 13th of September. This time it’s for an Xperia X10 in Luster White. If white isn’t your color though, it’s very likely that there will be a competition for the black model in a couple of weeks time.
It wasn’t long ago that, the miniature X10 won an award from the red dot. Now, Sony Ericsson’s Xperia X10 Mini has won another award. This time it comes from the European Imaging and Sound Association (EISA). The handset won the award for the best mobile phone in Europe for 2010-2011. The best smartphone award went to the Samsung Galaxy S, while the best Social Media Phone was the Samsung S8500 Wave, powered by Samsung’s own OS, Bada. The Apple iPad also won an award for the best tablet in Europe.
While the X10 has received a lot of bad press, over lack of multi touch, outdated OS and WiFi problems experienced, it seems many overlook the outdated OS and lack of multi touch on this handset. The handset has been well received from the market, especially the female audience, it’s also been well received by the tech industry. The main points it won the award on, were it’s stylish design and uncompromised specs, despite it’s small size.
The official wording from the EISA was as follows: “Xperia X10 mini from Sony Ericsson is a very small and stylish mobile phone. Nonetheless, it delivers excellent performance with a comprehensive range of features such as GPS, Wi-Fi, 3G and a 5 megapixel camera with flash. The phone runs on the Android platform and offers users the full benefits of a much larger device although its touch screen size is just 2.55-inch (6.48 cm). Its small size and weight and variety of vivid case colours make it perfect for introducing the fairer sex to smartphone technology.”
Following the release of the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 in Australia, the country has also received the Mini version of the Android powered handset. The Xperia X10 Mini is available through Optus on the Optus Personal Store. As well as being available on contracts, the handset is also available on pay as you go for $349 AUD. Contract wise, the Xperia X10 Mini is available on plans ranging from $19 to $129. Through the Yes Social plan, the contract price ranges from $19 to $79, where as the Yes cap plan, the contract price ranges from $19 to $99. Alternatively, the handset can also be picked up on Timeless Max plans, with the plans ranging from $99-$129. If purchasing through the Optus store, you can also pick up a credit bonus of between $50 to $100.
While Vodafone and O2 can’t offer the Xperia X10 Mini in lime green, they are however offering the handset up for free. Neither the Vodafone or O2 website state which color X10 they have in stock but, it appears to be the basic black model. Both networks are offering the handset up for free on 18 or 24 month contracts from as little as £20 a month. The other major UK network T-Mobile is yet to offer the handset and there’s no mention on their website of the X10 Mini. They do however have the X10 Mini Pro listed, which is set for a July release. While there’s no sign of the QWERTY-less Mini X10 on T-Mobile, the other networks don’t have any information regarding the X10 Mini Pro, so it looks like the X10 Mini Pro, could be a T-Mobile exclusive.
If however you were after the X10 Mini on T-Mobile, all is not lost. Third party retailers, such as Mobiles.co.uk have the handsets in stock and they dispatch unlocked handsets, with the X10 Mini being no exception. Because of this, they can offer the handset on the networks it is available on, along with T-Mobile and Three.
Sony Ericsson have implemented the Android UXP on three of their handsets, the X10, X10 Mini and X10 Mini Pro. Below are screenshots showing the interface as found on the X10 Mini. As you can see the interface has been made perfect for the X10 Mini and it’s no wonder Sony Ericsson are showing off how easy and convenient it is to use the handset with just one hand.
The whole interface uses the same blue background, while the font is named Soma, developed by Sony Ericsson. Within the screenshots shown after the jump, we have images of how the screen looks while using the camera, as well as when using the video player and media player. There’s also screenshots showing how the FM Radio looks on the handset. You can view all this shots and more of the UI after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »
While we don’t actually know the release date for the Xperia X10 Mini, Sony Ericsson are getting folks excited for the handset. While some may prefer the power and specs behind the full sized Xperia X10 which is due for release at the end of July, Sony Ericsson are showing that the X10 Mini is a one handed wonder. The commercial shows a woman using the handset with one hand while using her hand to perform “dance moves”. If this doesn’t get you excited for the Xperia X10 Mini, nothing will. You can view the commercial below.
The Red Dot Award is one of the most renowned competitions in the world for design. The award is split up into three sections: product design, communication design and design concept. This year there were many manufacturers from 57 countries and the winner was selected by an international jury. The red dot product design award, was this year awarded to Sony Ericsson’s Xperia X10 Mini. The company are very proud to have received this award and go on to say, they will continue to develop high quality products, which is always good news for us as the consumers.
We recently learned that unlike it’s big brother the X10, the mini version did have the supported hardware for multi touch screen capabilities. However Timo Maassmann over at the SE Blog has confirmed that the X10 Mini will not support multi touch and neither will the X10 Mini Pro. If it were enabled it would “destroy the simplicity” of using them.
He also goes on to say, that the interface has been designed to make one handed use, as easy as possible. Four corner shortcuts are included in the features of the phone, as well as being able to zoom in and out of photos using your thumb. You can see Sony Ericsson’s official video of the X10 Mini showing how easy it is to use the handset one handed below.
One question which I’m sure has been on many people’s lips and minds, is whether the X10 Minis will support multi touch. With the official word out on the lack of multi touch for the X10, it was quite likely that the X10 Mini and Mini Pro would also not be multi touch compatible. Thanks to SE-Blog though, we can confirm that the Xperia X10 Mini does have the hardware support for multi touch. Synaptics are responsible for the screen on the X10 Mini and it is a ClearPad 2000 solution, which to you and me means it supports multi touch. It’s likely however, that the X10 Mini won’t have the software to support multi touch out of the box and is most likely due in a software update, quite possibly when the Android 2.1 update comes out.
Synaptics have also confirmed that they are not the supplier of the X10 Mini Pro. We’re not sure who the supplier of the screen is for the X10 Mini Pro, so at this moment we can’t confirm whether the Mini Pro will support multi touch.
Online UK retailer Expansys have listed the Xperia X10 Mini and X10 Mini Pro on their website, available for pre-order. The company initially put the release date out as March 16th but, shortly after this was changed to May 24th. A May 24th release date certainly seems more realistic than the original March 16th date and hopefully it won’t change again.
The X10 Mini, is available to pre-order for £299.99. Where as the X10 Mini Pro, which features a slide out QWERTY keyboard, you’ll be paying £40 more for the keyboard, with it retailing at £339.99.
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