The Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini Pro has recently been updated to Android 2.1, with Sony Ericsson finally getting around to modernising the antiquated Android 1.6 OS that powered the little Android QWERTY phone when it launched last year.
The changes are slight, but with an improved web browser, more Bluetooth connectivity and enhanced social network integration, the X10 Mini Pro is certainly a better phone with the update than it was when it first launched.
But is an upgrade to the already-outdated Android 2.1 enough to stay competitive in the cut-throat Android scene of 2011? Read on to see what difference Android 2.1 has made to this sweet little phone
.You might get a slight sense of déja vu while reading this review of the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini Pro because it's virtually the same phone as the extremely nice little Xperia X10 Mini we reviewed previously.
Only there's one rather obvious and glaring change – the addition of a slide-out QWERTY keyboard that's been bolted onto the underside of the X10 Mini Pro, for the benefit of those yet to take the brave leap into entirely touch-based mobile phone operation.
Amazingly, the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini Pro manages to remain the same physical size as the non-QWERTY X10 Mini – which leads us to presume the X10 Mini was filled with plenty of foam padding to make it bigger than actually necessary.
The Xperia X10 Mini Pro's QWERTY keyboard adds extra weight to the phone, giving us a handset that feels much heavier than the slightly lightweight X10 Mini, which somehow tricks the brain into thinking it's a more solid, high quality device. It's lovely in the hand. People will pass it around in admiration.
The keyboard flips out with a heavy clunk and is backlit, with light twinkling out through its keys to guide your thumbs when the automatic sensor thinks it's dark enough for you to need a bit of help finding the right buttons.
The keyboard is solid, doesn't bend or flex, and while it's obviously a little cramped given the minuscule nature of the phone itself, there's enough of a gap between the slightly raised buttons to ensure typing is possible to a good degree of accuracy.
There's actually a pretty big internal difference between this and the X10 Mini the Mini Pro features a removable battery, while the regular X10 Mini's came sealed into its case. The Mini Pro's battery offers a rather tiny 930mAh capacity – but you wouldn't know it. It lasts for ages.
The USB connector has been placed along the side of the phone so it pokes out between your hands when you've got it connected, meaning it's easy to hold the phone easily when it's plugged in – nice thinking there, Sony Ericsson boffins. The 3.5mm headphone jack and power/lock button sit on the top edge.
There's a custom button for the camera along the right-hand edge, beneath the rocker button for volume. As with the X10 Mini, there's no optical button or trackpad. The QWERTY keyboard has a left and right cursor button placed either side of its keyboard's space bar, enabling users to page quickly through typed messages to repair typos and save embarrassment.
Its small screen is obviously a bit of a hindrance if you're into serious media or gaming use, but using it in landscape orientation, as you will the majority of the time thanks to the QWERTY keyboard, makes the Mini Pro feel more spacious than its equally sized regular X10 Mini.
The processor handles everything extremely easily, with even demanding apps like Google's Maps Navigation booting up quickly and zipping around without pause or glitch.
We liked
An incredibly fast and responsive handset to use. The capacitive touchscreen responds to the lightest of touches, while the processor shuffles menus and media around with virtually zero lag or glitches.
The hardware itself is rock solid. The QWERTY keyboard gives the phone an impressive extra bit of weight over the X10 Mini, while its chrome edges and backlit keyboard add to the general sense of class.
The keyboard is well thought out. The blue alternate function key enables you to add commas, numbers and special characters while typing, plus the physical left & right cursor keys make text editing a breeze.
The QWERTY keyboard is way easier to type on than the standard, numeric keypad touchscreen of the X10 Mini, but it's still very tight – you'll be pecking away with your thumbnails and not hitting particularly high word-per-minute counts, even if you're not particularly fat-fingered.
The screen, while responsive and bright, is quite low-resolution at 320 x 240 – black text on white backgrounds can look a little poor and harsh on the eyes, especially via the web.
The X10 Mini Pro launched with Android 1.6 and although it's now been updated to Android 2.1 it's still behind the curve compared to most new Android phones launching today.
Verdict
It is what it is – the very same impressive Android-powered phone as the super little Xperia X10 Mini, only with a well-made QWERTY keyboard underneath it.
The phone itself is much more powerful and responsive than any of the other phones in its entry-level price bracket, so much so that comparing this with the similarly price Vodafone 845 feels quite wrong. The X10 Mini Pro is streets ahead of it.
With such a lack of competing Android QWERTY phones out there on the market, the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini Pro is going to have the whole sector to itself, we suspect.
In fact, the Mini Pro feels as fast in use as many of the top-spec phones of today like the HTC Desire, so we can imagine it'll also win over quite a few of the 'enthusiasts' out there as well. It's quite an achievement.
And don't fear the small screen – Sony Ericsson has made a smartphone so user friendly you're in no way hindered. In short, the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini is quite an impressively powerful and polished phone
The Mini Pro has also aged better than the standard X10 Mini, with the heavier, more solid hardware still feeling impressive in the hand today.
Couple that with the increased functionality of Android 2.1 and the lack of any similar, ultra-compact QWERTY phones on the market, and the Mini Pro is a phone we're still happy to recommend.
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