Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini review (2)

We remain unconvinced by the Timescape app we first saw in the original Xperia X10.

Yes, it shows your texts, calls and Facebook messages in one place, but we didn’t like it on the X10's big screen and on this one it just feels like too much data to handle. We're happier with separate apps, to be honest. Also, you can access your favourite music with the help of "infinite button" on the interactive music player that populates all the music content from the music store and YouTube.

Sony Ericsson hasn't stinted on features despite the small overall size of this handset. It is a 3G phone with GPS (with geotagging support for photos), Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. A 2GB microSD card augments the 128MB of on board memory.

A 5 megapixel camera with light and auto focus has a side button for quick launch and easy use. With the handset being so small we did find our fingers straying over the lens at times – you'll need to take care with that.

Audio output is of very good quality through the provided speakers and there is a 3.5mm headset jack on the bottom edge.

The 600MHz processor seemed up to the tasks we threw at it. With such a small screen to manage it has to work less hard than is often the case and we were happy with its performance.

Battery life is quoted at up to 4 hours of talktime GSM and 285 hours of GSM standby (3.5 hours and 360 hours on UMTS).

The battery is fixed inside the chassis – you can't replace it, but the good news is that it seems to perform fairly well. We got two days of medium level use out of it – but heavy GPS, Wi-Fi or music listening will mean daily charging is needed.

In the end, whether or not you like the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini is going to be about personal choice. If you have large hands you probably won't like it at all. Whatever your hand size, the small screen size and cumbersome text entry experience may well be the deal breakers.

But anyone with average to smaller hands should not dismiss it without giving it a go. We think you might be pleasantly surprised.

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