The people I know who own a Sony Ericsson phone do so because of the camera or multimedia features and this is the reputation that’s being leveraged for this, Sony Ericsson’s first handset to run Google’s Android software. It has a 8.1 Megapixel camera and a gorgeous ultra-wide 4” touchscreen and this will be the kind of stamp the company will use to distinguish their Android phones from all the others made by Motorola, HTC, and Samsung. It is part of their Xperia series which means it includes some conceptual features designed to offer a different take on social networking, in this case two timeline features that, well, are still very experimental.

Design

Sony Ericsson has done a better job of stylizing the now familiar rectangular slab form of touchphones than other manufacturers. The screen is flat, but the backside is curved and the two meet along beveled edges that make the phone easier to grip. A white, LED light sparkles between the bottom buttons like two little diamonds. The screen itself is noticeable “taller” than most to allow for full aspect ratio widescreen for video playback when turned on its side and that’s pleasing. This also makes it easier to grip as a camera in that position too. The only unusual touches is the headphone jack, smack in the middle of top side, and the USB port with is hidden under a trap door right beside it. It’s very comfortable and very attractive.

Android Tweaks

It seems like each handset in Canada is now running a different version of Google’s operating system. The Xperia uses Android 1.6 which lacks several upgraded features of the 2.0 version used by the Motorola Milestone which lacks some features used by the 2.1 version in the Nexus One. Sony Ericsson says they needed to use an older version of the software for the Xperia X10 because it best suited the performance of their phone’s design, but also are committed to offering a downloadable update to the newer software at a later date.

This means the Xperia 10 has all the core and essential Android features, from widgets and desktop screens to full access to the Android Market and multi-touch, but without the newer animated effects and visual enhancements. While yes, most will always want to run the latest software, here it’s not too annoying a lapse.

There are two new features added by Sony Ericsson themselves that you won’t find in other Android phones, both designed to take your phone’s history and present it as an explorable timeline.

TimeScape

All of your communication – your tweets from Twitter, your updates from Facebook, your e-mail and instant messages, voicemails and text messages, content that you have played, these are gathered into a vertical timeline that starts at the top of your screen and trickles down like a waterfall. You can further filter the stream to contain just the feeds from one application, but the idea is to give you an organized glimpse of your history.

Each message is presented with your contact’s photo as the backdrop. In my case many of these photos are low resolution and having them blown-up by mediascape with text added is very unattractive. I’m also frustrated that you can’t further interact with a message, select a Tweet for example and reply to it either directly using TimeScape or by having the associated application open to do just that.

I just haven’t found much use for TimeScape.

MediaScape

This is a similar idea, but applied to your history of songs, videos, and photos. Think of it as a listing of all your recently played files. That makes it useful, but not as innovative and certainly nothing for the other Android users to be jealous of.

Recently Microsoft and Google have presented their own, and frankly better, social networking timeline features that used horizontal instead of vertical timelines. Clearly there’s something here, but Sony Ericsson needs to keep experimenting.

Camera

As you might have guessed the camera is the best part. 8.1 Megapixels, 16x digital zoom, auto focus, image stabilizer and built-in light. It’s as feature-packed as they get and while the size and quality of the lens means it will never take the place of a comparable standalone camera, it’s still leaps and bounds over other cameraphones in image quality. You’ll run into that limitation with the 16x zoom, none of my photos at that level turned out, and the auto scene selector isn’t always reliable. While you can use the touchscreen to snap your photos, I really like the physical button which supports “half-clicks” to engage the autofocus. (see sample photograph gallery at the end).

For music playback it supports both MP3 and AAC, uses a standard 3.5 mm headphone jack, and supports A2DP for those who want to Bluetooth stereo devices. The included app will fill in album art and grab details using TrackID and while you can use the Sony Ericsson software to manage your content, you can also thankfully opt to mount your phone as an external drive and simply drag-and-drop files into place.

Storage And Battery

1GB of internal memory isn’t much for a phone that handles as much content at the Xperia 10 which is why a 16 GB microSD memory card is included. You can replace that for a card with up to 32 GB of memory, not the best solution, but it’s better to have the option than not.

Like other smartphones with similar features, the battery life is good for most of one day, depending on your use, but it is replaceable for the time comes when it can no longer hold a proper charge.

Connections

A quad-band phone the Xperia includes both 3G and Wi-Fi internet access. With a phone as data and content-driven as this one, having both internet options is essential. GPS is also included, both for use with Google Maps and apps that support turn-by-turn navigation. Along with a built-in accelerometer and other sensors has all the current bells and whistles, save for a digital compass.

The Android Photographer

From a big picture perspective it would be hard to rate the Xperia over other Android handsets due to its older software, small internal storage, and its ineffective timescape application, but that’s not the goal, here. As with past Sony Ericsson handsets, this is about combining an impressive camera, gorgeous screen, and slick media playback options with the Android experience of an intuitive touchscreen interface with the ability to use apps. It leans towards those strengths for those who see such features as a priority and that, combined with its elegant design and included Wi-Fi make it a worthwhile investment.

As a brand Sony Ericsson remains an exclusive to Rogers Wireless. The Xperia X10 is being sold at $150 for a three-year contract and $550 without.  

Sample Photographs