Sony's had a pretty rough time of it over the past month, but at least its mobile division can share some good news with the unveiling of the new Sony Ericsson Xperia mini and Xperia mini pro. These Android-based teeny tiny smart phones are updated versions of last year's X10 mini and X10 mini pro.
Lest you forget Sony makes TVs, both wee handsets feature a 3-inch 'Reality Display' with the Mobile Bravia Engine. That's the same technology found in the superb Xperia Arc -- it's supposed to reduce image noise while improving colour, sharpness and contrast.
The ickle phones offer high-definition 720p video recording, and Sony Ericsson reckons the Xperia mini is the world's smallest Android phone capable of such a videographic feat. We expect this record to last all of two days. The mini pro is a tad chunkier thanks to its slide-out Qwerty keyboard.
All that HD and display-processing goodness is possible thanks to a 1GHz Snapdragon processor. That's not quite as snappy as this this year's high-end phones, such as the HTC Sensation, but it's certainly no slouch. They'll both have the latest 2.3 Gingerbread version of Android.
There's a decent enough 5-megapixel camera on board, offering a range of imaging niceties such as face and smile detection, LED flash, image stabilisation and touch focus, plus a front-facing VGA camera.
Sony has capitalised on the fact that, by law, everyone is now on Facebook, introducing Facebook Inside. What does this mean? Simply, Zuckerbook is now deeply integrated into many of the Xperia's functions: the music player, the picture gallery, the phone book and the calendar.
Our heads are already spinning at the ghastly prospect of how easy it will now be to send deeply embarrassing videos accompanied by cheesy music to all our Facebook 'friends' every Saturday at 3.30am. Mercifully, LinkedIn isn't an option.
Colours! We nearly forgot the colours. It's very important to note that a range of shades will be available -- probably dependent on which network you choose, how much you pay, and whether you're a boy or a girl -- including black, white, pink, dark pink, turquoise and blue.
Availability? Sometime this autumn.
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Comments 7
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Anonymous 6 May, 2011 10:41
Sony Ericsson phones have been terrible for years and it looks like they are continuing that trend.
They dont work well with android, unless they put a stock version of android on the phones.
Anonymous 6 May, 2011 10:56
Must disagree with previous post - SE got the hardware right last year, but the problem was Android 1.6 on release when 2.0-2.1 were available.
Now the software match the hardware, SE should find themselves on a more level playing field.
Compare the new Xperia Mini (Pro) to other budget handsets (Wildfire S etc) and SE win hands down.
These mini phones may not be to everyones taste, but not everyone wants a mini tablet either (anything over 4" isn't exactly pocket friendly).
FootyFanaticOwen 6 May, 2011 11:12
To previous comment, yes, Hardware wise, Sony got it bang on. They didn't predict how far they would get with Android.
The previous mini phones didn't get Phone of the Year for no reason.
And a comment to the article. These are mini phones and you're complaining of a 1GHz processor. Listen to yourself. If the price is anything similar to the previous mini phones, you can bet yourself they'll b in the running for Phone of the Year again
Anonymous 6 May, 2011 16:26
Not interested... as a user of the previous generation of x series phones i feel abandoned. Stuck on 2.1 because sony think i will buy a shiny new phone. What, less than a year afyer buying the last? Fools... they've made a lot of people unhappy with their update policy, me included.
bigxr 6 May, 2011 19:20
I have a W995, and its up for renewal. Apart from the scruffy appearance (its been dropped, put in pocket with keys, coins etc..) I absolutely love the phone. Is there an alternative thats not a scratchy touch screen or one made for people with cocktail stick fingers?
Anonymous 22 May, 2011 22:29
I have x10 mini and these new ones look great, the original one that I have is amazing, browsing internet, brilliant Camera with flash, easy to use great interface. Cant wait to get my hands on one of these new ones. I was recently on holiday with a friend who had an iphone4 and he was amazed with my x10 mini, it did everything his phone did apart from the higher res camera and multi touch, he now wants one of these.
P.S. I upgraded from android 1.5 to 2.1 when the update was available and to be honest there is very little difference.
Anonymous 24 May, 2011 15:30
can we expect android 2.2 update for x10 mini pro........