What kind of smart phone can $800 buy? The luxe Xperia X1 from Sony Ericsson. At this price, it probably appeals only to recession-resistant gadget lovers, but it says something about what some gadget makers think the rest of us would want if money were no object. In this instance, what you get is more sleek sheath than intelligent innards. Its glut of options makes it pokey and difficult to navigate. Out of the box, the device is pure eye candy, with a black or silver metal-and-plastic body, crisp 3-inch touch screen and slightly curved QWERTY keyboard that slides out smoothly with a satisfying click.
The X1 has minimal included memory, so you’ll need a sizable microSD card if you want to access lots of songs, videos and photos on it; I used a 4 gigabyte card during my testing, which was enough for plenty of content. But even before I turned it on, I started to get nervous about the whopping number of choices I’d have to make. I felt more confused about the phone’s operations than excited about the freedom to use it as I pleased. When the phone goes on sale on Nov. 28 at Sony Style stores and on the Sony Style Web site, it will come unlocked, so I had to pick a network to test it with.
In the U.S., you can slide in a SIM card for AT&T or T-Mobile and it should work with their 3G networks; I used AT&T. Then, there was the assortment of 11 buttons on the X1’s face, including a center button that can select items or work as an optical joystick, which scrolls with a finger swipe. I often used the buttons for starting and ending phone calls, but tended to forget about the rest of the controls, including the joystick. Beyond the…
View post: Review: Posh Sony Ericsson X1’s Options Overwhelm
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