Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 mini pro review: Mini Me... ssenger

Organizer does the job, no doc viewer isn’t a problem

Our Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 mini pro came with no preinstalled document viewer so we had to snatch one off the Android Market. There is plenty of choice there so we don’t consider it too much of a disadvantage.

When you download an app it automatically integrates with the Gmail app as well, so you can view attachments. Unfortunately, you can’t save them in the phone memory (that only works for images). Attaching saved files (and we mean all kind of files) is possible though.

Another option is to use the Preview option of Gmail, which renders the Office file (or PDF) into HTML which is then displayed on the phone.

The calendar has only two view modes - daily and monthly. Adding a new event is quick and easy, and you can also set an alarm to act as a reminder.

The calendar offers monthly and daily view modes only • Setting up an event

There is also a calculator, a timer and a stopwatch aboard. Those are all nicely touch optimized - the buttons are big enough and easy to hit.

Calculator, timer and stopwatch

The XPERIA X10 mini pro features a decent alarm clock application, which allows a huge number of alarms to be set, each with its own start time and repeat pattern.

The Alarm clock app offers all you will ever need

The RoadSync applications, which also come preinstalled, use the Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync protocol to provide push synchronization of your emails, contacts and calendar.

Finally, the YouTube app partially compensates for the web browser's lack of Flash support. Its interface is simple enough to let you find whatever you're looking for as quickly as possible.

The YouTube works fine

GPS navigation

No surprise, the X10 mini pro comes with Google Maps out of the box. Multi-touch doesn't work so you’re stuck with the traditional zoom keys or double tapping.

Naturally Google Maps is on board

A tap-and-hold on the screen activates a popup menu which ,among other things, can launch Street view. As usual, you can enjoy the 3D view of the area, which is controlled by sweep gestures with impressive fluidity. They can also make use of the built-in compass for an even better experience – just hold the phone in your hand and turn around and Street view will follow you.

Street view also works with the built-in compass

If you’re in one of the supported countries you could try Google Maps Navigation – it should work on Android 1.6 Donut, even if some of the features from the Eclair version aren’t available (e.g. voice commands). Google Maps Navigation is the voice-prompt enabled version of Google Maps.

The other preinstalled map application is Wisepilot, which is found on other platforms. The thing about Wisepilot is that it requires a license for voice guided navigation and it downloads data over the Internet. That makes it unsuitable (or at least really expensive) for using abroad.

WisePilot comes preinstalled and does voice-guided navigation

There are already several ways around that of course. The Android Market offers a dozen of applications (both free and paid) so it’s up to you to pick one that best suits you. The problem is that the screen and the phone itself seem too small to use for navigation but we guess everyone should judge that for themselves.