Yea the price is ridiculous... even Nokia products are cheaper. You can get a N95-3 as a phone and a n810 Internet Tablet for the price of this (I use those 2 as nokia's example since the n95-3 is a great phone with 5mbp camera, and the n810 is a nice touch screen tablet... not really sure where I'm going with but just saying those two things are already a hefty price but together they're still not as much as this Sony product!)

Now, if this sony was say around $400 then I think people might consider it.

fusiongt

@Twenty5: Nothing abnormal about this price. Nokia, Sony Ericsson, etc all have pricey phones. My last Ericsson was a P910i and cost my roughly $600 unlocked. The retail was around $800 I believe.

bucho54

I don't get why people cry about the price when an unlocked iPhone 3G, the HTC Touch Pro and the Blackberry Bold go aroudn the same price individually.

bolix

@oneclick: in case you haven't heard, fatigue chic is the hottest trend ;P

Andi Wang

@sridhar3: Whoops, can't unlock the iPhone 3g. But yeah, an unlocked iPhone used to cost that much.

sridhar3

@Twenty5: The phone is unlocked and unsubsidized. You're comparing apples and oranges (no pun intended).

Do some research and you'll find that you can buy an unlocked iPhone 3g for a comparable price.

sridhar3

That girl needs to touch up her nail polish - disgusting...

oneclick

$800?!?!?!?!......... even the iPhone was cheaper when it first came out!

And IS APPLE!!!!!!!

Twenty5

@sridhar3: Yes, you can buy an unlocked iPhone 3G, they sell them in Hong Kong. [store.apple.com]

dark42

man whats with all these g1 clones lately!?

dantaylor08

Why windows mobile man? Hopefully the next xperia phone will be android based.

snakepliskin

@oneclick: Eh, I'd hit it.

Hyman Decent

It looks nice. All metal body is super-hot. The buttons on the front are ugly as fuck. The end.

Mr_Hustleufagus

So everyone wants a Monster truck with 13" wheels in the cell phone market..thats why the G1 doesnt have the specs like this phone. If you want to do more with your phone(Pocket PC), WinMobo fills those needs. If you want a phone/mp3 player..get an iphone.

ajcali08

if it dropped in price id tap that

ZetaCrossfire

@oneclick: Those were Brian Lam's hands. He isn't great with nail polish and makeup.

So, Hyman Decent, would ya still?

BeautifulAgony

@dantaylor08: Please tell me your joking, and that sarcasm doent not transfer well through the internet.

tkohrs2002

shame they didn't do their own OS on there. Their custom OS on their walkman line of phones was absolutely fantastic. I remember trading in my w810 for a winmo phone and wanting to kill myself.

jmo7

Does that include the Sony tax?

BiZarRroBALlmeR

Panels Interface = XMB? o.o

Dreadfish

Define "Full QWERTY" please.

Metron4

@sridhar3: In Twenty5's defense, the first iPhone was unsubsidized as well.

aphex

@tkohrs2002: please tell me you had the sense to realize that that was a dig on the apple fanboi club.

dantaylor08

Hopefully, the WinMo 6.5 update won't mess up any of the Xperia's custom stuff. I wonder how WinMo 7 might change things...

I'll wait for this phone to come with a contract. So it's like a Sony Ericsson and PSP combined kinda?

quikboy

they should have made the screen 3.5". 2.8 is way too small for a device that is all touch screen on the front

igneous

Now, the big question is how does it stack up against the HTC Fuze / Touch Pro?

something_unique_and_descriptive

@iAirmanshirk69: And thank gawd for that. Not everyone drinks Job's kool-aid.

KSPRAYDAD (TAWKN.com)

that aint iphone material

iAirmanshirk69

@oneclick: ummm any1 think of seinfeld and that episode about manhands?

ThisIsSharksTerriroty

Great review. One thing to note, weight (to me) is akin to quality. I don't want a super light phone, rather, something that feels solid in my hands and is built well! We're not talking brick here, but most smart phones feel like the cheal black plastic they are. Lack of weight != feature.

EmeryBias

Free with a 2 year contract by this time next year.

Thrillcekr

@dantaylor08: lol. yeah man. Damn! What a bunch of G1 copiers.

diamonddnice

@something_unique_and_descriptive:I think that's a very valid question, seeing as it's the most direct competitor. From what I've heard, hardware-wise, the Touch Pro has a superior keyboard, but the Xperia X1 has a superior screen.

Of course, software implementation is a different story altogether. I've been reading that TouchFlo is better than the X-panel-skinned WinMo that Sony is using, especially as it relates to smoothness. However, the way I see it, it's nothing that can't get fixed by a software patch (and hopefully sooner rather than later).

Altogether, seems like a solid buy. I'm strongly considering early adoption.

sridhar3

$800? D:

I know that that's without a contract, but I think I'll stick with the $300 (With contract) HTC Touch Pro. :\

It's kind of a let down, since I've been wanting the X1 for several months. Hopefully the Touch Pro is a nice phone...

20GB

@bolix: don't know where you're from but here in the states very few people buy unlocked phones. They complain because to most people $800 is a lot of money. They work hard to get it and don't like throwing it away so for that amount of money they think it should go far, have everything they want, and not break for a long time.

diamonddnice

@dantaylor08:

The difference: Apple is actually copied for its innovation. There are leaders.. and then there are followers. Not all can lead, but apple stepped up to the plate.

iAirmanshirk69

I have mixed feelings about this phone. On one hand I'm disappointed since it took SE so damn long to launch the phone, then they went back on the specs they had had posted on their website forever (which said it would support T-Mobile USA's 3G) and are still charging a bagillion bucks for it. The 528 processor is pretty lame too. I do hope however that this is just the beginning of more unlocked higher end phones being offered in the US. It's better to have just "ok" options in the unlocked smart phone market than nothing at all. At least SE tried to think of North America a little.

Valicore

@KSPRAYDAD (TAWKN.com):

Your so cool, can you teach me?
Can you teach me how to hate apple, it sounds so hard to do

iAirmanshirk69

@aphex: No, I don't think it was.

da-vid

@dantaylor08: Actually, that was not at all obvious until you explained, so your "dig" failed.

da-vid

@diamonddnice: Yes, but people have to still understand that the $800 is the unsubsidized price.

Okay, so people don't usually buy unsubsidized phones, but instead of complaining about the totally reasonable unsubsidized price, why don't they complain about how the carrier's aren't subsidizing the phones?

da-vid

The bar is raised with Android and the iPhone.

Sony Ericsson should adopt Android and be done with it. They can build great devices!

altus

Sounds expensive. It probably can run windows with a little hacking.

VakeroRokero

Get a cell phone from Japan. Sony's playing you guys so bad overseas... I paid $550 for my phone and it's got every possible function known to man, even a button that opens the bivalve automatically. Do it!

blacksamurai87

@blacksamurai87: I have a Japanese phone... it's horrible. Sure they know how to cram features in there but they're all half-assed (poor reception, poor battery life, poor performance, poor format/standards support) and the UI is nigh-unusable.

kalleboo

@da-vid: I must remind myself more often that it's as hard to find someone with a sense of sarcasm on gizmodo as it is to find a anti-obama post on digg.

Oh.

Wait.

That's never happened.

dantaylor08

I like the XMB-ish interface. But I'm not sure I'd like to pay $800 for the damned thing. Hell, I'm using an unlocked G1 (shh) and I only paid some $250 imported and unlocked, and I still come out cheaper.

I freebase cocaine for a living

@iAirmanshirk69: Can you teach me how to have wet dreams about steve jobs? It sounds so hard to do.

dantaylor08

@iAirmanshirk69:

Conversely, your love of Apple looks so easy to do.

Perhaps you two could get together and do some sort of mind-meld so that you come out neutral. Like mixing red and white to get pink.

AnAphexTwin

@ href="#c8932637">something_unique_and_descriptive:

Good question. It's certainly one I've been asking myself these past few weeks as I weigh up options to replace my trusty 4 year-old P910i (whose battery is dying).

For me, while the Xperia's better screen quality would be welcome, it isn't a deal breaker, since I wouldn't be watching movies on it (nor will I be listening to music with it). The only reason I didn't upgrade to the P990i or P1i was the lack of dedicated physical keyboard (and in the P990's case a poor camera, too), so the implementation of any keyboard on my next phone is going to be important, natch.

It seems there are a few bugs in the SE OS, and, coupled with the long wait, reduced spec and mediocre design (as has been pointed out, nice aluminium shell and keyboard, but what in the world happened to the buttons on the face?!), it looks unlikely that it's going to be the successor.

So it's down to the HTC Touch Pro and the G1, with the Touch Pro marginally ahead.

Perhaps I should just wait for the G2 to come out (with possibly better design and enhanced OS) ...

AnAphexTwin

The Nokia E90 is a much better design ( lacking only a touch screen) as is the QTEK 9000( by HTC )... the latter lacking an external screen.

Overall, the HTC / QTEK 9000 is the best in this genre ... especially if QTEK would update it and add an exteranl screen and dial-pad.

HTC seems to be asleep on this one.

kwvdc

Doesn't matter how good it is, no ones paying $800 for that thing.

Stacky Botrus

i absolutely loved my P800 when it first came out, that phone was so ahead of it's time! :)

malcs

"It's just not good enough to justify the cost when better, cheaper phones are available."

Please list these better, cheaper phones that are available.

Ill start some comparisons, with the most obvious:

iPhone->No slide-out keyboard, no expandible memory, low resolution screen, no flash.
Diamond->No slide-out keyboard, no expandible memory, no headphone jack, reduced battery life, slightly lower resolution screen, less RAM, no flash.
Pro->No headphone jack, slightly lower resolution screen, smaller screen.
G1->Low resolution screen, software not there yet, no headphone jack.

A benefit of the Diamond and Pro is TouchFlo 3D. That has been taken care of:
[wmpoweruser.com]

A benefit of the G1 is Android, but that only benefits a few. That is being taken care of.

The one thing this doesnt have is accelerometer, which hurts alot.

What else is there?

diabolusunknownTheSecond

@quikboy: I think i've read somewhere no winmo 6.5 (so 7) upgrade for "actual" phones (but you know.. XDA guyz will make it possible as usual lol)

Stegerva

@diabolusunknownTheSecond: As an addition:

Dont get me wrong. Im not trying to say the X1 is better than those above. What im trying to say is that you cant necessarily say one is better than the other. There are things that you will only get in the X1, while there are things you will only get in the competitor phones. But in no way are those competitor phones obviously better than the X1.

And making a judgement on the X1 based on price is kind of pre-mature, too. We have yet to see subsidized prices for the X1, except in Europe where most carriers give the phone away for free on contract. That level of comparison should be left out until a carrier begins offering the phone on contract.

diabolusunknownTheSecond

@fusiongt: What?

N95 costs 500 - 700 alone. New.
N810 costs 400 - 600 alone. New.

This is unsubsidized. Don't make a price judgment on this until its available on contract and subsidized.

It is unfair to compare the unlocked price of this to locked phones on contract.

diabolusunknownTheSecond

Put android on it.. all fixed.

kevininstereo

@da-vid: Really? you didnt get that? you must not read giz that much

pevans34

@iAirmanshirk69: It sure isnt. It isnt shitty enough to be iPhone material.

diabolusunknownTheSecond

@something_unique_and_descriptive:

X1 has better battery life.
TouchFlo3D has been ported to the X1.
Keyboard is user dependent, so its a wash.
Bigger, sharper screen which is center to the keyboard.
Headphone jack.

But NO accelerometer, unfortunately.

Dont judge by price now since the X1 is unsubsidized. Wait until they are on contract to make a true comparison, then you can assign dollar value to the things the Touch Pro is missing.

diabolusunknownTheSecond

@Dreadfish: No.

One of the panels = XMB.

Panels themselves is just a home screen changer.

I wish it was a multi-tasking agent, but its not.

diabolusunknownTheSecond

@diabolusunknownTheSecond: Good points, except for the expandable memory part. I can't say I have any exact numbers to list off the top of my head, but usually when I see a phone with expandable memory, the built in amount is low and the max memory card size it takes is 8gb or so. I can't have any less than 16gb, and thats part of why I like the iphone.

michaelwiggins

@igneous: Its actually a 3" screen.

diabolusunknownTheSecond

@20GB:

The fact that this is in the same class but offers many features over the Pro is keeping me waiting for an on contract X1. I don't even lose TouchFlo3D with the X1 thanks to xda, since they have ported it over as a panel, which is sweet.

Otherwise, the Pro is a fantastic phone as well.

diabolusunknownTheSecond

@iAirmanshirk69: This is a slider phone, you dumb fuck. WM has had slider phones for years now, before Apple even started to dream of entering the mobile world.

diabolusunknownTheSecond

@bolix: Finally, someone that speaks reason.

It is unfair to judge this phones price as is.

In Europe, this phone goes for free on a 2 year contract. This phone is not on a carrier yet, and in the US, it might never be, considering AT&T and the iPhone and TMo and the G1.

diabolusunknownTheSecond

As a devil's advocate - I purchased an X1i a few days ago and here is my reasoning and impression so far:

I live in Dubai, so all phones are unlocked and unsubsidized (mobile service is much cheaper as a result). I paid about $900 for the X1i. This was $50 more than the Touch Diamond, $100 less than the Touch Pro, Palm Pro, and BB Bold, $150 less than the Touch HD (expected next month) and G1, and $500 less than an unlocked iPhone 3G. These are local market prices, and yes you could do better bootlegging a phone in country, but you've got to shell out $1000 for a plane ticket at that point.

Once a US provider picks up the phone, subsidizing will drop the price down to competitive levels (TMobile maybe?).

Windows Mobile is the only OS to provide full Skype support. This matters when you live abroad.

The phone is built better than any slider WinMo phone I played with. The X-Panels are sluggish and even annoying. In all honesty, I downloaded the free SPB mobile shell panel, and that's where I live happily. I put TouchFlo3D on the phone, but took it back off because it seemed more fluff than stuff. The keyboard is great, and you quickly get used to the Fn number keys.

Is it revolutionary? No. But I found it to be the best option for a WinMo phone if you want a keyboard. The only consideration that came close for me was the Touch Pro. Even then, I would have had to spend more money for a lesser build quality and a proprietary headphone connector.

If I had to vote I would place the X1i at the top of the heap at least until the Touch HD. Even thin, I like keyboards with keys. But that's just me.

Dizznizzle

@michaelwiggins: Naw man, Actually almost all of the phones he listed above that take expandable memory (including the SE X1), now take the microSDHC standard which is capable of accepting cards with a capacity of up to 32GB (when they finally debut that is). Currently you can get a 16GB card for under $100 on Amazon which will work in both the Touch Pro and SE X1. Go on check it out, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised... I'm Pretty sure that all phones that accept cards in the future are going to accept High Capacity standard of these cards. I, like you, can't get around with anything less than 16GB, however how nice would it be to just update your phone with a little chip to 32GB capacity instead of having to buying a whole new phone?... Just some food for thought.

Ambiguous Blob 2.0

@giz I think this thread is cause for a commemorative post.

I do believe this post has brought together the largest group of anti-fanboys the giz community has ever seen in its glorious (and sometimes not so) history.

Maybe an article honoring the courage of these brave people would be in order.

Anti-fanboy club of America and Wherever else You are From Unite!

dantaylor08

@Dizznizzle: I forgot a few other points. I entirely disagree with the reviewer about the optical pad. Unlike the Samsung i780 which uses the optical pad to control a mouse cursor, the X1 applies the optical pad like pressing the Tab key in windows (shifting through fields) or as a 2-dimensional scroll controller on web pages. When using the phone on a daily basis, I find myself using the optical pad far more than the directional keys, and equally as much as the touch screen. It prevents me from having to whip out the stylus all the time, which I would find a nuisance.

So far I'm very fond of this phone. As a first time WinMo user (first gen iPhone previously, Palm OS long before that) I am very happy with my experience - especially when coupled with some of SPB's software offerings.

Dizznizzle

@da-vid: it doesn't bother people that the phone isn't subsidized i guess. it doesn't bother me. i was excited about this phone 10 months ago. not now after all these bad reviews. Regardless if you price a phone at 800 bucks you're shooting yourself in the foot. if it becomes a massive seller i'll admit i'm wrong but I doubt it will.

diamonddnice

I have wondered how much more does it cost to throw 1Gb Ram in every phone? They always put just enough, why did give more than needed so problems will never arise?

mricyfire

@Twenty5: well basiccally iphone 3G isn't way cheaper then X1
why cause unlocked is around 600 euro and iphone can be cheaper if they sell the x1 for 800 euro
but i don't think they will do that
and x1 has more memory capacity

and x1 is the only wm phone from SE

TBM-Fan

@iAirmanshirk69:

What a retarded, pointless, trolling comment. It's people like you that give Apple a bad name, not their products.

DiscoDapper

@igneous: I think 3.5 to 4.0 is the sweet spot for these things, depending on whether you prefer screen real estate or pocket real estate. The G1 screen feels a little small at 3.2, and I would NEVER go back to a 2.8 regardless of resolution. I think Apple nailed the screen size best so far.

DiscoDapper

@bolix: Hmmmm... I can find the Touch Pro for around $500 without a contract. There's nothing on this Sony that is worth $300. I'll take the smaller resolution (640x480), better interface, and the better keyboard on the Pro.

SomeAudioGuy

@Dizznizzle:

Yes, SPB is a LIFESAVER on WinMo. Any crashes or instability both or without SPB?

You may want to try out Winterface. It's another shell program that's pretty customizable. The company's contacts plug in is great also. On my old HTC 6700 this crashed quite a bit, but I really liked the look of it.

DiscoDapper

@kevininstereo:

Except the price...

DiscoDapper

@altus:

Sony is going for the business crowd and neither Android (immature software) or iPhone (no keyboard) are entirely business friendly at this point. I'm not saying they are exclusively going for the biz crowd, but I'm sure that as a part of their focus as a bottom line.

DiscoDapper

@Valicore:

Sorry, but how do you figure a 528 processor is lame? Until a new mobile CPU paradigm arrives in 2009, with current market tech, the highter the clock speed the faster your battery drains. It's a simple balancing act.

DiscoDapper

Now my question is: If it came to AT&T, which one would you guys chose, the Xperia X1 or the XTC Fuze?

berbar

my phone has 3G-3.5 g/Wifi/bluetooth 2.0/Infered)GPS reciever,2.8 touch screen,qwerty keyboard/3.2 mega pixel camera...256 ROM/MEMORY, only thing my phone is qvga and my CPU is clocked at 400 mhz but pretty much the same processor..otherwise my phone has the same features as this phone does.

ajcali08

@Metron4:
I would guess "full" means it's like a keyboard, where it's one letter per key, as opposed to something like suretype, with two letters per key.

badbob001

@DiscoDapper: I tried out the full version of Mobile Shell, but I actually prefer Sony's SPB Shell that you can download for free fromt he sony site.

The only crashes or instability I've experienced where when I put TF3D on, and I had to reinstall WinMo to get it back off.

Other than that, it gets sluggish when you go into XPanel, but the clears up when you get into your next desktop. Here's to hoping that gets fixed in a future update.

Dizznizzle

@ajcali08: here, i baked you a big chocolate chip cookie.

Dizznizzle

@BeautifulAgony: I call bullshit.

Hyman Decent

@DiscoDapper: Exactly, how is it lame? It's more or less the same as you see in every high-end smart-phone, and it's faster then the iPhones or all Nokia phones processors.

Knirfie

I traded my 1st gen iPhone in for this (didn't have to pay a thing with my 2 year 30 euro/month cell-phone contract), and it's a big improvement in my opinion.

Hardware is way superior (except for the resistive touchscreen): Higher resolution, faster processor, more memory, dedicated 3d chip, full bluetooth support (including A2DP), decent camera with Auto-focus and LED flash (it might only be 3MP but it's a lot better then some 5MP phones out there), bigger battery.

And finally an "open" platform (no stupid app-store), can install all the software I want without apple forbidding it (such as internet sharing, which is preinstalled btw).

Knirfie

So, what phones would you prefer? Its not really helpful to say that it doesn't measure up when you don't provide any frame of reference for your comparison. Also, it sounds like most of your complaints are with Windows Mobile. Moreover, since only two phones use capacitive touchscreens, the iPhone and G1, it doesn't seem like a fair complaint to level against this phone-especially since WinMo doesn't support multitouch gesturing.

If someone actually prefers Windows Mobile devices, because they need exchange support and other Winmo features, how would this stack up to the best of that class? Every review I have read puts it right at the top.

What are the better cheaper phones, besides the iPhone and the G1, which are tied to specific carriers and can not be unlocked to use overseas?

dr.W

Err: Display size is not 2.8", it's 3.0".

X1 is 1 year late from the original plans. And in technology business being late means being in a hurry and being in hurry means buggy software and hardware.

So this phone could not be good. And according to people who were able to play with X1 this is realy so: SE Xperia is another bad implementation of Microsoft technology. It is slow.

Xentrax