Experiencing the SonyEricsson Xperia x1a

July 2nd, 2009

Sorry for the cheesy title. The Xperia’s been around for a couple of months now but it only hit Canada recently. Here’s my unboxing:

The Xperia is smaller than it looks in pictures. It’s a pretty compact phone with some heft to it. Based on that alone you know it means business.

The screen has a resolution of 800×480 which is pretty insane; just remember, high resolution can mean small text. Then again if you have troubles with your eyesight you’re probably not looking at the Xperia anyways.

To differentiate the Xperia from other WinMo phones out there, SE includes different tiles which you can use instead of the Today screen. The idea is that you pick a tile that works best for you. There’s a tile that’s just the Google homepage, an FM radio tile, etc. While the Tiles are a neat idea I question how much 3rd party support they’ll get.

Besides the tiles there it doesn’t seem like SE has done much to customize the Xperia beyond giving it a very Sony Ericsson-esque exterior design. That said there aren’t many 800×480 displays with North American HSDPA band support so I guess the Xperia has that going for it. Still, if you’re drawn by the Xperia’s specs you’re probably going to  customize it the way you want anyways which may including removing the tiles completely anyways.

Anyways those are my first impressions. We’ll have more on the Xperia later.

Entry Filed under: Phones