Holy $*@# this thing is tiny! Seriously! I can almost fit it in the coin slot of my jeans, and but for the slight thickness, it really looks like a kid’s toy. But rest assured, this is a phone, that can make calls, and runs Android. Android 1.6. On a 320×240″ screen. But it has a camera! But, but, but… I almost keep having to pull out the specs of the device to justify its existence, to say, “Yes, this is worth purchasing!” But, like its big brother, the Xperia X10, also available from Rogers, the device falls short in many ways, and I ultimately can’t recommend it unless this is exactly what you want. A tiny Android phone for your tiny hands.

The biggest drawback of the device is the size. It’s so small, it doesn’t support a full on-screen QWERTY keyboard. Instead, it uses T9, the predictive system that hopes it knows what you’re going to say but often does not. While this works for short pieces, considering whom the phone is being marketed to — namely teenage girls — the device will not satisfy even the most timid texter. It’s just too slow to select from a drop-down list of words as they appear, switching between slick-looking menus to get from letters to numbers to symbols and back.

So if you can get over that main drawback, there is a lot to like about the X10 mini. It’s really snappy, especially for a 1.6-based device. The menus transition beautifully, and the well-known Sony Ericsson animations are all over the place. The Timescape/Mediascape interface is attractive, and the former plugs into all your Twitter/Facebook/SMS to give you a low-down on your latest activity. Mediascape then takes all your media and consolidates it into one place. Very useful.

The phone’s 5MP camera with LED flash seems like overkill for the size, but like all SE phones, the quality is outstanding. As a point-and-shoot camera, the phone is perfect, and because of its size, easy to have on you at all times. The home screen supports four buttons on the corners, so you can put a shortcut to the camera there and have it available whenever you need it.

The Marketplace works as expected: your previously-purchased apps will be available once you log into your Gmail account on the phone’s first boot. Some apps, because of the screen resolution, will either not work or perform poorly. I tried a number of my regularly-used apps from my Nexus One, and most are fine, with a bit of stuttering, but some, like Touiteur, barely function. Not sure if it’s a coding problem or merely because the app is intensive and the CPU cannot keep up, but be wary of purchasing apps for the device, as they may not perform as desired.

The phone, when using it as one, looks like you’re holding a bluetooth headset to your head. But the call quality is excellent, and for all its issues, the device performs as it should. There is a 4GB microSD card included in the box from Rogers, and two additional backplates to customize the look of the device (green! pink!). Again, look at whom it is being advertised and it will make perfect sense.

The Rogers Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 mini is available at Rogers for $29.99 on a three-year term.

Tweet