By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla
How small can you go? Well Sony Ericsson's Xperia Mini Pro, which Rogers is offering the for $49.99 with a select 3 year plan, is the tiniest fully functioning Android Gingerbread smartphone with a slide out QWERTY keyboard.
The Xperia X10 Mini Pro copies a lot of the design cues from the much larger Xperia lines and has a similar, albeit diminutive look and feel to the larger smartphone. In terms of specs, the Xperia X10 Mini Pro boasts a 1GHz processor, 512MB of RAM, GPS, Wi-Fi, a 240x320 pixel TFT capacitive screen plus a 5 Megapixel camera that can shoot HD video
Out of the box, it becomes apparent how unbelievably small this phone is. Despite its small size, build quality is reasonably solid for an all-plastic device. Understated yet easy to carry (and easy to lose), the Xperia X10 Mini Pro sets the standard for how much functionality you can cram in a touch-screen Android phone.
Running the Gingerbread version of the Android 2.3 OS, Sony Ericsson has managed to make this tiny device useful even for more advanced smartphone users but it has also added a variety of enhancements that might appeal to some users. Personally, we’d like the pure Android OS without the extra widgets.
Our biggest worry about the Xperia X10 Mini Pro was that its reduced size may impact the Android OS experience but that does not seem to be the case with most apps.
Function and call quality are very similar to the larger Xperia X10, we were able to make calls without any problem and call quality was crisp and clear. The 5 Megapixel camera is easy to use and can capture so-so photos under well-lit conditions, like many phone cameras it will struggle with low-light situations so do use the included LED flash.
The Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini Pro could be the perfect travel phone for jet-setting users who want a local line in each country they visit provided it is unlocked.
Sony Ericsson has shown us what it can do with an entirely new form factor while maintaining a respectable set of features derived from its more complete smartphone line. The Xperia X10 is a landmark product, a showcase of miniaturization, industrial design and telecom wizardry that will long leave its imprint as one of the most unique Android smarphones brought to market. We really can’t see smartphones getting any smaller than this.
Rating: 4 out of 5