Sony Ericsson Xperia X1

>> Bonnie Cha: Hi, this is Bonnie Cha, Senior Editor at CNET.com and today we have your first look at the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1. The Xperia X1 is Sony Ericsson's first Windows Mobile smartphone, but the bigger story here is the interactive panel interface. Basically you just press this X1 panel button here and you're given a choice of panels. There's one like a traditional today screen, a multi-media one, a Google theme page and this 3-D fish panel. Depending on whether you're at work or at play, you can pick whichever panel you want to fit your task for the day. And the whole idea behind it is that it gives users better access to applications they want and allow them to customize their device. It's a neat idea but I found that I didn't really use more than about 3 panels a day. The rest of the phone's design is really nice. It has a high quality construction and for a phone that has a slide out keyboard, it's really compact. To access the keyboard, you just slide the screen to the right and you'll see that it forms a little arc which makes it more comfortable to hold and view the screen when typing. The buttons are a little bit small but there's good spacing in between them so it didn't give us too many problems. What I did have a problem with is the navigation controls below the display. They're pretty tiny and stiff to press so again it gave me some problems. Behind the panel interface is just another Windows Mobile smartphone. And you get the full Office Suite and exchange support. The X1 also has Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS and 3-D, but it only supports AT&T's 3-D bands though and not T-Mobile's. There's some nice multi-media features. You get a 3.2 mega-pixel camera. It takes decent photos and you can of course listen to music and video. There's also support for Podcast and FM radio. Overall it's a well stocked smartphone, it has good performance but the big disappointment is the X1 is not going to be picked up by [inaudible] carrier for now and so the unlocked price is ridiculous. The phone costs 800 dollars and even though the panel interface is cool, I just don't think it's worth all that money. So, unless you've got money to burn I can't really imagine spending 800 dollars on this phone. I'm Bonnie Cha. This has been your first look at the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1.