The xPeria X10i recently was provided a most welcome update to Android 2.3.3 (Gingerbread). Having run for almost a year previously on Android 1.6 this was almost unexpected in its swiftness of delivery.
As with any updates there is a worry about losing data. I backed up most apps which I like to SD card using Astro and did a few additional syncs with the various programs which whack data onto the cloud on my behalf. I was a bit unsure about the way in which contacts were prioritised with gmail but a quick check using the laptop confirmed that recent additions had made it onto Google’s cloud system so all appeared happy.
Bookmarks are not so important so I left that. I ran the update using Sony Ericsson PC Suite and all went superbly. The new software gave the phone a hugely improved user experience, all appeared to run more smoothly and the homescreen was much better. Mediascape had gone and timescape was quickly removed from the display.
It was nice to have pinch and zoom multitouch as I had read a year ago that the xperia hardware would not support multitouch so I had not really seen anyway in which they could add such a feature, still it works.
I was pleased to add my most used programs into folders on the homescreen, in fact I was so efficient that I did not really need more than 2 (of the five).
I have stopped searching for home screen mods now it looks so nice, I did find beautiful widget which gives an HTC Sense type digital clock along with weather on the homescreen, very nice. All in all it was a success. The final test was installing copilot ( my favourite Sat Nav for Android) – this worked a treat. It is interesting that the latest Android update included Facebook as standard though I had to actively search and install Google Plus.
OK, I now have 2 smartphones that I dont like. For one I have the iphone – this is a beautiful and well crafted piece of technology for sure – easy to use and well supported by the apps. I also own a Sony Ericssson xPeria x10 which has the following features :
- Awful Interface – no dual touch support, bad background, dire homescreen
- Terrible Battery Life – like less than 8 hours
- Horrendous Features – stupid Media and Timescape Apps
- Obsolete OS – it is still running Android 1.6
I bought this Android Powered device as I thought that it would be an improvement on the HTC Hero which I loved and lost, but I had no idea that it was HTC’s GUI which had elevated Android to such a level of beauty.
As for the iphone – you can’t drag and drop files onto it, you can’t really tweak it, bash it, root it, love it………and what is more, they really are simple devices – loved my those that swore they would never move away from Nokia by the large and those that believe that it instills some sort of chic ambience on to them – the iphone is the new burberry on the high street – it is the new chav badge and I hate myself for owning one – I am always trying to give it away. its saving grace is most likely that its touch typing guessworkl engine seems the best I have used so emails fly out….
Give me HTC and Android any day of the week
Well, I have contacted HTC on numerous occasions of late offering to swap my iphone for an Android phone and finally they have replied….
If they do, I will change my name to Android most likely and even wear their TShirts.
Well I was recommended the HTC Hero by a lovely Mel at Orange upgrades ( over the Samsung HD Omnia ) and I am forever in her debt.
The Android powereed phone is like a natural progression into the area of cloud computing. I had already made forays into this via extensive usage of Google Apps and the HTC Hero just took it to a new level – cloud computing on the move.
The best thing you can say about a new gadget it that it is intuitive – and it is to the max!
Touchscreen is a joy and far more user friendly than the Omnia i900′s fiddly stylus dictated function.
What HTC have delivered here is a beatiful package which does credit to the Android’s ease of use.
Apps install simply and the market has thousands of useful packages.
Everyone keeps going on about the iphone but in reality this is only because it is their only experience of a high end smartphone, if any of them had owned a Palm Treo 600 some 8 years ago they would not be so amazed. God I get bored with iphones.
The camera is a bit dodge though.
