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.
Well, I am nearing the end of a contract and looking rather desperately for the successor to the Nokia 6500. To tell the truth I thought it would be more like an N Series phone when I ordered it and did not realise that was not S60. Still it has proven a reliable and rugged gadget and has logged 100′s of hours of gaming time thanks to the RBS Rugby 08 game installed on it. ( the 09 looks rather silly so far).
So, I look around and the Nokia 5800 shouts out, like imagine a touchcreen S60 – sounds great, oh and I am dying to get back to a standard 3.5mm jack plug as anything else really does not work the same – way too fiddly.
Nokia Announce :
“As Nokia’s first mass-market device with a touch screen, the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic turns a ‘user interface’ into a ‘human interface’ by truly putting people first. For example, we’ve introduced the Nokia Contacts Bar, which is like a digital RSS feed on your life,” said Harlow. “By adding the benefits of touch screen technology to S60, the world’s leading smartphone interface, Nokia is taking the familiar and giving it a human touch. We have used touch technology where it really adds value such as the Contacts Bar, Media Bar and clever shortcuts from the homescreen to menu items such as calendar, profiles and clock. ”
The phone has, as we now expect, everything , like every thing you can imagine from a mobile. Lay it on me.
Worth mentioning in retrospect that the Nokia N95 survived the fall into the toilet and total immersion.
Well this morning it happened, either carelessness or Mobile Suicide took place. The Nokia N95 leapt from safety to the bottom of the toilet bowl.
It was swiftly retrieved and stripped down and put out to dry.
Mobile phones seldom survive complete immersion and I will be expecting meltdown when I next try to fire it up.
Seems sad, and it is, that such a powerful and beautifully designed piece of kit should die.
bye bye baby bye bye
It has been replaced with the 6500 Slide for now.
