The Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 is finally ready for release in Nov.28. we’ve seen the release of a number of highly anticipated smartphones, including the RIM BlackBerry Bold and the T-Mobile G1, and now we have the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1. First announced at GSMA 2008 in February, the Xperia X1 made headlines for being the company’s first Windows Mobile device and for its interactive panel interface.

Sony Ericsson Xperia X1

Sony Ericsson Xperia X1

The Xperia X1 panel interface will allow you to choose what kind of Xperia experience that you want; you will then start to use the QWERTY keyboard, which is a dream to use. The new cell phone runs on the Windows Mobile platform.

Xperia X1 is a horizontal slider, and when closed the front of the phone features a three-inch touchscreen (with a whopping 800 x 480 pixel resolution) with a small collection of buttons beneath it. Of special note is the center action button, which also works as a tiny touchpad in many applications while you drag your fingertip around on it.

Other features include a nice 3.2 megapixel camera (though it’s dog slow to focus) and a microSD slot (no Memory Stick for this bad boy), which is located under the battery panel cover. The phone supports 3G, but only if you use an AT&T SIM card, but it also has Wi-Fi built in to pick up the slack no matter what network you’re on. GPS (and Google Maps) are also in the box. I haven’t done a full battery drain test on the handset, but Sony rates it for six hours. Judging by experience and the size of the battery, that seems like a fair guess.

The X1 also has some general performance problems: Apps load so slowly that I often found myself clicking a button twice, which would then inadvertently undo what I was trying to do while I waited for the phone to catch up. Everything is kind of pokey, even the web browser. Whether it’s a slow CPU or all those layers of OS that slows the Xperia down I don’t know, but it’s bothersome to the point of frustration.

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