How would you change Sony Ericsson's XPERIA X1?

Sony Ericsson's XPERIA X1 hasn't been the easiest handset to procure here on US soil, despite being "available" since Black Friday. Still, we know hardcore HTC / SE fanatics have figured out a way to get their palms in touch with the X1a (or X1i for international users). You already heard our spill on the handset, but now we're interested in finding out how you'd tweak things if given the all-important keys to the design lab. Would you keep everything the same and just add Android? Would you rework the keyboard? Swap out the touchscreen with a capacitive replacement? Make it available only in turquoise and lime? It's a pretty safe bet that this isn't the last Xx smartphone you'll see from SE, so your thoughts on the matter may actually prove beneficial in time. And... go!

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 28th 2008 6:09AM]

No Microsoft Software on it !!

[Wevenhuis Posted Dec 28th 2008 9:05AM]

-capacative and resistive touch
-multitouch
-larger screensize (equivalent to htv touch HD)
-liberal options to add third party software, also from other OS's.
-better touch software
-better touch interface (e.g. bigger buttons). All smartphones have the problem that the buttons and scroll bars are too small for the fingers.
-longer battery life.
-If camera is added, Carl Zeiss Lens with better autofocus for sharper pictures. If this is solved, it doesn't matter if the camera is 2, 3, 5, or 8 megapixels.

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 2nd 2009 3:53PM]

Andriod, ;) it's really slow with windows

[breaklaw Posted Dec 28th 2008 1:48PM]

1. Make the screen flush. they black metal design is nice but the recess collects dust a lot of dust even though it does protect the screen a bit.
2. The optical mouse thing is very cool but it's too small and kind of a pain to scroll with
3. The layout of the keyboard is excellent, one of the best layouts I've used. The keyboard isn't great though. I know it's kept sper thin to keep the phone thin so it's kind of hard to complain about it.
4. The panels thing was a good idea but in usage it's not really worth it. It's too slow to switch to a new panel. I just map one of the front keys to another launcher and use that.
5. The front softkey hardkeys are too thin. It looks good but it doesn't work that great.

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 28th 2008 2:23PM]

MAKE IT CHEAPER $$$

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 28th 2008 4:15PM]

It shouldn't have any buttons on the face of the device...

[Judd Posted Dec 28th 2008 4:25PM]

accelerometer and tilting screen

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 28th 2008 8:24PM]

This is by far the best WiMo iteration by any PPC handset maker. It is polished, exudes quality and has performance enhancements to boot. However it is far from perfect, and whilst PDA Phone Utopia can range from the whimsical to the esoteric, I would like to try to give recommendations that is more broad based and will benefit the greater base of PPC users ( I hope... )


1. Window Mobile, whichever version, is the first and biggest bug bear when it comes to general interaction with the phone. SPB Mobile Shell may have alleviated some of the pain of using WM but at some point, users still have to dig in underneath and contend with the smaller than small icons, non-finger friendly menus, scrollers and pop-ups.
Suggestion- whichever OS you use Sony Ericsson, please make sure it is truly finger (thumb) friendly


2. Funky Double-X crossed designed keys but is it really useful? Nah... Has anyone tried using the Scroll up button above the Optical keypad? What's with the omission of "Start Menu" key or "OK" key (on the front)
Suggestion- Have normal, decent sized keys. And if you want to stick to this configuration, for God's sake, please expand the functionality of the "Button" app in Settings and let us customize a lot more than just Left & Right key...


3. An office orientated, high end performance device like Xperia needs a Wheel Scroller on the side.


4. The Slide out Keypad is not the best around in terms of ease of use given the smaller size to compensate for the form factor constraints. However. whilst I can live with the size, I would very much prefer to also see "Up, Down, Left & Right" Scroll keys, and the 2 dedicated hardware keys to correspond to the Left & Right Soft keys. Mixing Optical gestures with keypad gestures is just cumbersome.


These are just some of my 2 cents worth.

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 29th 2008 4:03PM]

1) Android
2) 5D jog dial. Loved this on the P-series. Makes for great one-handed use
3) Minimum of 4GB on board. Bonus points for a 32GB or greater sku
4) good 5mp+ camera with xenon (still) and LED (video) with physical lens cover
5) Increase screen size a 3.2-3.5" 16:9 diagonal screen and maintain high resolution
6) accelerometer
7) removable hardware flip (pleases those who want a physical numpad, who leave it on, and those who don't, who take it off).
8) same form factor (sliding qwerty), though slightly larger (for larger screen in #5) and maybe add another row to the keyboard
9) allow memory stick duo as well as microSD
10) quad band GSM with 3G (quint band would be nice).

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 29th 2008 9:03PM]

For one they can lower the d@mn price. I was psych'd to buy this phone and waited from the time it was announced in rumor form until it came out. Didn't even go look at a iPhone waiting for this. Then after all this time the bomb drops "$800". I mean come on, this isn't worth $800 even if its what Sony calls a "premium" device. Even if I make a comfortable living, I'm not going to pay $800 for a phone and I don't care if its unlocked. Do people really switch carriers that much? Then I have to buy insurance for that type of investment if lost or stolen. It has a small screen and keyboard even if high resolution, it doesn't have nearly as many apps or can ever hope to have as many as the iPhone and this tiles thing doesn't seem to appealing. The one person who thinks its so cool is the lead designer, well "it isn't that cool". A bunch of square blocks on the screen. Yes I understand each is a "desktop" but really with so few apps, how may desktops do you need? Slow CPU, to little memory, this thing is premium only for its $5 exterior metal casing that they charge you $500 for and the phone itself is a $300 phone. I really am missing the innovation of the phone itself. A 3.2 MP camera at launch when 5 and 8 MP are here? If it has a 12MP camera at least you could claim that is the reason for the premium price and MAYBE that would have pushed me to buy, but you get what? "Tiles". Woohoo. Because Sony has become so high on the hog and charging premium for their products and delivering middle tier products, I didn't buy a Sony LCD when I upgraded my CRT and now because of the Xperia lauch price I went out and just got a iPhone for 1/4 the price of what I would have had to pay for the Sony Xperia.

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 19th 2009 7:38PM]

Absolutely Adroid, and touch with Optical Joystick(Touch couldn't work well alone, I prefer the optical
joystick. I can control menu using only my finger gesture. It's so fun and useful function. Isn't it?)