In this article I take a look at what the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 teaches us about high-end smartphones and MIDs. Does convergence work on the X10? What corners were cut to make it a viable pocketable smartphone product. I also link to my unboxing and first impressions, including potential showstoppers!

Yes, I’m calling this a UMPC. Why? Because it is! It has closer ties to everything that we’ve done over the past four years on UMPCPortal than any social and entertainment ARM-based ‘pad.’ It’s built with UMPC components (Z530 as used in nearly all Windows-based Ultra-Mobile PC’s ) and it runs Windows 7. I won’t be subscribing to the iPad comparisons just because it’s got an 8.9” screen; that would be too simple and would miss the point. As for it being a ‘netbook without a keyboard’ well, it’s closer but still somewhat misleading.

Ah… the iPhone. Some love it, some hate it, but I think most can agree that it has greatly changed the mobile landscape. The original iPhone 3G was the first phone that I ever bought that required a data plan on my cell phone contract. I’ve since upgraded to the iPhone 3GS for the extra speed and RAM, and in general, I’ve really enjoyed using the phone. The sad truth, however, is that the iPhone would suck if it weren’t for jailbreaking. Jailbreaking, has become the de-facto term for describing […]

Ah… the iPhone. Some love it, some hate it, but I think most can agree that it has greatly changed the mobile landscape. The original iPhone 3G was the first phone that I ever bought that required a data plan on my cell phone contract. I’ve since upgraded to the iPhone 3GS for the extra speed and RAM, and in general, I’ve really enjoyed using the phone. The sad truth, however, is that the iPhone would suck if it weren’t for jailbreaking. Jailbreaking, has become the de-facto term for describing […]

Several of the latest mobile operating systems have interfaces that are based on a very bothersome paradigm: the widget-oriented home screen. I really wish the people making the high level design/UI choices could step away from this awful interface concept and think outside the box to some degree (maybe look into what the First Else is doing?). Now, I’m not an interface designer, but I am someone who has used plenty of these devices and at very least, I can tell you why I hate widget-based home screens on mobile […]

Engadget has apparently received a leaked internal Dell announcement, as well as a few images of more upcoming devices in the Dell ‘Mini’ family. We knew that Dell was planning more devices than just the Dell Mini 5 [product page], and now we’re getting our first look at the rest of the family which includes 7” and 10” slates. I wouldn’t be one bit surprised if these are renders of the same device. We’ll likely see some changes before they make their way to the market. No specs have been […]

Engadget has apparently received a leaked internal Dell announcement, as well as a few images of more upcoming devices in the Dell ‘Mini’ family. We knew that Dell was planning more devices than just the Dell Mini 5 [product page], and now we’re getting our first look at the rest of the family which includes 7 inch and 10 inch slates. I wouldn’t be one bit surprised if these are renders of the same device. We’ll likely see some changes before they make their way to the market. No specs […]

Update: Live session over. Thanks for all that joined-in. Unboxing, open review video and first impressions will be up at my xperia sub-blog. Yup. Heads-up because Chippy just bought his first ever Android phone! I’ll be unboxing it this evening. Check out the details at a new sub-blog I’ve started just to track my experiences on the Xperia X10. We’ll have JKK of JKKmobile with his 2.1 Droid and i’ll have the Archos 5 Andoid tablet to test against. Hope to see you later. I Bought An Xperia X10, Started […]