Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1 Smartphone

So, the Xperia X1. First of all, do not think of this as a phone - this is a pocket computer. As such, you will want to know the first three things everyone looks for in a computer, the CPU, the Qualcomm 7200 chipset running at 520 MHz, 128MB of RAM, and a 512MB flash drive, plus a 4GB microSD card supplied (up to 16GB can be bought at present, with 32GB on the way). To put that into context, my first Pentium-class PC, bought in 1999, was a PII-266MHz with 128MB of RAM and a 2GB harddrive. You can now carry a ten-year old home computer in your hand.

The first thing you'll notice when you open the box is the massive screen (800 x 640 pixels touch-capable TFT by the way) which is the largest available on a current smartphone handset (joint with HTC's Touch HD). Flip it over, and remove the back cover, and insert the battery and microSD card. The battery does seem massive, and a minor quibble here - you WILL need to remove the cover if you wish to hot-swap memory cards, but hot-swap you can!

Fire her up, and the screen is simply beautiful. Crisp and sharp, with great contrast. You may the brightness too low, as it auto-adjusts to suit ambient light condition, but you can always turn this mode off. The Standard Windows Live Screen starts by default, and this has your Windows Start Menu and (should you use the service) Windows Live Messenger, your 'inbox' of email notifications, SMS and MMS, your upcoming tasks/appointments (I don't know the difference either!) and (should you install it) your skype account. Yes, true skype - no fring for the X1!

There's simply not enough space for me to wax lyrical about all the features. I could go on about the GPS, and how I've used AmAze (free Sat-nav software) and google maps to get around in my car, and the GPS cycle computer to track my offroad two-wheeled expeditions and export to Google Earth as KMZ. I could tell you about the multiple connectivity options - high-speed 3G internet (HSDPA/HSUPA), UTMS (3G), EDGE (2.75G), GPRS (2.5G), GSM (2G), WLAN 802.11b/g (AKA Wi-Fi in UK), Bluetooth 2.1, and the USB cable (I can get my emails with the transmitter off if it's linked to my PC!) I could tell you how my phone has saved my boredom on trains with twitter and the BBC iPlayer. I can tell you about the 3.2 megapixel (2048x1536) stills camera, which also delivers 640x480 video at 30 fps. But no, I want to use my last 900 characters or so talk about the two killers for me - input methods and those panels.

First, inputting data. There are so many way to do this, you'll initially get lost, but trustme, they all have their place! Of course, firstly, there's the touch-screen, which is thumbable, but the X1 also comes with a stylus. The black box below the screen ain't just an 'OK' button - it's a mouse. slide your thumb around it to control the highlighted area on screen. For texting or writing emails, there's obviously the beautiful arc-slider full QWERTY keyboard, but there's also an on-screen keyboard and a three difference handwriting recognition styles.

And finally, the panels. These are brilliant, and a lovely interface addition. As standard are 2 SE panels, Virtual fish (change colour with various events/SMS etc), Google (not on O2) and MS Live, but you may also download extras, including facebook, iPhone style, youtube, dashwire to sync your contact and pictures to the internet, and even the HTC Touch 3D interface.

All-in-all, this is a fantastic phone - a true iPhone killer