Sony Ericsson's X1 reviewed

[slitchfield]

OK, so the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 isn't Symbian OS-based, but it's a form factor that's got a lot of people interesed from all corners of the smartphone world. And, as it's Friday, here's a little off-topic link to WMexperts' initial review of the X1 prototype. Plenty of good information here, plus some good comments and extra Q&A at the end too. (via IntoMobile)

Read on in the full article.

[bartmanekul]

Very, very nice. Situp and take notice Nokia.

[jah]

By the end of year SE will have at least 4 touch screen devices covering a number of market segments. And how many will Nokia have, probably just 1!

[XpIqX]

Oh, yes. Poor Nokia and it's 39% of the global market. you wanna bet that it only takes 1 touch screen phone for Nokia to outsell SE ?

[ares]

doubt it will outsell x1 in the US though the hype machine is strong on this one, almost iphone like, something no symbian device ever managed to do, both from SE or Nokia...

[XpIqX]

Originally Posted by ares

doubt it will outsell x1 in the US though the hype machine is strong on this one, almost iphone like, something no symbian device ever managed to do, both from SE or Nokia...

And that's clearly what SE is hoping for by producing this non symbian smartphone, or I'd like to think so, I like the idea of what Uiq may become, I'd hate to see it fade.

[krisse]

None of the current touch screen models will have much effect on market share because the vast majority of phone sales are for budget models.

It's the first budget touchscreen that we ought to be watching for, but absolutely no one seems to want to make one.

Things like GPS on the other hand ARE starting to creep into ever-cheaper models, and that will probably bring about a GPS revolution before we see a touchscreen revolution.

[XpIqX]

Originally Posted by krisse

None of the current touch screen models will have much effect on market share because the vast majority of phone sales are for budget models.

It's the first budget touchscreen that we ought to be watching for, but absolutely no one seems to want to make one.

Things like GPS on the other hand ARE starting to creep into ever-cheaper models, and that will probably bring about a GPS revolution before we see a touchscreen revolution.

I couldn't agree more, not to mention that the gps has far more practical usage for most people than touch screen does, having said that, the smartphone market share is ready to go touch screen I think.

[jah]

@XpIqX

well I have a Nokia 7710 (and N95, E90, E51, 9500, ETC) so I know the opportunity Nokia missed by not following-up on the 7710

[XpIqX]

Originally Posted by jah

@XpIqX

well I have a Nokia 7710 (and N95, E90, E51, 9500, ETC) so I know the opportunity Nokia missed by not following-up on the 7710

Yes, i had one too. I just never understood why Nokia was so stupid to not go through with that platform, after all, it was very easy to make it stylus free and faster, they would have had a complete platform by now along with S60, but no, Nokia wanted to go the S60 way.

[krisse]

having said that, the smartphone market share is ready to go touch screen I think.

It depends what you mean by smartphone market.

The 6120 Classic has sold rather well, but are people buying it as a smartphone, or just as a normal phone with some rather nice extra features?

It may be that normal phones and smartphones gradually merge into one device market with a huge range of form factors and retail prices.

[XpIqX]

Originally Posted by krisse

It depends what you mean by smartphone market.

The 6120 Classic has sold rather well, but are people buying it as a smartphone, or just as a normal phone with some rather nice extra features?

It may be that normal phones and smartphones gradually merge into one device market with a huge range of form factors and retail prices.

You're right, I should have been more specific. What I meant by saying market was the people looking for a smartphone and knowing what that means. A very specific target audience that is.

When are we going to see an update to the E90? It desperately needs a faster camera!!

Why can't Canon stick a phone with Firefox and Linux into one of its cameras?

After the 9500 Nokia released the 9300. Is there going to be a similar evolution with the E90? I don't care if it's as big as the Eee PC but we need a total convergence device that runs Linux that has a camera as fast as a standalone camera.

Is that an Eee PC in your pocket or are you just running quad-core Maemo on 4 N810s?

[Rafe]

How big touch will be remains to be seen in my opinion.

It will have more traction in smartphone / open software platform phones. However I think it may only represent a limited amount - I think non touch will remain the majority. (Maybe 25% touch and it take a while to get there... moreover most of those will be dual usage - i.e. not just touch - having a keyboard or softkeys). Pure touchscreen phones will only ever be around 5% in my opinion.

[bills2north]

SE is very strange. Sometimes they make s60 phones and sometimes not.
Same with Motorola. Sometimes they do and other times they don´t.

In the long run applying different os under the same brand name confuses people as a whole. Buying an SE is far more complicated than choosing between an s40 or s60 os from Nokia.

The sad conclusion is that a few really good phones don´t get discovered by consumers or commercial programers. That in turn keeps companies from developing cheaper platforms based on hightech breakthroughs which would be for the masses down the line. So SE and Motorola starve themselves to death.

It´s also this strength that keeps Nokia ahead of the pack. Not only that Nokia makes the ultimate phone wíth the ultimate os. They´re just producing tons of different looking phones which do basically all the same thing. Work.