I have had the opportunity to test Sony Ericsson’s forthcoming mobile phone Xperia X1 for a couple of days. Here’s my first views on this phone. 

The first thing that strikes me when I got is was how small it was, Sure I had that it was small. But most often thats just talk. But in this case it was really true. If you look at what this phone contains, a full QWERT keyboard and still it is not greater than, for example the Sony Ericsson K850 or Nokia N82. 

I have previously questioned the use of a qwerty keyboard & thought it was unnecessary and, above all very inflexible. But the more I used the X1, the more I liked to have access to the keyboard. 

But what separates this phone compared with many others is that there are so many navigation options, you can use the keyboard to lots of things but then you have a touch screen and an optical mouse that makes you really easy to navigate quickly in the phone. You simply choose the approach that is best for the job you are doing in the phone. Moreover the phone feels very solid and well built. 

Looking at the content we find Windows Mobile, an operating system that I’m not quite fond of and this is not because I am an “apple fan boy” (okay maybe a little). But the biggest reason is that I have always thought it to be very messy and small, hard to navigate simply. Fortunately, Sony Ericsson’s solved this largely with their appearance as the so called X panel. Which means that you can easily navigate between a number of panels or desktops, which then contains different things. For example a desktop that is made for browsing, one that is made for listening to music and so on. 

The only disadvantages I can think of is maybe the format, if you have a big hands. Then it can possibly be a little difficult to use the keyboard, but I’m not sure. Then there is Windows Mobile, most often you only navigate through the X panels. But sometimes you encounter Windows in the background and then it just doesn’t look as fresh. But despite this, it is absolutely thumbs up for this phone.