Nigeria Content Online

Just
before coming back to Nigeria, I shelled out £450 and bought Sony
Ericsson’s Xperia X10, and quote me, I think the iPhone has met its
match and Nokia has finally been booted out of the smart-phone market.

The Xperia X10i
from Sony Ericsson comes armed with a Qualcomm QSD8250 Snapdragon 1 GHz
processor, a stunning 8.1MP camera with face detection, powered by the
impressive Google Android OS and all the other usual suspects a smart
phone should have. There is also the huge 4” TFT capacitive scratch
resistant touch screen with DVD wide screen resolution, giving a decent
movie viewing experience.

Being the first
Android powered phone from Sony Ericsson, the designers took extra
effort to offer the users the best user experience possible. The phone
has the unique UX(User Xperience) platform, which incorporates the
Timescape and Mediascape interfaces, giving it an extra edge in the
competitive smart-phone market.

A 4-inch display
brings good image quality and features. The phone has excellent
contrast and is adjustable according to surrounding light, which is
among the display’s best features. The image remains clear, even under
direct sunlight.

By default, it
comes with Android OS version 1.6, but you can upgrade to the latest
version of the operating system. The difference isn’t that noticeable,
so it doesn’t diminish the experience of the lavish screen, which is
far better than screens on any past Sony Ericsson handsets. I should
know, I’m an Ericsson man.

Sensitive screen

The screen is very
sensitive; the reaction to finger touches is fast, but more
importantly, precise, which facilitates the use of virtual keyboard in
both the horizontal and the vertical position (full QWERTY keyboard
appears on the screen in both cases).

Similarly, browsing
through photos and contacts, web page scrolling, and other actions that
include moving the finger across the screen can be performed quickly
and accurately. The 1 GHz Snapdragon processor definitely brings
something to the table.

There are three
buttons below the screen. Pressing the left button activates the
standard context menu that offers the same choices on every Android
handset. A touch on the middle button always brings you back to the
home screen, while the right one is a back button. The top of the
handset contains the power button, a micro-USB port covered with a flap
and a standard 3.5 mm headphone jack.

This smartphone’s
first strong point is the way the designers synchronised the functions
of the operating system and the TimeScape user interface, allowing the
user view all actions, be it an email, a friend’s Facebook status, or a
picture, to be in a sequential format. Sony Ericsson used the
adaptability of Android OS and created the Timescape/Mediascape user
interface. The UI focuses on Internet communication and multimedia
content stored in the phone. Timescape is an application that manages
many types of communication: calls, text messages, e-mails, and
Facebook and Twitter, among other social media outlets.

Complete communication history

All the messages
are lined up in reverse chronological order when Timescape is
activated, and shows a photo of the person who you communicated with.
They can be filtered according to the type of communication and every
one of them, along with the photo, has an icon with the infinity sign
that shows a complete communication history with that person.

Mediascape
functions similarly, but with photos, videos and MP3s organised in
reverse chronological order; files most recently used or added are
first on the list.

With the
introduction of more affordable Internet options in the Nigerian
market, I believe this smart-phone will be able to rival its high-end
Blackberry and Apple counterparts because of the rich content on offer
in the Android ‘apps’ market, which has over 100,000 apps, giving users
a wider variety than what currently exists.

The Xperia X10 has
a 1500 mAh Li-Poly battery, which gives about two days of normal use.
Heavy use of Wi-Fi, multimedia and GPS functionalities drastically
reduces the battery; the handset, under those conditions, will have to
be charged daily.

On the price side,
it comes a little cheaper than the iconic but pricey Apple iPhone, with
very similar functionality, giving users a good option.