Review: Sony Ericsson Xperia X10
Screen
The X10 has a four-inch display that packs in 854 x 480 pixels. That puts it right smack in the middle of the battle between devices such as the EVO 4G, Vibrant, and Droid X. Pixel density is good and most anything you look at on the screen will appear free of rough pixel edges. I did have some trouble with the auto-brightness function. Out of the box, the X10's settings have the auto-brightness function on. No matter where I took the X10, the screen remained far too dim. For example, I used it next to a window during daylight and had trouble seeing anything on the display. When I moved further into the a dark corner in the room, the display didn't adjust, and it was still too dim to really see. I gave up and turned the automatic adjustments off. When set to full brightness, the X10's display dazzles. Outside, in full sunlight, it is less readable, but you can control that to some degree by altering the background wallpaper color.
Signal
The X10 easily found AT&T's 3G network. Most of the time it maintained about three bars. In side-by-side tests with other AT&T devices, it generally reflected the same number of bars as the other device. As far as real-world performance is concerned, the X10 didn't drop any calls during my tests. I did miss a few text messages — or at least they weren't delivered immediately. There was about a 15-minute lapse between when text messages were sent and then received with the X10 on several occasions. Data speeds were consistently in the 1.4Mbps range, which is average Not blazing fast, but not slow-pokey, either.
Sound
The X10's ringer is loud enough, I suppose, though it falls short of the obnoxiously loud, eardrum-rupturing volume that I prefer. You'll be able to hear it just fine if it's in the same room with you. If it is in a different room and you have a noisy house, you might miss a call. The same goes for in the car. Ditto for the SMS and other alerts. As far as the earpiece goes, the volume was fine. It was easy to hear conversations, even in moderately noisy places. Noise and interference during calls were rare, and not conversation-halting in nature. There was a slight muffled sound to conversations, but otherwise they were good. Those with whom I spoke reported no troubles on their end. As for the speakerphone, the call quality issues persisted, but volume was sufficient for most home or small office settings.
Battery
Battery life for the X10 was on par with other handsets of this nature. It easily lasted from 7AM to 11PM, with plenty of juice left over to get to lunch the next day. Keeping it synced to multiple email, Facebook and Twitter accounts didn't appear to phase the battery much. Using Wi-Fi did put a small dent in battery life, as did use of the Bluetooth radio. Even with Wi-Fi turned on, the X10 made it through a whole day. If you're going away for the weekend, however, I'd pack a charger.
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Sony Ericsson Xperia X10
