It comes in a small package but has power to spare. Lovely little phone, assuming you can keep up with it. The Sony Ericsson Xperia mini is a full-fledged smartphone and you’ll need to be at ease with its multiple identities. But it’s not moping around wondering “Who will I be today?” With a friendly face like this, all the horsepower seems so much easier to handle.
Many contemporary phones choose not to get obsessed with size. The Sony Ericsson Xperia mini is – but it works the other way around. Let’s just say it doesn’t want to get into the Freudian end of things. Big phones don’t seem to have the ambiguous symbolism of big cars. Maybe they never will. But the Sony Ericsson Xperia mini likes to be on the safe side obviously.
Whatever. The Sony Ericsson Xperia mini doesn’t need a shrink. Not beyond this point anyway. And we’d better stop analyzing and get busy reviewing it. Let's take a look at the specs first.
MAIN FEATURES
- Quad-band GSM /GPRS/EDGE support
- 7.2 Mbps HSDPA and 5.76 Mbps HSUPA
- 3" 16M-color capacitive LED-backlit LCD touchscreen of HVGA resolution (320 x 480), Sony Mobile BRAVIA engine
- Android OS v2.3 Gingerbread
- 1 GHz Scorpion CPU, Adreno 205 GPU, Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8255 chipset
- 512 MB RAM
- 5 MP autofocus camera, LED flash, geotagging
- 720p video @ 30fps, continuous autofocus
- Wi-Fi b/g/n and DLNA
- GPS with A-GPS
- microSD slot (32GB supported, 2GB card included)
- Accelerometer and proximity sensor
- Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
- Stereo FM radio with RDS
- microUSB port (charging) and stereo Bluetooth v2.1
- Voice dialing
- Adobe Flash 10.3 support
- User-accessible battery, Li-Ion 1200 mAh
DRAWBACKS
- No smart dialing
- No front-facing camera
- Loudspeaker performance is a mixed-bag
- No DivX/XviD support
- Typing a bit tricky on the smallish screen
- Doubtful video recording quality
Basically, the Xperia mini is a miniature version of the Neo or the Arc, and all the high-end ingredients that make up the new Xperia lineup are there. The mini has the same, albeit smaller, Reality display, the same processing power and even the same Android version as its elders.
A tad taller than the original X10 mini, the Xperia mini stands at 88 x 52 x 16 mm. Basically, it's the same chubby little handset. Minor touches to the exterior surprisingly make a lot of difference, all in the sequel's favor. The upgrades have added a bit of heft here too: the Xperia mini tips the scales at 99g. We wouldn't call it heavier, rather more solid. We don’t mind at all.
The Sony Ericsson Xperia mini has the same 3” HVGA touchscreen as the mini pro. It's a reduced version of the Reality display used in the Arc and the Neo, a LED-backlit LCD unit enhanced by Sony’s proprietary Bravia Mobile Engine. The display produces really nice colors. Contrast is good but the viewing angles are limited – colors get quickly washed out. The excellent outdoor performance is a major point in favor though. We were impressed with the level of sunlight legibility. Good job, Sony Ericsson!
The 1200mAh battery is quoted at 320 hours of standby and 4 and a half hours of talk time in a 3G network. In reality, we had the Xperia mini on stand-by for about three days, connected to a Wi-Fi network most of the time. When we really pushed it hard though, it barely managed a whole day. It was always connected to both the 3G and Wi-Fi networks, we did heavy browsing, music and video playback, and the usual benchmarks.
The Sony Ericsson Xperia mini is a well-built phone with fresh, modern looks and it is a pleasure to handle. It's an easy phone to like, neat and simple, though not feeling cheap. On the contrary, the good build and quality finish will be much appreciated. The screen is a massive improvement over the original. Size is what you should be careful about: it's absolutely fine for navigating the interface. It’s just the on-screen keyboard that's not the most comfortable. Overall though, you should be able to live with it. After all, it's size that makes the phone unique, bordering on premium.
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