The World’s 4th and tumbling to the 5th mobile phone maker, Sony Ericsson, seems to be riding on the worldwide excitement generated by its very first Android smartphone announced last November, the XPERIA X10. It still hasn’t hit the markets and we hear it will up for grabs in April under a Vodafone UK contract, but at the recent 2010 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the struggling company released a couple of inferior derivatives.

One of them, the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 Mini looks like a hammered down dwarf version with the same capacitive touchscreen but with a minimized body that could have accommodated a more respectable 3-inch display, but instead is just a 2.

5 incher.

Looking at the data sheet, it’s a really an X10 junior with a rather disappointing set of features when compared to big daddy, but it’s a competent smartphone on its own that could deliver good value if priced half of what the X10 will fetch when it reaches the markets.

With a handy 83 x 50 x 16mm touchscreen monoblock body weighing just 88 g, it can fill in the market void for a small inconspicuous handset where the X10 is a louder and more head-turning one. The Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 Mini is definitely pitched to the younger crowd or even the kids of parents who would be getting the X10.

It will come in six body colors of – black, pearl white, silver, red, lime and pink.

At A Glance

The Mini uses a less powerful 600 MHz Qualcomm MSM7227 processor clocked at 600 MHz to run the same Android 1.6 OS with the Rachel UX (User eXperience) user interface the X10 has.
It’s a quad band GSM/GPRS/EDGE on 2G and a dual band UMTS/HSDAP/HSUPA on 3G. A WiFi 802.11b/g, Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP and microUSB 2.0 support the local data connectivity options. There’s also a built-in A-GPS receiver with Google Maps for SatNav functionality.

Its 2.5-inch display is a TFT capacitive touchscreen with QVGA resolution and 16 million color depth with a scratch resistance cover. Auto rotate viewing comes from its gravity accelerometer.
There’s a 5 megapixel autofocus camera with face/smile detection, LED Flash, face/smile detection and geo tagging from its a-GPS. Video recording details have not been disclosed in the press kit except to say it comes with a video light though it is doubtful it’s anywhere the WVGA 30fps capability of the X10.

Multimedia is served with the usual Sony Ericsson media players for the popular audio and video file codecs with TrackID music recognition, stereo FM with RDS and a 3.5mm headphone jack as well as wireless A2DP stereo earphone listening.
Its internal memory is a decent 128MB but you still get microSD expandability of up to 16 GB and a free 2 GB microSD card included in the retail kit.

Its lithium polymer battery when charged to the max powers the handset for up to 4 hours of talk time and 285 hours of standby time.

To find out more about the Xperia X10 Mini pay a visit to moby1. They compare the best deals for the Xperia X10 Mini and lots of other phones.

When consumers are shopping for a cell phone, how much does price have a play in features and quality? Is it just the name or the fact that the cell phone has just come out that makes it so expensive? Many people have questions about whether buying a cheaper cell phone is somehow going to give them trouble. There are several high priced cell phones and cheap ones and the comparison between the two is interesting.

The Samsung Gravity 2 is on the higher priced side. It is a cute phone with a side slider full keyboard for comfortable texting.

It comes equipped with a 2MP camera and it is it Blue-tooth ready. With a built in music player and a micro SC slot for added memory options, this phone gives a lot to whomever is buying it.

The Blackberry Bold 9700 is a nice looking phone with a bright red screen. It has a touch pad navigator to help you speed through the phones menu system. A 3.2 MP camera is a nice touch and so is the Wi-Fi and GPS system. This phone also has a microSDTM slot that can be equipped to hold up to 32GB of upgradable memory.

The HTC Maple is a great looking phone as well. It has a full keyboard and comes with Windows Mobile 6.1. It also features a 2 MP camera, GPS and Wi-Fi.

On the cheaper side of cell phones, there is the LG 160. This phone is pretty small and easy to fit in the hand. It has blue-tooth and two way speaker options. This phone also comes with the internet and it is downloadable for applications and more. This phone appears to give you allot for the price.

Samsung m230 is another sporty looking phone.

It is enabled to give Blue-tooth and the internet. It also features a 2 way speakerphone. It is also clever enough to sit in the palm of your hand comfortably.

The LG Rumour is a phone that is loaded with features. It comes with a 1.3 MP camera and camcorder. It has a full keyboard and a microSDTM slot for adding memory cards. With a Blue-tooth and a MP3 player you will be sure to feel like you have a more expensive phone.

The comparison between cell phones and their prices might have something to do with look.

The look of the more pricey models is more trendy, stylish and popular looking. They have more of a box shaped look with big interface. The multi-coloured faces somehow make the phones look more glamorous if that is what you are into.

For someone who doesn’t mind what a phone looks like, or for those where it doesn’t matter how trendy the phone is, going cheaper might be fine. The quality of the phone might be better with a more expensive one, where it might last longer and have better sound quality.

But for anyone who just simply wants a phone that looks decent and has similar features then going for a cheaper one is an alternate option.

Some cell phone distributors will offer cell phone plans that include the phone. That means that you pay for some of the phone or nothing at all, and sign on for a plan with the cell phone provider. It is ideal for anyone who wants an expensive phone and who knows that a locked two or three year plan is fine with them. The only downside is that you have to lock into a contract, which sometimes people tend to regret somewhere down the road.

Roberto Sedycias works as IT consultant for Polomercantil

One of the slimmest and arguably the smallest touchscreen smartphone on the plant was unveiled by LG Electronics just before the 2010 Mobile World Congress early February and should be out starting March in Europe, April in the UK and progressively in other markets thereafter.

This is the LG Mini GD880, sporting the simplest monolithic lines on an all-aluminum body measuring just 102 x 47.6 x 10.6 mm and weigh a very pocket-friendly 99 grams. What is remarkable about it is a 3.2-inch is display that almost bleeds to the side edges, wasting no space with a very narrow bezel framing, leaving just enough for a secondary VGA camera at the top and bottom space to balance it.

It’s interesting to hear Dr. Skott Ahn, President and CEO of LG Electronics Mobile Communications, talk about it as product of consumer research on what they want on a smartphone and declares “We developed the LG Mini in response to specific requests from actual consumers who were unhappy with current full touchscreen phones that are too bulky, too clunky and too expensive.” That statement epitomizes what the LG Mini is – compact in size and prize (as LG promised it would be) but a look at its spec sheet reveals these laudable traits are deceptive as there’s nothing compact or mini about its feature set.

At a Glance and Up Close

Firstly, the LG Mini comes with what LG calls its first ever implementation of the Air Sync on its smartphones. The feature allows continuous over-the-air data synching between the handset and you desktop or laptop PC to update media content on both devices anytime they are close. LG is silent on the technology but this could be an application of the DLNA feature of its WiFi connectivity. In addition, the handset draws out the last 100 websites you’ve visited on your PC every time regardless of search results.

The LG Mini runs its own OS with the famous S-Class UI that LG smartphones have become noted for. It is also a socially-aware smartphone with SNS apps like the Social Network Contact listing all your online friends in Facebook and twitter, the Social Network Connect that makes getting in touch with them a breeze and the Social Network Feed that instantly updates your SNS sites. Other than that, the LG Mini is as feature-rich as any bulkier and pricier smartphones in its class.

You get a dual band 3G phone with HSDPA at 7.

2 MBps and HSUPA at 2 MBps. It’s also your standard quad band GSM/GPRS/EDGE on 2G. Data connectivity comes with the usual WiFi with DLNA, microUSB 2.0 and Bluetooth 2.1. You also get SatNav functionality from its built-in GPS receiver with Assisted GPS.
The LG Mini GD880 comes with a 3.2-inch WideVGA TFT LCD resistive touchscreen display with 256 k colors. An accelerometer, ambient light sensor and scratch resistant glass cover are there. Imaging gets a glorious 5-megapixel autofocus camera with image stabilization, geo tagging, face and smile detection and VGA recording at 15fps.

Multimedia is supported with media playback for the popular audio and video codecs that includes DivX and Xvid. You also get Dolby Mobile, stereo FM with RDS and a 3.5 headphone jack.

Phone memory gets 330 MB with up to 1,000 phonebook entries capable of photocall. With its microSD slot, you can have up to 32 GB of hot-swappable external memory.

You can visit Moby1 to compare all the best mobile phone contracts. You can find the best LG GD880 Mini contracts being offered.