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One of the best phones we´ve seen in while, not to mention the fact that it´s also Sony Ericsson´s most impressive offering for some time. All we can say to you is: get your deal hunting hat on, because this thing is a real winner. The huge screen, great camera, WiFi, GPS, beautiful design and everything else make us very happy indeed, but on top of all this you´ve got the fact that this is SE´s first ever Google Android phone. Not one to be missed.

 

 

 

 

Google´s Android operating platform was the biggest thing to hit the mobile phone market for a long, long time, and it´s getting better with every updated version we see. The X3 is of course running the very latest firmware version of Android, but it´s also been given an extra spin by the men and women of Sony Ericsson, in the shape of a re-skinned appearance. Because while we´ve found Android to be nothing short of exceptional on all the phones it´s so far been released on (mostly HTC´s, so far), it has been a little bland in the looks department. Not so with the X3 though, which sees Android kitted out in a whole new, Sony Ericsson-exclusive set of clothes. With animations, cool backgrounds and intuitive menu systems you can flip and scroll between, this is as good as it gets for Android. As you probably don´t need explaining, Android offers you everything that Google do, and do so well (such as Search, Mail, Maps, etc.) and seamlessly integrates them with your phone´s user interface. This means that jumping to a search or to a map is as easy as opening up a text message. This also means that functions like your phone´s GPS will plug into the Google Maps, so that the phone will know where you are, wherever you are! You´ll be able to download apps like Wikitude from the Android Market too. Wikitude gives you information and articles from Wikipedia based on your location.

 

The X3 is also stunningly designed in terms of its physical features. Even though it´s got that huge (and bright, and crisp) touchscreen, it still manages to feel comfortable and slim in your hands. The phone is also – as are most Sony Ericsson handsets – made of nice solid, robust materials and they´ve all been crafted together perfectly. There´s all the WiFi, high speed internet access and other gadgets and gizmos under the hood too, everything, in fact, that you´d expect from a high-end smartphone these days. The 8MP camera on board is also more than decent, with all the face recognition, smile shutter, flash and video recording you´d expect from a high-end phone.

 

Finally, it´s worth noting too that Sony Ericsson have, finally, made two very smart decisions indeed: to included a 3.5mm jack socket, and to use microSD cards for memory expansion rather than their own brand. Until now, they´ve greedily refused to budge on this matter, making use of proprietary technologies that were solely about increasing their profit. This meant that if you wanted to expand the memory aside from what was included, you had to buy their memory cards, and if you wanted to listen to music you need to use an SE connector too. A very good, if long overdue, decision indeed.

 

Thumbs up all round from us on this one. And we don´t doubt you´ll agree too.

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