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< Esato Forum Index > Sony Ericsson / Sony > Android > iPhone 3GS vs X10 Mini Pro vs. something else? Bookmark topic

Hey all

Have had this debate in my head for last couple of months, figured I should just post on here and see other people's thoughts...

What would you do? Keep iphone 3GS or get the new Mini Pro? Or maybe even get another (android) handset!?! My ideal features would be:

- Numeric keypad (or otherwise a qwerty keyboard... NO blackberry style keypad!!!)
- Capacitive Touchscreen
- Good camera with at least an LED flash
- 3G, HSPDA etc
- Smaller size than iphone!! Smaller the phone the better!!


Really the most appealing aspect of getting the Mini Pro, is having a physical keyboard and the size. The Android operating system also seems much better than Apple's (more practical apps!), though with Apple OS 3.0 being released soon I dunno how much that will improve things. What worries me about the Mini Pro, is that SE are infamous for not doing good updates... I'd want to get Froyo Android 2.2 at least, which is not guaranteed at all.

To put it in perspective, my fav phone til recently was the SE G900... a modern version of this would be amazing but probably never going to happen!!

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Posted: 2010-06-20 00:16:01
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X10mini Pro has much much much more than iPhone 3G. If you want a small size phone, then X10mini PRO is better than iPhone 3G i believe
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Posted: 2010-06-20 00:31:45
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Thanks for comments! Everyone so far seems really really happy with the Mini version, although most people have said they didn't have a smartphone before buying it so I wonder if there's anyone who had an iPhone (or another smartphone) who then changed to the X10 Mini.

It gets me excited, because I know the Mini Pro is affordable so I can sell my 3GS for like £300, buy the mini pro for about £200, then have money left over
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Posted: 2010-06-20 02:07:54
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I think the x10 mini, mini pro and x8 are good move by sony. The price range is very attractive and if screen size is not important, these phone is definately worth buying compare to other expensive phone. The price is more than 50% lower than the phone like iphone. As I said i. Other thread, there is no reason to buy expensive phone like iphone when you can get the same smartphone experience (some part even better) with a much much cheaper price.
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Posted: 2010-06-20 02:34:47
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I think that the X10 mini/pro is a great little Android device. Small in size but a big performer.
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Posted: 2010-06-20 05:27:25
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I did have an IPhone begining of last year for 3 months, but changed back to my old SE W890i. There were so many things I didn't like, the main points being:
- WLAN performance was sloppy and unreliable
- "Walled-Garden" politics of Apple
- No SD card slot
- Size and weight, finally I never got used to that

I then sold it and used my W890i for another year, now changing to the X10 mini. And I'm so pleased with this phone! I'm not doing a lot of texting, so a physical keyboard wasn't a requirement for me. I want to have smallest size and weigth possible - and I think the X10 mini has pushed it as far as possible.

And - I can develop software for it withouth having to buy a Mac, without a per-year subscription for the AppStore etc. etc. .
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Posted: 2010-06-20 09:16:00
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I think you will be SO sad if you make that trade.

I did it but for the big x10 and besides the camera i think the x10 suck in all other departments. Ok the cam is much better and the screen is nice to look at but there the fun stops.

Android is 200 times more awkward to use. There is much less "flow" in the user interface and i feel it´s very far from the fun and ease to use like the 3Gs. It´s hard to explain but when you try it out and used it for a couple of days you will know exactly what i meant.

3Gs flows so nice and the screen is so responsive. There are tons of apps that feels much better on the 3Gs than the x10.

Android phones can do many things but i think the main thing to think about is how they do it. Here it feels like Apple is much better so far. Ofcourse it might be better in the future but the question is when.

I just went back to 3Gs after using the x10 for 2 months and man it feels like im home again. My life got a bit funnier again


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Posted: 2010-06-20 09:26:29
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I know exactly what you mean. I sold my 3GS a few months ago after getting an amazing offer for it. For the money I bought two Nokias (E72, N900) and both sucked so badly that I switched to my old P990i. A few weeks ago the battery in the P990i started showing signs of giving up so I had an excuse to buy a 3GS again and I'm happier than a kid winning 1000 kilos of candy.


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Posted: 2010-06-20 13:49:29
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From a practical perspective, its a good time to sell a previous model iphone as its value will diminish markedly after the new (far superior) version becomes widely available.
Mini Pro is a nice little device at a very reasonable price, Android sales are up 400% year on year, people are voting for it with their wallets, and only a deranged simpleton would fail to see why.
If your looking to sell your phone, and put a hundred quid in your back pocket, you could do a lot worse!
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Posted: 2010-06-20 14:12:01
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Who will win: Android or iPhone?

The two major competitors in smart phones, Google's Android and Apple's iPhone, boast different features. Site PC World said that Androids system is best.



The editors at PCWorld have picked up nine areas where they believe Android is better than iPhone.

1. Android runs many apps at same time

Ever since version 1.0 has Android been able to run several applications at once, whether it is system applications or apps from the Android Marketplace.

Apple is trying to bring some in on Android with iPhone OS 4, where developers can access a list of APIs (Application Programming Interface) that can run specific services in the background. But it is far up to the multitasking that Android boasts.

The current version of the iPhone OS offer admittedly limited multitasking, but only for their own apps like Mail, iPod and phone, which then runs in the background.

Android-users are far ahead because they can receive messages, listen to music and receive huge GPS data without the application must be open.



2. Everything on the screen all the time

One of the biggest advantages of Android is the ability to customize the screen. You have active widgets at your fingertip, clear and easy to spot. Without having to launch an application first.

A widget is a graphical element such as a window or a text box that gives users quick and direct access to the portion of an application that the user can modify or adapt for your own needs.

In other words, a widget, a visual shortcut that will make it easier for the user to communicate with and make the settings in one application.

There are widgets to mostly all apps in the Android Marketplace, from music to check the weather forecast and stay up to date on Facebook. iPhone users, however, is forced to scroll through the app list to locate and start each application.



3. Androids store is user-driven

Apple's App Store have certainly more than 180 000 applications from around 50 000 on the Android Marketplace, but the Android Marketplace is growing in return so quickly that there are good chances to obtain the iPhone App Store.

Additionally, Android the great advantage of being a fully free market. Apple receives about 10,000 suggestions for apps of the week, but many will be sorted out for various reasons.

Android Market Place is fully user-driven and completely without any form of censorship, which makes the possibilities endless.



4. Better Notice system with Android

iPhone has problems with notices. Because there is only pop-ups, iPhone can only handle one at a time. And because the phone does not mastered multitasking, applications must be open to deliver messages.

Android, however, has a handy message line with an icon for every pending message. Message line can be pulled down, thus revealing more details about each message.

In addition, developers are free to make the information legible details behind a locked screen, something the iPhone can only do with the phone's original applications.



5. Android lets you select the phone yourself

Apple users are encouraged to think differently, but when it comes to hardware are not users many choices. They can select the color (black or white) and they can choose from 16GB or the more expensive 32GB version. Beyond that you get the iPhone 3.5 inch 320x480 pixel display, 256MB ram and a 600MHz processor. (We should mention that the hardware specifications for the upcoming iPhone 4 is greatly improved.)

Because Android is an open platform, producers have the freedom to create phones with different hardware such as the Nexus One (by 3.7 inch 800x480 display, 512MB RAM and 1GHz Snapdragon processor) or Motorola Droid, who has a real keyboard. There are options unlimited.



6. You can install your own ROMs on Android

iPhone can be opened for non-approved applications (jailbreaking) and added further functionality, such as installation of apps that are not available in the App Store. But the whole experience is the same, you sit still with the same user interface.

Android on the other hand, a large "community" which is dedicated to building special ROMs for Android devices.

These ROMs not only provides the same functionality as for jailbreaking, but also provides custom solutions to your phone. There are ROMs that make special user interface usable from one Android-based device to the other. Other ROMs facilitate heavy operations and make the device faster.

The user interface on an Android phone will constantly improved by a large global Android Community, which is simply not the case with the iPhone.

7. Change layout fast with Android

In recent years, smart phones have more and more functionality, such as WiFi, GPS, Bluetooth and so on.

So good these features are to have, but they drain battery a lot.

Many functions drain the battery, and it is a great advantage to be able to turn features on and off using widgets. iPhone users do not have any widgets, and have to paddle around in the setting functions each time they use the Internet or a Bluetooth function.

Some users modify the system setup on his phone that the battery will last longer, for example, only to turn on WiFi or Bluetooth when they are needed for these functions.

Android, however, allows the use of widgets to handle the settings directly from the screen. For less used applications that do not have a dedicated widget, it can be created a shortcut on the main screen that takes you directly to the desired function.



8. Android deal with Google and social networks

With smart phones, we can be online all the time, and it is perhaps not surprising that most of our "life" move online.

We have e-mail messages, Flickr photos, Google Docs for documents and Facebook and Twitter for our social life.

Android offers as standard the possibility to integrate all this.
Gmail can be automatically synchronized with your phone. Photos you have taken with the phone can be automatically uploaded to Flickr. The phone can even connect to your Facebook account and synchronize your phone contacts with your Facebook friends, complete with profile pictures, e-mail addresses and phone numbers.

All this iPhone can only by using third-party applications, and is not close to making it as stylish as the Android performing.



9. Android gives you more for your money

If you have ever considered buying an iPhone, then you probably noticed the price. Even the half-old iPhone 3G is pretty expensive, and the newer 3GS is considerably more expensive.

It can be difficult to compare conditions across the Atlantic, but the fact is that most Android phones are available for a fraction of the price you usually must pay for an iPhone.

(Source: VG.no)
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Posted: 2010-06-20 15:34:39
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