Sony Ericsson has taken the Xperia X10 Mini, bolted a QWERTY keyboard on the back, and made the world’s smallest Android phone into a ‘communication device’. In reality this just means it’s easier to type on the phone, and given it only packs a 2.2-inch capacitive screen, it’s a welcome addition.

It’s only 1mm thicker than the original X10 Mini, but there are a few slight changes: the battery is now removable (and lasts a good day and a half), it only comes with a 2GB microSD card and it does feel a bit chunkier in the hand.

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More on Sony Ericsson handsets:

Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 mini review

Sony Ericsson X10 Mini and X10 Mini Pro: hands on

Sony Ericsson Xperia 10 full review

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It works in the same responsive way as the original – the TimeScape overlay is intuitive, thanks to customisable ‘corner icons’ supplemented by a dual-level menu screen; drag up to see rows of icons, and drag down to see your widgets easily displayed.

Sony Ericsson X10 Mini Pro: messaging and keyboard

SMS, MMS and webmail are all really easy to use, and Exchange is also included through RoadSync, although this is only a trial.  We were impressed by the keyboard, as despite being dinky beyond belief it was far from unusable, with the only gripe being the space bar is a little hard to press when striking it dead in the centre, as you are wont to do most of the time.

Contact integration is still a little shaky: if you want to sync your friends’ Facebook and Twitter accounts to their profile on your phone, you have to wait for them to say something, open the TimeScape application to see all the ‘tiles’ of status updates and find the relevant one before you can link things together.

We would argue the tiled view on the X10 Mini Pro is a little redundant on the small screen, especially as you have to open the browser to view any Tweets or status updates.

Sony Ericsson X10 Mini Pro: Internet and media

The internet browser is again quick and easy to use, despite the small screen, with the 600 MHz processor loading web pages much faster than you’d expect from a phone this size.

The camera is 5MP and there’s an LED flash, elsewhere you get aGPS and a 3.5mm jack.

Music is a little tricky to use, but once you find where Sony Ericsson has hidden things like track shuffle it’s not a bad experience – we’d recommend you upgrade the memory card though if you want this to be a fully-fledged MP3 player, but you won’t be filling it up with videos at this screen size.

Available free for £20 a month, or £250 if you want to get it SIM free, the X10 Mini Pro is a decent phone for those looking for a new funky and compact Android smartphone in the lower end of the price bracket. It’s not going to trouble the big hitters but it certainly packs enough functionality to make it an attractive handset.

Find out more from Sony Ericsson

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SPECIFICATIONS

OS: Android 1.6 with TimeScape overlay
Processor: Qualcomm MSM7227 600MHz
Storage: 128MB with 2GB microSD included
Screen: TFT LCD 2.2-inch (240x320)
Connectivity: Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP, GPS, Wi-Fi, HSPDA, 3.5mm
Camera: 5MP with LED flash
Video: VGA, 30FPS, video light                                                                                                                                                                    Battery: 4 hours GSM/3 hours 30 min
3G Talk time: 210mins
Dimensions: 90 x 52 x 17 mm
Weight: 120 g

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