There are few more deserving handsets for us to use up all our best ‘big things come in small packages’ analogies on, but the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 mini pro proves that it is possible to stuff a lot of mobile goodness into a device smaller than a deck of cards.

Form and features

It would have been an easy task for Sony Ericsson to create an air-headed feature phone that was cuter than a pin-up, but the X10 mini pro has brains in equal measure, powered by Google’s Android operating system meaning some of the best in smartphone functionality is brought to bear on this handset’s tiny frame.

Measuring a compact and boxy 90 x 52 x 17mm, this XPERIA X10 offshoot shares little in the style stakes with its bigger brother, inheriting the simple three button layout beneath a 2.5-inch display and a smattering of physical keys down the right side for volume and the camera, but not much else.

The chrome edging on the X10 mini pro’s plastic body exudes an understated simplicity, only enhanced by its diminutive stature. The rubberized rear feels tough enough to take some hard knocks, but somehow the overall design still retains that air of elegance that surrounds the XPERIA range, despite lowering the velvet rope to a more affordable level with this entrant.

A 3.5mm headphone jack enables this phone to double as a mini music player, whilst the 5-megapixel lens and LED flash serve as icing on this sliver of a cake!

Whilst the X10 mini felt almost claustrophobic to use by relying almost solely on touch input, the addition of a slide out physical keyboard on the X10 mini pro feels nothing short of a godsend.

Adding little by way of extra heft, the slider mechanism on the four-row keyboard is unobtrusive and shuts with a satisfying clunk, whilst the metal-backed keys seem pretty well spaced and up to the task of both long texts and brief tweets.

Software

Turning the phone on shows that Sony Ericsson’s efforts to revamp their range aren’t only skin-deep, with the X10 mini pro showing off a bespoke version of Android specially customised to suit the small screen experience.

Eschewing reams of cluttered menus, the X10 mini pro opts for an interesting layout that gives favoured apps and icons prominence in the four corners of the screen, ensuring easy access at all times.

Completely editable and entirely responsive, this custom interface is refreshing in how much the interface is geared towards offering a good user experience, rather than merely to create distinction from other Android devices.

The social networking aggregation of TimeScape that debuted on the X10 also appears here, offering a steady stream of alerts, updates and amusing (if pointless) messages from friends and family, each presented as tiles on a giant virtual Rolodex.

It also enables users to update their own status on Facebook or Twitter from directly within the application, as well as bring up all relevant correspondence with a particular person across all services at a glance.

Attempting to reply to the random spoutings of others however, takes you straight to the online version of whichever site it may be, making for a slightly jarring transition from the silky smoothness of TimeScape to the harsh wastelands of the mobile web.

That being said, the X10 mini pro’s 2.5-inch TFT capacitive touchscreen is more than up to the task of smartphone duties, a bright and vivid (if slightly low-resolution) display, which looks equally as good showing album art as it does a text message conversation.

Film are however a bridge too far for the Little Phone That Could, with correctly encoded videos looking decent but simply causing eye strain when stared at for anythign more than a brief period of time.

Youtube is surprisingly capable with a dedicated app, and the vast majority of software and games available on the Android Market was capably handled by the X10 mini pro’s lithe 600Mhz processor.

Pre-installed was 3D racer Speed Forge which had little problem running at full pelt on the modest screen, whilst flicking out the slider grants some extra purchase for motion-controlled tilt gaming – an unforeseen benefit!

There’s no denying that some of the more graphically intense titles experienced both slowdown and pretty ugly textures on the 240 x 320 pixel resolution display, but the X10 mini pro makes a valiant effort in attempting to ape the gaming experience of more powerful mobile rigs.

Whilst the music player does away with the visual flourishes that impressed (and bogged down) on the XPERIA X10, the mini pro is still great as an MP3 player, with drag-and-drop to the handset’s 2GB of supplied SD card storage working like a charm.

Album art merges with the prettily customized layout, whilst a quick click sends you either to Youtube to view content related to the current artist or to Sony’s PlayNow Arena in order to purchase it.

As far as the X10 mini pro’s camera is concerned, it is great but not amazing. The image quality is far beyond what one might expect from such a tiny device, and the resultant pictures certainly look a lot better when uploaded to a PC rather than viewed on the phone itself, but the presence of a high-spec 5-megapixel camera, complete with features like geo-tagging, autofocus and an LED flash at all is fairly impressive.

Video recording is VGA quality at 30 frames a second, more than good enough to capture brief moments of hilarity but this is definitely not a phone to make your directorial debut with.

Larger smartphones have embarrassed with impoverished loadouts in the past, but this handset lives up to the marketing strapline of being mini but mighty as far as features are concerned.

Connectivity

The X10 mini pro is a fully fledged smartphone, packing all of the Android trappings one would expect from any other high-end mobile despite its size.

Running on a earlier modified version of Google’s Android, the latest additions including pinch-to-zoom are absent, as are a few other features that we have become complacent about on the competition, and all are noticeable in their absence on the X10 mini pro.

Google Maps Navigation does work perfectly over 3G (yup, it’s got that too), turning the mini pro into a mini-GPS with a quick download from Android Market, whilst DataViz handles Microsoft Exchange mail accounts and transforms the pocket PDA into a serious handset for professionals.

The keyboard becomes a necessity for messaging and mail, with a predictive touch affair not coming close to the speed and accuracy of a physical input method in the mini pro.

The feeling of whipping out the device to send a quick tweet or reply to a message evokes the cool factor of old-school connectivity devices like the Sidekick, wowing onlookers with its unconventional look and small size.

It certainly straddles the line of appealing form and practical functionality far more closely than much of the Android-powered competition, carving out a little personality for itself in the process.

Calling is a little troublesome, fining ourselves having to use the keyboard to type in numbers that weren't already stored in the handset.

Wireless connectivity makes the mobile web far easier to navigate, as loading up websites can take forever…especially when you have such a small window on which to view them.

Images take ages to load, and when they arrive the entire screen is filled by them.

The absence of multi-touch is only really felt here, with onscreen zoom keys proving a small mercy. The text does automatically wrap to fit the screen at least, making reading less of a chore than viewing picture-heavy sites.

Bluetooth support is present, as is a miniUSB port, with progressive Sony Ericsson continuing to adopt the standard to its bosom for charging and the like - definitely a good thing.

The battery in the X10 mini pro is amazing - lasting a good couple of days on a single charge – as well as being another step over its QWERTY-free predecessor in that it is now removable.

Verdict

Whilst the XPERIA X10 is absolutely massive and the X10 mini was simply too small to use, the X10 mini pro might have just completed the Goldilocks analogy by being just right…

Packing in all of the necessary features in a cute and charismatic mobile, the X10 mini pro is a panacea to the flood of pocket-bursting smartphones that flooded the market earlier in the year.

Giving the user both a full-touch experience and a four-row keyboard, the X10 mini pro spoils us with its input methods, whilst the ever-connected TimeScape keeps you texting and tweeting like a demon.

The X10 mini pro’s strong feature set overdelivers in the £15-£20 per month price range, bringing the XPERIA brand to the masses with an Android sheen that makes it accessible to the average consumer.

The screen size makes browsing a bit of a chore and the low-resolution display looks a little muddy when images or video are involved, but these are forgivable as Sony’s extreme makeover results in an easily customisable device that is a joy to use.

The fact that the handset remains stuck on an old version of Android is a problem however, with the X10 mini pro missing out on features and functions that close competitors are enjoying in spades.

All things considered, the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 mini pro’s traffic stopping looks and affordable price tag could make it a stealth handset to top the charts.

Go in expecting a just another sawn-off feature phone, and the X10 mini pro will give you a big surprise…but a good one.