The long awaited update to the Sony Xperia X10 arrived on May 31st. I needed to take some time to test all the features. The 2.1 firmware update definitely is a major upgrade to the firmware it shipped with (Android 1.6)
Pros:
- Faster and more responsive UI
- 720p recording
- Timescape is now usable
- 5 Home screens VS 3
- Multitouch is now included
- The option to record videos suitable for multimedia text messages is now included
Cons:
- Timescape cant be set as the homescreen
- Software fails at showing missed calls on occasion
- Battery life drains much faster
- No Playstation Store or Qriocity support
The update is well worth the wait. It has many new features. One of the biggest setbacks to this luxurious phone when it released was the slow response time. It had major lag issues so bad that running Sonys app Timescape was unbearable. Timescape was designed to keep you updated on information from text messages, email, facebook, twitter, photos, videos and much more. While this was practically unusable on firmware 1.6, it is perfectly usable on firmware 2.1. It is a very interesting App to keep you in the know. Unfortunately, setting this application as your primary home screen is no longer available with this update which is a major setback.
Recording video in 720p is now an option. You can use the phone to shoot 720p video but I would strongly recommend upgrading to an 8 or 16gb Micro SD card as the 2gb that came with the phone will not cut it.
Unfortunately I noticed that battery life drains much quicker with the update than it did with the prior update. This may be because I set my screen to an animated screensaver. I called my phone VIA skype and just let it sit there to monitor the battery. At 3 1/2 hours, I had only 1/3 of battery life left. (This could be caused by WIFI connections running with Bluetooth. Those features were not turned off during the test)
Another setback to this phone is that there is no Playstation store or Qriocity support. Having both of those services, I would have liked to have seen them integrated considering this a Sony Device. (Sony Ericcson is an independent company jointly owned by Sony and Ericsson, hence the name Sony Ericsson with each holding a 50% stake). I also pay for qriocity and would like to stream music to my portable device one day and not just to the PSP.
In total, the phone update is definitely worth it. Although you could have had this update by custom modding your firmware, it would be better to just wait it out to avoid losing your warranty.
