Confused about X10 availability in US.

[hellfroze]

Hello,

My apologies if this is a dumb question - perhaps others can benefit for me asking it.

I've been waiting for the Xperia X10 to land on U.S. shores. I thought it wasn't officially released here yet but noticed that it's being offered at a number of online retailers for U.S. consumption. Places like Mobile City Online list the X10a with AT&T compatible 3G bands. It's even listed with a SKU of "X10ABKUS" (although maybe that's MCOs internal number).

Is this an official U.S. model? My guess is that it is not, so the followup questions are then: what is this model, and how would an official release by SonyEricsson differ from it?

Thanks,
-Harry

[philcloh2o]

Rogers is carrying the X10a, so there is a NAM version in production.

[hellfroze]

I'm curious specifically about an official U.S. version...

[tjmonkey15]

Well, on the US SE site, they've recently changed the status of the X10 to "Coming soon" from "Coming within 3 months," and from what I've seen with other phones on their website, once the "coming soon" tag is added, the phone is released within a couple weeks. I just have no idea where they're going to release it, as in at their own SonyStyle website, or if the phone is going to be released through AT&T (I had heard rumors of this earlier). I'm thinking it may actually be coming out in the US soon, but you never really know with cell phone companies. Other than Apple, nobody ever seems to give concrete release dates.

I'm just really hoping that the US X10a gets released with a new firmware....

[hellfroze]

Hmm, ok, so half of my question is answered and there's possible good news about impending release (although I'm trying not to get my hopes up). So the ones currently being sold are different because... it uses metric? Canadian spelling? French language option????

I take it that's what you have, tjmonkey15? Works fine on AT&T 3G? I take it you're having some issue with that you're hoping a new firmware would fix- care to elaborate?

[Milicz]

Hello,

My apologies if this is a dumb question - perhaps others can benefit for me asking it.

I've been waiting for the Xperia X10 to land on U.S. shores. I thought it wasn't officially released here yet but noticed that it's being offered at a number of online retailers for U.S. consumption. Places like Mobile City Online list the X10a with AT&T compatible 3G bands. It's even listed with a SKU of "X10ABKUS" (although maybe that's MCOs internal number).

Is this an official U.S. model? My guess is that it is not, so the followup questions are then: what is this model, and how would an official release by SonyEricsson differ from it?

Thanks,
-Harry

There are 3 x10 versions, the x10i that works with Tmobile 3g in the states, a x10a which works with ATT and a seperate Japanese version.

[tjmonkey15]

Hmm, ok, so half of my question is answered and there's possible good news about impending release (although I'm trying not to get my hopes up). So the ones currently being sold are different because... it uses metric? Canadian spelling? French language option????

I take it that's what you have, tjmonkey15? Works fine on AT&T 3G? I take it you're having some issue with that you're hoping a new firmware would fix- care to elaborate?

Yes, I have the Rogers X10a. As far as I can tell, it's exactly like an unlocked/unbranded X10, except it originally came with a Rogers splashcreen when starting up the phone, as well as one or two apps that are built into the Rogers branded firmware. The first thing I did when I got the phone was debrand it, so there was no sign of Rogers whatsoever.

As for gripes:

Earpiece is on the quiet side, and when I turn it up a little, it crackles. Not sure if this is even fixable with a firmware update, but it's annoying. The sound quality through the 3.5mm jack isn't the best. When the music is quiet, I can hear a decent amount of static/noise in the background. Not horrible, but enough to bug me. I have the hardest time taking a picture with this phone and not having it come out blurry. Granted this could definitely be due to user error, but I've never had this problem with other phones, so who knows. Sometimes I have issues with the touchscreen registering presses around the edges. This is noticeable when typing on the keyboard at times (I've downloaded the htc_ime keyboard from xda and it's great overall), and when trying to hit a "button" near the edge of the screen, such as the search bar button in many apps (i.e. the Android Market). The camera flash not being a real flash. You have to turn the flash on BEFORE even taking the picture, then have it on the entire time the camera app is on, rather than it just flashing right when it takes the picture. This may be an Android 1.6 limitation, but that's even more reason for SE to hurry up with this 2.1 update.

Those are the major annoyances I can think of for now. It sounds bad, but I still really like the phone, although I have been browsing for alternatives. I just wish 2.1 or 2.2 was coming in the next month or so for this phone. I feel like that would make it nearly perfect. I do have to say though, I have a much easier time typing on this 4" screen than the 3.7" screen of the Nexus One that I had for a week.

[Milicz]

Your 3.5mm jack is broken, while all the other issues you listed are common on all phones the sound quality from the jack is top notch. Some reviews do very extensive tests on sound quality and distortion and the X10's was exceptional:

Engadget:

...signal-to-noise ratio seemed superb throughout our testing. We could barely detect the presence of any electrical noise on the line; in fact, when we first plugged in, there was absolutely none. That's pretty rare for a phone.

The low-noise trend continues through to the earpiece while on calls. We were surprised at how the X10 was able to suppress line static without sacrificing volume; it was so good, in fact, that we had trouble at times figuring out whether we were still on the call when the person on the other end wasn't speaking.

GSM Arena:

The Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 is still pretty quiet in terms of pure volume, but noise levels reading (indicating the signal-to-noise ratio) and the dynamic range are now excellent and comparable to the best in class.

The frequency response is still spot-on for the entire audible range.

[hellfroze]

Thanks for the detailed post, tjmonkey! I'm actually concerned to hear your comments about the camera taking blurry pictures- the reason I've been waiting for this phone versus all others (for example, the Nexus One) is the camera and SonyEricsson's reputation for producing top noticed cellphone cams. The flash issue I was aware of (and that's how it worked on my W810i so I got used to it) but I'll have to investigate the issue you mention.

And thanks for data on sound quality, Milicz!

[tjmonkey15]

Well, I keep reading stuff on other forums where people are raving about the X10 camera, so I wouldn't necessarily not buy it simply because of my camera experience. A lot of reviews like the camera too. Maybe I just really suck at taking pictures with this phone or something. Most of the pictures I've taken have been indoors too, so I'm thinking possibly out in the sun they'll come out really well. I'll have to test that out and let you know how it goes. The lack of a "true" flash sucks though. But as I said earlier, I read that that may be due to Android 1.6 limitations.

Regarding the 3.5mm jack noise: I upgraded the firmware on my X10 to the Brazilian version R1FB001, and it seems like the noise issue has gotten better. The GSMarena review said that the sound quality was pretty average on their test unit until they got the first firmware update (the one that ended in 016, I believe), after which the quality was significantly improved. I'm pretty sure mine improved too, though I still hear some background noise when the music is very quiet, but maybe I'm just being picky. Who knows.

[Milicz]

We will never have flash, it's a photolight, a single LED. I like the fact that they didn't claim it to be a "flash" as other LED using phones claim. My pictures come out pretty fantastic, indoor:


Outdoor:

[hellfroze]

Love that indoor shot, even has some depth-of-field blur!