It's been rather hard to get a replacement housing for my Sony Ericsson P1 after I got a huge dent from dropping the phone on the pavement by mistake. I went around the local computer and gadget mall in Hong Kong and there was only one place to that had the housing in stock - the bill ended up being something along the likes of HK$600 for a 'brand new' casing and a hefty installation fee (Yes, I probably got ripped off, but I was desperate).

So after some scouring of several websites, here are some sites that sell the Sony Ericsson P1 housing to you at a reasonable cost - not including the postage (although I would recommend getting it from your local mobile phone importers store; they should sell it for much cheaper and help your install it too):

Mobile Brando
eBay
eBay Malaysia
eBay Hong Kong

Now that UIQ is now part of the Symbian Foundation and no longer under the control of both Sony Ericsson and Motorola, the question everyone mentioned long ago still remains - when will we see Flash Lite on the UIQ platform?

In the manner current events are unfolding in front of us, the question might as well be rephrased as "Will we ever see Flash Lite on the UIQ platform?"

Considering all aspects the way things have developed, it seems unlikely that Sony Ericsson will continue to invest in the UIQ platform. This is strengthened by the confirmation that both Sony Ericsson's P1 successor the "Paris" P5 and the other multimedia giant codenamed "BeiBei" were killed off shortly before the Symbian Foundation tookover UIQ, and the laying off of 200 workers from the the UIQ section in Sweden. And now with the Xperia X1 being the only likely P-series successor (and incidentally it runs Windows Mobile), it's likely that Sony Ericsson will divert it's resources to creating business phones running the Windows Mobile platform in the future.

Which means only one thing - the eventual slashing of support for the smartphones running the UIQ platform. So it's very likely Sony Ericsson will not develop Flash Lite for the UIQ platform.

But there's still hope. Perhaps Digia's new web browser @Web will spring us a nice little surprise in the final release:

There are some known problems in the first beta release of Digia @Web. During the beta phase will will fix these and possible other problems as much as possible:

Missing Flash support

Only time will tell...

If you're in to hacking or modding files for smart phones, then here's a worthwhile task - try and mod/hack these SE G900 files to work on other UIQ smartphones.

I think the 4 apps below are what most P1 users wish to see on their UIQ smart phone:

1. 
   
   Touch Focus is excellent for those snapshots where you can show off the powers of your smart phone. Apart from being a gimmick-y function it's also quite useful, as occasionally the camera does get the focus slightly off (for small subjects I wish to focus on).
   
   
2. 
   
   Standby Panels could have made life so much easier if it was released much earlier. It's a brilliant idea and I have no idea why SE didn't release a patch or application for previous UIQ users.
   
   
3. 
   
   Notes is another useful utility app which only those lucky devils with their SE G900 or G700 get. And I have no idea why SE decided not to release it as a standalone app - it's just got so much potential for business and casual users, be it really taking notes in a meeting or just random doodling.
   
   
4. 
   
   Last but not least, I think more or less everyone wants to get a port of the Media player. It looks quite impressive and is definitely a step up from the default UIQ media player. To top it off a lot of K-series phones and other non-Walkman phones are now getting this newly improved, slick version of the media player so hopefully there will be a port available for the P1.

Any thoughts on my choices?

Definitely something new - peer-to-peer technology is nothing special these days, but peer-to-peer positioning systems? Courtesy of a tip from Asri's UIQBlog, I decided to check it out for myself.

Can't say I was too impressed by the trial version of Navizon, which you can download by using your P1 browser and heading to http://www.navizon.com. It's got a clunky interface, and to top it off loading maps became a nightmare. Although there's a choice of loading maps from Ask.com, MSN VirtualMaps, Google Maps and Yahoo! Maps, the maps loaded as though I was on a 28.8k Modem instead of a 6M Wireless broadband line.

Furthermore, on the Navizon website, it states:

Navizon is a software-only wireless positioning system that triangulates signals broadcasted from Wi-Fi access points and Cellular towers to help the users find their way in most major metropolitan areas worldwide.

However, the application was unable to pinpoint my GPS position, even with a full GSM signal and with a WLAN network. I'm not sure if this was some application error or something, but it never got my position or loaded the maps of the city I was in. Note: Navizon doesn't have data in Hong Kong yet, so it's more or less unusable for me. If you're based in Europe or America, do have a go and see how accurate this feature is.


There is no online support even if you do run in to problems, so that's another reason why I'm not very impressed with the software. Perhaps it'll warrant another try if the above issues (slow loading of maps, not working even with full GSM signal, no online support) are sorted out - but for the time being I definitely won't recommend this application, especially since you have to pay to garner all the features for this software.

This is straight from Opera's mouth:

It's almost time to release Opera Mobile 9.5 for Windows Mobile to the world. We thank you for your patience and support as we make what we (and many others) believe is the best browser for mobile phones. A release testing phase is underway now and the target date for the first beta is July 15th. You will be able to download it from opera.com just like you would any other versions of Opera.

Alright chums, where is the Symbian version? Opera can pretend to be ignore all of us Symbian users, but we by far number several times more than the WinMo users.

And this leads to the start of another disturbing question: Opera Mobile 9.5 was available on some selected HTC Windows Mobile smart phones when they were released a month or so earlier (i.e. HTC Touch Diamond). Why didn't the G900 or the G700 come with Opera Mobile 9.5? We've seen all the public demos of the browser on the P1 earlier in the year, so there HAS to be a UIQ version.

Unless it was chopped just like Beibei and the "Paris" P5...

Comments anyone?

Yes, I may be a day or two late in posting this press release from Sony Ericsson on Nokia acquiring Symbian and forming the Symbian Foundation to create one "open mobile software platform", but there is much to mull about in this big announcement.

What does this mean for the UIQ platform?
Now that Symbian and all of it's different 'flavours' or 'variations' are under the Symbian Foundation, we're going to see more of a common core between all Symbian platforms. As stated in the press conference:

From these contributions, the Foundation will provide a unified platform with common UI framework. A full platform will be available for all Foundation members under a royalty-free license, from the Foundation’s first day of operations.

So yes, there would be a lot more in common between the Symbian S60 platform (which Nokia is known for) and the UIQ platform in the future. Perhaps in the long term we may see applications and programs that can be easily ported from UIQ to S60, and vice versa?

How does this relate to the dropping of Beibei and the 'Paris' P5 from SE?
Good question. Under the Symbian Foundation's guidance, UIQ is definitely a winner in this case, as the press statement claims:

Contributions from Foundation members through open collaboration will be integrated to further enhance the platform.

The UIQ platform could be so much more with open collaboration with other Symbian flavours, such as S60 or the Japanese MOAP platform. By taking the strengths and shunting out the weaknesses, there is just so much potential for future Symbian phones and the UIQ platform in particular.

However, with SE deciding to dump both of it's upcoming flagships and focus on the Xperia X1, this may mean that it's ready to jump ship to embrace Windows Mobile for its business devices and give up UIQ entirely. The SE P5 was destined to be the successor of the current P1 business flagship - but now it seems that the big man at the top has intervened to change the successor to the Xperia X1. So it seems like along with the Xperia's release, the P-series will be slowly and quietly pushed to the fringes of the SE family.

This Engadget article states that both Motorola and Sony Ericsson have signed up to contribute UIQ assets to the Foundation, but how long do you think SE will commit to it's promise? 10 quid that SE will have 'nothing left to contribute' by the end of 2008.

Note: For those querying about how @Web compares with Opera Mini, I'll do a further review soon. If you've got further requests, please don't hesitate to post it in the comments (i.e. reviewing an aspect that I left out); I will try and include it in the further review.

As promised, here's the review of the Digia @Web Browser (Beta) which I started instantly when I got my account:

Installation:
Very straightforward after getting your account. As soon as you enter your confirmation email, just enter your desired password, and you're off.

I downloaded the above file, then dragged and dropped it on to the memory stick, and the installation was completed without any issues.

First Impressions:


The browser loads very quickly, and it gives a general feeling that it's a very lightweight browser. A very simple interface is presented - there's none of those "Option" menus or anything, just a URL bar at the top and buttons at the bottom of the browser - perhaps that's why you'll have to go through the Read Me file, or you won't have any idea how to zoom in or out of webpages, nor how to start using the browser.

So after learning the basics, I did some browsing tests on the @Web browser. All the tests were conducted under a WLAN connection (router connected to a 6M dedicated line), just for your reference.

1. Browsing to this blog (Sony Ericsson P1i Blog):
   
   
   
   The above shows how it's rendered by @Web, while the image below shows how it's rendered by Opera 8.65...
   
   
   
   It's quite evident that there's a huge difference in the way the rendering engine on both browsers operate. Digia @Web renders the page in a way similar to most desktop browsers, while Opera v8.65 doesn't seem quite up to scratch. @Web is definitely the winner for this round.
   
   Both browsers managed to load the blog in roughly 26 seconds, so speedwise there isn't much difference between the 2 browsers.
   
   
2. Browsing to the BBC Homepage:
   I chose to do another test on the BBC homepage because it's notorious for loading slowly on smartphone browsers and it renders poorly on browsers other than the Big 4 (IE, Firefox, Safari, Opera), so this should be able to show whether @Web can really browse the web and provide a "Desktop-like" experience for the user.
   
   
   
   And again, the above is the page rendered under @Web, and below is the page loaded using Opera v8.65...
   
   
   It's quite evident that the built in Opera browser doesn't seem quite up to par compared to the @Web browser. One thing however was the loading time - Opera finished loading the (incomplete) page in just under a minute; but @Web took a whooping 1 minute and 30 seconds to load everything. 30 extra seconds is quite a long time, particularly when you're stuck in traffic and you just want to see something - although I do take in mind that @Web is still in its beta stages, and in the final version there probably would be improvement in loading times.
   

Annoying little things / Problems:

• While conducting the above said tests, one thing was apparent: the damned browser kept crashing on me. Yes, I know @Web is in it's beta stages, and it can't ever be perfect during Beta testing but this is just ridiculous. After 5 minutes browsing in landscape mode, @Web beta would crash on me, citing a system error. None of this ever happens on Portrait mode, so its better to stick with that when surfing the net, or just playing around with the browser.
  
  
• Lag; the lag is really bad for a beta browser. It's apparent whenever you're zooming in or out, or even just trying to scroll up or down the page. Everything takes at least a second or 2 to register - and I'm not exaggerating.
  
  
• Zooming in and out - nice concept, but poorly executed. I'm not sure whether it's the browser or the touch screen that has a problem; when I try to zoom in, I can repeat the same hand gesture 4 or 5 times and nothing happens. The same applies for zooming out; in fact sometimes the browser loads the linked page instead of zooming out. Even after you manage to get the gesture registered, it takes an extra few seconds to execute the actual zooming in/out.
  
  
• Scrolling is a pain; after you scroll up or down with your finger, the browser jumps back to where you were before you did the scrolling gesture - which is extremely frustrating.
  
  
• Knowing whether the page has finished loading or not - maybe it's a personal thing, but I want to know whether the entire page has loaded or not. Sometimes it's just not very apparent when its done yet or not.
  
  
• Tabbed browsing please - Opera has it, so there is no excuse why you don't have it. Or maybe it's just that I'm too demanding.
  
  
• Little things such as changing the homepage (now that I've mastered the main points in the read me file), or opting to turn images off when surfing to save up on data, or even choosing to avoid storing cookies or saving form data aren't present as options in the browser. This has to be changed or I'm not gonna be on the users of the final product.
  

Conclusion:
Impressive browser with plenty of potential, even though it's in its beta stages. However, the poorly programmed features (some of it, lets not be too critical) and lack of fundamental features found in the default browser tips the scale somewhat towards the Opera side. I presume once all these minor (and not so minor) things are sorted out, this should be the browser of choice for most users. For the time being though, I'd like to stick with the default Opera browser and wait for version 2 of the beta before committing myself to the new browser.

Maybe it's old news for some, but this is clearly a picture of Google's Android OS running on the SE P990. According to the article, this debuted at the 3GSM conference in Barcelona last February, so I do apologise to all readers for providing 'old' news.

Back to the article though - if Android can be installed on the P990, then it must be possible to get it running on the P1. I know I'll be first in line to get Android on my P1; no offense to the Symbian UIQ platform, but I think a change would be nice. Dual booting UIQ and the Android on the P1 would be even better. Who else wants to see Android running on their P1?

Yep, it's official. Both the rumoured Sony Ericsson UIQ smartphones codenamed "BeiBei" (G702) and "Paris" (P5) has been killed off. It spells a sense of uncertainty for the Symbian UIQ platform in the Sony Ericsson camp, as both phones have stoked up huge media and fan interest since they were leaked during the start of the year (and possibly even earlier).

I'm going to focus on the Sony Ericsson Paris P5 smartphone. Originally speculated as the successor of the Sony Ericsson P1, it was going to sport HSDPA, a sliding QWERTY keypad, a 5 megapixel camera and AGPS. In short, everything that the P1 should have gotten (in order to beat other high end smart phones). However, the P5 specs were a bit too common, a bit too late (the Nokia N95 has everything I mentioned above with the exception of the QWERTY keypad and a touch screen, and it was out a long time ago) - perhaps that was why the project was killed off? Or was the P5 viewed as competition to the newly released G900 UIQ smartphone, which incidentally can be considered as a minor upgrade from the P1?

Anyhow, both phones were going to sport the new UIQ 3.2 3.3 platform, which promised HSDPA and WiFi b/g support. Now that both phones have been killed off, the future of UIQ seems to be quite uncertain - there are no new phones announced that will run on the UIQ platform, and a P-series upgrade that is worthy to compete with other WM mobiles seems to be long overdue. I'm still waiting for that perfect P-series phone with a 5 Megapixel camera, Integrated GPS, HSDPA support, WiFi b/g, and more or less everything that the N95 has. Rival competitors have smart phones which are extremely tempting - take the HTC Diamond for example; not only is it stylish (seems to be taking lessons for SE themselves), but it also offers the specs that I want. It's about time to get a grip SE, otherwise you'll lose a lot of marketshare to HTC and the Apple iPhone 3G (which has slightly improved since the days iPhone v1 has been released).

Or alternatively, focus your resources on providing firmware and software upgrades for the P1. It has plenty of potential as well as a wide audience supporting it; I've lost count of the number of P1's I see lying in the hands of business people in Hong Kong or hanging on the necks of many phone lovers like me. I'm looking forward to an Opera Mobile 9.5 update, or support for Widgets or even Flash media. It's got the potential to be so much more - please don't make the same mistake as you did with the P990.

What's your take on the cancellation of the Paris P5? Share your opinions with everyone else here on the SE P1i Blog.

If you happen to be a devout Christian or Catholic, then this application may be quite useful for you. SymbianBible is a Bible Reader for Symbian handsets (including the UIQ 3 platform), originally ported from the Palm Bible Reader Bible+. Since it's been around for quite a while, there's many bible files available online for download.

Apart from English, some other languages are also supported; there's Russian, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Chinese, etc; so you shouldn't rule it out even if you don't read an English Bible.

Further instructions are on the developer's site on how to load Bible verses in to your phone. It also happens to be free, so why not give it a try (for those who don't want to take their Bibles around)? You can download the UIQ version here.

Pretty much these days most people expect their phone to not only do it's duty of a phone well, but also take quality photos. The 3.2 Megapixel camera on the P1 should be sufficient for those spontaneous snapshots so that we don't miss anything; however, how can one ensure that we end up with a clear image rather regret taking a cheap, blurry shot of the subject? Here's a couple of tips that I found invaluable in taking photos using the phone's camera:

• The camera saves your settings so when you launch the application / click the shutter button your old settings are instantaneously reloaded. Great for those shots where you'll be taking photos in, say a sunlit environment, so you can save a lot of seconds.
  
  
• Stick between the Normal/Macro focus as they produce the best results for focusing on a particular subject. You can leave the focus off if you wish to take photos of landscape or far away objects.
  
  
• Change the white balance to suit your needs so the colouring appears as natural as it can get. Sometimes this does screw up though, but in general it's a fine rule to follow.
  
  
• Change the Quality of photos taken to "Fine"; after all, memory space comes quite cheap these days unless you're really filling up on your 2GB M2 memory stick.
  
  
• Try to leave "Night Mode" off unless you really need to, as if you leave it on you need to have rock steady hands to take photos as it widens the aperture to let more light in.
  
  
• Turn Auto Review to "Off" so you can immediately snap picture after picture to satisfy the paparazzi within you.
  
  
• You might as well leave Effects to "Off" (over taking B&W / Sepia / Solarised) photos as you can always apply those effects afterwards on the computer or in the gallery, but the reverse can't be done.
  
  
• Spend that extra split second to focus properly on the subject. Believe me, its worth it (after seeing many of my shots end up blurred and unfocused).
  

So that's just a few tips that I would recommend to all readers. If you've got more tips to contribute, feel free to do so!

Remember a few posts back I mentioned the Digia Web Browser as a fresh, new browser worth trying out on your Sony Ericsson P1 smartphone? Well, it's finally out - and Asri over at UIQ Evangelist seems to have some nice first hand screenshots of browsing on the Digia Browser.

It's only available for registered users, so if you wish to give this beta web browser a shot, you can sign up via this link. I'll be writing a proper review of the beta software as soon as I am able to download it and try it out myself, so keep checking out this blog over the next few days!

The Digia @Web Beta Browser review is up! Click here to read it.

Since the Sony Ericsson P1 only supports the 802.11b wireless standard - which also happens to be synonymous to WEP encryption - I'm assuming the average user will set up their home network with a WEP password to stop those prying neighbours from leeching your Internet.

But WEP encryption isn't very safe. Just do a Google search on "WEP hack" and you'll find that there are over 200,000+ hits, along with numerous guides on how to do it.

Here's 2 tips to make your network slightly more secure. Given enough time, I'm pretty sure a well established, determined hacker will still be able to get around it; but how often will that happen?

1. Change your encryption standard to WPA-Personal, which is supported by the P1. It's a lot more secure than WEP for certain, and that means less of a chance the 15-year old that lives next door can use your Internet service to pirate his songs.
   
   
2. Set up a MAC filter, which should be under Wireless Security in your router configuration page. By setting up a MAC filter, you can permit only certain devices to access the network, which also greatly reduces the chances of someone outside of your permission to access your network. You can look up your MAC address on your P1 by going to Control Panel >> WLAN >> More >> MAC Address.
   

I've heard many situations where the user wasn't able to get online using WiFi just because they were not using the WEP encryption standard. Remember to set the encryption on your router to be WPA-Personal, not WPA2 (or the P1 will not be able to go online using WiFi), and to turn off the "Powersave" feature under Control Panel >> Connections >> Internet Accounts (as many other users have experienced trouble if they left Powersave on).

Got any comments or feedback? Please feel free to comment!

Being a SE P1 owner as well as a Nokia N82 owner, I do find it very frustrating that the P1 is still stuck with UTMS speeds - partly because I've already been spoilt on a 3.5G device - but also because the P1 simply could have done much better. That said, it's not mindblowingly slow - I've seen worse on the iPhone - I just felt that SE could have, at the very least, made it HSDPA compatible.

But that's just my personal opinion. What about your personal experiences? How does the lack of HSDPA on the P1 affect you, if it does in any way? And if you live in the Americas, what made you want to purchase the P1 in the first place (considering that it's down to GPRS for you guys only)?

So the big news this week is the eagerly anticipated announcement of the 3G iPhone - well, just how good is it when you put it next to Sony Ericsson's flagship product: the P1? This entry will compare the various aspects of both phones...based on previews of the 3G iPhone and the P1 which I own.

• Aesthetics:
  Apple is well known for it's creative and attractive designs of all of it's products, so it is hands down the winner in this department. I'm not saying SE's P1 looks bad or anything, but when you put the iPhone and the P1 side by side, I'm sure you know which one looks more attractive.
  
  According to various reviews online, including Engadget and Gizmodo, the 3G iPhone has a "solid build" and just comfortably and snugly fits in most people's hand. On the other hand, the P1 has a slight "plasticky" feel to it, but definitely looks the tougher of the 2 phones if you drop it from height.
  
  
• Operating System:
  Symbian users would have no trouble getting around and using the P1, as it runs on the UIQ platform - in fact they're probably screaming for joy because the P1 is a lot faster than it's predecessors, the M600 and the W950. It's also capable of multitasking to a certain extent. But it's also slightly clunky with the number of settings and options buried within layers and layers of menus.
  
  The iPhone needs no introduction - it runs a stripped down version of Mac OS X. Everything is conveniently located on the main screen, and the average user doesn't need to read an instructional manual to figure out where everything is. With simplicity in mind, the iPhone has the slight edge over the P1 in terms of the OS that the smart phones run on.
  
  
• Applications:
  There are definitely more applications catering for the P1, as it is essentially a business device. Not only does the P1 support Microsoft's ActiveSync, but also Blackberry's Push Email as well. Other useful applications also include the host of finance applications and QuickOffice for those quick document handling.
  
  The iPhone caters for a different type of audience - it's got many more free games and apps (if you hack it, that is), but less so for the business user. The lack of Blackberry and ActiveSync support is probably the defining factors for business users to lean towards the P1 though. And the fact that you need to hack it to install applications also makes it slightly unattractive for the users who want it simple and clean.
  
  
• Hardware:
  Apple's 3G iPhone sports an accelerometer, WLAN b/g, A-GPS, multi-touch screen, and an onboard keyboard. Triband UTMS and HSDPA is also prevalent on the iPhone, making SE's P1 look much inferior in comparison. And despite the 3G iPhone being very internationally oriented in mind, there are still aspects the 3G iPhone loses out to the P1 - the support for MMS, Asian Language input, as well as the 3.2 Megapixel Camera the P1 has.
  
  iPhone wins in this aspect hands down. We all know how much we crave to just have Triband UTMS support on our P1's...
  
  
• Multimedia:
  I think there's really not much to compare here. The iPhone definitely wins because it's an effing iPod as well.
  
  There are some issues to point out though - streaming isn't as well supported on the iPhone as it is with the P1, and the P1 can play a lot more audio and video formats (e.g. mp4, mp3, avi, divx, etc) if you install software such as CorePlayer or even the DivX player for UIQ. But overall the iPhone just gives a much better multimedia experience to the user.
  
  
• Messaging:
  This seems to be down to personal preference - whether you prefer the on screen keyboard on the iPhone or the semi-qwerty style on your P1. However, the P1 has the added advantage that it supports Asian language inputs, be it Korean, Japanese, or Chinese - which should be another major influencing factor if you do have the need (or you simply just do) text in those languages.
  
  
• 3G capabilities:
  The 3G iPhone strangely doesn't offer a front end camera to allow for 3G video calls, whilst the P1 does. Might be another one of those tipping points if you rely on the front camera for business meetings, or something along those lines...

So this is it! A preview of the upcoming battle between the P1 and Apple's brand new 3G iPhone. If I can acquire a unit of the 3G iPhone, I'll be doing a brand new comparison of the above said features as well as taking a look at the aspects I've missed.

My thanks to reader Mikko who pointed this out to me - a new web browser has been in the works for UIQ phones; namely, for all touch screen UIQ phones (so Moto's UIQ phones are out of running). It's based on an open-source webkit ported by Digia, so that should be something interesting for all to see.





Seems like there's plenty of potential for this browser to shine, particularly against a rather weak Opera 8.65 that is bundled with the Sony Ericsson P1.

Here are some of the listed features on Digia's website:

• Full finger touch UI
• Page control with finger
• Four zoom levels
• Intelligent Bookmark functionality
• URL auto-complete (from history)
• Automatic full screen browsing via auto-hiding Address bar and Navigation bar
• Page rotation for portrait and landscape browsing

And the following are some of the features that are supported by this browser:

• HTML 4.01
• True web page rendering
• JavaScript(tm) 1.5
• HTTP 1.1 with support to secure and non-secure browsing
• HTTP cache
• HTTP cookies
• AJAX support

No word on pricing yet but a public beta is to be released this week. More on that when I get to have a go on it!

The Sony Ericsson G900 smart phone debuts today in Hong Kong for a price of HK$3780 (US$484, GBP 244, 311 Euros) with a 2GB M2 memory stick bundled with the package. Since it runs on the UIQ 3.0 platform and basically offers everything the P1 offers except for the Semi-QWERTY keyboard, I'll be seeing if I can snag up one of these with some dealers to do a comparison alongside my P1.

To be honest, the price is quite attractive for such a powerful business device, as it's more or less on par with the price of the more expensive Blackberries and it's also cheaper than when the P1 debuted worldwide.

The Sony Ericsson P1 currently retails at HK$3280 (US$420, GBP 212, 270 Euros).

More photos soon!

In lieu of the hype surrounding the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1, let's see how well it fares against SE's current flagship and whether it's worthy for us Sony Ericsson P1 users to drop our P1's to get the X1...

First up, the physical size of the 2:


Both smart phones are more or less the same size, so P1 users won't find the transformation mindblowing or anything. The Xperia, however, clocks in at 145 grams (as opposed to the P1's 124 grams) so it should feel heaver and more solid as a whole. It might feel solid for some but a bit on the heavy side for others, so do beware of that.

Screen Resolution and Colours: Although the P1 isn't especially impressive in terms of the colour on the main screen, the Xperia X1 doesn't match up to the P1's standards. The P1 sports a 262K colour TFT screen - but on the other hand, the Xperia is 1 step back; it only sports a 65K colour TFT screen. Think back to the days of the Sony Ericsson T630 - not very impressive is it? Viewing 3.2 Megapixel photos on a 65K colour screen definitely doesn't do the photos any justice, so if you value photo viewing on your phone, then the X1 isn't for you. And considering that Nokia phones have 16 Million colour screens as the de facto standard, the X1 is definitely a disappointment in this department. I presume that a 65K colour screen was used to lower energy usage within the phone.

Apart from the colour issue, the X1 supports a screen resolution of 800 x 480. It's definitely a massive step up than the P1's 320 x 240. Screen size has also been enlarged to 3 inches from the P1's 2.6 inches. Much better for viewing multimedia files, so do take that in mind.

Connectivity:
The Xperia X1 is definitely a winner here. It supports virtually all the bands in every part of the world; from the American standard to the European standards - so this is definitely the traveller's choice. First there's Quad band GSM/EDGE - the P1 only has Tri band GSM (900/1800/1900) - then there's Quad band 3G/3.5G supporting the frequencies 900/1700/1900/2100 MHz; the US T-Mobile 3G spectrum is also supported there - the P1 only has European 3G, so it's a big turn off for Americans. The Xperia X1 IS the world phone, so it should appeal to those businessmen who require extensive travelling around the globe.

Operating System:
The Xperia X1 runs on Windows Mobile 6, while the P1 runs on Symbian UIQ 3.0. I'm really biased when it comes to commenting on Windows Mobile Platforms, with some poor past experiences, but it appears (from what I've seen at least) that the WM6 platform is solid in displaying its multimedia capabilities. Some of the readers may be more experienced in using the WM platform so please comment on your previous experiences!

Little Tidbits on the Xperia X1:
Both sport a 3.2 Megapixel camera but I can bet anything that the Xperia X1 won't have the notorious "Green Tint" issue plaguing many P1's so it should appear to be the better camera.

A host of Office apps come along as part of the WM platform so it's definitely a plus for the business users - but there doesn't appear to be a version of Blackberry support for the Xperia X1, unlike the P1, so many users may feel left out.

The X1 comes with Wireless B and G built-in while the P1 only supports the B standard, making it another tempting aspect for P1 users to upgrade to. There also doesn't seem to be an integrated GPS chip built-in to the X1 - surely Sony Ericsson should have put it in; it's becoming another de facto standard in the world of smart phones.

Conclusion:
Get it if you're a hardcore traveller and have plenty of money to burn. Otherwise, you might want to consider sticking to your P1 - although the Xperia X1 is really a magnificent phone, it's not really a massive upgrade from your P1. For those who use Blackberry Connect for their Push emails, you would want to stick around on the P1, as it supports both ActiveSync and Blackberry push emails.

My exams are over, and I'm happy to announce that I'll be working on this blog full time over the duration of my summer holidays.

First up, some news that some of you may have missed last week as I haven't been updating:

• Sony Ericsson's released a new version of the PC Suite for Windows users. No new features that I could find though. Some sources speculate it's to provide support for the upcoming G900 and G700 business phones.
  
  
• Escarpod 1.0 has FINALLY been released. For those who don't know what this is, take a look at my previous reviews - it's really magnificent for a free, open-source application. Kudos to the developer teknolog.
  
  
• Opera has released a SDK for developers who are interested in writing Widgets to run under Opera Mobile 9.5. The hype's building for the Opera release; let's hope SE won't ruin it by making it exclusively available for the Xperia X1 and the new business phones...
  

And that seems to be all the significant news from last week. If I missed anything, as usual, feel free to post it up in the comments!

This should be interesting for business users - both phones cater for the business audience. Sony Ericsson's flagship is known for it's business capabilities, such as handling documents, as well as it's all in one features. It's got a 3.2 Megapixel Camera, Wi-Fi, and "Blackberry Connect" (which counts as push e-mail). On the other hand, you've got Research in Motion's top of the line Blackberry Curve - incidentally challenging the P1's position as one of the top phones for businessmen and entrepreneurs. So which one should you get? Here's my take on the issue:

Sized Up:

Both share similar sizes, so don't expect anything drastically different when you're using one or the other. Similar thickness, similar height. Probably the largest difference when it comes down to it is the...

Screen: 2.5 inches on the BB Curve, against the 2.6 inches on the SE P1. Both have a resolution of 320 x 240 - however, the BB Curve still uses the older 65K colour screens, as opposed to Sony Ericsson's 262K screen. So you can definitely expect to see better colours on the P1 than on the Curve. And also, the P1 sports a touch screen, which may be a tipping factor for many business users who also need handwriting input for languages such as Chinese/Japanese.

Keyboard: Ah, the Blackberry's famous QWERTY style keyboard against the Sony Ericsson's new semi-QWERTY keyboard. I think it's down to personal preference again, but SE's implementation seems to save quite a bit of space compared to the Blackberry (or maybe I'm just slightly biased here). Think you have to try it out to see which one you'll prefer more in the end.

Operating System: Blackberry's proprietary OS against UIQ, developed by UIQ technology (owned by Motorola and SE). In terms of applications and functionality, UIQ has the edge simply because there are more apps for UIQ than for Blackberry. But UIQ also suffers from set backs such as not as stable as Blackberry's OS (although this is not such a huge issue on the P1 unless you constantly tweak it like I do), and having a steeper leaning curve, in my opinion, than Blackberry. But there are more games, applications, and themes to offer for a UIQ handset than a Blackberry one.

Networks: Unfortunately Blackberry's Curve is still on the 2G network, running on EDGE. SE's P1 runs on the 3G network, so if data is a must for you (such as for surfing in your free time) then the P1 has a distinct advantage over the Blackberry. However, the P1 only supports European 3G (3G 2100) - and it's only triband, as opposed to Blackberry's quadband Curve. That means that if you'll be travelling to America, then the P1 won't be able to take advantage of 3G, falling back to GPRS - which is slower than EDGE.

WiFi: The Blackberry Curve has built in WiFi for both 802.11b/g, giving it the slight edge compared to the P1's B-only WiFi. And Wireless G is up to 5x faster than Wireless B - so if you're always working in a WiFi hotspot, this might also be an important factor to consider.

Surfing: The P1 uses Opera 8.65 as it's browser, whilst Blackberry uses their own proprietary one. Opera is definitely the winner here - it's well know for it's browsing performance and speed.

Camera: 3.2 MP on the P1 against 2 MP on the Blackberry. Need I say more?

So here's the P1i pitted against the newest Blackberry. Stay tuned for more soon - I'll be 'borrowing' my friend's BB Curve for a hands on review. Oh, and that won't be for another week or so, so feel free to leave requests and comments on what I should test on.