Contents of delivery
• Smartphone
• Battery
• Charger
• Wired stereo headset
• Memory card with a capacity of 2 gigabytes
• Cable for PC connection
• Two interchangeable panels
Appearance
At first glance, the Sony Ericsson ST15i Xperia mini may seem too small. In fact, the ergonomics of the phone have not suffered, the device is almost as convenient to use as its larger counterparts. Case dimensions - 88x52x16 mm, weight - 94 grams. The phone fits well in the palm of your hand, which is facilitated by the slightly curved back cover.
There are two color versions of the model: black and white. In addition to the color difference, the back panel material used also varies. Black models have a soft-touch back surface, and white models have matte plastic. The phone comes with replaceable panels (2 pieces) dark red and dark blue. Both panels are made of glossy plastic, which leaves fingerprints on it.
Almost the entire front side is occupied by a touch screen. At the top there is a semicircular cutout for the earpiece. The proximity sensor is responsible for turning off the screen during a call. It is located near the speaker hole. The camera for video telephony is not provided in this model. Below the display you can see three control keys: touch buttons "Back", "Menu", and a mechanical key for returning to the desktop. The same button is responsible for calling recently launched applications.
The left side side does not carry any functional load. There is only a notch to help remove the back cover. On the right side there is a volume rocker button, and below is a camera activation button.
The smartphone shutdown button (it also locks the screen) is located on the top end. There is also a light indicator that informs the user about various events, such as missed calls, incoming messages. At the bottom there is a small microphone hole, strap mounts and a microUSB connector, to which a charger or interface cable is connected to synchronize with a PC. There is also a 3.5 mm audio jack on the bottom end.
At the top of the rear panel flaunts a 5-megapixel autofocus camera lens and an LED flash. A polyphonic speaker grid is placed next to these elements.
The back cover hides the battery, SIM slot and hot-swappable memory card slot.
Display
The three-inch TFT screen has a resolution of 320x480 pixels and is capable of displaying up to 16 million colors. The display is capacitive with multitouch support. It is protected from physical damage by durable glass.
As in the older models, the proprietary Sony Mobile Bravia Engine image enhancement technology is used here. More specifically, this "enhancer" makes the shades more saturated. Comparing this screen with the SE mini pro, there is a lack of brightness. This drawback is especially noticeable on the street in sunny weather.
Platform
The smartphone runs on Android 2.3.3 Gingerbread operating system. Now about the hardware. Sony Ericsson ST15i Xperia mini is based on Qualcomm MSM8255 platform with 1 GHz processor. Responsible for the graphics accelerator Adreno 205. The amount of RAM is 512 megabytes. For storing user data, 300 megabytes of flash memory is provided. Also included with the smartphone is a 2 gigabyte microSD card. If this amount of memory is not enough, you can always buy a card for 4, 8, 16 or 32 gigabytes.
The smartphone is very good at work. The device instantly reacts to actions, everything works quickly without "brakes". Few of the competitors can boast of such a powerful filling.
Interface
At the top of the screen, a line of service information is displayed: battery charge level, network status, time, current connections, etc. The phone has the ability to change the theme. There are 7 different colored skins preinstalled.
There are four icon areas at the corners of the display. A maximum of four shortcuts can be set for each area. Naturally, there are several widgets that the user can bring to the desktop. However, the modest size of the screen does not allow placing more than 3 widgets on one screen.
In lock mode, the time and date are displayed on the screen. To unlock the device, just swipe your finger across the screen from left to right. If you slide your finger in the opposite direction, the silent mode is activated.
The SE Xperia mini has four work areas. As new applications are installed, these areas will continue to grow. The display shows 12 icons. The background itself is translucent, as a result of which the desktop wallpaper is visible.
Camera
Sony Ericsson ST15i Xperia mini is equipped with a 5 megapixel autofocus camera. An LED flash is provided for shooting in low light conditions. On the body of the "mobile phone" there is a separate button for launching the camera. You can also activate the camera from the menu.
I liked that the camera works very quickly. And this also applies to the speed of starting shooting and the speed of saving pictures. Among the useful functions, we note the recognition of smiles, an image stabilizer, a timer for 2 and 10 seconds. The flash can be turned on / off, or set to remove red-eye. Available photo resolutions: 2592x1944 pixels, 2560x1440 pixels, 1632x1224 pixels. In the settings, you can turn off the shutter sound or choose one of three sound effects. The rest of the settings are standard. It is possible to select a scene, adjust the white balance, focus (macro, face detection, touch focus, etc.). In optimal conditions, you can get good pictures with this camera. Below are some examples:
Videos are recorded in resolution 1280x720 (HD), 800x480, 640x480, 320x240 (for multimedia messages).
Gallery
The gallery contains images and videos stored in the smartphone's memory. Images are scrolled without slowdown, as is often the case in other devices when setting preview files. The gallery can work in both portrait and landscape orientation. Depending on the position of the phone, pictures are displayed in a 2x3 or 3x2 grid. It is convenient to zoom in / out pictures using multitouch. The selected file can be quickly sent via Bluetooth, MMS or email. Any image can be set as a desktop background or assigned to a specific contact.
As for the video, the device's capabilities in this regard are very modest. there is no support for XviD and DivX codecs. To view the videos, you will have to convert them first.
Player. Radio
All songs are sorted by categories: artist name, album name, track. There are also playlists that are generated automatically or created manually. Automatic playlists are created based on recently added, popular, never played tracks.
Any melody from the list can be set to a call, sent by email. mail, MMS or Bluetooth. In playback mode, you can see information about the song (artist, song title, album) on the display. If the album cover is registered in the tags, then it is also displayed on the screen. The equalizer allows you to customize the sound for yourself, but only using presets: classic, folk, hip-hop, pop, rock, jazz and so on.
The proprietary xLoud function allows you to achieve the loudest sound possible through the speaker. This feature really increases the volume, it's not here for show. In terms of sound quality, the phone is good, especially if we compare it with other Android devices. The lower frequencies are still rather weak, but the middle and high ranges are worked out quite well.
The built-in radio receiver works in the frequency range 87-108 megahertz. You can use manual or automatic search to search for FM stations. The application memory contains several dozen locations for the stations found. There are no complaints about the quality of the reception. About 20 FM radio stations were found in the city.
Browser
The standard browser is easy to use. The application supports multiple windows. A navigation bar appears at the top of the screen, to the right of which is a shortcut for bookmarking a web page. The browser keeps a log of recently visited pages. The user can easily find the text on the current page. There is a corresponding option for this. I liked that the screen brightness can be changed directly from the application, without going to the main menu. In general, the base browser is good enough for everyday use, and it also supports Flash.
Gps
Google maps are used as navigation software. When using the program, do not forget that it actively consumes network traffic. Google Maps is equally useful for car owners and pedestrians. Here you can see information about traffic jams, you can plan routes, determine your current location, etc. When planning a route, the user sets the way of travel - on foot, by car, in public transport. As with other applications, on-screen scaling is done using multitouch.
Connections
Sony Ericsson ST15i Xperia mini works in GSM and UMTS networks. There are no complaints about the built-in Wi-Fi 802.11 b / g / n module. The device is able to remember passwords from networks and connect to them automatically. For data exchange, you can use Bluetooth 2.1. Blue Tooth supports EDR and A2DP as well as many other standard profiles.
The smartphone is connected to the computer via the interface cable. Note that this connection charges the battery. However, it will take more time to fully charge than using the mains charger.
Battery. Working hours
The phone has a 1200 mAh rechargeable battery. According to official information, the device is capable of working up to four and a half hours of talk time and up to 340 hours of standby time.
In continuous video playback mode, the battery will be discharged in 6 hours. On average, the battery life of a smartphone is about a day (half an hour of phone calls, a couple of hours of listening to music, periodic network activity).
Conclusion
It is extremely difficult to miss an incoming call. This is the merit of the xLoud function. We can say that the Sony Ericsson ST15i Xperia mini is one of the loudest Android devices presented today.
In its price segment, this model has many competitors, including: Taiwanese smartphones HTC Wildfire S and Gratia, LG Optimus One P500 and this year's bestseller Samsung Galaxy Ace. However, SE Xperia mini has more outstanding hardware characteristics: Qualcomm MSM 8255 platform with 1GHz processor, Adreno 205 graphics accelerator and 512MB of RAM. This model has no obvious disadvantages. Unless the screen diagonal may seem small to someone.
