Sony Ericsson Xperia mini pro Pro Reviews

Sony Ericsson's handsets don't always hit the spot, but the Xperia Mini Pro is a lovely little number. Small, neat, with a good processor, well thought through user interface and some nice connected features, it is a handset we rather like.

The Xperia Mini Pro is a good quality Android phone, but while its teensy dimensions, fast processer and quality keyboard will appeal to some, the small screen and so-so camera limit its capabilities.

We're impressed with the Xperia mini pro, and can't hide it. Having tested many of the recent Sony Ericsson smartphones, we have to admit the difference between old and new Xperia has never been so sharp. Keeping it all so neat and compact while nearly putting the specs through the roof is a remarkable achievement. Sony Ericsson have managed to squeeze an Arc's engine in the Xperia mini pro. The Reality display is here too, never mind it's a smaller HVGA unit. The real deal though is the proper QWERTY keyboard. The Xperia mini pro runs Android 2.3 Gingerbread. Thanks to the lower screen resolution, the mini pro is as fast as possible - you can see that in the benchmarks and our demo video. The whole UI is fluid and responsive, there are no lags, nothing to annoy even the most demanding users.

Some software glitches aside, the Xperia Mini Pro provides incredible bang for your smartphone buck. Far from the typical afterthought appendage, its keyboard offers stellar tactile feedback and a frustration-free layout. The fact that the Mini Pro costs half as much as the typical Android handset only sweetens the deal, while the few cutbacks Sony Ericsson has made appear reasonable and mostly peripheral. Power users will inevitably feel constrained by the diminutive screen size, and the rotund form factor remains somewhat questionable, but then the Mini Pro was never designed to be everything to everyone. As it stands, it’s a charmingly pudgy little handset, a more than worthy successor to the X10 Mini Pro, and one of the best budget Android phones you can buy today.

A cute handset with a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, the Mini Pro has a great screen, good performance and a decent camera.

The Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini Pro's £240 price tag is relatively high in this age of budget-busting Android phones, but you are getting a lot in the package. Performance is good, the phone's quick and responsive throughout, with apps installing and opening as fast as they do on today's high-end, dual core monsters. The screen is responsive and bright, with text and photos looking sharp. For the money, you could get a phone with a bigger screen, but there's nothing else that packs Android 2.3, a QWERTY keyboard and a totally smooth user experience into such a tiny bundle.

The Sony Ericsson XPERIA mini pro is definitely a niche phone. While the rest of the market is targeting bigger screens for multimedia and browsing addicts, manufacturers doing their level best to offer larger displays on their cheaper devices, the mini pro sticks resolutely to its pocketable premise. That demands a few compromises – battery life, camera and browsing experience being the most obvious – but has its advantages as well.

Overall, Sony’s smallest smartphone is a big step up from the old X10 – yet Sony’s managed to keep the price down. The new mini pro is available for free on a £15 per month contract with 300 minutes, 300 texts and unlimited data. That’s a similar price to the HTC Wildfire S, but the Xperia mini pro is far faster, throws a Qwerty keyboard into the bargain, and comes with a newer version of Android. Unless camera quality is paramount to you, it’s an excellent little Android phone.

With the Sony Ericsson Xperia mini pro, you'll surely succeed in being different. The tiny handset is indeed a looker, and it is such offerings that feel like a breath of fresh air in this crowded market. What we're happy about is that Sony Ericsson managed to upgrade the mini to a pretty decent 2011 smartphone, all the while preserving its characteristic looks. With a 3” screen, 1GHz processor and an up-to-date operating system, covered with a neat and playful custom UI, the Sony Ericsson Xperia mini pro is now less of a niche device than ever.