I confess, the temptation of new Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 is too much for me to resist.

That said, my first impression of the phone, was not exactly a “love on first sight” kind of feeling, as I dropped by Sony Ericsson concept store to check out the the phone. The phone does look cool on first look (so was the cute sales executive), but my primary concern has always been the keyboard and therefore I spend quite alot trying to experience the keyboard rather than fiddling around its other uber cool features.

I had a bit of trouble typing a proper sentence to be honest. I always hit the wrong key (due to wider spacing and the staggered qwerty keys) and my thumbs often got in the way of the edge of the panel when I tried to access the top row of the keyboard.

I left the store with quite a disappointment, and went to do some grocery shopping at the supermarket with my mind still wandering at the concept store. I decided to go back to the store again after my grocery errand, just to give the keyboard another chance.

This time, I made sure I keep the keyboard layout in mind while at the same time, observed the best thumb position when typing the top row of keyboard. Surprisingly, it did not take me too long to get used to the keyboard and find that the messaging using the keyboard can actually be better than Touch Pro. Change management is a must, especially if you are a Touch Pro user, as the Touch Pro has an “unconventional” QWERTY keyboard layout.

Made up my mind eventually, and wasted no time as I drove down to Starhub Plaza Singapura, to get the phone.(The enquire and buy experience with Starhub is yet another dramatic one, but I shall not digress)

Have not try to surf yet or play with the phone extensively yet, so I will comment on the performance more later. However, the initial impression was that the phone itself, is blazingly fast as acclaimed. The programs launch almost instantly for programs like pocket outlook or internet explorer. As I set up the activesync pushmail, I can see the contacts, emails and calendars were downloaded very quickly, much faster than when I was setting up using Touch Pro or i780. Psychological?

Finger gesturing is also quite good considering how sensitive the screen is. A flick up or down on most of the screen will scroll the list as expected, although at the end of the day this is still dependent on the program’s gesture support. Still, once the program supports the finger gesture, the navigation experience can actually be very smooth and “hiccup-less”.

That’s all I have at the moment, will blog about my takeaways of X1 versus Touch Pro after using it for a few more days.

Some photos with X1 and Touch Pro side by side