SE Xperia X1 vs the HTC Touch Pro – where the Xperia is clearly ahead

November 22, 2008 | By Surur

Having been accused of being biased against the Xperia X1, I thought I better try and balance the books a bit and note explicitly the areas where I think the Xperia is clearly ahead. These areas may in fact be the deal makers and deal breakers when it comes to choosing between the two.

Firstly, the hand feel of the Xperia is definitely better, due to the slimmer, thinner and lighter design which is more reminiscent of a candybar phone than the slightly more blocky Touch Pro.

Secondly, the all metal construction of the Xperia does speak more to quality than the all plastic construction of the Touch Pro.

800×480 at 3 inches clearly beats 640×480 at 2.8 inches, even if the software does not always take advantage of it.

The Xperia’s 3.5 mm headphone jack also clearly beats whatever the Touch Pro has to offer.

Buttons – again the Xperia has a plethora of them, including a camera button which makes taking a picture 3 times faster on the Xperia than on the Touch Pro.

Lets not forget the Xperia does VGA video recording while the Touch Pro only does piddling QVGA.

Phone reception – its close, but the Xperia is better at holding on to a signal than the Touch Pro.

Phone sound quality – the earphone is louder and clearer on the Xperia and the Touch Pro, with none of the “sweet spot” nonsense of the Touch Pro.

WIFI reception is definitely much better on the Xperia, with much better range than the Touch Pro.

Battery life – I think is good on both, but the Xperia has more mAh, and does seem to last longer than the Touch Pro.

More open development environment for their skins – Touchflo3D has no SDK (and badly needs it) while Panels, while it has less community support, is actually an open platform which anyone can develop for.

The last advantage the SE Xperia has over the HTC Touch Pro is in those two little letters – SE. Sony Ericsson is an established brand name, and when some-one sees the Xperia and see the little Sony Ericsson logo the device suddenly seems more familiar, accessible and desirable, and people who would not touch a Windows Mobile smartphone suddenly sees something they can actually work with.

I am sure there are many other advantages which I can not recall at the moment. Why don’t you leave a comment at the end of the article and I will include it in the article (but only if I feel its objective enough).

Both the Xperia X1 and HTC Touch Pro are available on Expansys (affiliate link).

About Surur

Site Admin and Windows Phone enthusiast, he has been using Windows Mobile devices since before they were called PocketPC’s. He is currently sporting a HTC 7 Trophy.

Tagged htc, htc touch pro, sony ericsson, sony ericsson xperia x1, xperia, xperia x1

Jon Deutsch

Here are some reasons that support the X1 in a comparison that I posted in response to your prior post re: browsing experience comparison. I’ve slightly modified them so that it’s not just a copy/paste. I like to add value whenever I post.

1. Xperia hardware looks like a device that I would be proud to be paired with. In other words, just like Apple, Sony understands that a gadget can also be a fashion accessory. That’s a 2-fer in terms of value-add.

2. I have found the Touch Pro (esp. the FUZE) to be too heavy and bricky to be really pocket-friendly. This was a major disappointment for me when I checked it out at AT&T last week.

3. The X1 has more hard buttons on the front panel, and more easily pressed hard buttons on the front panel. I have heard serious complaints about the “up” arrow on the X1 d-pad, but I will have to see for myself if that is insurmountable. I have played with Touch Pro, and the front panel buttons are just not confidence-inspiring.

4. The absence of the g-sensor on the X1 is stunning, and quite disappointing. What a huge bummer. What the heck was Sony thinking? G-sensors = cool + fun. Xperia = cool+fun. What am I missing?

5. The FUZE is about $175 w/plan on AT&T, and the X1 will be around $700 retail in a few weeks. Yikes, that’s not a marginal difference in price, is it? I’m not sure I can justify a 4x price difference for a phone that is about 1.5x as good. Or, can I? Well, it’s like buying clothing: I can spend $200 on a shirt or $10 on a shirt. They both cover my torso about as effectively, but which one do I want people to see me paired with? This goes back to the gadget-as-accessory frame.

6. Panels. I figured they would be a dead platform as soon as 09 rolled around, but the newFfacebook panel could be a game-changer. It shows how Panels could be the equiv to iPhone apps! Will panels have market mojo? What incentives are Sony peddling for developers to get on board? What kind of penetration can panels have if limited to only 1 device?

7. TouchFlo 3D HD on X1. If this really ends up being portable to the X1 with 100% functionality and no bugs, then the X1 ends up being the more flexible device of the two, hands down. Not to mention that TF3D HD is even better than the Touch Pro’s TF3D!

8. Keyboards. I’ve read some horrific reviews of the X1 keyboard, but they’ve been scattered and not consistent. So, I guess I’ll have to wait to actually try one myself to see how bad it really is. I tested out the TP keyboard, and I know it gets rave reviews, but coming from my HTC S710/Vox, I find the lack of space between the keys troubling. I’m sure I’ll get used to it, but it seems like the X1’s layout is more like my S710’s layout, which I find quite comfortable to type on. I am quite concerned about the lack of tactile feedback on the X1 keyboard, though. If there’s no feedback, then what’s the point of a hardware keyboard?

Does anyone know why there are no carriers lining up to carry the X1 so as to subsidize this beast? $299-$399 would change the game as compared to $700-$800. Seriously, in this economy, $800 for even a superphone seems kind of out there.

Jon
admin

Thanks Jon for your long post. Much appreciated. Regarding the keyboard, I must say I have multiple complaints about the Xperia keyboard vs the Touch Pro,but this is not the thread for that.

Regarding the US carrier issue, I can only think a fruity phone has something to do with it.
Ravicai

IMO, both these phones are crap for the same reason all the others are crap.

Crappy D-Pads. What must I do to get a phone with a ‘gaming friendly’ D-Pad? With all the emulators/games available for WM, you’d think that it’d be an industry standard for the D-pad to be gamer friendly, but nooooo… let’s use a Stalin-approved non-functional D-Pad that doesn’t support 2-button presses.
smartguyks

Here are my thoughts on this. Although both phones have a keyboard but there is one thing to understand, ToucPro is VGA and Xperia is WVGA. I am not sure if you really wanna use that in your comparison because WVGA is going to beat VGA. There is no magic about it.

Although Xperia may be slimmer than TouchPro, but TouchPro has greater sex appeal over Xperia. That bottom part of Xperia where the Dpad and other buttons are is not as appealing as compared to TP. That all metal construction on Xperia may look solid but does look more cheap IMO.

I am not a panel fan but I love the TouchFlow 3D. It is very easy to use.

I will not buy your argument on the Sony Ericsson brand name. First of all when was the last time anyone have ever heard a WinMO pocket pc or smartphone from Sony Ericsson? HTC is well established brand and everyone knows they make the best WinMO smartphone/pocket pc so far.

If you see the sales of HTC last 6 months for Diamond and pro it speaks out itself. HTC Touch Pro with TouchFlow 3D has become an industry standard for WinMo platform.

Regarding phone sound quality it also depends upon the carrier too. I am not sure how did you end up making a conclusion that Xperia is better than Touch Pro? Unless I understand your test cases I will not buy your argument.
admin

“I will not buy your argument on the Sony Ericsson brand name. First of all when was the last time anyone have ever heard a WinMO pocket pc or smartphone from Sony Ericsson? HTC is well established brand and everyone knows they make the best WinMO smartphone/pocket pc so far.”

Amongst WM users HTC is more trusted than SE, but your neighbour, who uses a Nokia, probable never heard of HTC, but know SE quite well. While HTC is happy to sell 7-10 million smartphones per year, often carrier-branded, SE sells around 100 million phones per year, and have a much stronger brand. That reassures the general public.
Ravicai

@ smartguyks: Re: “WVGA is going to beat VGA. There is no magic about it.”

That is a shakey comment. WVGA certainly sounds nice, but not very many programs can utilize it. When it CAN be fully utilized it will be the clear winner, but in the meantime it’s not very useful (except maybe for videos only).

It’s kinda like running a 64-bit processor on a 32-bit operating system.
smartguyks

“Amongst WM users HTC is more trusted than SE, but your neighbour, who uses a Nokia, probable never heard of HTC, but know SE quite well.”

My neighbour knows that SE makes crappy phones. I have never heard about any SE phones from anyone I know of firstly and secondly I haven’t heard anyone of SE popular models which is famous here in US. Everyone knows Motorola, Apple, Samsung and HTC. Hence one of the reason there are no carriers for Xperia and hence it will be sitting in Bestbuy as no one in US is going to pay 800 bucks for that phone. Sorry not trying to be rude here but that is the fact. Whereas HTC got Sprint, AT&T & Verizon for Touch Pro.

“WVGA is going to beat VGA. There is no magic about it.”
What I meant here is if WVGA is fully utilized everyone knows it is a winner. What I was trying to say here is you just can’t compare a WVGA with VGA.
admin

Ah, its a US vs Europe thing. In Europe the situation regarding both SE and Nokia are obviously very different.
smartguyks

lol.. Hey I am not trying to be rude here. I wrote what I felt. Well at least I learnt something new about how the popularity of phones in europe vs us is different. I like your website and it is very informative for WinMo community. So nothing against you in person. I always visit your website daily and get all the information. It is so much fun and knowledgeable. I sometimes feel phone comparison is more towards personal taste. Really it doesn’t matter what each phones has pros and cons what matters is when you turn on your phone does it return the favor! For me, video recording in touch pro may not be VGA quality but seriously will I be using that feature extensively? I might use my handycam instead right? Afterall what matters ultimately is after you customized your phone is it stable? So please no hard feelings about what I wrote earlier as I wasn’t trying to prove you wrong.
smartguyks

Since you brought up europe vs us which is very interesting. In US, Apple dominates the phone market followed by Blackberry. I mean it is getting so much boring that some people who are not in business world will still carry blackberry as a fashion. They will hardly use any of the document editing features but they still wanna carry that phone to show off. It is just typical and isn’t funny you know! lol. WinMO users are more Palm Treo, HTC based and are more business oriented serious people. People who really like to make all use of smartphone features. I think HTC closed the gap of casual users with business by introducing Diamond and Pro. It truly made the WinMo phones more enticing. I would never buy Palm Treo because I don’t find it my style. I do feel Xperia is pretty cool phone but 800 bucks is really high for US. People will never pay that amount of money unless it is an Apple product. It makes me wonder how US think as compared to Europe in terms of cellphone market. If I look back, you are right Sony Ericsson is more a branded name in Europe, Asian market. HTC is more popular in US for WinMo market and Android based phone. If Touch HD comes to US, I am positive it will dominate the smartphone market but might dent the diamond and Touch pro sales.. We just can’t get enough of it isn’t it!
pinguino1

@admin,
Look at this picture and comments from Cnet Asia
the point in your comaparison between Pro and Xperia is that Xperia can’t show
as much web page as the PRO. Wrong.

A picture is worth 1000 words.
http://asia.cnet.com/reviews/handhelds/0,39001709,62047578-5,00.htm
admin

SmartguyKS, I can assure you you have not offended me in any way. I appreciate lively debate – it shows me some-one is listening much better that looking at visitor logs.
http://myspace.com/sina_mahdavi Sina

Does X1 supports multitouch like Touch Pro?
Also Touch P has a laptop class keyboard with 288 MB DDR RAM.
You can’t play most of J2ME games on a 3″ WVGA screen, very tiny.
D-Pad design on X1 is horrible, & the screen size of X1 too. (Very thin & toom.
brickman

The X1 switches faster between landscape and portrait view.
smartguyks

@ admin: Re: “I can assure you you have not offended me in any way. I appreciate lively debate – it shows me some-one is listening much better that looking at visitor logs.”

Thank you admin. It was fun to exchange thoughts..
Jon Deutsch

Panels.

What’s the future of panels? Why would there be a development community built around panels if S-E is not going to license it to other WinMo firms? Isn’t the user base the key aspect of attracting development resources? Where’s the “panel store” that would allow software firms to monetize their panel app investments?

There are already rumors that the X1 is the first and last WinMo phone for S-E, and if that’s the case, why would any developer in their right mind invest in this platform?

I really like the idea of panels, but I am confounded by the marketing aspect of it. Does anyone have any informed thoughts around this dilemma?
SCott Simon

Regarding the SE vs HTC brand name…..at least here in the USA….SE probably does have a more recognizable name…however….when I think of SE phones…I think of all those cheap, no contract things they sell in 7 elevens and walmarts.

I love HTC phones. I have had 3 of them now and havent looked back. I don’t want a gimped iphone, and I personally look down on the SE brand. I like the look of the panels, but not enough to switch from my Pro for them. And besides, I am pretty sure someone at CDA will port them over to the Pro and Diamond.

On top of all that, I am not sure if Sprint will be offereing the X!..but if not…I’d never leave them for that phone. I LOVE Sprint.
Even IF they got them, it would still be a pretty touch sell to make me switch from my Touch Pro.
SCott Simon

Apologies for the grammitcal and spelling mistakes above
admin

There is a panels store on the X1. They sell ringtones and games directly from the device also. This is in addition to the Handango onhand client on the device.

The whole service lacks coherency however, which is a pity. SE should be marketing the h*ll out of these features.
zakyma

I also have the Touch Pro, and I can not see a big difference to switch to X1. The only thing I like in X1 is that it looks thinner than the TP as the X1 is taller so the touch pro looks thicker. On the specification side, it is only 1mm thinner.

I still feel the TP will be more stable and reliable than the X1, but the battery still not good especially on the 3g network.
Davey

@ Scott Simon: Only Touch device that has been shown to use the Panel layout is the Touch HD, and even then they still had problems with the software. Whereas the X1 has already made an almost perfect version of TouchFlo 3D on the X1. Only difference being less than a second difference in movement and all that.

As far as the HTC name being more known…thats a yes and no. HTC for the well known phone “geek” is of course known. But as you see…most phone carriers brand HTC phones as their own (HTC Fuze and Tilt, Tmobile Shadow and Wing). So if you go to a regular customer, they will not even be aware of what HTC is (and I have seen this happen, many of my friends never even heard of HTC even though they held a Shadow in their hand). Also SE is not your “cheap 7-11″ phones. That would actually fall to Nokia and Motorola. They have more prepaid phones out there than any other phone manufacturer. I was perplexed at where you got that info. I have never seen a prepaid SE phone outside of AT&T.

I will agree that the price tag is OUTRAGEOUS and will probably hinder sales greatly in the US. Whereas Europe is basically giving these away for free on contract, so it will make a nice impact over there…which goes back to it being a US and Europe thing. If SE wants to make any type of progress…they need to get it carrier branded or lower that price a few hundred. I’ve only seen Nokia with prices like that…and even those expensive phones dont go to far…
netboy

to those that complains Sony X1 cost 800buk and nobody going to buy it.
if u have to complains, u cant afford it!
clove.co.uk sold out 1st and 2nd shipment! their next shipment is december!
sonystyle.com selling USA version X1a is currently “temporary out of stock”!
i just got tracking number for X1a today! i should get X1 silver USA version tommorrow!
pjd

hi!

forbbrandnames again: here in germany where is no real htc – they are all branded by the carriers. so my mom has a vodafon mda vi and not a htc hermes. the market is still dominated by nokia but i totaly understand that: my nokia e61 with symbian 60v3 and 200mhz was faster, had a much much longer batterylife and was easyer to use than the (cheap) glofiish m800 with 500mhz and vga i am using now. but i noticed also an increasing numbers of iphones lately. but that it is a diffdrend story.

i have also an on-topic question: can anybody tell me if the touch pro or x1 is capable of playing mpeg2 pal/ntsc-resolution files with tcpmp and ffdshow? i get only 20% or so in benchmark mode…
admin

Point me to a file you want tested ( a shortclip only) and I will give it a try.
PJD

Hey, thanks! I uploaded 2 little german tv ads: http://dbl76.tfh-berlin.de/~s16997/testvideo/ – i get ~30% i benchmark mode and turning off smooth zoom or scale the video 100% does not get me very much. only if i scale it to 50% i get 45% – this is still not smooth, but watchable – but a bit small
Rh1no

bad news on the brand name argument!

THEY ARE BOTH MADE BY HTC!
Peter

You guys are sending terribly stupid comments about Xperia’s sales, you haven’t even tried the phone and you support the phones you know more about.

This phone X1A version for America is !@#$ing sold out!

I am so mad! I ordered this Novemeber 17, and they have delayed my phone 3 times. So STOP saying that nobody is going to buy this for $800 because I would and I really mad that Sony would not put priority in me, I freaking bought it 10 days ago and they haven’t shipped it yet. It’s freaking out of stock!!!!!!!!!!!!
http://www.gotreception.com dave88

I experienced a similar problem. When I bought my iPhone, I first checked with “Got Reception?” (Gotreception.com) It’s a great resource for finding out where reception problems are most likely to occur BEFORE you lock yourself with a specific carrier.
Don63

IMO your argument about name branding is lost.
Since HTC actually makes the X1 for Sony Ericsson.
I am not getting the X1 being smaller.
It is longer, the thickness is just about the same but the HTC phone is heavier by .6oz.
I must say that the phones are very close and the price dif. puts the X1 behind for me.
admin

Branding is about perception, not reality. All the many varied laptops are only made by 3 companies. Obviously the SE brands is not strong in USA (just like the Nokia brand) but its quite good in Europe. Its a regional difference.