The first test I did out of the box is put the X10 mini in the most complete iPhone left handed death grip I could as it continued to show full bars with 3G on AT&T, so this tiny phone is already ahead of the iPhone 4 in that regard.

Now what was in the box was surprising as it included not one but 5 different color back panels to snap on as well earbuds & a USB cord that connects to an outlet charger.

Its specs are:

Size: 3.5 x 2.0 x 0.7 inches

Weight: 4.2 ounces

Screen: 2.6 inches 240×320 TFT Scratch Resistant

Processor: 600 MHz Qualcomm MSM7227

RAM: 128MB

SD Card: 2GB

Android: 1.6

Camera: 5MP with Flash

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The main draw of this phone is its size as I compared it to its larger high end X10 version which was reviewed here on GAB exactly 3 months ago.

The demo target of the X10 Mini are teenagers looking for a compact phone thats stylish and can perform for their social needs.

A teenager used to dialpad texting would excel with the X10 Mini as uses the touchscreen version of that since its screen is too small for a full visual keyboard, although the Pro version does come with a slide out physical keyboard.

This isn’t a high end smartphone as can be seen by a processor thats only slightly better than the G1 & a low resolution thats noticeable even on a small screen.

Surprisingly it nearly triples the Frames Per Second of the high end X10 with a 1GHz SnapDragon processor albeit much larger 4 inch screen as the Mini X10 is on the bottom of the image.

The best benchmarking Android app in my opinion is Quandrant but that doesn’t work on the Mini X10 so I did a Pi test to illustrate the processing difference of it being about half that on the high end X10.

I also tested the battery with light use as it lasted over 2 days so normal use should get through the day as it does with most smartphones currently.

The X10 Mini does punch well above its weight in picture & video taking quality as well its ease of use.

An odd annoyance with the main X10 is to turn the camera flash on you have to go to Advanced Settings, then Photo Light, then select ON while the Mini has a simple top corner flash selection icon.

At Google I/O the Sony Ericsson rep told me some of those UI refinements will carry over to the main X10 as it looks to be happening soon with an OTA software update before that for the Android 2.X upgrade in the Fall.

So as I wait for this update to the XPERIA X10 back over at Mobile Martin my review of the Mini version is that it should do well with teenagers and those making the initial smartphone jump, while those expecting an iPhone alternative would be disappointed.

The Sony XPERIA X10 Mini & Mini Pro are reported to arrive late this Summer on either or both AT&T & T-Mobile which should do well with the “back to school” crowd, my feeling is the Mini Pro will be the one doing especially well.

Hopefully Joe has recovered from the comment beating he took on the no Gingerbread for the Nexus One post as he returns back here to GAB.

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1. Screen quality. iPhone wins, but only slightly over the EVO.

2. Multitasking. All of them do it, but Apple’s system is a LOT easier to figure out and manage. That said, AT&T’s new data plan pricing has left a very bad taste in my mouth. I’m going to have to use the iPhone 4 for a month to see how much data I actually end up using now that I can do things like use Waze for traffic at the same time as playing music on Pandora, or watching live streaming videos from Ustream, etc. The iPhone should be miles ahead here, because of its superior OS, but is only slightly ahead because AT&T is dragging down the experience for me.

3. Battery life. HUGE win for the iPhone 4, which gives up to 40% longer talk times than the 3GS, which is already giving me at least 40% better battery life than the EVO.

4. Application choice and quality. A slight win for iPhone 4. Overall I like apps on the iPhone better and there definitely are more to choose from. 225,000 according to Steve Jobs today. But there are some apps on Android that are better. Google Voice and Google Maps are two of them, which are pretty dramatic. I keep getting complaints from developers about the Apple approval process, too.

5. Feel in pocket. iPhone 4 wins here. It’s thinner and since it’s glass on both sides more pocket compatible.

6. Voice quality. The EVO is a LOT better than the iPhone 3GS, but I wasn’t able to try it out today for a phone call, so we’ll need to wait until June 24th for that.

7. Sexiness. The iPhone 4 wins here big time.

8. Carriers. The iPhone 4 LOSES here big time. AT&T has dead zones where none exist on my routes around the San Francisco Bay Area on Sprint or Verizon.

9. Video and camera. The iPhone wins here by quite a bit. The focusing on the iPhone is better. The quality seems like it is better, but I’ll need to do a head-to-head after June 24th to really know that for sure. The video features are FAR superior on the iPhone, especially the new editing features. I will buy the iPhone for these features alone, so for a video geek like me these are a huge deal. My wife, though, uses the iPhone camera a lot more than I do (I have a pro camera, she doesn’t and she takes a lot of pictures of the kids), so it’ll be interesting to see what she does with this.

10. Video games. The iPhone is already ahead here by a long shot and with its new gyroscope we should see even more apps for the iPhone that are cool and now that Zynga is bringing its games to the iPhone Apple has widened its lead. Yeah, yeah, I’m sure all the haters will remind me it doesn’t play Flash games but, sorry, that train has left the station and isn’t coming back.

11. Tethering. The EVO lets you share your phone as a wifi hotspot and lets other devices use its data plan to get on the Internet. This is wildly cool and how I get my family’s iPads on the Internet when driving in the car. Apple didn’t say a thing about tethering today and I’m hearing rumors that the iPad won’t tether with the new iPhone. So, this is a major feature in the EVO camp. Plus, AT&T’s new data plan restrictions really bug me.

12. Synch and services. Here Android kicks Apple’s ass. The iPhone has to be physically plugged into a computer and connected to iPhone to synch it. With the EVO I never have connected it physically to a computer. I just entered my Gmail address and password and all my contacts, all of my calendar items, all of my email, and all of my applications just showed up. This is a MAJOR advantage to the Android system.

So, will I start using an iPhone again? Yes, but I have the luxury of being able to afford two devices and I’m definitely keeping the EVO if just for the tethering. If I could only afford one? I’d go with iPhone 4 over the EVO. Mostly because the OS is nicer to use (hard to explain all the ways this is so in a short post, so you’ll have to wait for a longer post after I get mine), the video features, and the battery life is dramatically better. But I totally understand why many of you will ignore those advantages because AT&T sucks so much. If voice quality is more important to you than all the toys, the nicer OS, or the video chat, then definitely go for the Sprint or the Verizon.

To the second part of this question. Does Nokia, MIcrosoft, or RIM have a chance to get into the game?

Well, let’s look at the strength’s of each company.

1. Nokia has a ton of market share in low-end markets. That still gives it a powerful voice brand to build off of. Will it matter in the high end game? I don’t think it will, but I’m sure I’ll have lots of Nokia employees telling me why it does.

2. Microsoft has the Xbox and their new phone is coming from the same team. Wired also explained how Microsoft’s Kin and a bunch of services give it a leg into the game. I don’t buy that horseradish, but I can see how many of you will.

3. RIM has the best keyboards and best integration with Microsoft Exchange (still). Corporate IT folks care about both of these. Even Mark Zuckerberg carries a Blackberry to do email on. Until Android matches the keyboard quality RIM is safe. The first Motorola Droid has a dreadful keyboard. Will the next one have a good enough keyboard to let RIM’ers switch? We’ll have to see.

Anyway, Apple is still on top of the mind share mountain and that’s a powerful place, indeed, to be. Look for Apple’s sales and profits to continue to go up. I’m buying three (one for Patrick, one for Maryam, and one for myself).

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It is expected that Apple will be announcing the next gen iPhone around the end of June, and beginning of July. With the next gen iPhone, this provides a good time to make their Verizon partnership announcement. And with AT&T increasing ETF(s) one month before the speculated next-gen iPhone announcement, it appears the perfect storm is brewing.

All this speculation has left consumers very confused. With AT&T raising their ETF(s) in a full weeks time, this could lead to a mass exodus from AT&T. With the speculation of Verizon carrying the iPhone, and AT&T increasing fees even further this could be the prime time for those on the fence to finally jump ship. This of course leaves iPhone users in a pickle.

For those who have had trouble with their service using the iPhone, leaving now might be a gamble worth the trouble. Then again, it might not be. Everything being thrown around the internet is speculation at this point. There’s a good chance AT&T will continue to remain the exclusive carrier of the iPhone. So, if a user decides to leave AT&T then they’re banking on the Verizon rumors to be true. If they turn out to be false, then they’ll be left in a tricky situation.

All of this speculation, and backlash from consumers has both Google and Motorola smiling. For those looking to jump ship, but still want a good smartphone might take to the Android capable smart phones. Consumers won’t entirely be without options if they decide to leave AT&T before the ETF hike, but if they still want an iPhone they’re certainly leaving things to chance.

This situation is a prime example of massive companies not being able to keep things in order. AT&T stands by their statement that the ETF increase has nothing to do with the iPhone going to Verizon; but why time it now? They couldn’t have been oblivious to the fact that making that decision now would lead to wide speculation with the next-gen iPhone coming out soon. Unfortunately, we’ll all be in the dark for quite some time. It’s going to be a long June for some consumers, here’s hoping Apple will have some news in about a month or so.

According to the affidavit, Apple was concerned about taking losses due to the leak. George Riley, representing Apple in the case, states why the leak is such a detriment to the company:

Riley stated the publication of the device and its features is immensely damaging to Apple. By publishing details about the phone and its features, sales of current Apple products are hurt wherein people that would have otherwise purchased a currently existing Apple product would wait for the next item to be released, thereby hurting overall sales and negatively effecting Apple’s earnings. Riley stated he could not currently provide an estimated loss, but believed it was, ‘huge’.

I asked Riley what the value of the missing iPhone was. He stated it was invaluable and that he could not place an amount on it. We discussed the fact that the phone was sold by Suspect Hogan for $8500 and I asked if the phone was worth at least that amount. Riley said that it was.

So, there you have it. Apple’s side of the story, concerning the events surrounding the iPhone 4G leak and what occurred afterward. There has already been reaction throughout the tech community concerning Apple’s side of the story.

Andrew R Hickey,of CRN states, “Apple buyers and consumers know a new iPhone will hit in the summer of 2010. They’ve known it since they plunked down the dough for a 3GS. That’s how Apple works. For Apple to claim that early details of its latest smartphone creation leaking to the public will have a “huge” negative impact current sales is short-sighted. Apple is assuming consumers don’t expect a new iPhone each year.”

“Instead, Apple should embrace the leak as free advertising and publicity and get out ahead of it. Apple knows it has the power to make consumers and fanboys alike salivate with the prospect of new gear, why not use the leak to its advantage instead of crying poor house?”

Time will tell if Apple’s concerns are validated or not. The reaction to the story has been the most interesting aspect of it thus far, as people have been divided in their opinions. Either people see that Apple was simply trying to protect their trade secrets, and get their property back. Or they used bully tactics to silence an online publication.

Cons:

– Typing on it is challenging. In fact, I almost feel that I can type faster on the iPhone. In the wider landscape mode, my hands are a tad too big to really be comfortable on the home row, and since it’s a touch keyboard you really can’t rest your fingers on the keys like you can on a real keyboard. In portrait mode I have to type one handed or with both thumbs, but it’s obviously wider than the iPhone which makes it harder to type in this way. Due to this I tend to agree with many reviewers who think it is more of a content consumption device than a content creation device.

– It can be awkward to hold or position. The Apple case does fold into a good angle to type on or use in landscape mode, but otherwise you have to lay it flat on a surface which isn’t ideal, or rest it on your legs, or just hold it up with your hands.

– It’s expensive. While the device itself isn’t all that pad, when you add in some accessories, the 3G data plan, and applications it can end up costing quite a bit. Unfortunately it feels like at this point there are far more quality paid apps than free apps, and that app developers are charging more for their iPad apps compared to iPhone versions. Hopefully this will improve over time as more free apps are developed, or app developers lower their prices.

– It’s a great gaming device. This normally isn’t a bad thing, but I don’t play a ton of games and my kids don’t want to give it up so that they can play.

Pros:

– It feels like the future. Touching and using a device like this just feels like I’m in the future. It’s so responsive to the touch, the UI is great, and it’s so slim that it just feels like a big step.

– There are some great applications. I haven’t had enough time to really explore the app marketplace too deeply, but so far I’m really enjoying the apps from NetFlix, Yahoo! Entertainment, TweetDeck and Twitteriffic (can’t decide which I like more), iMockups, Control4, Bloomberg, NBA Courtside, and Epicurious. My kids love Super Monkey Ball 2, PegLight, Sketches 2, and Tinkerbell Fairies Fly.

-The web browsing and email are slick. Two of the core features for the device are very strong and a nice user experience.

– It will make me read more. iBooks and some of the newspaper apps make me feel like I’m going to use it as a reading device and consequently end up reading longer content more than I have been.

– It’s going to be great for travel. It will be much easier to handle on a tight plane than a laptop, or to pull out in the airport for some quick browsing and email.

– Big potential. You can feel that the apps are just getting started and there’s going to be some really interesting and innovative uses of the iPad in the near future. Both as Apple improves the device, but also as the imaginations of app developers begin to really take advantage of it.

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But what all this means for music is far from clear. The iPad launched without any kind of music in the cloud service, though one appears to be in the planning stages for later this year. The potential for more robust and even interactive music experiences are enhanced with the iPad, but to date iTune’s LP and imitators have shown more promise than fan interest.

Eliot Van Buskirk of Wired’s Epicienter believes that the iPad could boost interactive music. …

He sites the  free Rj Voyager iPad app that “lets you modify the band’s music as if you were a sound engineer or pro DJ. The app heralds a future where users are constantly tweaking and personalizing the music they currently just listen to, and also hints at a world where music apps will adjust to a user’s surroundings through sensors on the device.”

And in a warning that should sound familiar to the heads of major labels, some reviewers are reminding consumers that Apple likes to be in charge of everything that runs on its devices. In this case since all apps require Apple’s approval, the iPad is a closed and even censored eco-system that could inhibit commerce and creativity.

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The latest generation are a huge improvement with their increased thickness and extraordinary vivid color retention. They can be cut into extremely accurate forms and custom fit whatever device you have. With iPhones, they wrap around the back of the phone and include cut-outs for the camera lens and an irregular edge that neatly extends the sticker without covering up any of the controls.

But are they worth it? Should you rush out and drop $15-20 to emblazon your favorite band, artist or comic book hero on the back of your iPhone?

To find out, I was given sample skins from the two main players in this market: GelaSkins and MusicSkins. Both use the exact same 3M film, and both seem to use the same die to cut their stickers to fit the iPhone, so the difference is primarily in the graphic itself. But there’s more to it than that, as you’ll see…

Since both use the same sort of film, let’s get that experience out of the way first, because both had the same problem and gave me a very similar result on my Apple iPhone 3GS, one that was cool, but not perfect.

The problem I faced was that neither of them actually went on perfectly and both had tiny little folds and bubbles along the edges, even as I exerted rather a lot of pressure trying to smooth them down.

Let’s start with the imagery, though: The GelaSkins skin was from a graffiti artist and was quite striking to see, as you can see below, while the MusicSkins skin was based on the terrific Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover from The Beatles.

Here are both of them:

The first thing that’ll strike you when you look at these is that the left side image that suggests there’s an included wallpaper for your phone screen? There isn’t. It’s just part of the printing, but not anything you can actually use. Kinda weird and wasteful, actually.

They peel off from a corner, giving you a sense of the thickness: these feel just about impossible to tear:

Next step is to carefully line things up and put the skin on your iPhone/device. Here you can see the Discoteca skin partially affixed:

Try as I might, though, I could never get rid of every single imperfection on my phone. In fact, both skins had exactly the same imperfections, which makes sense when you remember that they’re the same product, just different print jobs. Here’s a close up:

Can you see those spots I’ve circled? Yeah, maybe I want perfection, but it is annoying when you want something to be smooth and it’s not.

If the only difference between the two companies was the printed image on the skin, that’d be the end of the review, but Gelaskins goes further and has matching wallpaper images you can install on your iPhone too, which makes for a nice unified appearance. Better yet, it’s a free download from the App store so you can just grab Wallpapers by GelaSkins [iTunes link] and explore the many different artists they’re working with on this app and the skins.

Go through their app and you’ll see lots of cool images:

Pick the one that matches (or one that looks cool) and save it, which puts it in your photo album. Now go find it there, and tap on the Use As Wallpaper button:

This might seem unrelated to the iPhone skin review, but a quick glance shows that the two companies aren’t offering up the same product after all, even if they’re using the same sticky material. MusicSkins is all about the imagery they’ve licensed, while GelaSkins is looking at the entire experience of customizing your iPhone or other device. If all you want is a sticker on the back of your phone, both will work fine, but if you want something consistent on both sides of the device, GelaSkins is a superior choice.

Me? I tried both, enjoyed them (though was bugged by them not being a perfect fit) and ultimately went back to my hard case because I figured my iPhone just needs a bit more protection than they offered.

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VentureBeat has all the details on their survey and other fun things they learned.

OK, nothing really shocking there, but I did sit down for an interview with CEO Jeff Haynie this afternoon.

In the interview Haynie explains why his developer platform is a lot faster to develop on than building apps in Objective-C (developers use standard web technologies, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, along with its own API, named Appcelerator Titanium, that is easy to call from JavaScript to do a variety of functions. You can watch a video where they explain more about how this works.

Basically Appcelerator is a competitor for Adobe’s AIR framework/app system but one that delivers onto the iPhone (and, within a few days, on the Apple Tablet, or whatever it’ll be called).

Yes Haynie is taking advantage of the Apple news, even before it happens, but I gotta appreciate that in a CEO.

Finally, in his survey they found that most of their developers see lots of opportunities for the Apple Tablet outside of the kinds of scenarios already discussed. We talk about these at length in the interview, but while gaming will be hot they see opportunities to develop new apps in entertainment, productivity/business, social networking, and education.

Ahh, Apple Tablet Hype Week continues…

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Unfortunately for the companies exhibiting, I was too busy gorging myself on grilled cheese sandwiches made with white chocolate orange bread and brie to remember where I put my Sam Adams. I didn’t get to see every company there because:

1. I didn’t want to.
2. It’s kind of tiresome talking to booth vendors after awhile.
3. I had to pry myself away from the grilled cheese.

But I did get a good taste of things. Below are my gut reactions from the various gadgets and tech toys I tried there. You can find all of their press kits online from Showstoppers, you can view more of my photos from the event on Flickr, and I have a handful of videos on YouTube.

Technology I started using right away: Seesmic for Droid

Seesmic is best known for its desktop Twitter client. I’ve tried it but I always wind up either using Twitter.com or a mobile app. On the Droid, the gold standard has been Twidroid, but I think they just went silver. When I met Seesmic founder Loic LeMeur, he showed me how Seesmic for Droid had integrated Twitter Lists, and any of its features I’ve tried out so far either mirror or surpass anything from Twidroid.

Gadget I don’t understand why anyone would ever buy unless they’re a board member’s mother: Plastic Logic’s Que

One of the hot product categories at CES were e-readers… no big surprise there. There was a pretty, glassy, thin one that debuted from Paper Logic called Que, which is designed to format newspapers and magazines in a more natural way while also making it easy to review and even annotate Microsoft Office docs like presentations. I fell over when I heard the price - $649 (4GB wifi) or $799 (8GB wifi and 3G).

So let’s see – you can get a netbook for a few hundred, or a tablet somewhere close to $1000. If tablets go big, they will kill the market for this device because tablets have web browsers, color, and really any features you’d expect from your laptop without the physical keyboard. When I saw another demo of the Que they were very quick to say you shouldn’t spend much time typing – it was only for brief notes. When I appeared skeptical, on more than one occasion, different reps would say, “But it’s for business!” It’s reminiscent of the “You know, for kids!” tagline from Hudsucker Proxy. But at least in Hudsucker Tim Robbins was selling the hula hoop, a gadget that filled a need in the market.

By the way one reader that looks far more compelling is the Skiff, but pricing hasn’t been announced. Here are some views of the Que:

This wasn’t an easy award to give out – so many contenders… but Sensawaft lets you control computing devices just by breathing. The guy below was blowing into a mic and controlling flicking a website up and down. I got to do this too, and it took a little getting used to, but yes, the direction of the air blown can make a difference.

I can see it being used in some kind if My Left Foot scenario – I mean, imagine if the guy played by Daniel Day Lewis had this. Or if he had the Internet. The movie would have probably been a little less depressing.

There are some things I like about it. One big one is that they’re opening up the platform, and they created the Be A Mind Blower competition to get people to submit ideas.

I have seen other applications of breath blowing digital tech. GE’s Plug Into the Smart Grid augmented reality showcase allowed you to blow into the computer mic and turn the wind turbines. I’m sure this Sensawaft stuff is more sophisticated and perhaps more useful, but I think if your cubicle mate hears you blowing into your computer all day, they’re going to report you for running a 900 hotline.

Most creative use of an iPhone application: Yurbuds by Yurtopia

Yurbuds hooked me on a great use of both cool and practical, and it offered a fun demo of how digital tools can improve retail for physical goods.

The basic premise: custom-fitting earbuds. They have a much longer explanation for how these earbud covers fit better around your optic nerves and improve the sound and maybe improve your balance (I could use that last feature but I’m making that up). Go to their site for the specs. Ultimately, they’re these rubbery covers that make your earbuds fit better in your ear, even when running, or as I tried, waving your head back and forth like an idiot. They didn’t fall out.

What upped the cool factor tremendously though is that they’re sized with an iPhone app. You hold a quarter up to your earlobe, take a picture, and they use that to determine your ear size. It worked for me. On their site they also do it with a photo submission process. The price is $20 for the covers or $30 for the covers with the earphones, and their earphones look EXACTLY like iPod earphones. Full disclosure: I got a free pair of the earbuds and the earphones, and I used them on the plane ride home. The sound was about as good as you can expect to get from watching a Jets game on a Jetblue flight.

Best musical instrument for someone who can’t even figure out Guitar Hero: Beamz

If your kid can’t play any of these real musical instruments or even video games based on them, get them Beamz – a way to make noise just by running your hand across laser beams. They even advertise this on their site, calling it “an approachable instrument that anyone may play.” In other words, if your musical talents include banging a rock on the ground and almost kind of being able to whistle, you’ll love this.

It’s weird. I tried it out and, not being among the most rhythmically gifted, didn’t really let loose there. If you’re of drinking age, I highly recommend doing a few shots before trying this. But please note this blog does not advocate giving liquor to minors – they will enjoy it just fine as they are.

Apparently some real artists use it. I can’t remember who but they sounded famous. And you can program the Beamz to play any kind of instrument. They also have a new game Shadowbeamz. So yes, people who are talented can probably have even more fun with this than people who aren’t. But it is “approachable.” That’s one of those words often used as a backhanded compliment, but for those who like toys that make a lot of noise, I think “approachable” is a huge upside here.

Technology with most promise that’s not delivering (for me): PlayOn

I couldn’t love the idea of PlayOn more: you download software (free trial, then $40 flat fee), use your gaming console to connect to the Internet, and watch video from Hulu, Netflix, Amazon, YouTube, and elsewhere on your TV. I thought this was the most impactful technology at all of Showstoppers.

Then I tried to use it.

It didn’t take too long to set up on my PC and then my Wii. A nice touch is that you can add your accounts for Hulu, Netflix, Amazon, and YouTube so you can quickly access your content.

I tried going to Hulu first to watch some TV shows, only to get a recurring ‘error loading video’ message. Then I went to YouTube to load one of my own, a brief clip from CES. It took a couple minutes to load, and then it was choppy – and this was just a 20-second clip.

My PC passes all the connection tests in the PlayOn software, but maybe if I had a newer laptop it would run better. I really wish this would work so I could easily watch Hulu on my HD TV without even needing a box. Great idea, and maybe it works better for others. It’s a free trial so I’d still recommend giving it a shot to see if it works for you.

If it does though, I might be coming over to your place to watch it.

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Since then, technology and gadget bloggers have been in a frenzy not seen by me since the iPhone was first announced. I’m not about to get into the many details of Google’s Nexus One phone–I’m going to take a different angle, below–but you can read all about the unlocked Android phone, here, here, and here. Oh, and here’s what it looks like:

So, what’s my take on this?

The media frenzy!

OMG! I don’t know how much Motorola and Verizon spent trying to hype up the launch of the recent Droid phone, but that publicity doesn’t compare to what Google has accomplished over the weekend.

How smart was Google? It handed out free phones to Google employees, either didn’t tell them to keep quiet about it, or actively encouraged the discussions, and let the details slowly leak out. All weekend long, I’ve seen post, after article, after post hit the web. Right about now, everyone that doesn’t own an iPhone is currently drooling over becoming a Google Nexus owner–and there are probably a few iPhone owners feeling the same way too!

Perhaps Google has realized that it’s just not that good at artificially creating excitement with its own advertising. The company became the world’s #1 search engine via word of mouth. Could it own the world’s #1 cell phone the same way?

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