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X10 Mini Pro U20i is basically the same phone as the X10 Mini U10i , but sports a full keyboard. You can also change the battery on X10 Mini Pro. In all, this makes its slightly thicker and heavier than the previous model. Nevertheless, the X10 Mini is one of the best smartphones to be released lately and the Pro is in most cases an improvement on the original.
Build Quality and Features
The keyboard is of course the main attraction on the X10 Pro. It has an entire 38 keys, so considering the size of the phone you might think that it's too cramped and difficult to use. Fortunately this is not the case--there is some space between each of the keys that makes them easier to distinguish and on the whole the keyboard is quite comfortable. The screen automatically switches to landscape mode when the keyboard is active.
As mentioned, the phone is thicker than the original and is encased primarily in plastics. It still feels like a solid build, especially compared to the original (large) X10--there is no slack anywhere and all of the keys fit nicely together with the rest of the build.
Sony Ericsson has shuffled around the connectors a little from the earlier version, instead of having both USB port and headphone jack placed at the bottom end of the phone, the audio output now sits on top and the USB port is on the left side of the phone.This matters very little in practical usage, but might be worth mentioning.
Android 1.6
The X10 Mini Pro runs Android 1.6, which is a bit of a shame considering that version 2.1 is becoming standard issue on most new smartphones. On the other hand, SonyEricsson no doubt has an upgrade in the pipeline and until then, Android 1.6 is good enough for most users.
The phone is quick to respond and thanks to the small size it's a delight to store in your pocket. It is very quick to respond. Especially the 5 megapixel camera is very responsive, but so is application startup time and other factors. By and large, it's hard to find much to complain about as far as the user interface is concerned. A minor annoyance is that Android 1.6 lacks native support for Microsoft Exchange, so you'll have to download a third-party app--something that is not a problem with HTC smartphones that have the Sense UI on top of the regular Android interface. But again, this is solved by a quick app install.
It's Small
Obviously, this phone isn't called "Mini" in the name for no reason--it's a small phone and so is the screen. At 2.55 inches with a 240x320 resolution, it's not overly comfortable to use as a web-surfing phone for extended periods. Reading massive we pages is not practical, but watching a movie or two while you're on the move is not an issue.
Conclusion
The Mini Pro is not that different from the Mini U10i--the keyboard is the only major improvement. Of course this is what makes it interesting for some--business users in particular, and the fact that it's a highly usable keyboard doesn't hurt at all. Since the X10 Mini is one of the coolest smartphones on the market, the only conclusion here is that the Mini Pro is an even better phone, in spite of being slightly heavier and thicker.
