genral information & specification!
Brand Sony Ericsson
Model XPERIA Pureness (X5)
Weight 70 G
Form Factor Bar
Dimensions 112x43x13 MM
Operating Frequency GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900, HSDPA 2100
Display Details
Display Color 1.8 inches, Transparent, monochrome
Display Size Sony Ericsson XPERIA Pureness (X5) has a display size of 176 x 220 px
Games yes
Java Yes, MIDP 2.1
Browser Yes, WAP 2.0 / xHTML (NetFront)
Call Records
Phone Book Yes, Photocall
Missed Calls 30 Entries.
Received Calls 30 Entries.
Dialed Calls 30 Entries.
Battery
Stand By Time Up to 350 h (2G) / Up to 350 h (3G)
Talk Time Up 8 h 30 min (2G) / Up to 3 h 30 min (3G
Memory
Internal Memory Yes, Internal Memory 2 GB storage
External Memory No
Memory Slot No
Message
SMS Yes
MMS Yes
Email Yes
Music
Ring Tone AAC, MP3
FM Yes, Stereo FM radio with RDS
Music Yes, MP3 player
Speaker Yes
Headset Yes
Data
GPRS Yes, Class 10 (4+1/3+2 slots), 32 - 48 kbps
Bluetooth Yes, v2.1 with A2DP
Wirless Protocol No
Port Yes
Edge Yes, Class 10, 236.8 kbps
Infra Red No
3G Yes
Salespack Mobile, Battery, Travel Charger, Earphone, User Guides
It lacks a camera of any description, which is unusual for any mobile nowadays, and is short also on Wi-Fi or GPS satellite location-finding gadgetry.
The big draw on this phone is clearly its unusual, stylish design rather than a bumper features list. While the premium handset card has been played previously by other manufacturers, the Xperia Pureness does introduce a bit of sit-up-and-take-notice novelty with its innovative display.
Organiser and entertainment
A standard toolbox of organiser functionality is included, with calendar, tasks, notes, timer, stopwatch, calculator, plus sound recorder applications inside. TrackID software is also included to seek out the name of tunes you hear around you. A Pac-Man game is included too, which is playable on the screen.
You can play back video, but the monochrome projection on the clear screen, while offering a hint of Minority Report, makes for an extremely poor viewing experience.
Performance
The Xperia Pureness puts in an assured voice calling performance, with good quality sound and reliable connectivity. Battery life is satisfactory too; Sony Ericsson quotes up to 3.5 hours talktime on 3G networks (or 8.5 hours in GSM-only coverage), or standby of up to 350 hours. With normal usage, we had no problems running the phone for 3 days between charges, which is acceptable for this grade handset.
Design and handling
The Sony Ericsson Xperia Pureness is a neatly crafted candybar, measuring a sleek 102(h) x 43(w) x 13(d) mm and a waif-like 70g. Its lightweight glossy black plastic bodywork is minimalist chic, with numbers only visible when the phone is active. There's three tiny square control buttons raised on the control panel, plus twin volume keys on either side and a tiny power on/off button unusually on the back.
Transparemt display
The screen though is the focal point of this design. Its made from a sheet of scratch resistant plastic spreading right to the edges of the body. It's when you pick it up and twirl it around that you really notice that it's something out of the ordinary - there's no back panel covering it. At rest it appears like a translucent frosted glass window rather than a regular display, and you can see blurred objects through it.
Click one of the buttons, though, and the frosted glass clears instantly as the screen activates and you can see right through it. All the usual elements you see on a phone screen - text, menus and graphics - appear in white on the clear display, seemingly suspended in mid-air
The white onscreen elements on the 1.8-inch monochrome panel don't show up well against a see-through display - particularly an issue with small text - and it can be very difficult to read clearly in many lighting environments.
Understandably, holding it up against darker backgrounds suits it better. But overall, once you get past the novelty factor, the screen is a major issue running through the phone's user interface that's hard to overlook.
User interface
The numberpad keys are adequately responsive for swift texting though.
The minimalist control panel buttonry cleverly camouflages a fairly conventional Sony Ericsson key arrangement; the central button is the select key for a hidden directional navigation pad, plus there are familiar softkeys, and Clear and Activity Menu buttons that appear around the flanking Call and End buttons.
Out of the box, the standby screen has a simple clock in the centre, and the main menu is set out as a series of scrollable large icons, which makes it easier to see the sub-menu options. If you prefer a more conventional look, this can be changed to a grid style menu by swapping themes. The navigation pad offers a typical selection of user definable shortcuts, while the Activity menu key opens up menus for quick access to useful features and info in typical Sony Ericsson style.
Text messaging is OK using the numberpad, although as we've said it can be difficult reading what you're typing on the display - particularly if predictive text is bringing up similar-looking characters to the ones you're attempting to type. The phone supports MMS message receiving and sending - though the nature of the display means any pictures are monochrome and appear a bit like photo negatives.
Music player
The music player does the usual stuff, with lists of categories to choose music from, including artists, albums, playlists, genres, year plus podcasts and audio book options, and the navigation pad taking care of player controls. While there's no memory card expansion, some 2GB of media storage is built in to go with around 95MB of phone memory.
Sony Ericsson pulls a neat stroke with the inclusion of a set of Bluetooth earphones in the box as standard. The smart-lookiing Stereo Streaming Bluetooth Headset HBH-HS800 supplied in-box comprises two in-ear buds connected with a wire with mic/remote control between them. It's very easy to set up and use in seconds and works extremely well, producing a lovely clear, well balanced sound.
Browsing
Although the Xperia Pureness does high-speed HSDPA mobile data connectivity, the browsing experience using the regulation Sony Ericsson NetFront mid-tier browser is seriously hampered by the limitations of the monochrome display. Pages are very difficult to read and navigate in the normal way. It does offer shortcut controls for zooming bookmarking and suchlike in a familiar Sony Ericsson way, but the screen is really just not a satisfactory or practical way of working the web.
