Is the Sony Xperia X10 better than Nexus One or Motorola Milestone?

Google's Android operating system is finding its way into more and more new phone releases and the first from Sony Ericsson is the much anticipated Sony Ericsson X10 - part of the Xperia range.

With the likes of Motorola rolling out their first two models to feature Android, the Motorola Dext and recently released Motorola Milestone (with the BACKFLIP on the way), HTC with their Tattoo phone and popular HTC Hero, Acer have launched their first called the Acer Liquid and probably the most talked about of all if Google's own brand Nexus One which although is branded by the search company, is in fact manufactured by HTC.

The biggest difference between these recent releases and the forthcoming Sony Ericsson X10 is the version of Android they are using, the Sony X10 is set to feature the older 1.6 version, nicknamed 'Donut' which is also available on the HTC Hero handset. The latest Motorola Milestone offers the Android 2.0 OS whilst the new Google Nexus One is the first to incorporate v2.1 (or 2.0.1).

That said, you might be thinking why opt for the Sony Xperia phone when these new handsets offer a more updated operating system, well, the manufacturer has also incorporated their own user interface over the top alongside two strangely named features called 'Timescape' and 'Mediascape' - not overly catchy? No, but very useful.

These two parts of the new 'UX' which is apparently short for 'user interface' if you work for Sony Ericsson, are seamlessley organising your multimedia and communication files in the background, building your contacts database base on user data and face recognition. There is even a piece of software that is able to recognise your friends whilst in the camera mode from existing pictures of them in your albums!

To facilitate this, the Sony Ericsson X10 offers an 8.1 mega pixel camera, this is the first Android phone to incorporate this technology and by far and away, much better than the Motorola Milestone and Nexus One handsets that offer a 5.0 mega pixel unit. The camera offers geo-tagging, a dual LED flash and autofocus amongst other almost standard Sony Ericsson camera features.

Running Android 1.6 in the background means that the Sony Ericsson X10 offers good support for multimedia playback including a YouTube application and other Google products, there is also support for Microsoft Exchange email, web browsing and access to Sony Ericsson's PlayNow service for downloads.

A standard 3.5mm audio jack means that you can use your preferred headphones rather than those in the package which also contains a 1GB memory card for storing your music and multimedia files.

When it comes to speed the Sony X10 offers the same speed processor as the Nexus One with a 1 GHz Snapdragon unit on board, the Motorola Milestone incorporates a much smaller version at 550MHz.

If the Sony Ericsson does win over the Nexus One and Motorola Milestone across the board it is most definitely for its larger screen, offering a 4 inch touch screen display the Sony X10 is ideal for web browsing and video playback.