=== Why the X10 Mini? ===

When I was last due for an upgrade (Dec 2010) I desperately wanted a phone with buttons. Not too much of an ask I thought, but apparently it was. I couldn't find a decent phone with buttons on the market. I didn't really want to get a touch screen phone as I'd used various ones that friends had, and I wan't too keen on them, and I seemed to have difficulty with them.

Once I realised I wasn't going to get a phone with buttons that I liked I began to reluctantly look in to getting a touch screen. I tried a few out in the shop (to see if I could work the touch screen more than anything) before actually decided to put myself in contract for 2 years with a phone I didn't like! I was impressed with the Sony Ericsson Xperia's screen. Seeing as I wanted a small phone (I find most smartphones too big for my liking) I went for the Mini Pro version of the phone. The benefits of the 'Pro' version is that the phone also slides up to reveal a full qwerty keyboard (buttons!!!).

For the purpose of this review I am going to talk about the phone in a personal sense rather than a technological one. I'm not the most technological person, but I can write about how I personally find the phone to use.

=== Appearance ===

This phone is a little more chunky than the average smartphone, but is a lot smaller in terms of height and width of the screen (and therefore the phone is also smaller in height and width). I have the black version. There is a shiny finish to the phone.

=== Durability ===

I can be quite a clumsy person from time to time. This means my poor phone has been dropped on numerous occasions. It does now have the odd chip in the plastic casing, but nothing too drastic. I am impressed that the screen hasn't been damaged in any way despite my clumsiness!

=== Using the Phone ===

Despite my initial worries of having a phone with a touch screen, I actually find the screen very easy to use and responsive. I do have long nails (but not overly long) and I find this doesn't hinder my using the screen at all. I imagine though that it might become a problem if you happened to have really long nails.

I am a big texter, so the fact the touch screen is so responsive means I can still text as quickly as I could on my old 'button' phone. I think that texting is really easy on this phone. Major plus point for how I personally use the phone. The qwerty keyboard is a handy addition as it means that you also have this option to type if you do happen to struggle with the touch screen.

I did find the menu a little confusing, but the menus on the phone are customisable. One of the first things I did when I got the phone was to organise everything to how I wanted it to be. Once I had done this and everything was in place to what made sense to me I have had no issues with the menu or how it was structured. The four corner icons on the home screen are especially useful, and can also be customised to your personal preferences.

I really like using the phone and I do find it easy to use. My other half though hates it. I think this is mostly because he struggles to use the touch screen. He has a touch screen himself that he has no issues with. I think the main problem he has is with the screen being smaller the on screen 'buttons' are close together and he sometimes he hits two at once.

=== Android ===

I'm not going to go in to the Android in too much detail as there really is so much to it - I'm just going to mention a little about my using of it on the phone. The phone runs one of the (now older) versions of Android. From a personal perspective Android technology means I have been playing about with some of the thousands of apps out there. Hours of entertainment! A large number of Apps are free. Other features such as MSN and facebook are great for keeping in touch with your social networks.

Having the Android market (or Google Play as it's now known) is something I really do like having on this phone. It does make the phone more than just a phone. It's an entertainment device too. One thing to be aware of though as the phone does have such a small screen in comparison to other smartphones not all apps work well. Some apps (for example, Draw Something) are not available on the phone simply because the screen is a bit small. Considering though one of the reasons I went for this phone was because it was smaller in size than most others means I can't really complain toooo much about this.

=== Connectivity ===

The phone has 3G, bluetooth and wi-fi connections. I find all of these easy to use. Switching off the bluetooth when not in use is a good plan as it helps to conserve the battery.

Which leads me on to...

=== Battery Life ===

I find that smartphones in general tend to be not so smart when it comes to their battery life. The X10 unfortunately isn't an exception to this rule, though it also isn't too bad. It does require charging every day, even if it hasn't been used that much. It would be good if they could develop a smartphone with the battery life of the old Nokias. But then with all the features that a smartphone has it's no real wonder why the battery doesn't last as long.

Something that can help to conserve battery life is if you don't have too many programmes running at once. You can check out what programmes the phone is running, and close the ones that you don't need to be open but I often forget or assume that because I've closed something once it's then closed. I have trouble with a couple of the pre-installed programmes always wanting to be running in the background even after they have been closed.

=== Cost ===

I have this phone on a contract (which is now nearing it's end). I am paying £20 a month for my contract (with a number of minutes, unlimited texts and a data allowance) on the Three network. I feel as though at the time I purchased the contract I did get good value for money. Of course, contracts are constantly changing so mine is now not available, but there are similar ones on the market in similar price ranges. With this contract the phone was free.

=== Any Issues? ===

The phone has crashed on me on occasions where I've had to switch the phone off and back on again. This isn't a particularly frequent occurrence but it's annoying when it does happen.

As mentioned previously, battery life could be better, I have to charge this phone more often than I did my old one.

There are a number of pre-installed programmes that I can't seem to get rid of. For example I have a 'Who wants to be a millionaire' icon in my menu that I can't get rid of, and I don't have the game. If I go in to the game it asks me to purchase it before I can play. There are a couple of these on the phone and I can't seem to be able to delete them no matter what I try.