A number of Sony Ericsson X10 mini and X10 mini pro users are reporting that the video functionality of the handset has been upgraded to include continuous autofocus. This functionality certainly wasn’t on the change log, which makes me wonder why SE wouldn’t want to promote such a feature. Of course, there’s no HD video recording as seen in its big brother the Xperia X10, but it seems like a nice surprise for X10 mini users nonetheless. If you have a X10 mini and have upgraded, we’d love to know whether all users have this enabled. Let us know in the comments below.
76 responses to “X10 mini gets surprise continuous autofocus in Éclair update”
1st
Hehe… First!!! 🙂
aie! bi tizak
surly the x10 should get update 1st as they are ppl who paid more 1!
X10 Mini Pro Unbranded Android 2.1 DK – no auto focus.
Hi
I have x10mini and desperate to get update. can anyone confirm when i will get update. I live in South Lanarkshire, Scotland?
hi guys, i just wana ask for an advice about buying a phone.
i finaly managed to sell my xperia x10 due to the USB port being dammaged and i couldn’t get it fixed anywhere, therefore i couldn’t update to Ecliar. so my question is should i buy galxy S or is the xperia 10 Eclair is worth purchsing the x10 again? also i was wondering if i could wait for the rumared nexus2 that is about to be announced on 8 november. thanks
Jepp, working on my X10mini. Living in Sweden… 🙂
The update is worth it if you were happy with your phone to begin with. The MT issue still bugs me as cannot play all games… The Galaxy S is still buggy I believe… best bet wait till Android 2.3/3 is released in a month and get a phone with that pre-loaded…
i can confirmed auto focus…. its on my x10 mini 2.1
i tried … it works well with me …
When is update coming to South Africa Damn im waiting so looooooonnnng
When is update coming to Egypt (South Africa) ?
Sorry that is not in subject !
I got in the X10i (big) with flashed 2.1world generic soft but i don’t know how to delete the devises in the bluethooth setting
And this is causing problem with exchanging files betwen my windows vista 64bit and my xperia
I will be very happy to hear the anwer
Please please help me !!!!!
autofocus is not continuous focus
@sonic
I would say go and get x10 because this phone are realy good only think is a little bit heel is the battery with keep only max two day and there is no flash. |The recording are very good native resolution is 1280x 720 and very memery hungy for example 1 min of viedeo is cost 60 mb the the continouse work perfectly and is very responsive. the overall quality of the music has been improve but no equalizer (power amp very go) . I can confirm that ther is 16 million colours and they are very saturdated, bright and clear. The phone book are very good
I love i suggest go get x10 it very easy to root so you can decrease the cpu speed and they the battery keep even 3 day. There signal of the wifi are slightly stronger
Works on my mini too with generic nordic firmware.
Let’s see if anybody can answer this for me. I got an X10a and once I get the update(2.1) through At&t(because I don’t really care if it comes or not because unlike others I LOVE my phone the way it is so having a slight update will just be a plus!!) I was just wondering why their is only Continuous Autofocus on Video and not on the Camera mode. I mean if it’s on the video mode even when you zoom in,presumably,why wouldn’t you have it on camera mode? Not complaining here ,because my buddy wants me to take pictures instead of his CrApple IP4 when we go hit the mountain trails on our bikes :). Thank you.
Hi,
I updated my mini on Tuesday and did not notice the continuous auto focus until I read this post.
It works, and works good!
Thanks for the post.
DjL
@OSCAR
Why would you need continuous autofocus in camera mode anyway?
You can set all kinds of types for autofocus in the camera settings.
ok thanks both of you
Yep, and still problems with bad automatic shutter. Even with flash support it still keeps shutter speed too low that it produce blured images. 🙁 Another thing is weird videoformat. Why SVGA? Why not at least normal DVD resolution (less lines, more columns). And finaly, there could be much more functionality in camera software. Even my old K750i had better functionality .. for example exposure compensation. This is what I don’t get. I thought that SONY E. wants to be leader in Android market, so why not put more possibilities in phone software than other companies? There always could be a checkbox for activate advanced camera mode for users who would like to use that.
ohhhh yeah, what about the iphone4? is it any good?
Dear sonic,
you should get the X10, it really works very well with 2.1 upgrade and it’s better than iphone 4 because it has bluetooth, and you can delete and manage your photos and music with out going everytime to your pc to use itunes, like you would do in an iphone4. Also, the simcard is the same, so you can use it with any other phone, but with the iphone the simcard will change and you can only use it for the iphone nothing more.
The SGS is really good, but it looks cheap and not classy like the X10 + the camera sucks big time with no flash. So it’s you choice, but if I were you, I would chose the X10 anyday !
this better not be the “surprise” SE was talking about as this doesn’t benefit me in ANY way.
Infact, what was the suprise for the X10???????!!!
@power 88
thanks mate. but i think i’ll wait for the rummured nexus2 to announced next week & then i’ll decide weather i buy the x10 or the nexus2. i agree with u about SGS it doesn’t have flash and it feels cheap and thats what put me off in purchasing it.
@ sonic
Haven’t you heard dude? The nexus 2 is just a rumor, and samsung had denied it already ! So my opinion is go for the X10.
read this :
http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_denies_nexus_s_rumors_preps_continuum_for_8_november-news-2046.php
@fact is fact
bu bu bu bu but that’s what companies do. they keep denying till the blow it in the last minute. but still I’ll wait until 8 of November and see what happens.
At Solidosnake. I’m not sure i said that right or maybe you misconstrued it or both :). I like the zoom function on both video and camera because no one else has it on their phones as good as the X10. But when you zoom in for a closer look I think it should have some type of “Autofocus” so it won’t pixelate that much… In reality the camera is just a phone camera I know but still at 8.1 MP it would be nice to have that lil additional umph that will blow all the other phones out the water. Just inquiring her so I’d like anyone elses opinion also.
@sonic: if you like Android, i suggest getting another X10, or maybe an HTC (if anything because those have better support from the community). Samsung? Pleeeease. They make some good hardware, but as soon as there is software they put their incompetent hands on it, and ruin whatever they had before. This applies to ANYTHING made by them, including TVs, DVRs, phones, i don’t even want to know what Bada looks like…. not sure if it’s still like that, but Motorola has (had?) the same habit: the Motorola A1000 had better hardware than the SE P900, the same os… and yet it started in twice the time, had a lot less features, and generally sucked big time including less software compatibility.
Now, onto the dangerous waters: if you are willing to try, the iPhone has the best “all around” smartphone OS. Also, people like to bash iTunes and boast the fact that Android dosen’t need it, and to them i say lol. While iTunes isn’t the prettiest or the best software in town, there is NOTHING like that for Android (or any other platform that i know of): read around, people whines that “Backup and Restore” dosen’t like their old backups. iTunes does a progressive backup of the iPhone every time you sync it, and then you can restore and get your device in the same condition as your last backup. Still on the matter, say somebody steals your Android. Let’s say you are willing to re-purchase the same phone. Go on, re download all your apps, have fun putting settings back as you liked them and re loading multimedia files on the sd. I’m sure it will take you less than restoring a backup from iTunes with all your apps (and their settings), music, photos and videos…
Backups aren’t the only thing. Once you have an app in iTunes, it won’t go away. Gets pulled from the app store? Who cares, you still have it. Same happens on Android marketplace? Unless you manually made a copy of the app, that one is lost. Again, with iTunes you can download apps and then sync them to the device, this can be useful for big downloads like a game. Example: Asphalt5 android: reviews call it a big file, it’s 14mb. iPhone: 272mb. Others can even pass 400mb…. also, unless you have froyo and the app supports app2sd, you aren’t going to download that kind of thing.
iOS has always had features that are still not there in froyo, and that (believe me, i did search 😐 ) aren’t available as a separate app: proxy. In a work environment you are likely to need to use one to use the office connection. At home you could set up a content filtering proxy, i did that and i get NO ads on anything that uses the network. Anything except the Android devices, that is. VPN? come on, Faildos XP has better support out of the box, on 1.6 i couldn’t get PPTP or IPSEC to work in any way, and i heard it’s still not too great on 2.2 but that might be not true. Exchange support is better in iOS 4 than Froyo. But for that there are indeed apps.
So essentially…. Android isn’t good for a work environment. Most likely a BlackBerry would smoke an iPhone any day on the matter, but then you go back to the normal user side, and the BB loses big time to both Android and iOS, so lol.
So essentially, if you want to get an iPhone 4, keep in mind this is what you’ll lose compared to a random top notch Android: freedom in Bluetooth, no file transfer there…. you can do it with some apps, but only to other devices running the same thing. Not satisfactory.
Freedom in the store, if Apple decides an app is wrong, it won’t be there. Then again, you will also avoid this kind of crap appbrain.com/app/dolphin-browser-license/browser.dolphin.firefox.opera.chrome.fennec.license please notice how the purchase is a “donation” to get rid of ads. Too bad it’s to a different developer than the Dolphin’s one, aka a scam.
You can get the app freedom back by jailbreaking anyway.
You lose the mass storage functionality AND the external memory.
The easy app development (Apple does dislike things like AppInventor. While this is bothering, it also keeps the average level of the store higher, so it’s kinda a win-win thing).
You lose Flash. I think it’s only a good thing, but people like it, so…
You lose OTA updates. Then again apparently not all of them can be done like that, and in the case you are forced to use Faildos. With an iPhone you have to do that always, but there is the choice between Faildos and Mac OS. Still no Linux love however.
You lose hardware buttons! Especially sad if you love having an hardware keyboard (like me).
And the great integration with Google services. While Google has an Exchange service that you can use on the iPhone to sync calendars, contacts and mails, there is no GTalk integration. Kinda sad.
@ power 88: please try an iPhone before you talk about them. Your point about picture management only with iTunes is fun, because that’s exactly a feature it lacks. If you want to delete a single picture from an iPhone, you do so on the phone itself. iTunes ONLY puts on the iPhone pictures that are:
a) in a folder of your choice
or
b) in iPhoto
or
c) in Aperture
Instead it’s true for the music, that can be managed (very well, needless to say i do like iTunes) only in iTunes itself. Aaaand there are sim adapters, a micro sim is only a normal one with less plastic on the sides 😐 but you do have a point there.
TL;DR no samsung, go X1 or HTC, the iPhone is also very good.
P.S. before any hipster bashes me with “Android is open, iPhone is closed” i say: Android is fairly closed, OpenMoko is fully open (and as many open source projects, it’s apparently in an endless “beta” stage).
Yep i can confirm that. I’m using a stock firmware (unbranded)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hd25YGgkC6M
At least something was really updated. It’s sad to say but SE failed on us x10i users. Nothing really new about the GUI that deserves to be mentioned and battery issues continue. Oh well at least we get live wallpapers and auto focus cam to eat a little bit more of battery.
@stamp
Dude I have an ipod touch and I can’t delete any photos from the device, it’s really annoying. I must plug my device to itunes in order to delete a single photo.
The only place that allows me to delete photos is the camera roll, other than that, I can’t delete nothing! And as you mentioned this also applies to music, don’t get me wrong the device is great, but apple’s restrictions is really a pain in the as* if you know what I mean.
For example, I consider this a joke, you have a guide just to teach you how to delete a photo on the ipod ! Such task should be simple an easy.
X10 all the way 😀
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4WX7zmGue8&feature=related
@Rui
Dude this is great!! I am really impressed by how well the mini did handle the auto focus, just wow! I though only the X10 could handle the auto focus that good.
It’s nice to know that only SE handsets have the ability to auto focus in video mode, by the way what’s your pc, it seems a Sony Vaio 😛
Just updated my x10 mini pro — haven’t tried the autofocus on video yet, so i can’t confirm.
but…………………….
i can’t root it again 🙁
anyone got links regarding this matter? — sorry for being out of topic
confirmed! auto focus enabled!
Ukraine x10 update is now rolling out
Uk x10 update is now rolling out
Sorry bout the first post. The predictive got me lol
hey guys this is my video in xperia mini pro, look and compare guys.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nawzb0zKjAI
not impressed as someone said 02-uk have been waiting for sony to release generic first before releasing theres as they have it ready but checked and nothing for branded 02. knowing 02 will be waiting weeks for an update that shouldve been given same day as generic all bs if you ask me
Yea I got Autofocus with 2.1 haven’t tried it out yet though, but overall very happy with 2.1 my mini pro seems a lot faster and connections are better. I am in Africa btw so who know which region my handset came from initially!
@stamp
Finally an android user who is not so closed minded about iOS. Really is refreshing to see and read. I have an iPod touch and I love it to bits. Sonic I would suggest that if you really like android DO NOT buy the X10, SE is more than like NOT going to update the phone passed 2.1. You won’t be able to use certain awesome apps like the new Gmail app. SE will update 2.1 one more time and then they will focus on other phones they will put out. If you are a SE fanboy you will buy another X10 or the next SE android phone that they won’t update forever again. If you like android go with HTC first, samsung second, seriously I’ve used a Galaxy S and it is not as bad as people on this form say it is, yeah it’s a little buggy but it’s better than 2.1 on the X10. (I flashed to Nordic) If you really don’t care that much about android then get an iPhone 4. They are awesome. It is very reliable, very fast, has great apps, has a much better camera than the X10 even with the lower megapixles, has 5 point multi touch, the camera actually has a flash that works like a flash, gorgeous screen and if iOS isn’t “open” enough for you, you can jailbrake the darn thing and that’s awesome too! Don’t get sold on another X10 by the diehard SE fanboys that troll this blog, they’d tell you to buy uranium laced with Ebola if SE made it. Be a smart consumer, I bought an X10 thinking the update was going to be out shortly after I bought it, my provider rogers told me summer this past year, obviously didn’t happen, SE has a bad record with android, go with a company that has built up a great reputation with there phones. HTC and apple are at the top of the list. Peace.
Typed on my iPod
Still havent got d update here at qatar…………………..:-(
I am using mini pro………………does anyone knw when it wil release……?
Typical apple fanboy 😛
Attacking decent people in this forum just because he is not patient or not satisfied with his product.
Typed on your itoy ha hehe,enjoy 🙂
@ fact is fact: true, you can only delete images in the photo roll. However, that’s where the picture you take end, and that’s also where the ones downloaded from the net go, so i don’t really see the problem. I might be missing something, sure, but i see no real problem there.
[…] […]
UK UPDATE NOW LIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! UPDATING NOW 2.1
@ iPhone fanboy
While the code is total crap in Android and iPhones is actually really good – The one main issue that ALL programmers have with iPhone is “big Brother”.
When you talk about open and closed you miss the point, Yes you can make what you like in iOS BUT it will never be on the phone – mr. jobs has the final say and he is a dictator…
Apple is so much WORSE then microsoft ever was, yet MS gets sued….. Im hoping that one day the tables will be turned….
Am I the only one that can see this?
@steve
You f***ing idiot steve, theres no UK update you lying gay boy.
Hope you go to hell and get your 1 year delay update over there, you got my hopes up so much for like 10 secs and then got me badly depressed again in 1
The update for the UK has been officially released :
http://www.sonyericsson.com/update/?cc=gb&lc=en#
@Jesse
No your not the only one dude 🙂
steve…steve…steve, i apologize for my irresponsible conduct, i am an arse and my name is actually tarek ali. find me on facebook and add me as a friend.
I apologize one more time and you rule, buy xperia rules more.
So type in tarek ali, i got a pikachu picture biting an apple, i got 187 photos and 6 videos of me. You know that’ll be me.
I look forward to being your friend, i love you.
Yours sincerely,
Tarek Ali
Win an Xperia X10 today if you add me as a friend!
If you add me, you’ll will be in a chance to win an xperia x10, if you would like to increase your chances, please write on my wall why you love the xperia more than the iphone.
Tarek ali
Pikachu picture eating an apple.
Please add…i love you all
your sincerely,
Tarek Ali the duck whisperer
You idiot steve, i take everything back.
There is no update, i checked and checked and realise that there was…nothing!
Your ghey…dont add me as a friend.
If you add me, i’ll block you! and report you as a spammer you spammer, spanner!
oh yh and no regards,
Tarek “not your friend” Ali
@Jesse: your reasoning isn’t sound (other than the anti trust bit, always wondered about that one myself).
Android is as open as the device itself. Let’s say i don’t like the blue theme in the X10 (and it’s actually true, lol) i can’t change it. Fine, then let’s install common Android on it and get rid of that Windows-ish blue… oh wait, i can’t as SE and pretty much all other big players block you from doing that with some kind of protection. So i either have a device without this sort of locks (random cheap chinese knock off of some more known unit?) or i’m still under the “dictatorship” of the device maker. Plus eventually the one of the network carrier if i got one of their phones.
So to sum it up, you like the generic Android used almost only in chinese tablets.
BTW: i’m such a fanboy that the awfulness of iOS 4.0.2 and 4.0.3 made me buy an Android (X10 Mini Pro), then i convinced my brother it was a good phone so there are two X10MP at home, and finally, i even got an HTC Wildfire for my dad’s birthday.
Such an horrible, closed minded, blind fanboy 😛
@sonic You would be better off not getting an SE at all. I blew my X10 mini up with a rocket as it sucks big time and went out and got an HTC Desire. Much better, plus it has Android 2.2.
@stamp
You are missing the point – I said that android was a horrible code – YET STILL – programmers use it simply because there is no one watching over their shoulder! EVEN IF iOS is BETTER! (well cleaner anyway…)
One thing i just thought of is the “protection” you mentioned. Apple tries to do whatever they can to eliminate jailbreaks yet google seems to “turn the blind eye” to this sort of action, and almost encourages it… Of the 2 evils – which is “freer”?
Im glad to hear your not a fanboy however, and for that thumbs up
@ everyone, here is the real autofocus on mini family… http://xperiax10updates.blogspot.com/2010/11/xperia-x10-mini-pro-auto-focus.html
@ everyone, here is the real autofocus on mini family… http://xperiax10updates.blogspot.com/2010/11/xperia-x10-mini-pro-auto-focus.html
I really like the X10 mini pro, as my wife got one and I had a chance to put my hands on it. Just started looking for 2.1’s update couse she has some stupid problems, like ringtones set in contacts mistiriously disapearing ;)..
What I like about the X10mini pro is that its really cheap… for an android phone with physical keyboard its a steal!! Its a nice little phone for a low price!
I also noticed the iphone/android fight here. 🙂
Dont get me wrong, Im not apple fanboy! But I like them much. Why?
Because apple is the only! yes the only! IT company these days that puts speed, reliability and good design before the “I have many features and huge number of MEGAPIXELS, GHZs, MBs GBs” war.
I have iphone 3g. It gets really old these days, 2.5 years already! It also gets laggy with the last iOS 3 and 4. Now 2.5 after I got, it its as slow as some of the new androids that came out just now 😉 ha ha ha.
Yes, apple is closed. I was huge open source fan back in the 90’s. All the Linux, GNU stuff, and I still am, but with alot of reserations!
You can’t compensate the fact that you are in constant BETA state(as someone said above), with the fact that you are open. I need to do work from time to time, without constantly be bothered with configs, bug fixes, updates, workarounds and stuff…
Yes, apple is closed, and often has fewer features, but the features they have will work, flawlesly!
With apple you can concentrate on the things you do, instead on a way to make your software work as supposed!
I prefere the closed apple over the open android for the same reason, I prefere ps3 over PC for gaming. On the ps3 I just start the console and play, in the end, this is the whole idea of gaming! With the pc, well you all know how it is. something is alwasys wrong, your video card is weak, your memory is low, drivers are buggy, you always loose time in tuning the stuff.. and you always feel like you can tune it up a bit more… this spoils the game 😉
As for the X10iPhone4 comparsion – ho ho ho
Compare Mercedes S class with VW Polo hahaha 😉
Best regards to all 🙂
P.S. I like android, and I certenly will get a phone with android, couse iPhone is expensive toy and couse I like to try diferent gadgets, but the iPhone is the King right now. Also consider this. Apple literaly made everyone compete in the Smartphone segment. Before apple there was the awfull windows mobile 5 ( I can’t express how I hate this thing ), the dying Palm, and the dedicated email client Bluebarry(useless for anything else) 🙂 Now even the windows mobile is getting good, with the pressure from apple and android ;P
One more thing haha 🙂 I havn’t seen non lagging android phone. Even the all mighty 1Ghz ones, like the samsung galaxy S will lag!!
It’s a real shame!
The quality of pictures on mini is like a cheap 5 mp camera. Pictures are blurr especially in low light, and you have to keep your hand very still while clicking the shutter button, even the slightest shake results in blurry pictures. Too much red eye while using flash.
But video quality is pretty good.
sweden and yes, auto-focus is working 🙂
@none’s fanboy
Bravo! So intelligent. Everything you have said I agree with 100%, also because it is 100% fact. Well said! Intelligent reasonable people can be found on this blog!
@fact is fact
It is a Sony Vaio 😉 FW21M
I really think the iphone sucks big time, I mean I like it because I’m a f@g so I have my reasons, but honestly I don’t think it’s that good.
And yes the only reason I bash the X10, is because I hate it because I feel it’s better than my iphone but I just can’t admit it.
Autofocus works realy fine on my X10 mini http://www.youtube.com/user/christi1992?feature=mhum#p/u/10/11s357otMc4
yes, continuous autofocus is indeed working for mini, good stuff.
@Rod H, thank you, for your words 😉 but please,don’t involve me in your iOS crusade!
I just express my views on the topic! I don’t intend to make everyone apple fan or someting!
I like android a lot, in my opinion its the second best phone os on the market BUT its a personal opinion!
Android has some really BIG advantiges over iOS and vice versa.
IN the end it comes to the personal preference of the user!
You are clearly trolling!
@nones fanboy
I’m sorry if you took my comments to be trolling. Thats not my intent. I agree with you that they both have advantages and disadvantages. I get tired of people bashing iOS with no real grounds, I love android too, just not the way SE implements it. I bought an X10 for android first and SE second, if I could do it over again I would wait for the desire HD to come out in Canada. I do like iOS an I do like android, and it is personal preference, but iOS is not the devil like people on this blog make it out to be and I get frustrated at it. Once again I am sorry if you took my words to ne trolling. Also I feel quite honored to have my first fake reply on this blog. Another sad attempt to make people angry, all it shows is a lack of knowledge and ability to make a imtellegent reply.
I buyed a new sony ericsson xperia x10 mini in the past month ,
I am unable to update my x10 mini ,allthough the update is out in india.
whenever i tryed to update my phone using the “Sony Ericsson PC Companion 2.0” it shows that “your phone is up to date” even though the android 2.1 has been released
I tryed to all the other things like
1) uninstalling the Sony Ericsson PC Companion 2.0 and reinstalling
2)repaired my phone software using the Sony Ericsson PC Companion 2.0
Pls help me when do i get the update for my phone ?
or i wont get update the update ?
Do i have to register my phone to sony ericsson tom get the update ? if ther pls, can u direct me how to register m y phone?
THANK YOU
I have now got 2.1 on my X10 Mini woohoooo. Mine is an unbranded phone, I didn’t get a notification however, just plugged my phone in, and the update flagged up.
Initial impressions are good I think, lots of subtle differences, and it seems much smoother.
One thing I used to hate was the phone not hanging up when I told it to, it seems much faster in this area now however.
Hope the rest of you get the update asap!
Confirmed – just shot a 1m 30s video on my X10 Mini (UK, unbranded, 2.1 update) and tried focusing on various different objects both close up and several metres away – continuous autofocus works perfectly and is surprisingly responsive. 🙂
Please, when is update to X10 mini PRO coming to Slovakia?
My X10 MINI has been updated and it has the camera CONTINUOUS AUTOFOCUS feature !!
I upgraded to android 2.1 and it really includes continuous autofocus.(model E10i)
works perfectly on 2.1 INDIA….waitin for a long tym….kickass….and bluetooth issue solved too…life’s easier now…