If you think the Xperia XlO is too big, and the XlO Mini too small, then the X8 may be Just tailor-made for you, A mid-range smarty that's slotted between the two, at least in terms of size. With a lower spec camera and a lighter price tag than the Mini, it's one rung below in the food chain.

The phone seems very similar to the XlO Mini, thanks to its cutesy looks, the curvy back panel, and the UX interface. It comes bundled with four changeable back panels with gradient effects in different colours. The screen Itself is a 3-inch capacitive affair. While the world's enjoying Froyo, SE insists on feeding us with Donuts, though an Eclair treat has been promised soon.

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As with the Mini, you can customise the four corner shortcuts with apps of your choice, and the widget implementation is also the same just one per home screen, with the number of screen increasing as you add widgets. Apart from games like Crazy Penguin and Tower Bloxx, useful apps such as Roadsync for email and a data monitor app are preinstalled.

You also get the signature app In terms of multimedia, you get FM radio and an SE music app that features the 'Infinity' button giving access to online info on the playing track. The sonic quality is decent, though there're no EQ settings available. The fixed focus snapper is so so. And the screen, though not too high in terms of res, is quite responsive. Text input is aided by text prediction, but web browsing isn't one if its virtues, mostly because of lack of flash and pinch zooming.