“The plan for the model was simple. It was supposed to arrive on the market together with the X12 Anzu and the X10 was supposed to have become one of the most popular models of 2010. The Sony Ericsson X8 would then make a good choice for those not able to afford either flagship. But it all didn’t work out. Although the model had a familiar look (akin to the X10 Mini and X10), for about a month it has been shipping with just Android 1.6 until it was finally updated to version 2.1 in November. And that is exactly why this review has been delayed. I wanted to take a look the device with the new version of the OS and not the older 1.6 firmware. Unfortunately, Sony Ericsson is not likely to provide any further upgrades for this model, which automatically makes version 2.1 the best you can hope for. Even if such an upgrade becomes available eventually, that isn’t going to happen sooner than in a year, that is, the device will have become obsolete by that time. Why am I spending so much time discussing all these Android versions, you may wonder? The thing is I have spent quite some time trying to decide how this handset should be treated. The default option is to consider it an Android smartphone, which it really is. Yet the core of a smartphone is its OS and the X8 neither has a standard interface nor gets firmware upgrades quickly enough. From this point of view, the device is in a peculiar situation, albeit all Android software titles are still available to the users. On the other hand, a capacitive screen usually implies that multitouch is supported out of the box yet Sony Ericsson’s interface frivolities are such that it effectively isn’t there. Is it a minus? Not really, especially if it is a phone, not a smartphone, that you are shopping for. And now it’s about time we discussed the positioning of the X8.” Read more here: