HARDWARE
The hardware was great when it was first introduced, things I would suggest to make this phone truly great hardware-wise are:
- AMOLED screen
- At least 8GB internal memory
- 512 MB Ram
- HD Video (720P)
- HDMI output
Those changes alone (even running Android 1.6) would see this phone sell like crazy. I'd go as far as saying just having 16GB of internal memory and micro-SD would make this the best phone to get.
Negatives Hardware
Last year when Sony announced this phone it was the best hardware you could get. Now HTC Bravo, HTC Supersonic, Nexus One, Motorola Motoroi changed this since they introduce 720p video recording, AMOLED screens, 512 MB RAM, HDMI output depending on the particular phone.
SOFTWARE
The Sony UX interface is great, but the OS holds back the hardware. It's like taking a Ferrari for a spin during rush hour! Android 1.6 really holds back the hardware and here's why:
No HTML5 support
Poor white/black ratio compared to Android 2.0/2.1
Microsoft Exchange support not good/missing
No live wallpapers
Android 2.0 has better keyboard
Android 1.6 Only supports 65K colors vs 16 million for 2.0/2.1
Android 1.6 does not combine e-mail inboxes from multiple accounts in one page – does MediaScape offer this?
Search functionality for all saved SMS and MMS messages
Auto delete the oldest messages in a conversation when a defined limit is reached – does MediaScape provide this?
Support for double-tap zoom
No Bluetooth 2.1 (No Object Push Profile and Phone Book Access Profile) – MediaScape?
Android 1.6 has no multi-touch support
Android 1.6 has limited Speech-to-text support compared to 2.1 (All text fields!)
Android 2.1 has additional home screens