The Chronic Consumer

Although I’m not in the market for a cell phone right now, I do like to keep up with new products that are being released — such as the Sony Xperia X1, which is being called the most expensive mainstream cell phone in the U.S. with a retail price of around $800. Sure, there are more expensive units out there, but those are usually the diamond-studded ones that you’d never see a regular person using, thus the “mainstream” qualifier.

So what kinds of features does the Xperia X1 have to warrant this high price? Well, from the sounds of it, not too much. I’ve read a few reviews that say the best apps on the phone are an FM radio, calendar, clock, photo viewer, and the Opera web browser, which all are pretty standard on high-end phones these days anyway. In addition, there’s a 3.2 megapixel camera, a microSD card slot, and built-in WiFi — again, nothing to pay $800 for.

The Xperia does have a full QWERTY keyboard for those that don’t like manipulating the touchscreen, so that’s a plus. However, a couple of reviews have pointed out that the keys are a little hard to get to because of the way they sit too deep in the handset.

Anyway, I don’t anticipate the Sony Xperia X1 becoming a major seller anytime soon. There are just too many other phones out there that have comparable features for a more reasonable price. I’ll be skipping this one for sure!