Sony Ericsson has announced the arrival of two new smartphones which should satiate the budget crowd – the Xperia Mini and Xperia Mini Pro.
Both smartphones seemingly have Facebook engrained into their UI, with the phones offering "intuitive, faster and easier sharing, liking and commenting" and the "instant ability to share the songs you 'like' with friends".
Both the Xperia Mini and Xperia Mini Pro come brandishing Android Gingerbread 2.3, with the Xperia Mini having the boast of being the "world's smallest Android smartphone with HD video recording".
The Xperia Mini and Xperia Mini Pro have three-inch capacitive touchscreens (the Mini Pro also has a Reality Display), are powered by a 1GHz Snapdragon processor and have the Sony Mobile Bravia Engine inside.
When it comes to looks, the Mini Pro is the most striking due to its sliding QWERTY keyboard (a throwback from the X10 Mini Pro).
A 30 per cent increase in battery life has also been announced.
Xperia mini pro
"We wanted to provide consumers even greater choice across the Xperia range, while building on the success of the original mini series," said Steve Walker, Head of Marketing, Sony Ericsson, about the handsets.
"These turbo-charged smartphones now contain even more power, enhanced functionality, a larger screen and premium features unique to Sony Ericsson.
"They are packed full of features, making them a perfect choice for consumers looking for all the benefits of Android and Sony in a beautiful and easy to use compact form factor."


We've just gotten to grips with Sony Ericsson's new compact smartphones, the Xperia Mini and its keyboard-equipped sibling the Xperia Mini Pro, and have a gallery of shots for you below. Hit them up now and we'll have hands-on impressions and video coming shortly.
Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini and Mini Pro hands-on (part deux)

The Xperia Mini has wonderful size when it comes to width and height, but we have to ask: why so thick? The Mini Pro is only slightly thicker despite having a fully-fledged slideout keyboard, so it would have been nice if the keyboard-less Mini was more svelte. Sony Ericsson is clearly going after the pocket- and handbag-conscious demographic here, who might not be all that receptive to the Mini's girth. SE also made some bold claims about the finger-friendliness of the Mini Pro's keyboard, which we were told were backed by usability tests against rival phones. Those trials were isolated to devices "in its size class" (of which there aren't many), but our first response was still very positive, at least once we turned on auto-correct. This will be a matter of personal preference, but we found ourselves enjoying not having to take care of every little slip of the finger. Anyway, settings adjusted appropriately, we bashed away on the Mini Pro rather speedily and would rate it right up there with the BlackBerry Bold 9700 in terms of our typing rapidity. Browser rendering has its flaws, there's a stuttery quality to zooming in and out of a page, but at least it's done quickly and Flash playback seems to work without a hitch.



Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini and Mini Pro hands-on