Hands-on with the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 (photos)

You'll immediately notice the X10's stunning touch screen. With support for 65,536 colors and 854x480 pixels, everything from graphics to text to photos looks sharp.

In the standby screen you can activate Sony Ericsson's unique "Timescape" interface. Similar to Motoblur, Timescape displays your latest e-mails, text messages, and social media alerts in a flowing format that resembles a stacked deck of cards.

When scanning through your Timescape messages you can select individual alerts to highlight them. You then can pass to another display where you can see the history of all communication between you and that contact.

Though Timescape is attractive and user-friendly, it's part of the larger User Experience Platform that Sony Ericsson has laid over the Android OS. We're not so sure that masking Android is really necessary.

Backing out of Timescape will take you to the main standby screen, which you can customize with folders and shortcut icons. The rectangle at the top of the screen will take you back to Timescape.

Besides the black color scheme (Sony Ericsson calls it "sensuous black") the X10 also comes in luster white. The features are unchanged.

The main menu on the X10 shows the normal Android hallmarks. Below the display are three physical controls.

The X10's phone dialer interface features large touch controls. You can access your call log, phone book, and favorite contacts list.

The X10 has two virtual keyboards: the standard Android keyboard and one designed by Sony Ericsson.

The X10 has a media player for both music and video.

The X10 has a 8.1-megapixel camera with a flash and a wide variety of editing features. From behind, the handset resembles a standalone camera.

On the phone's top end you'll find the power button and the 3.5mm headset jack.

The X10 has a slim profile. On the left spine you'll find the volume rocker and a camera shutter.