Good news in the performance front: the Mini Pro is fast. Very fast.  Clocking a combined AnTuTu score of 3079, it outperforms most single core devices on the market. Coupled with a smaller screen, it means the user never has to wait for something to happen. It stands to reason that mobile devices probably have an optimal screen size to processor ratio, and on the basis of this phone, manufacturers putting 800MHz processors into phones such as Samsung and ZTE ought to think twice.

The Mini Pro is not a top tier handset, but Sony Ericsson have clearly thought about the bottom line of usability and whether the  hardware can cope. The speed is a boon for many common tasks, and none more important than making calls. It starts very fast when compared to some other phones with an off-to-dial time of just 18 seconds, compared to 49 seconds for a Samsung Galaxy S with a similar processor but a larger screen.

Battery life is a great advantage of using a smaller screen. Even though the battery is 1,200mAh, below the average of most Android handsets, it manages a good day and  a half of normal usage. If you want to be conservative and turn off the 3G and data via the included widgets, you can get 3 days out of the phone. Granted, that is with minimal emailing and app use, but great news for those who want to use their phone as, ahem, a phone (shock!).

Camera wise, the 5 megapixel sensor on board is a solid effort. It lacks the advanced aspects of the Exmor R processor found in upper tier models such as the Xperia Arc, and so suffers at low light. But it will do the job with many configurable options such as image stabilisation, white balance and metering, and the built in LED flash is nice and bright. 720p video is best captured in good light as low light tends to introduce a fair bit of noise. But once again, the flexibility that being able to shoot high definition video form your pocket is something that the Mini Pro accomplishes pretty well. It’s not the best, but far from the worst.

There is also an array of widgets and apps such as Type and Send to update social newtorks, integration with Sony’s Video Unlimited and Music Unlimited services and the neat Timescape widget to give you updates on anything from your text messages to Facebook updates.

Out of the box the Mini Pro runs Android 2.3.3 but Sony Ericsson has issued an upgrade to 2.3.4 which came out just as this review was being written. Also, Sony have mentioned that some devices may be getting the Ice Cream Sandwich update in 2012 but I wonder if the smaller screen size precludes many of the benefits offered of Android 4.0. Personally, the device is rock solid with Gingerbread and if it “ain’t broke don’t fix it”.