IRDA: Gone - you've still got USB and Bluetooth, what do you need IRDA for?

Flash: Too heavy on the battery for X2 and too bulky to get in the new, slimmed down, X2 case.

External aerial socket: Hey, no-one ever used it anyway. 

The Review:
Ok, enough about what's changed - what's the X2 like to use?

Having only played with an X2 for a short period of time myself, for this part of the article I have to defer to our sources who were lucky enough to receive a review model. I'm not aware which firmware versions the reviewers saw, but I know they'll be significantly newer than the one I saw.

Sendo's X2 smartphone was one of the first of the current breed of "music mobiles" to be announced. When revealed at the 3GSM conference in Cannes, those lucky enough to see the phone were treated to a demo of X2 playing some very loud music through the stereo system of the "Sendo Yacht" moored in Cannes. The impressions formed by the phone, even at that early stage, amazed those who saw it.

"The Sendo X2's mix of smartphone features, excellent general phone abilities and the built-in MP3, AAC & WMA music player, make the X2 one  of the most eagerly anticipated handsets of this summer. At an estimated price of �150 SIM free, we have no hesitation in recommending the phone as a best buy".

"The re-emergence of Sendo's excellent Now! screen, first seen on last year's X handset, is a welcome addition to this, Sendo's latest smartphone model.  In the X2, Now! has seen a number of enhancements, not least of which is the integration of Sendo's media player into the Home screen. This allows seamless audio playback, using the dedicated stop / play / pause, rewind & fast forward buttons found on the site of the handset. Also included in Now! this time round is a Today screen, reminiscent of the one found on Windows Mobile phones (originally developed by Sendo before their fall out with Microsoft), which, as it's name suggests, displays events and reminders for "today".

"The media player deserves special mention - it builds on the excellent MP3 player found in the X, but now also supports AAC, AAC+ (for protected copyright songs, such as those from iTunes) and WMA formats, making it one of the most flexible music players available. (Sony Ericsson's W600 phone doesn't support all these formats) Music playback is automatically paused when a call or text message comes in, and can be restarted afterwards by just the press of one button; making the Sendo X2 a true "music mobile"."

"The Sendo X2 has improved on the meager VGA camera which shipped on the X with a far more competent 1.3MP unit, which now features an 8x digital zoom. The quality of this camera is much more in keeping with what we have come to expect in recent months, giving the Nokia 6680 a run for it's money, and thoroughly beating the Motorola A1000 and E1000 models. One thing which impressed us greatly about the Sendo's camera is that it takes photos instantly, unlike some other handsets, where there is a considerable time lag between pressing the "capture" button, and the phone actually capturing the image."