A "new" Xperia Ray, first use of Sony Android smartphone

[Nate88]

My "new" Xperia is in fact rather old but essentially as new since its first owner could not get along with Android and put the phone straight back in the box and forgot about it.
I have not used a Sony handset before, sticking instead with Symbian Belle driven Nokia 700. This Xperia has been brought out of retirement so that I can use Google services more fully. The design lets me feel at home as it is a similar size to my beloved Nokia.
It is my first week using the Xperia and on the whole I am happy with it. It is far superior to generic Android handsets I have seen in the past but it does perform questionably sometimes. This may be due to operator software version or even lack of use, I do not know the exact reason.
This must have been an enjoyable phone to use on its release though, this handset was intended to replace an old Sony button phone, a 995 or similar, and the differece must have been stark.
Do you remember how these phones were when they really were new? Please share your memories in this thread.

[Nate88]

A few days of use and already the performance issues have been mostly worked around with settings changes and I am very much enjoying this handset!
This ST18i was supplied by Orange in the United Kingdom and runs an older Android version. The operator software doesn't seem too intrusive after all, though I do think that RAM might have suffered from being in a dormant state for so long.
Please do share your thoughts on this model, and your enjoyment or otherwise of it when it was literally new.

[Nate88]

Not the right way to post, I guess. I would still like to know how these handsets performed when new, so please help out if you can. I'll treat these posts as finished.