I have three Sony Ericsson's - an X10 (my first android) an X8 and now an Xperia Neo. The X8 is quite a nice phone within the price point, I have it running using a different launcher that I downloaded from the market so that I can have up to 7 screens and a different app drawer. The biggest issue that people are moaning about now is that the phone won't recieve any further updates as far as the Android operating system goes. I believe that its direct competitors which are probably Samsung and HTC have phones that offer 2.2/2.3 Android. It's a mine field trying to find the right phone for yourself especially when you may be tying yourself in to a lengthy contract.
I was torn between the X10 and the HTC Desire when I was renewing my two year contract last June and it came down to looks in the end, I just preferred the look of the X10. If you can, get yourself in to a mobile shop and actually play with working models, not the dummy ones on the wall, to see how they feel in your hand and how the screen/buttons react.
The X8 is a capable phone for texting/calls/viewing videos/social networking/browsing. I am not a gamer but I would think that the size of the screen and the size of the memory is a hinderance for games and you may be better off with a different device.
