Tuesday, 6 March 2012
SONY XPERIA S REVIEW
So, what does the Xperia S give us? It comes with a 1.5 dual core Snapdragon processor, 1GB RAM, 32GB internal storage, 4.3 inch 720p HD display and a 12 megapixel camera with 1080p HD video recording.
The specs are fairly conservative considering the powerhouses of handsets that will be arriving after the Xperia S.
The design of the phone definitely has an industrial feel. It is more stream lined and curved compared with previous outings. The phone exudes simplicity though not at the expense of distinctiveness. The first thing that stands out is the transparent bar towards the bottom of the phone making it look all the more different from other handsets. At first, I thought this was a tad gimmicky but having it in your hand, it really does fit in well with the overall look and feel of the device. The Xperia bar underneath the transparent strip contains the phones antenna and microphone which eliminates any possibility of the 'grip of death' as they call it. The rear cover, sides and bottom of the phone have a soft matte finish to them that almost makes it impervious to fingerprints. The right side of the phone houses the volume rocker, dedicated camera key and Micro HDMI port. On the left you'll just find the micro USB charging port. On the back, you have the camera, flash, speaker and microphone grouped together at the top which really tidies up the look. Sony have also refrained from slapping branding all over the device, as all you have is the old Sony Ericsson liquid orb at the back. Sony say that due to time constraints, they couldn't re-tool the logo in time which means that Ericsson still lives on with the Xperia S. At the top of the phone, you have the headphone jack and standby/power key. The rest is at the bottom where you'll find another mic and a lanyard latch. Although the looks are a plus, the ergonomics are not.
Perhaps the weirdest thing about the hardware is the fact that the rear cover comes off but the battery is built in and there is no SD Card slot. This means that the whole back cover comes off just so you can install the Micro SIM. As Sony are switching to the smaller SIM standard, you would have thought they would have made the SIM slide in but alas, its a small flaw. Again, the device does not support expandable memory but I feel this will only improve the speed and overall use. Memory cards tend to drag down overall speeds on Android phones and Sony have added a respectable 32GB of internal memory. The 1750mAh battery is also built in so its a bit of a cruel joke letting you remove the back cover but not letting you access either. Despite this the battery should be enough for every day use. With constant browsing and app use, you should get a full day and even more if you use the heavy tasks on odd occasions.
The better side of the hardware is without a doubt, the display. The 4.3 inch HD 720p pixel rich display is beautiful to look at and use. Colours dont look washed out and really pop. Video playback is enhanced using the Bravia engine and even Youtube playback looks amazing. The display is very pixel dense meaning you'll see sharper images and general visual crispness. Colour fidelity is fantastic and wide viewing angles are great and much better compared to the Arc S which preceded this model. Contrast is also better, with deeper blacks complementing the screens darkness when switched off. Oddly, there is no auto-brightness setting which means you'll have to manually adjust the brightness to suit your environment.
Android 4.0 has been out since November. Sony announced the Xperia S in January. So its very confusing to see Android Gingerbread running on the device. HTC and others are fully on the Ice Cream Sandwich bandwagon yet Sony promise to update the Xperia S in the 2nd quarter of 2012. The biggest downside is that you miss out on using the Chrome browser which would look amazing on the display. Other than the dated software, Sony again, have added lots of bloatware. This means you'll get Sony Music Unlimited and other Sony apps that you're most likely never going to use. When I checked, you were not able to remove any of these. The Xperia S isnt so great for Mac users either as the PC companion software pre-loaded onto the handset only works with Windows PC's. Im not sure if Sony will update this in the future but as it stands, you can only sync with Windows PC's directly from the handset unless you just want to transfer files between the phones storage drive. The biggest gripe I have, above the lack of Ice Cream Sandwich, is the Playstation Suite. The suite is useless at the minute as there are no real quality games and Sony have no where near implemented the suite as well as they promised when they first revealed it. Despite this, Sony always laud the Playstation certified feature on their new mobile products. The Playstation app pre-loaded onto the device is actually just the companion app that has been available since the release of the Xperia Play - theres no Playstation Suite to be found. On the bright side, Sony's new Android skin is much better than their previous iterations and perhaps one of the best out there. They really have taken a step back and let some of the core Android software do its stuff. Generally, its clean, uncluttered and easy to navigate through.
Sony's camera talents need no introduction. Despite the slide into mediocrity in the handset market over the last few years, Sony's only consistent feature has been its camera quality. The Xperia S sports a 12 megapixel camera with a mobile version of Sony's amazing Exmor R Sensor. Following the sterling performance of the 8 megapixel camera on the Xperia Arc last year, Sony have done one better. The camera takes stunning images with a great amount of detail. Its default settings can, on the odd occasion capture some saturation and low contrast but overall, images are brilliantly coloured and have virtually no noise. The dedicated camera key can launch you into the camera even when the camera is locked. Although there is no tap to focus, the button has a double press feature. Just press it softly to let the lens focus on your subject then press it all the way down to capture the image. The LED flash placed under the camera lens works well and doesn't wash colour out during poor light situations.
Sonys making a big deal of the NFC included in the Xperia S despite the fact that it hasn't really picked up anywhere in Europe. The biggest implementation of this feature is what Sony calls Smart Tags. These tags allow you to control the phones behavior and change profiles etc. whenever you tap the phone against the tag. These can include toggling settings like Bluetooth, Wi-fi GPS and alert volumes. You can also set the phone to load certain apps when tapped against a tag meaning you can have customized profiles and set tags in your car, home and office etc all of which can be activated by a tap of the relevant tag. This idea is great and can save a whole amount of time. Unfortunately, at the moment, the tags don't work in a binary fashion. This means you cant tap the tag again to remove all the changes the tag made. You have to manually change everything yourself which kind of defeats the object of the whole thing. Obviously Sony wants you to keep the changes your tags make until you tap another tag but if you decide to get to work but not keep the changes made after you've tapped your work tag, you'll have to change them yourself.
Lets get the negatives out of the way. The Xperia S isn't thinner, faster or stronger than its up and coming competition. Theres a lingering feeling that Sony could and should have released this phone last year rather than now. HTC released the Rezound phone in November last year which had the same processor and display characteristics. Since then, they have announced the successor to that phone with a quad core processor and Android 4.0 yet Sony seem content with the dated Gingerbread. Ultimately, where the Xperia S really shines is in the display and camera stakes. The phone offers the best user experience on any Xperia Android phone and works perfectly well with Gingerbread. The camera takes great pictures and the display is stunning. That being said, there are other handsets on the horizon that will render the Xperia S' existence insignificant before it can really get started. For the moment, If you are looking for a powerful Android phone with a great camera and display and don't mind waiting for the latest Android software than this phone is a great choice. However, despite the aggressive pricing Sony will implement with the Xperia S, there are better phones arriving with Android 4.0 out of the box so if you want the latest and greatest, I would definitely wait.
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