Say hello to the Sony Xperia S. Sony is the new brand name for Xperia mobile phones, now that the Ericsson name has been dropped from the line. The Xperia S is the downsized firm's new flagship Android smartphone. See also Group test: what's the best Android phone.
Sony Xperia S: Design
Rectangular is the watchword for the predominant style of the Xperia S with square edges but a curved rear. The smartphone isn't markedly thin or light at 10.6mm and 144g but we didn't find any problems with its weight or size. See also Group test: what's the best smartphone?
The highlight of the design is the transparent strip of plastic along the phone’s bottom, with its own white backlight. This strip contains the Back, Home and Menu symbols in a stylish way but does present a problem. It feels natural to tap the icons but the actual buttons are above and only shown by small white dots. Worse is the fact that these buttons can be very unresponsive at times.
A plastic rear cover is removable, providing access to a Micro-SIM card slot. However, the battery is not removable and there’s no microSD expansion slot. Sony has provided 32GB of internal flash storage though.
The Xperia S is available in black and white - we thought both styles looked quite sleek.
Sony Xperia S: Build quality
Build quality is good but we can't help but feel it could be a lot better. The handset is solid and has a durable feel but is let down by the thin and flimsy removable rear cover. The overall effect would have been better if the Micro-SIM card slot was side mounted to leave the case in one piece.
Sony Xperia S: Hardware
In general Sony has equipped the Xperia S with a solid line-up of hardware. It is the processor which doesn’t quite stack up with the competition on paper, though. Many Google smartphones launched this year have a quad-core chip but the Xperia S takes a 1.5GHz Qualcomm dual-core processor. This is accompanied by the current standard 1GB of RAM.
The display is perhaps the best feature of the Xperia S. At 4.3in, it strikes a good balance between being large but manageable. It’s said to use Sony's Mobile Bravia Engine (a 19-page white paper fails to substantiate what that means) and has an impressive 720 x 1280-pixel resolution. This means it has one of the highest pixel densities we've seen on a smartphone at a whopping 341ppi - higher than even the iPhone 4S' 326ppi.
The screen is up there with the best, competing with the iPhone 4S and HTC One X. Individual pixels can't be made out ensuring than anything displayed on the screen looks crystal clear.
Other hardware features include dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, microUSB, Micro HDMI and a near-field communications (NFC) chip.
A selling point of the Xperia S is the bundled NFC Xperia SmartTags. These keyring-type devices can change settings like sound, connectivity and launch apps by touching them on the phone. It could be a handy feature if you want different settings for different places like home or the office.
Sony Xperia S: Camera
Sony Ericsson was once renowned for making phones with good-quality cameras and Sony has maintained this trend with the Xperia S.
The device has a 12.1Mp rear-facing camera with auto-focus and LED flash. It has Sony’s Exmor R CMOS sensor, 16x digital zoom and an F2.4 aperture.
The camera app runs well and can be launched easily by pressing the dedicated shutter button - from sleep you can launch the app and take a photo in about two seconds. The auto-detect scene feature knows if you're shooting a portrait or macro shot for example and is a nice time saver.
Images were brilliantly sharp and we were particularly impressed with macro shots. The camera can automatically create a panoramic image using the 3D Sweep Panorama feature as you sweep the phone. It can record video in full-HD 1080p.
The Xperia S’ front-facing camera is for video chats or taking self-portrait pictures. This 1.3Mp cam is situated nicely on the phone and delivers a reasonably clear image.
Sony Xperia S: Software
The Xperia S packs Google's Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) operating system. We were told the handset is due to get an upgrade to Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) but this didn't stop us wondering why a phone launched in spring 2012 is pre-loaded with an OS that was officially superceded in October of 2011.
It also remains to be seen how well a 1.5GHz dual-core processor will run Android 4.0 as reports have suggested some Android phones struggle with the more demanding software.
We found the interface to run smoothly with a useful number of widgets to choose from, plus the ability to group apps in folders. The biggest performance dip was noticed when browsing the web, which struggled slightly with pinch-to- zoom gestures.
However, there are far too many apps pre-installed on the Xperia S; more than three pages worth to be exact. Crucially, most of these cannot be uninstalled.
Some apps may come in handy, like navigation, but there's a confusingly large amount of different apps for music, books, films and games. We feel it would be easier and neater if individual Sony apps like Music Unlimited and Video Unlimited were combined into just one or two apps.
Sony Xperia S: Battery life
Sony doesn’t specify the energy capacity of the internal battery but touts a life of 25 hours listening to music, six and a half hours video playback, or eight and half hours of talk time.
We got one day of use out of the Xperia S with what could be called an orthodox amount of use. Clever use of an included Power Saver app may help you get more out of the battery life. A power-saving mode can be customised to switch off certain useful functions or dim the screen. It can also automatically be enabled at a user-defined battery level or between certain hours of the day.
Comments
keith said: experia s a great phone had mine about 9 months the guy who reckons battery life is rubbish is wrong read instructions for prolonging battery i reguarly use mine as a alarm clock even with a qtr battery left it is still reliable anyone who has a android phone i recommend downloading advanced system care its security is brill and all its features help to keep battery life lasting also can force apps to stop
Abhijit said: Im not surprised by this review PCADVISOR u guys should advise and review PCs amp not cell phones as you folks are outdated Xperia S is one of the best dual core device Someone said you guys lick assessed of Samsung HTC But I feel you do that amp get paid in return by Samsung Its one of their marketing strategy
John said: What about BBCi player etc
John said: Im thnking of buying one does the sound quality impress you and if so plenty of volume my old phone was a Samsung Gal mini
Jon 2 said: You never answered the question HOW is the iphone better because it has the apple logo on back just how many many sheep are there blinkered by such rubbish
Chris Martin said: Were not kissing anyone We know the phone has an update to 40 Ice Cream Sandwich and we will update the review as soon as we canChris
Chris Martin said: Heres a couple of quotes for youan impressive 720 x 1280-pixel resolution This means it has one of the highest pixel densities weve seen on a smartphone at a whopping 341ppi - higher than even the iPhone 4S 326ppiSony Ericsson was once renowned for making phones with good-quality cameras and Sony has maintained this trend with the Xperia SImages were brilliantly sharp and we were particularly impressed with macro shots Whats the problemChris
Hasnain Maec Abbas said: seriously this review is by far the worst on PC advisor and u cant tell everyone they are wrong stop kissing Samsung and htcs ass for once
Hasnain Maec Abbas said: by far the worst review by pc advisorWtf is wrong with you guys this phone has better build quality than Galaxy s III and htc one X it has a better camera better display and its Playstation certified it even got 40 earlier today i dont get it what kind of a whack thinks Quad core processors r needed in cellphones seriously i dont get it 342ppi highest in a cellphone excellent 43 inch display this phone wooed me away from galaxy s3 at 1st sighteven though here sony doesnt offers any warrenty but still i went for this phone and am loving every moment of itPlease stop kissing samsung and HTCs for once and give us legit reviewsRegardsDK
Daniel_J_saunders said: How on earth is an iphone more impressive
prof_kerfuffle said: As an Xperia Play user I truly like the design and feel of Sony phones well made and a good prices But the updates are just awful they are unreliable and always late the ICS update was delayed 3 times for the R800i and still hasnt been released and for the other 2011 models it hasnt been a successful run ether It is buggy slow and a glitchy minefield I dont think these devices are fully capable of running ICS smoothly I do understand the difficulty of the situation for Sony but they shouldnt promise when they cannot keep itICS is much more demanding Now what does this have to do with this phone well it will probably happen to this This phone matches all the other latest phones in terms of hardware but for software in my opinion its a sorry tale Honestly if you really dont care about the updates and like its design go for it but if your a person who likes updates and new software features steer clear of Sony mobile products and look for HTC or Samsung
Brylewicz said: horrible review Alot off sites exaggerate the little things but forget to mention the good things about the phone Price screen style my opinion best android styled phone to date There is so much hype surrounding iPhone screen res but when Sony beat it with res and ppi they hardly mention it alot of people and by that I mean almost everyone still think their iPhone screen is unbeatable xperia s sells for half the PRICE And hardware wise this beats the iPhone 4s software wise depends on wherever u prefer android or ios But bottom line is this phone deserves the same praise that iPhone got but yet ICS IS COMING AND PROBABLY BETTER OPTIMIZED THAN PHONES THAT HAVE ALREADY RECIEVED IT just look how nice the xperia feels and looks with gingerbread much better optimised than my previous galaxy s2
valon said: HiI have a XPERIA Sbut my phobe is blockingand i have to wait until the battery is overwhat should i do to unblock it manually can any one help me Best Regards Valon Osmani
Rae said: Ive used HTC and I dont like its basic functions such as messaging becos they lag a lot I would recommend a Sony phone though It has a good screen resolution and high quality cameras but not many camera functions and they are well known for their nice designs However Sony phones are not durable and they tend to have frequent malfunction problemsMany of my friends useSamsung Galaxy and they are very satisfied with it If youre someone whos not fussy about phones but need something effecient and durable then you should get the Samsung Galaxy
Godfrey said: Good day I am planning to upgrade to a dual core phone Which do you think should I buy the Samsung Galaxy S II or Sony Xperia S or HTC One S Thank you in advance
Matt Egan said: Its a fair point and the lack of replaceable cells in Apples mobile products is a problem But the iPhone is a much more impressive device than Xperia It is however a personal choice in the end
Anto said: As a longterm SE user I was reluctant to upgrade to this device due to the wonderful HTC one X having a quad core processor However the size of the X coupled with sense overlay swayed me to the SONY I have no regrets the screen is fantastic and its a solid device Whilst I admit the lack of expandable memory and a non user replacable battery is a negative I fail to see why this is considered a major setback considering the iphone has always lacked these features and never got criticised by PCA like the SONY S has been in this review
Mark Allen said: Using the word review on this article is rather tenuous do you not feel