The Sony Xperia U is the smallest and most affordable offering from this year's Xperia smartphone range. This sub-£200 smartphone punches well above its weight in a number of areas. Read our Sony Xperia U review to find out more. Read more mobile phone reviews.
Sony Xperia U: Design
Sony's Xperia S, Xperia P and Xperia U models all come with a uniform square ’n’ straight-cut design. Even if it's not to your taste, it’s a refreshing break from the norm. Read more Google Android reviews.
The Sony Xperia U is the smallest of the three smartphones at 54 x 112mm. Unsurprisingly, it's also the lightest at a featherweight 110g.
Like its larger counterparts, the Sony Xperia U has a transparent strip of plastic beneath the screen below the Back, Home and Menu buttons. This also has a backlight, but unlike the Xperia S and Xperia P is able to change between multiple colours. These colours can change to either match the interface theme, photos on the screen, even album covers from the music player.
However, it does exhibit the same problem as the Sony Xperia S – the icons on the strip aren't actually buttons. Instead you need to tap touch-sensitive areas indicated by small dots above it.
A unique element to the design is an interchangeable cap which sits at the bottom of the phone. The black and white models come with a cap to match, as well as a pink or yellow alternatives, respectively.
A removable rear cover hides a similarly removable battery and full-sized SIM card slot. This cover is quite basic but has a reasonably nice feel to it.
The Sony Xperia U has all its physical buttons running down the right hand side, namely Power, Volume and Camera. A headphone socket can be found on top while a Micro-USB port sits on the left-hand side.
Sony Xperia U: Build quality
We like a well-made smartphone and the Sony Xperia U passes muster in this area. The device feels very sturdy, offering minimal flexing.
Our minor quibbles in build quality would be the removable rear cover, on the flimsy side but improved when attached to the phone; and in terms of design the main control keys lack tactility and we found the power button to small to hit reliably.
Sony Xperia U: Hardware
We were impressed at the array of hardware the Xperia U includes at this budget price. The smartphone is driven by a 1GHz STE dual-core processor that matches the more expensive Sony Xperia P. It does have less RAM at 512MB rather than 1GB, but this is still a reasonable amount.
The Sony Xperia U did astonishingly well in our Geekbench 2 test. It scored an average of 875 across three rounds, indeed three points higher than the Sony Xperia P and higher than the HTC One range of smartphones.
We found the performance of the handset to be very impressive, especially considering its reasonable price.
The interface responds well and moves quickly throughout while navigating the interface. Even more demanding tasks like playing a game or browsing a full-version of a website were no problem for the phone. We didn't see the kind of lag we’ve come to expect of Android.
Its main spec downfall can be found in the storage. It's also confusing, because there is 2GB of available space for apps and app data, and a separate 4GB of internal storage for your own content such as music, photos and video.
For most users 2GB of space will be enough to store a decent number of apps, unless you want to install larger bundles suchs as games like GTA 3 or full satnav apps.
The bigger issue is the 4GB of internal capacity for media content. It’s fairly standard for a budget phone but it will quickly fill – and since there’s no expansion card slot the Xperia U may be found to be very limited.
The Xperia U sports a 3.5in capacitive touchscreen, the same size as the Apple iPhone 4S.
It uses Sony's Mobile Bravia Engine, which promises to improve image quality for photos and video, and has a resolution of 480 x 854 pixels.
The pixel density of 279ppi actually outclasses the Xperia P, HTC One V and HTC One S – all of which are more expensive than the Xperia U.
The screen is one of the best we've seen on a budget smartphone. It has good clarity, brightness and contrast, and decent viewing angles.
Connectivity is basic, running to just Micro-USB, dual-band Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.1. You won’t find the Micro HDMI or near-field communications (NFC) of the Xperia S and P, but it does carry digital living network alliance (DLNA) certification.
NEXT PAGE: Sony Xperia U cameras, software and battery life >>
Comments
Snjbb12 said: DONT WORRY FRIEND SAME IS THE PROBLEM WITH MEgo to XDA DEVLOPERS or to sony forums the help u outmine was solvedNOW MY PERFORMS FLAWLESSELY RUNS EVERY GAME AND APP NO LAG NOTHINGIF U WANT MORE OUT OF XPERIA U ROOT THE THE PHONE IT CAN EVEN RUN NVIDIA THD GAMES TRY IT
Aji said: Go to play store and download screen filter applicationGo to the app and set the Filter brightness to 100 and enable screen filternow you can see in normal condition the backlight will be offbut it will get only when you are using media application like album and walkman At this time the bar will illuminate for a few sec and then go off
Gouldbourn said: this happens to me and its sooooooo annoying i play poker for a living online it goes down not for long the quickest way to get it back is to disconnect and reconect normally its long enough to lose the poker hand i am in costs me freaking money lol are you still having problems
Hemajith said: Im using it for the last 5 months and im switching between three wifi networks and mobile data all the time My wifi is never switched off I have absolutely no issues with wifi on my xperia u
Collierj7va said: wi fi nightmare literally useless
shirish said: hello m using xperia u i upgraded to ICSm finding some lag while operatingmy battery gets heated up when playing games and while multitaskingwhat to do in this case plz help me
mrc said: This phone is a nightmare dont buy it if you want to connect through wifi google Sony experia drops wifi connection Its an update issue that sony need to fix fast They know there is an issue but keep selling them what does that say about sony
Chris Martin said: HiWe havent reviewed the Sola at PCA yet The Xperia U is a good budget smartphone but if you can afford the Xperia P then its worth the extra moneyChris
Igor said: HiI want to buy new SE or SonyCan you tell me which is the bestSE Xperia ARS S Sola Xperia U are in my price rangeIf Xperia P is so much better than any other of these ones then you can recommend it tooSo which is the best and you can higly recommendThanks
Tom said: Another good point of this phone is the 2Gb phone memory for installing apps and a further 4Gb for storing images videos and music No more restrictions on the number of apps you can download unlike my old HTC Desire which had too limited space for installing apps
Ferry Kagchèl said: I like this smartphone mainly because of the speed and its screen Nice budget smartphone for those who also want a clear screen -
Nichan said: Groups-Schedule of Euro 2012 on your smartphone Get it nowskinforgadgetblogspotcom