The latest addition to the Sony smartphone family is the impressive mid-range Android smartphone, the Sony Xperia SP.

The SP is actually smaller and heavier than its big brother, the Xperia Z, but it still manages to feel nice in your hands in terms of weight and dimensions. See also: Sony Xperia SP review: mid-priced Android phone is a class act.

The 4.6in display is just about the perfect size in terms of the average thumb's screen reach. The display itself boasts 720 x 1280 pixels and looks very sharp.

The SP has a very solid feeling aluminum frame, complete with a removable plastic back where you can access the phone’s SIM card, and boost the device’s storage capacity by up to 32 GBs by adding a removable microSD card.

The microSD slot is a welcome addition to the Sony Xperia SP as the device only comes with 8 GB of internal storage, of which only 5.8 GB is available to the user.

Under the hood, the SP has an ample 1GB of RAM and a dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, which isn't exactly a beast, but it’s still got a good amount of oomph.

When using the phone for average day-to-day tasks we noticed very little difference between the SP and superior high-end smartphones such as the Sony Xperia Z or the Galaxy S4.this is perhaps the biggest compliment we can pay a mid-range Android smartphone.

There are two cameras on offer here. The rear facing 8Mp is decent enough, but its certainly no world-beater. It comes with all the standard smartphone camera features you’d expect, including intelligent auto-focus, a LED flash and various different capture modes.

Connectivity includes dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, NFC and it is also 4G compatible

The SP posted above average scores in all of our benchmarking tests and even managed set a record for the highest score we have ever seen from any smartphone in the GL HD framerate benchmark.

The Sony Xperia SP comes with Android OS v4.1 Jelly Bean installed. Its interface and feel is very familiar for those who are used to Sony's Android phones. If you are an Android phone user, there will be no issue with getting used to this phone’s software.

Battery life is pretty consistent with the rest of the smartphone market, offering power for just over a day of 'normal' usage.

The Sony Xperia SP is a seriously impressive and good looking mid-range android smartphone.