Smaller sibling to the Apple iPhone and Samsung Galaxy S3-challengingSony Xperia S, big brother of the entry-level Sony Xperia U, the mid-range Sony Xperia P is no awkward middle child, but a boundary-pushing smartphone that is knocking on the door of a number of its more expensive rivals.
Advancing expectations of the mid-range handset scene, the Sony Xperia P, priced at around £340 in the UK and $490 in the US, isn't the cheapest handset on the market.
But it boasts a fanciful array of specs that would have made a high-end mobile phone of the past 12 months proud, further highlighting the rapid rate of development that the smartphone sector is going through.
While the Sony Xperia P might not give the iPhone 4S or Samsung Galaxy S3 a run for their respective monies, the handset lines up, on paper, as a strong and similarly priced rival to the Windows Phone-defining Nokia Lumia 800, with the Android 2.3 Gingerbread-packing smartphone boasting a zippy 1GHz Cortex-A9 dual-core processor that powers the 4-inch handset's show.
With the dual-core CPU combining with 1GB of RAM to help ensure a smooth, speedy and fluid user interaction with the device, the Sony Xperia P keeps the entertainment coming with a pair of cameras - 8-megapixel on the rear, VGA on the front - joining the now high-end handset standard 1080p video recording capabilities.
Usually reserved for top-of-the-line devices, these custom creation features push the Sony Xperia P into a new realm of mid-range price point abilities, and don't disappoint.
Capable of producing strong results both in stills and video modes, the handset's camera capabilities will leave you with a clear conscience when venturing out without your dedicated compact snapper.
Running Google's Android 2.3 Gingerbread operating system with the company's Timescape user interface, Sony's latest pocket powerhouse - though impressive in specs and fluidness - is still some way off the cutting edge of smartphone capabilities.
Looking to rectify this to some extent, Sony has confirmed that an Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich update is already in the works for the handset, although a confirmed date of arrival has yet to be outlined.
Further setting the Sony Xperia P apart from its similarly priced and competitively specified rivals, the Sony-branded handset plays host to inbuiltNFC capabilities with the compact 10.5mm-thick handset featuring the technology required to make tap-to-pay purchases as well as close contact, wireless data transfers.
Picking up the handset from the box, its 120g weight, despite being a full 10 grams lighter than its BlackBerry Bold 9900 rival, feels surprisingly heavy in the hand.
But this sensation doesn't persist, and after just a few minutes of use this initial surprise is replaced by a feeling of a comfortable, reassuring presence in the hand.
The smartphone feels extremely well balanced, with weight distributed evenly across its entire form.
vBy no means the slimmest phone on the market, the 10.5mm thick Sony Xperia P is a sturdy handset that is well constructed, with no flex, distortion or unnerving creaks and groans when put under considerable amounts of pressure.
Despite this solid build, thanks to its plastic frame, the handset quickly shows the rigours of daily use, with scuffs, scratches and chips on the body unavoidable.
And although the scratch-resistant display fared well against one rather large accidental drop onto concrete, the smartphone's corners suffered a more aesthetic-blemishing fate, with considerable nicks and chinks removed and the odd dent more than slightly apparent.
One noticeable flaw with the Sony Xperia P's construction sees a very slight space left between the long edges of the screen and the handset's body turn into a magnet for pocket fluff, dust and dirt, giving the device an unwanted and highly unappealing frame of grime.
Arguably one of the best looking handsets on the market, the Sony Xperia P shuffles away from the stoic gloss black candybar design with a standout transparent bar that plays host to the usual array of Android-essential, back, home and menu touchscreen buttons.
While the trio of touch-sensitive Android controls manage much of the user activity, a selection of physical buttons also feature to handle the remaining requirements, such as power/sleep modes, volume controls and a camera shutter.
Positioned in a potentially dangerous location in terms of accidental presses, the selection of physical buttons is stiff enough to not pose an issue when gripping the Sony Xperia P in either hand.
Removing handset-depleting blemishes by using a seamless form that features no removable back panel is not without its flaws, with the enclosed casing meaning the side mountable micro SIM slot is fiddly and awkward to use, thanks to a confined space and lack of a SIM-encasing frame.
Finishing the well styled handset, the 4-inch, 16 million colour LCD display adds a vibrancy that contrasts well against the stark black body and transparent touch panel at the base of the Sony Xperia P
A smooth, zippy handset that performs well under pressure, the Sony Xperia P uses its Android 2.3 OS and Timescape UI to good effect, with a pleasant user experience backed up by fast results and a minimal amount of delay.
From the box the handset is well laid out, with five home screens playing host to a well laid out selection of interactive widgets, application shortcuts and storage folders.
Although these are fully customisable, they require little manipulation to create a smartphone brimming with the most frequently used services.
If you have any familiarity with the Android mobile operating system, you'll be wiping your way through the handset's easily navigated selection of menus and settings in a matter of seconds.
If you're new to the software you'll face few problems, with an intuitive and visually appealing user interface providing a pleasant learning platform that is further enhanced by a handy digital walkthrough guide.
Pushing the Sony Xperia P's impressive array of entertainment-providing hardware and software features, quick hot key access to a variety of entertainment applications is available from first use on the primary home screen menu, with a Media folder offering instant access to image galleries, the inbuilt music player, FM radio and camera.
Although such features can be accessed readily enough via the main menu, their upfront availability is a pleasant, experience-enhancing inclusion.
Although largely enjoyable and simple to use, the handset's interface is not without a few minor faults.
One small yet irritating issue comes in the device's gallery software, with users scrolling through banks of images offered no image-warping, picture-stretching visual alerts that the final shot in the collection has been reached.
A customary inclusion of most Android handsets, this feature's omission brings a slightly stilted, briefly awkward and confusing experience that could be easily avoided.
As with most Android handsets, and the majority of smartphones in general, no matter how expensive or feature packed, the Sony Xperia P's digitally crafted touchscreen QWERTY keyboard features slightly small, fiddly keys when held in a standard portrait manner.
Although considerable spacing between keys helps reduce the number of accidental presses, this is still an all-too frequent occurrence.
Contacts
Although skinned with Sony's latest user interface, Android clearly runs this show, with the Sony Xperia P's contact options a classic representation of the Google software's simplicity, ease of use and no-nonsense core values.
Accessed via a simple tap of the appropriate app icon, the Sony Xperia P's contact options are largely the same as those found on most Android smartphones, with an alphabetical run of those you know.
Offering more comprehensive communications than some, the handset enables you to sync your contacts list with social network accounts such as Facebook to gain auto populated images and additional means of communication.
While creating new contacts is a simple affair via a couple of quick clicks, with a selection of well laid out fields making the process as painless as possible, accessing those you most want to talk to is even easier.
With a home screen-mountable widget, you can pin your most frequently used contacts front and centre for instant access as and when desired.
Calling
Once contacts are created, calling those you know is a simple process, with all stored phone numbers available without the need to go around the houses in some tiresome, time-consuming drive through multiple menus.
Sadly, once connected, the handset's calling abilities don't meet the same high standards.
A less than standout performer, the Sony Xperia P drops points to its competitors with slightly muffled connections resulting in calls that at times appear distant, far from sharp and some way off the HD audio expectations of a market-defining phone.
With so many bells and whistles incorporated on modern smartphones, strong call quality appears to have fallen slightly by the wayside, and although we didn't experience any dropped calls, even in areas of strong, full signal, calls felt weak.
It's an area where Sony could introduce massive improvements for future models.
No comments:
Post a Comment