SONY XPERIA S

The Xperia S feels absolutely lovely to hold and although the chassis is built from plastic it’s really hard to tell. For connectivity we have a plastic flap covered microUSB port and HMDI port on either sides while the 3.5 mm headphone jack on the top. Buttons on the phone include the volume rocker camera shutter and a power sleep button. On the front we have the 1.3 MP front facing camera along with a scratch resistant 4.3 inch screen. There’s even a notification light on the left side. With a resolution of 1280*720 the Xperia S sails past the iphone’s Retina Display with a pixel count of 342 ppi. Coupled with the Sony mobile BRAVIA engine this makes anything and everything on the screen appear super sharp and crisp.

          The bottom has the new translucent strip which holds the labels for capacitive buttons. The sensitivity of the capacitive button is not all that great and there were many instances when it refused to resister any input. Coming to the back of the phone we just have the 12 MP camera LED flash and the speaker. The Xperia S uses a microSIM card and there’s no expandable memory support just 32 GB onboard storage. Also the battery is not user replaceable. While everyone is launching android 4.0 handsets Sony has stuck with Gingerbread for now with a planned ICS update somewhere down the line. Sony have stucr with a same features and functions in Timescape from their previous phones and just tweaked some of the apps. The phone is powered by a dual core Qualcomm MSM8260 processor running at 1.5 GHz. This coupled with 1 GB of RAM ensures that even graphic intensive apps and gems run smoothly. The sound quality is good and the bundled headset provides good noise isolation. The speaker is also loud enough to be enjoyed in a small group.

          The Xperia S handles 1080p videos like a champ without skipping a frame. HD videos look especially good due to the densely packed screen. The stock browser does its job and surfing the net on the Xperia S is a great experience thanks to the rich screen. Even when fully zoomed into text it appears sharp and crisp. One of the biggest selling points for the Xperia S is the 12 PM camera it packs in. the Exmor R camera sensor is supposed to help remove noise in low light conditions. In the outdoors the camera turns into another beast altogether. The camera automatically adds depth of field when the subject is close giving you some pretty crazy picture. You can activate the camera directly by simply holding down the shutter button and up comes the viewfinder. Sony has also added 3D Sweep Panorama similar to the one seen in their digicams. The Xperia S can record video in 1080 with continuous auto focus. The video can viewed directly on an HDTV via the HDMI port.

          The Xperia S comes with a 1750 mAh battery which lasted a little less than a day under heavy usage. It’s expensive but it’s one of the best options out there if a great camera is your top priority.