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 HDMI 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 x 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 the capacitive buttons. The sensitivity of the capacitive buttons isn’t all that great and there were many instances when it refused to register any input.Coming to the back of the phone, we just have the 12 MP camera, LED fl ash and the speaker. The Xperia S uses a microSIM card and there’s no expandable memory support, just 32 GB of onboard storage. Also, the battery is not user replaceable.While everyone is launching Android 4.0 handsets, Sony has stuck with Gingerbread (2.3.7) for now with a planned ICS update somewhere down the line. Sony have stuck with the 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 games 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 MP 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 pictures. 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 1080p 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.

SPECIFICATIONS


Dimensions (WxHxD):128 x 64 x 10.6 mm;
Weight:144 g;Processor:1.5 GHz dual-core;Display:
4.3-in, 720x1280;RAM:1 GB;Internal storage:32 GB;
Camera:12 MP;Video recording:1080p @30 fps;
Android OS:2.3