[Tech Products] Sony Xperia T
- Name
Sony Xperia T- Company
Sony
Sony Xperia T - The Bond phone- Price
The phone costs £499 in British money. Which is about $800 or 615 euros. (note that actual prices might be somewhat different. I'm just working off my own country)- Specs
- 139 g
- 4.8 ounces
- 129.4 x 67.3 x 9.35 mm
- 5.1 x 2.6 x 0.4 inches
- Talk time (up to): 7 hours
- Standby time (up to): 450 hours
- Music listening time (up to): 16 hours
- Video playback time (up to): 5 hours
- 4.55" touchscreen - scratch-resistant TFT
- 16 million colours, 1280 x 720 pixels
- Google Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich)
- 1.5 GHz Qualcomm Krait MSM8260-A Dual Core processor
- 13 megapixel camera with auto focus
- 16x digital zoom, pulsed LED flash
- Intro
I've tried a few phones over the years. My most recent being the Orange San Francisco. (known outside of Britian as the blade) I found the San Fransisco an exceptional phone, easily able to do most things that a smart phone of the time could be expected to do. It was let down somewhat by me being on pay as you go, so not being able to use alot of its features for worry about cost, but was a good entry phone. However after my recent phone problem i decided it was time to move on. Now, i've never been a big fan of apple. Mostly as i have a need to be able to tell which phone is mine when i put it down. So it left me with the best of the rest. The samsung S3 is a remarkable phone, and i was highly tempted to go with it. However as its owned by several people i know i ended up with this one.- Impressions:
I must say, that for a phone that is highly hyped as being the Bond phone, it makes hardly any appearance in the Skyfall. That said however, it certainly looks like a phone that Bond would have. Its an exceptionally attractive looking phone. What struck me first of all was just how thin it was. I can easily place this phone in my pocket, and not look like i have a phone on me. The phone is quite a bit larger that my old phone, measuring in at just under 13cm long (five inches for brits like me that work in imperial). And it provides quite alot extra screen space for it. The screen itself being at a casual measuring (ie me with a ruler) 12.5cm. I found the extra size slightly unusual in comparision to what i was used to. But have swiftly adjusted and quite enjoy it now. Its certainly comparable to the other top end phones at the moment. The latest iphone being 12.3cm long and the S3 being 13.6cm - neither measurements taking into account the actual screen size - it is of a very similar size. Its actually the fattest phone out of the three, but due to its arc shape (a carryover from the Sony Ericsson arc) doesn't appear, or feel so.
And this brings me neatly onto the arc itself. As you can see from the above photos and rather better in the spoiled image just below it has a rather distinct shape. Its seems slightly odd when your not used to it. But within moments of holding it, you realise just how comfortable it is. Somehow the slight arc just works. Its not only nicer to hold, but also looks pretty neat. Something i don't think the pictures do justice.
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
Now, with the appearance out of the way its time to move onto how the phone itself works. And very smoothly i have to say is the answer. I've used it extensively in the weeks since i got it. And at no point does it seem to slow down. At one point i have a movie running, while using it to download an app of play and all the background apps we have, such as facebook, various news sources (i like to know whats going on) and a game. Some people might point out that its dual core compared to quad core. But at no time do you get a feeling your missing out. Sony has integrated their own software, and programming very nicely with android. It creates a very nice feel that has pretty much no issues and runs with ice cream sandwich very nicely. It doesn't have the most recent version of android, which as far as i'm concerned isn't an issue. But might bug some people.
The screen itself is crystal clear. It is advertised as being a HD phone. And it certainly is that. With a pixel density of 323ppi it packs alot of punch. It enjoys an ability to play (and record) in 1080p, which is really quite incredible compared to the S3's 302ppi and ability to play in 720p. The iphone 5 on the other hand holds up with 326ppi and the ability to play 1080p. So the phone really does hold itself up with the best of them on display.
Being sony you can expect some of their extensive experience in most entertainment areas to come in. And it certainly does. In built into the phone is some playstation 3 stuff, which i can't comment on since i own a xbox 360. But it comes with a sony walkman on it (though a phone that doesn't play music is admittedly unusual these days) The sound is again very clear and compares easily to my laptop or San Francisco. Again i can't compare it to anything as i haven't listened to music on an iphone or S3. However one of the smarter inclusions in called screen mirroring, and works absolutely fantastically. Basically its an option to expand your phone onto a tv screen. I spent a highly satisfying day earlier using netflix to stream iron man 2 onto my phone, and then use my phone to play it in HD on my TV. The only downside to this is that while wireless, it requires you to buy a wifi dongle for your tv. (and thus have one for every device you want to connect wirelessly to.) Still, its a pretty neat addition.
You can also buy customisable smart tags for the xperia. Though i have to say i don't really see the point of them. The sales speech on them is it allows you to produce certain options for your phone, then when you move the phone near the tag it instantly sets your phone for however the options are set. As far as i can see, this simply means you don't have to customise the main screen differently each time you use it. However, i haven't used them, and might be completely missing the point of them. Certainly possible as a quick google found me a guide to their uses.
Down the right hand side of the phone are three buttons, the top one is the power button, and it felt quite strange not having it at the top initially, but sits just nicely to use if your using the screen one handed. Below that is the volume button. Again nicely suited for your fingers, but annoyingly close to the power button. A few times i've turned the screen off instead of change the volume. And at the bottom is the camera button. Pressing and holding this button switches you to the rather impressive 13 megapixel camera/1080p video camera and having an actual button to press is a heck of an improvement to my San Francisco where i had to use the screen. Which usually resulted in a rubbish photo. At the top is the headphones socket and the Xperia T comes with some decent headphones. Finally, down the left hand side is a odd shaped hdmi charger socket. Like many phones it offers the dual use of being a hdmi socket, as well as being a charger. The Xperia rather usefully coming with a usb to phone socket cable. (which is usual) it also has a plug adapter so i can choose whether to charge from plug socket, or via computer. A nice touch i felt.
Now, a few bits i've not really mentioned, but that i like. Firstly, and its not unique i know, is the button display. On the front of the phone there are no actual buttons. Everything is smart screen. At the bottom of the screen sits a back button, a home button and a recent apps button. Now these are cool since they aren't actual buttons they can disappear when needed. Ie when watching a movie, i can use every last part of the display, rather than having a smaller screen due to the buttons being there. A simple touch of the screen, and they reappear. Not ground breaking, but i like it.
The phone also comes with an inbuilt flash. Which allows for photos taken in the dark. Now i have no idea at all if this is something the iphone or S3 has, but its something my old phone didn't. It also works as a very good torch via an app of google play.
As a Sony phone, Sony gave away access to their music unlimited and movies unlimited for two months when you buy the phone. Now essentially its a pay per month service, and while the enticement to getting you to use the service after the freebe expires is obvious. Its a very nice touch. I also got free access to 50 GB of cloud space - access that doesn't expire. Again a very nice touch. Though both of these are time exclusive, so if you don't get the phone by christmas it will have ended. But as i have got the phone, i will enjoy it immensely.
I also kinda quite like the background. Its oddly simple. A coloured swirl that moves when you touch it (you can set what colour it is) it is never to vigourous to distract you from what you are doing, but is simply superb. Odd that i'm including it, but this last paragraph is just for stuff i like, so there we go.
And finally there is small apps. A highly useful system where you can open little versions of many apps over the top of whatever you are doing. Using total war center to do something and want a calculator, and you can get one to pop up over the top of the page, without having to use home to go to the apps screen and then find it. A lovely addition that while one that i don't really use often, the couple of times i have, i've appreciated it.
Oh yes, and the one thing i'm forgetting. Battery life. Now battery life is hard to be conclusive with. As it vastly depends on just what you are using, how much you are doing on it and so forth. All i can say is i've found it fine. I wouldn't say it was wonderful. Long gone are the days when you could charge your phone once a week. But i'm yet to find my phone dying from over use. The closest i came was one day when i left mine at 9 in the morning and didn't get home until 8 that night. I had 13% left. Not much i know, but thats a fairly long day of facebook, internet browsing, even some shogun battles. So overall i've found it to be just fine.
- Pros
- The screen is simply amazing.
- preloaded with many useful apps, such as chrome, facebook, google maps. And even a track id app.
- Relatively good battery life.
- Very light, and not at all slippery to hold.
- Powerful processor.
- Good camera.
- Screen Mirroring really is fantastic
- Cons
- not jelly bean (note, i have no idea why this matters. But everywhere is moaning about it)
- volume button and power button way to close to each other
- fairly useless smart tags feature
- heavier and fatter than other top end smart phones (though only by a fraction, never enough to bother you)
Conclusion
Overall this is a fantastic phone. That fits favourably with the other top end smart phones. It holds itself well with the HD screen and Screen Mirroring, though these are features you'll over ever enjoy once you own it, rather than as part of the reason to actually buy it. Apple fan boys will stick with their apples. S3 users will be quite happy with their S3 and those of use who are fortunate to own this phone will sit back and quietly enjoy this phone. I give it four and a half stars out of five.
I own an Experia Arc. I'm pretty satisfyed with it except the shoddy and cheap plastic back, which, once opened, has somehow lost its close fit without being broken. Now, my obvious question, how is the T version in regards to that?
Can I ask what the selection of apps are like? I've never used Android so I'm not too sure. 
and thanks for the review. 
Originally Posted by Shankbot de Bodemloze
.
