Can a rugged phone really look this good?
With its slim frame and bright, 3.5-inch
screen, the Sony Xperia Go ($297 inc. VAT) looks and feels more like a phone
you’d take to tea at the Ritz than out base-jumping. But don’t be fooled by those
looks: Sony’s latest is a rugged phone that we submerged in water, kicked about
a bit and generally abused, and it more than lived to tell the tale.
Sony
Xperia Go
You can’t actually use the Xperia Go
underwater as it renders the touchscreen redundant, so it’s less for divers and
more for those of us who might accidentally drop our phones in the loo after a
night out.
Watersports aside, the Xperia Go comes with
the now fairly-elderly Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) OS with Sony’s Timescape
elements bringing embedded social networking into the mix.
Even if you’re not already familiar with
Android, the Xperia Go is a doddle to use. There are some nice customisable
elements as well as the usual homescreen widgets and notifications bar.
Power users will probably find the 1GHz Go
struggles to keep up. We encountered a fair amount of lag as we switched
between apps, and graphics-heavy games have a tendency to freeze up.
Size matters
The small screen can feel cramped,
particularly the app menu and the portrait keyboard. Happily, the autocorrect
functions are pretty good and there’s always the more spacious option of
landscape typing to fall back on, but we wouldn’t recommend the Go for heavy
email use or penning your memoirs.
Basically
the Xperia Go isn’t going to win Sony any awards. But all this is put into
perspective by the price tag: for the money, it’s a great little handset.
The camera is a fairly standard 5-megapixel
affair; it comes with a couple of nice-sounding extras like 3D panoramic
photography which is not very impressive in practice resulting in jaggedy,
storage-sapping photos. It’s a shame that colour capture lets it down too;
washed out, over-exposed brights are tempered by dingy darks. It’s fine for
Facebook but won’t replace your digital camera.
It’s a problem that pervades video playback
too. Bright scenes watched on the handset even reveal the dotmatrix, which is
distracting and makes the phone feel cheap. Even HD struggles with colour
display and just isn’t in the same class as some of the Go’s contemporaries.
There is the option to play video out via DLNA; a more pleasurable experience
by far hut not much good if you want to watch on the go.
Aside from disappointing media and a lack
of power, our biggest beef with the Go is its Wi-Fi receiver. Where other
gadgets report good reception, the Go repeatedly flakes out - especially
annoying if you’re trying to stream or download media.
Basically the Xperia Go isn’t going to win
Sony any awards. But all this is put into perspective by the price tag: for the
money, it’s a great little handset. If looks and clumsy- proofing are your top
priorities, you could do a lot worse.
What’s it best for
·
Web & text
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Apps
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Details
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Price
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$397
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Website
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www.clove.co.uk
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Key
features
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Supplier
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www.clove.co.uk
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Telephone
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01202 552936
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OS
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Android 2.3 Gingerbread
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Processor
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NovaThor U8500 1GHz
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Memory
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Storage
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4GB
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Expansion
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microSD
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Connectivity
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Micro-USB
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Rear camera
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5MP
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Front camera
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None
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Weight
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110g
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Screen size
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3.5-inch
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Screen type
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TFT
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Screen resolution
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480 x 320
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Test results
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Battery life (Mins)
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273
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Performance
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5,706
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Gaming
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774
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Verdict
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Value
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4/5
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Features
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3/5
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Performance
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2/5
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Total
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3/5
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