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Sony Speria T - An Android Camera Phone With The Best Of Everything From Sony

8/7/2013 9:01:08 AM

The Sony Xperia T takes over from the Sony Xperia S as the Japanese company’s new flagship device.

It runs Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and is powered by a 1.5 GHz dual-core processor, backed by 1GB of RAM. The 4.6-inch display uses Sony’s Bravia TV technology and on the back of the handset you’ll find the 13MP camera – one of this phone’s best features. There’s also NFC, something missing from Apple’s iPhone 5.

Sony Speria T

Sony Speria T

Although the Sony Xperia T is part of the Android family, the interface looks different from Android on a Samsung, HTC or LG phone. Sony has covered the OS with its own TimeScape skin, and added a few extra themes and widgets not available on other devices. The Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich operating system has improved dramatically over the last couple of years, and you can see the fruits of Google’s labor here on the Xperia T. Swiping between homescreens (there are five) is a fluid and smooth experience. You can drag and drop apps together to create folders and organize your homescreen with widgets from the Android Ice Cream Sandwich stable. Before you get to the interface, you’re confronted with the lock screen. From here you can swipe left to open the phone or swipe right to launch the camera. You can also answer or ignore calls and, in what is very useful feature, skip tracks if you’re playing music.

The Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich operating system has improved dramatically over the last couple of years, and you can see the fruits of Google’s labor here on the Xperia T.

The Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich operating system has improved dramatically over the last couple of years, and you can see the fruits of Google’s labor here on the Xperia T.

The Xperia T has a rear-facing 13MP camera, which is definitely one of its top features. Both the quality of the photos, and the range of features included are superb. You also have a 1.3MP front-facing camera, capable of 720p HD, for video calls or Skype chats. If you want to shoot in the standard 16:9 aspect ratio, you have to drop down to 10MP, but there’s more to a camera than just the number of megapixels.

“You can play a range of old PSone games on the handset”

Pan and scan

A few of the usual camera settings are available, including red eye reduction, geo-tagging, smile detection and a self-timer. A couple of other notable features have made it onto the Xperia T, such as the panorama shot. You pan the camera across from left to right and the Xperia T will stitch the result together to create a sweeping panoramic vista. A feature Sony is keen to emphasis is the quick capture option that debuted with the Sony Xperia S last year. This enables you to hold down the shutter button – even when the phone is locked – and it will fire up and take a picture in under a second. In practice this works very well and means you won’t miss the vital picture because you’re too busy unlocking the handset and loading up the camera app.

With a 13MP rear camera, the Xperia T has one of the best snappers on any phone

With a 13MP rear camera, the Xperia T has one of the best snappers on any phone

Shooting video on the Sony Xperia T is similar to the still capture mode, although you’re given a couple of extra modes, such as sport capture and night time. You can shoot video in 1080p at 30 frames per second to produce decent footage.

Play time

Thanks to the Walkman and PlayStation brands putting in an appearance, music and gaming are pretty well taken care of. There’s 16GB of internal storage and if you’ve bulked that up with a microSD card there’s plenty of space to work with.

Watching video on the Xperia T works particularly well. The 4.6-inch HD Reality Display offers a respectable 1,280 x 720 resolution and a 323ppi density, and for high definition content, this is up there with the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S3 and iPhone 5 in terms of clarity.

Gamers will be drawn to the Xperia T because of the PlayStation Certification. This enables you to play a range of old PSOne games on the handset, with favorites such as Medievil and Cool Boarders providing plenty of cause for nostalgia. That said, there’s still not much more than a handful of old games. No doubt Sony is concentrating on getting PS Vita up to speed, but a few choice PSP games ported over would make this a bigger deal. You also need to sign up with the PlayStation Network in order to get to these titles.

Watching video on the Xperia T works particularly well.

Watching video on the Xperia T works particularly well.

Tucked inside the Sony Xperia T is a standard Li-ion 1,850mAh battery. It’s not as large as the 2,100mAh monster inside the Samsung Galaxy S3 but the dual-core processor doesn’t require as much power as Samsung’s quad-core offering. The Sony Xperia T is a solid body phone, which means the battery can’t be swapped out.

Sony has bundled a number of first-party apps, but unless you’re heavily into the Sony ecosystem already these apps don’t offer much in the way of new experiences. If you’ve used Android before, chances are you’ll have profiles and favorites stored on other Google Play apps that you’ll want to continue to use. It’s a bit of a problem for Sony because, although it has all this excellent IP to draw on in terms of Walkman and PlayStation, it’s offering it at a time when many users have already made commitments to the established players.

The Sony Xperia T is a solid body phone, which means the battery can’t be swapped out.

The Sony Xperia T is a solid body phone, which means the battery can’t be swapped out.

The Sony Xperia T is a very, very good phone. Everything about it is slick and well-executed and the performance is certainly what we expect from a $543.6 device. However, the Sony Xperia S was a very, very good phone. When a new model comes out, we look for it to improve upon the previous one and, unfortunately, hand on heart; this doesn’t improve on the last generation of smartphones as much as it should. Admittedly, it’s not about simply ramming higher specs into a thinner and lighter phone – we’ve moved past that now. But it should be about offering a fresh experience with new features and offering us a die-hard reason to shell out for an upgrade.

Details

·         Price: $542.09

·         Website: www.sonymobile.com

Specification

·         Screen: 4.55-inch 1,280 x 720

·         Processor: 1.6GHz dual-core

·         RAM: 1GB

·         Storage: 16GB

·         Cameras: 1.3MP (front), 13MP (rear)

·         OS: Android 4.0.4

·         Wireless: GSM, HSDPA, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, NFC

·         Battery: 1,850mAh

·         Connectivity: Micro USB, 3,5mm

The good:

·         Quick capture on camera, great screen, PlayStation Certified

The bad

·         Only 16GB internal storage, no Android Jelly Bean, mediocre battery performance

Dimensions

·         Height: 129.4mm

·         Width: 67.3mm

·         Depth: 9.4mm

·         Screen size: 4.55-inch

·         Weight: 139g

 

 

 

 

 

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