Sony Xperia S

 

 

Features

• Android
• Touchscreen
• Wi-Fi
• 12.1 megapixels
• Video player
• Email
• GPS
• Talk time: Up to 7h 30m
• Vew full specs

 

Review Score:

80/100

"What we are hoping for is a solid experience, an incredibly crisp 720p display and a great camera. Once again we’re let ..."

WhistleOut.com.au
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Originally unveiled at CES, the Sony Xperia S is set to be the new flagship of Sony’s now Ericsson-less journey through the smartphone market. The Xperia S marks a new approach to design for Sony smartphones with its physical design that is both simplistic and stylish. It might only boast a single-core 1.5GHz CPU, but processing power isn’t everything. There’s still a 4.3 inch 720p screen, 1GB of RAM and an impressive 12MP camera.

We’re disappointed that the handset will come running Android 2.3 Gingerbread out of the box, as we were really hoping for 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) to make an appearance. With a little luck an update should be in the works but it’s wise to never buy a phone based on updates that may or may not come out in a timely fashion, if at all.

Despite the single-core 1.5GHz processor we still have positive hopes for the Xperia S. The Nokia Lumia series, as well as other current top Windows Phone handsets, have a similar setup and we’ve found them to be more than adequate. It’s true that Android is a more open ecosystem than WP so it’s possible that processor efficiency could be hindered by this, but we won’t be able to tell for sure until we actually get our hands on one.

The 12MP camera has definitely piqued our interest. We’ve said for a while that we’d like to see handset manufacturers focusing on areas other than CPU power and it seems as if Sony has done just that with the Xperia S. It’s important to note that a MP rating is in no way the be-all and end-all of a digital camera but we’re still keen to see if Sony has made good use of the upgrade and produced a superior mobile shooter. If nothing else at least the digital zoom function should be a bit better.

All up we’re not expecting the Sony Xperia S to blow us away with a ground-breaking or unique experience. What we are hoping for is a solid experience, an incredibly crisp 720p display and a great camera. Once again we’re let down by the lack of ICS support, but with any luck either the price-point will reflect this flaw or it will be rectified post-haste with an easily accessible update.