Sony Xperia S features a 12.1MP camera with LED Flash and auto focus

The term Ericsson has long been associated with the brand Sony, but this indeed has become the matter of the past as a whole new range of Sony Xperia handsets have hit the market with marked abilities to integrate with online services and play station. The all new Sony Xperia S is the talk of the town and the device is featured with a stonking screen, 12 MP camera and a host of technical tricks described in this write up.

Exclusive features of Xperia S: The device features a 4.3 inch touch screen that is scratch resistant with TFT coating and operates with Android OS, Ice cream sandwich version. The handset is powered by a 1.7 GHz Qualcomm and dual core processor with a processing speed of 1 GB. The most amazing feature of the device is its 12.1 MP camera at the rear and 1.3 MP front camera. It has an internal memory of 32 GB with no provision to expand memory and connects to 3G, HDMI, Wi-Fi, Hotspot, Bluetooth and with a 1750 mAh battery to power all these specs.

Complete phone review:

Look and feel of the device: The device is comfortably sized to slide easily on one’s palms and pockets and its average dimensions are 128x64x11 mm. It weighs just 144 grams and arouses tactile sense with its rubber cum plastic outer body. It features a 4.3 inch attractive screen with an on screen resolution of 1280x720 pixels. The TFT touchscreen features an entire range of Sony Bravia processing technology to display the best images and videos through it.  The touchscreen is protected by a scratch resistant glass and is enabled with accelerometer, proximity and ambient light sensors. Digital compass, gyroscope and magnetometer are its other specialties.

Controls for home, menu and back are stretched across a touch based strip behind the screen, and is sensitive enough to get activated by touch. A luminous strip that lies in the background of the screen is not new with this model alone, as it is a trademark of Sony. Sony has also altered the interface of Xperia to offer its widgets a new times cape view. The device offers the look and feel of a candy bar and is navigable through its QWERTY keyboard as well along with the touch interface. Keys for power, camera and volume are found on the surface of the gadget and is now available in black and white colors. 

Camera: Its new 12.1 MP camera is the highlight of the device and the camera widget is featured with CMOS sensor, autofocus and LED flash on par with leading smartphones in the market, it also enables a digital zoom of 16x. It also features a smile shutter and face recognition capabilities and gets set in the lightning speed of 1.5 seconds. With a camera of this high resolution, quality of snaps obtained is sharp, detailed and impressive and the widget could record videos up to 1080 pixel strength.

To save these photographs and video graphs, the device is enabled with a gorgeous memory of 32 GB, but there is no slot to accommodate micro SD cards to expand the memory further. There are applications such as free Box App available at the Google store to enhance the cloud based storage of the device to up to 50 GB.

The phone is featured with a 1.3MP front camera to facilitate self-portraits and video calling. Other fine capabilities of the device include Exmor R sensor that helps to capture pictures and videos in the dark, red eye reduction, 3D sweep panorama to view pictures on 3D TV with a multi-angle 3D display and scene recognition. Sony also offers a Vast Entertainment network including media streaming and downloads from its app store at a very nominal premium. There are also free trials available for new members. The device is packed with amazing speakers, xLoud and 3D surround sound for apt media streaming.

Hardware: The device is powered by a Qualcomm MSM8260 dual core processor clocked at 1.5 GHz speed. The processor belongs to the Qualcomm snapdragon family and features an Adreno 220 GPU.  It has a RAM speed of 1GB with 32 GB internal non expandable memory.

Performance and software: The device is powered by Android Ice cream sandwich Operating system and Sony has powered its device with smart tags that are clever discs smart enough to use the Near Field communication technology to activate different settings on the handset. The phone automatically adapts itself to all programmed settings in the disc. For example, when one gets back home, the device would automatically turn on the Wi-Fi connectivity and enable the remote control application. While in a car, it might activate the Bluetooth, open the music player and play a pre-defined track etc.

These tags are readily available at the Sony store but one needs to keep the NFC turned on at all times to take advantage of its convenience. The device could get connected with up to 86 kbps GPRS, up to 237 kbps EDGE, 3G networks, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Wi-Fi direct, Wi Fi hotspot,  and v2.1 Bluetooth, v2.0 USB, NFC, A- GPS, Integrated GPS and HDMI port. 

Battery: The device is powered by a Li-ion 1750 mAh battery that has a capacity to afford 

 Music playback for 25 hours

·         Video playback of up to 6 hours

·         2G talk time of about 7 hours and 30 minutes

·         3G talk time of 8 hours and 30 minutes

·         Standby time of 17-18 days

Music and video: The device has ambient potential for entertainment and supports music and video files of practically all formats. It is shipped with 3.5 mm audio jack and gets connected with an FM radio as well. Its added features are surround sound, music track recognition, clear brass and audio, xLoud engine filter technology etc.

Verdict: Sony Xperia S is a stylish handset from Sony with an excellent camera and other specs. Though its price is little higher compared with other budget smartphones, it offers tremendous cost actualization through its entertainment portals. Its processor is fast enough to run multiple programs at a single time and features enough memory to store all needed data. The device is indeed a boon for music lovers and game freaks.