The same Sony Style. Review of the Sony Xperia S smartphone
The Xperia XZ3 may be mistaken for just another Sony smartphone, but if you give it a chance and study it better, your opinion changes. The design of the device remains the same, but minor details change the perception. The 6-inch screen makes the device a little larger than the Xperia XZ2, but it doesn't feel huge or clunky.
An aluminum frame is located along the edges of the case. The back surface is flat in the center and has curves on the sides. The curved screen changes the feeling of working with the device. In general, in many ways the smartphone is similar to the Galaxy S9+, and that’s good. Some reviewers even believe that the design of metal, glass and the method of combining them into one is a level above that of Samsung. The Japanese manufacturer has a fantastic selection of color options. Available in completely black, nice green color sea and silver-white. Each one has a nice finish and depth of color.
For the first time, a Sony smartphone has an OLED screen. It looks great, but at this level with this price it shouldn’t be any different. The developers have reduced the size of the frames at the top and bottom, making the edges of the XZ3 more reminiscent of other flagship devices. Big screen managed to fit into a not very large case, especially taking into account the presence of improved speakers.
The new functionality, called Side Sense, is reminiscent of HTC Edge Sense. It allows you to press the edges of the case to perform different actions without having to press a button. Sony offers fairly basic features. Double-tapping your finger on any edge opens a menu with available applications. This is similar to the Edge panels on Samsung Galaxy devices.
Unfortunately, the stability of this function is far from 100%. You need to firmly double-press, which can be difficult on a smartphone with such a thin metal frame. The idea was good; it would make the device more flexible in settings. Unlike the HTC U12+, this is not an integral part of the navigation system, so you can do without this feature.
The device comes with Android 9 Pie, which gives it an advantage over other flagships, including those recently released that are still on the last year. Android versions. Software Sony software fast and clean, it's not much different from what you'll find on Google smartphones Pixel. Of course, there are some additions from Sony here.
There is also a catch. I didn't like the location of the fingerprint scanner, which is located too low on the back of the case, just like on the Xperia XZ2. There is no headphone jack. The screen looks great, but we didn't have enough time to get familiar with it. If you look at previous Sony devices, readability in the sun is far from the best. Perhaps switching to an OLED panel will correct this situation.
Also concerning is the battery life of the 3300 mAh battery. There are doubts about the merits of the camera. Shooting in the pavilion at an exhibition in Berlin in low light showed slow work camera, there is digital noise in the photos. You don't expect this from a $900 smartphone.
Looking at the Xperia XZ3, one wonders whether it's too little, too late to save Sony's mobile division. The company has been producing expensive and not the most expensive ones for too long attractive smartphones, which did not have a chance to attract the attention of a wide range of buyers. Many of the flaws have since been corrected, but fixing the reputation is not so easy. Xperia XZ3 looks and feels good smartphone, even better than many competitors. It doesn't have stupid bugs like poor placement of the NFC antenna or the lack of a fingerprint scanner on the American version. There is support for memory cards, stereo speakers, a screen without a cutout, modern software, wireless charging and much more. It is impossible to find critical flaws here.
It remains to be seen whether those willing to spend on the purchase will be willing to spend Galaxy Note 9 for 70,000 rub. change your mind and pay a little less for the Xperia XZ3.
- Apparatus
- Network adapter
- USB cable
- Stereo headset
- Documentation
- Two NFC tags
- HDMI cable
Sony's current flagship leaves mixed impressions: amazing display, interesting design, good camera; but then there are strange things with the controls and other issues...
Design, construction
The device comes in updated packaging, in my opinion, it is much more better than that one, that Sony Ericsson had - a white flat box, Sony inscriptions everywhere, the style was maintained very well. I have an Xperia S with a different configuration than the Russian one; there are no NFC tags, an HDMI cable or an “enhanced” charger or cable. I would recommend taking this point into account when purchasing; it is preferable to take the kit for our country. By the way, this is a package for Norway. So far there are only two colors of Xperia S, these are white and black devices, the first one looks much more elegant and beautiful. It is quite possible that there will be a pink “esque” for the Japanese market, maybe it will come to us too, we’ll wait and see. Naturally, a black smartphone is much calmer, maybe even more practical, although both devices use the same velvety matte plastic, which is very pleasant to the touch. When I wrote the first look, I said that you can write a word on a white phone with a pen, erase it, and there will be no traces left. Several days of using the gadget have passed, and it looks like new, although I only carried it in my pocket, without any covers. The screen has a good factory film, which can be removed if desired, the display is covered with protection made of a special material, this is not a “gorilla”, but something else. In any case, he is not afraid of keys.
If we talk about design, then the real Sony style is, I repeat, especially beautiful white smartphone. The frame around the display is small, rear end The case has a light border around the perimeter, a luminous stripe at the bottom and a white stripe on the bottom of the case, with the word Xperia. At the bottom end there is a groove for attaching a strap, a microphone hole, a speaker slot above the display, a front camera lens, the proximity sensor is not noticeable, but I have doubts about the light sensor, automatic brightness control cannot be turned on in the menu, apparently there is no such function. I would like to note that when the strip lights up, button indicators appear in it, but for it to light up, you need to press one of them. It also lights up if you wake the device from sleep mode. You can’t customize the behavior of the strip in the menu, but it would be great to, say, change the backlight. On the left side there is a microUSB connector covered with a plug; on the right HDMI, it is also closed, the plugs are well made and do not dangle. At the top there is a 3.5 mm jack, at the back there is a camera lens, a flash, a speaker and another microphone hole.
The dimensions of the device are impressive, 128 x 64 x 10.6 mm, weight 144 grams, it feels good in the hand. Everything is in order with the assembly, even when compressed there are no creaks or play, although the back cover is very easy to remove, you need to push it up and that’s it. But, well done, we managed to achieve good “density” of the structure. As you can see, there is no access to the battery; you will have to remove the cover solely to install the SIM card. There is no slot for a memory card either, so be content with the built-in memory.
I personally like the design, but it evokes conflicting feelings in people, I showed the device to about twenty of my friends, girlfriends, colleagues, about fifty to fifty - the girls think S is big, although the white color does not leave anyone indifferent. Two comrades noted that the luminous strip introduces a kind of chaos, does not allow one to normally perceive the appearance of the device, and plus there is confusion with the controls; one wants to click on the appearing symbols, and not on the dots. In general, if you decide to buy, be sure to evaluate the Xperia S yourself, and I highly recommend looking at the white version, it looks much better than the black one.
The device has a slot for microSIM cards, you will have to either cut your SIM card or order a new one, but Sony Xperia S can easily change seats iPhone owners. Obviously, this slot was used with this in mind.
Although the company said that the pinout of the 3.5 mm jack allows you to connect headsets designed for Apple equipment, in fact the proprietary “fittings” (as in the photo in the article) refuse to work with the Xperia S; the sound goes into the speaker. The set includes regular in-ear headphones, not bad, but nothing more. Don't think about buying LiveSound, it won't work, they say they are preparing a special version for the new line.
I would like to note a couple more points: after I removed the cover several times, it began to come off slightly in some places - for example, at the bottom. This is almost unnoticeable, but if you are used to monolithic devices, then this will irritate you. Then, I cannot help but note the design irony, in order to insert a tiny SIM card, you need to remove the entire cover. What, the slot couldn’t have been made on the body?
Screen
The display of the device is impressive, as many of you know, I constantly use the iPhone 4/4S, so for me this is some other world, pocket TV and all that. Display diagonal 4.3 inches, resolution 1280 x 720 pixels. I don’t want to go into discussions about the advantages of this or that technology, “amolds” and so on, let’s leave it to marketers - the fact that the S screen is very pleasant, soft, velvety. The fonts are very clear, even the smallest letters seem as if they were cut out, but this poses problems for people with low vision. The resolution is crazy, so some of the inscriptions are very, very small, even I have to strain my eyes to read. Good viewing angles horizontally, but worse vertically, plus when tilted the screen turns a little yellow, or is it just an optical illusion. I also want to note that the colors do not seem saturated. The main advantages are brightness, contrast, if you like - clarity.
You can turn on Mobile BRAVIA Engine in the menu, I would recommend doing this, photos and videos become brighter, richer, and more interesting.
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Control
As you probably know, Sony Ericsson smartphones have Android based, as a rule, they used ordinary buttons, which in me personally evoked only a positive response. In the Sony Xperia S, the situation is different, either for the sake of design, or for other reasons, they installed touch controls under the display. And that's not very good. Firstly, when the bar lights up, it seems that you need to press there, although in fact the buttons are under the dots. Secondly, they require getting used to; your finger constantly darts between the screen and these very points. Thirdly, although pressing is accompanied by vibration, it does not in any way contribute to comfort. I'm sure if you like a smartphone you'll come to terms with the sensors, but overall it's not very good. Another controversial element is the power button on the top end. Let me remind you that the “height” of the device is 128 mm, even with my long fingers I can grab the device to press it. You hold it by the middle, then you can press. But in ordinary life we hold phones by the bottom, right? I don’t know how girls will deal with the Sony Xperia S, apparently they’ll have to get used to it. If only we could place this button on the right side, under the index finger, it would solve the problem.
But there is a camera button, which is a good thing, especially compared to other Android devices. There is also a long volume button at the end; it fits just under your thumb if you are left-handed.
Above the screen there is a miniature light indicator - a dot, which lights up during some events in programs, while charging. Useful thing.
Camera
The front camera is 1.3 MP, it is possible to shoot video in HD, the rear camera is 12 MP, the maximum image resolution is 4000 x 3000 pixels, it is possible to shoot video in FullHD (1980 x 1080 pixels). There is a separate camera launch button, and this is where things get interesting. You can take the device out of your pocket in a locked state, press this button and within a second and a half you will receive a frame. Just get the frame, the application will launch, focusing will happen, click, the picture is ready. Click again, another frame, and so on. So far I have only been able to see the result on the device’s screen, it looks good - at least the autofocus works correctly. I don’t know if the launch trick can be repeated on another device, but Sony did a very right thing - this thing with shooting from a locked state will be in demand and appreciated by many consumers.
Interestingly, the camera launch icon is made in the form of NEX.
I liked the camera menu, large icons and everything is thought out, in the left corner there is a scene selection, this is automatic recognition of shooting conditions, “normal” mode, where you can choose the conditions yourself: portrait, landscape, night portrait, night photography, beach and snow, sports, document, party. Macro mode is activated automatically, depending on the location of the object. You can set the white balance, switch the flash to auto mode or to eliminate the red-eye effect, there is a fill flash, you can turn it off completely. The flash really knocks out everything possible, and regardless of the mode, it’s preferable not to use it at all. In photo mode, it’s easy to switch to the front camera, activate the 3D panorama mode, a kind of multi-angle view, also a feature related to 3D. There is also a simple panorama. Sony pays a lot of attention to both 3D and panorama, the latter is implemented well, during shooting an explanation appears on exactly how to do this - smoothly rotate the device while it is shooting, at this time the slider runs, it is important not to jerk the Xperia S and maintain the rotation speed. In principle, it’s interesting, especially if you shoot some landscapes in good lighting.
When shooting video, there are also effects, you can quickly switch to the front or rear cameras, select the shooting mode: portrait, night mode, landscape, beach and snow, sports, party. There is a white balance setting and photo illumination on or off. The device shoots video very well, I liked it, I watched it both on the Xperia S screen and on a laptop, you can safely post it on YouTube.
Regarding the pictures, Dear friends, there is a simple opinion. Comrades from Instagram announced the release of their application for Android soon, they have already demonstrated work on Samsung smartphone. This means that the 12 MP camera will be used by many to create beautiful automatically processed frames using different filters. I hope you can understand my point, in the old days the camera quality was mobile phone was a serious argument for purchase. You could compare cameras on forums, share pictures, and look for the best smartphone or phone for this parameter. What Sony Ericsson K750 started back in the day was great, we all have to thank the guys at Sony Ericsson for bringing digital photography from mobile devices to the masses. But now is a different time. And most of the photos from mobile devices are not uploaded to computers, but where are they uploaded? That's right, on social networks. And on Instagram as well. And to other services. And what does this mean? This means that quality is now of secondary, if not tertiary, importance. Now it’s more important to quickly film and quickly post it on Facebook or Twitter. Many people use albums on their favorite social networks as repositories for such shots. Accordingly, I personally won’t admire the 12 megapixel camera in the Sony Xperia S; its big advantage is its speed, the ability to take photos from a locked state, but you can evaluate the quality of the pictures yourself. Nice pictures. Let's get Instagram for Android soon.
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Performance
Uses Qualcomm MSM8260 Snapdragon dual-core processor with clock frequency 1.5 GHz, Adreno 220 graphics accelerator, 1 GB random access memory. Programs open quickly, switching is also instantaneous, in general, the device does not raise any questions in terms of speed. Honestly, I can’t imagine where and why such a processor would work with what? With what programs? Probably with games, but what’s strange is that it seems to be so powerful for a mobile device, but some things are either poorly optimized, or these are OS features. For example, you put your smartphone on the table with the screen on, and then watch it turn off in jerks - I don’t know how to describe it better. Or you launch the camera, first the interface elements appear, then the image from the viewfinder. When you press the menu button, this same menu periodically also comes out with a jerk, not smoothly. Probably, many users will not notice all this, but it hurts my eyes a little. Touch buttons also add “fun”, because the speed of startup or transition to certain functions also depends on ergonomics.
Nutrition
The stated operating time is 7 hours 30 minutes talk time on a 2G network, 8 hours 30 minutes on a 3G network, listening to music about 25 hours, standby time about 450 hours. These are all great numbers, but in reality the device lives like a typical Android smartphone. That is, daylight. Depends on the backlight, depends on whether Wi-Fi or NFC is turned on, but don't expect to upgrade from the iPhone 4 and get similar battery life, no.
An interesting feature is that when using the included network charger (adapter and detachable USB cable), after ten minutes of charging you can talk for an hour. As they say, with this adapter you only need to use original cable, otherwise things could end badly. But fast charging is implemented here, and this is a big plus. Once fully charged, the device indicator lights up green.
Memory
As you probably know, there is no memory card slot, so far there is only one version with built-in memory of 32 GB. I believe this is more than enough for most users. Although it's strange that they didn't add a microSD slot, I can't find a reason why they didn't. In the current conditions, trying to divide smartphones by memory (here there is more and there is no slot, and here there is less and there is a slot) is, to say the least, ridiculous. Earlier, when memory was even more or less noticeably worth such a technique was justified, but now the situation is different.
Connect to Mac
There is one not very good news for those who use Mac OS; when connected to a computer, the device is activated MTP mode, it is intended for Windows. Accordingly, foreign operating system Xperia S does not see point-blank, and in the settings a message appears that MTP is enabled by default, use it, my dears. The irony of fate is that they made a microSIM slot and wiring for headsets for iOS (they just don’t work), but they completely forgot about those who use a Mac.
Wireless capabilities
There is Bluetooth 2.1 with EDR, Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g/n), NFC, Wi-Fi Direct - this was also available on the Samsung Galaxy SII, and it’s good that it appears on other devices as well. DLNA supported. Naturally, the device can work as an access point. I’ll probably say right away about the radio, there is one with RDS support. I had an incomprehensible incident at home, the device did not want to connect to the AirPort Express access point, no matter how hard I tried, no matter how I configured it, the Xperia S still did not see it. Moreover, everything is fine with Time Capsule, working with other networks.
A few words about the tags; they weren’t included in my package, but for Russia they will put a pair in the box. Why this is needed - you can configure the tag so that when you touch it, it launches the programs you select. For example, in a car it could be navigation software and a player if you connect it to the car audio system. Naturally, this is a somewhat far-fetched functionality, but it’s still good that Sony is coming up with scenarios for NFC. I believe that in 2012 we will still see accessories from the company using this technology.
Android Features
While the device runs on Android 2.3.7, a transition to Android 4.0 is planned - they are already talking about this without “maybe” or “we’ll see.” Those who buy the device first can safely count on the fourth version.
As for the operating system features. Naturally, Sony took care of their wallpapers, they are very good, reminiscent of those for the PS3, a haze of different colors moving on a huge display is great. There are also melodies, but they are less interesting; I only liked Air. Its own widgets, the one that is responsible for turning Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and other things on or off is well made, a beautiful clock. There is a traditional one for Sony program TrackID, however, after recording and sending a fragment, an error appeared on the screen. There is a recommendation service dedicated to programs selected by Sony - feel free to go to Google Play and search for programs yourself. Apparently, although I do not presume to say, the message icon and some other icons have been redrawn. Here is a list of already installed programs:
McAfee Security, antivirus, you can safely send it to scrap right away - it’s better to just be vigilant and don’t install on the device what kind of programs you don’t understand, how this thing will load up the memory and you too with reminders and other things.
Timescape, Sony is still developing this thing, a certain area where news from your Facebook and Twitter is displayed. Years pass, but the program is still very beautiful, but completely useless; it is better to use separate clients for Android.
Evernote, I love this program, it saves notes and much more, you can exchange information with the desktop version or versions for other OSes.
Media Remote, remote control for home appliances.
Presenting the Xperia S at the Consumer Electronics Show, Sony gave everyone understands that they are not going to sit on the margins of the Android smartphone segment after turning from Sony Ericcson, because the device turned out to be very, very interesting, in fact, a Japanese phone available for purchase all over the world. But will the S, like the Arc a year ago, be able to go not on hardware, but on user characteristics and become popular not only in its home country, but throughout the world?
Packaging and equipment
The smartphone comes in a flat and wide box, which is divided into two parts: a small one, which contains the charger and USB cable, and a large one, which contains the device itself, as well as an HDMI cable, a good headset, the necessary documentation and two NFC tags. Everything is packed in nice polyethylene, and the packaging itself is made of high-quality cardboard.
The equipment, compared to other manufacturers, is quite rich, but it is inferior to the previous one Sony's flagship– Arc/Arc S and does not contain additional film for the screen and a leather case.
Design and construction
The Xperia S is unlike any device I've ever seen, primarily due to the transparent strip below the screen that bears the Android key symbols.
It looks very nice when the strip is illuminated, but the buttons themselves are located above the transparent element and represent three small touch points that are very difficult to hit both in daylight and in the dark. Of course, this is a step back compared to the good old hardware keys on the Arc, however, after a week of using the device, I got used to this control scheme.
By the design of the smartphone you can immediately understand where it comes from. The large screen, chopped corners - all this is reminiscent of phones produced for the domestic Japanese market, but there is a share of the X10 and Arc design, which is manifested in the curve of the back cover, thanks to which the S fits in the hand much better than ordinary remnants and bricks.
The front of the device is occupied by a magnificent 4.3-inch screen with a resolution of 720p, covered with tempered glass and protective film, which tends to scratch quickly. Above it there is an indicator that notifies about events and low battery level, a proximity sensor, an earpiece and a front 1.3-megapixel camera capable of recording video in HD. Below the screen there are 3 touch buttons “Back”, “Home”, “Menu” and the notorious transparent strip. The display itself is recessed into the body by 0.5-0.3 mm and therefore you can not be afraid to place the smartphone face down.
At the back there is a 12-megapixel camera, flash, speaker and microphone for noise reduction and video recording. The back cover itself is made of matte plastic, which not only provides an excellent tactile sensation, but is also easy to clean. Sony claims that you can write on it even with a pen and then clean it by simply wiping the lid with a cloth.
By removing the cover, you can only access the microSIM connector; the 1750 mAh battery is non-removable, and there is no slot for memory cards. Although the lid fits very tightly, there are concerns that after a while a slight play may appear. The decision of Sony engineers, as in the case of buttons, is not clear to me. For the sake of microSIM alone, sacrificing the solidity of the phone when it was possible to make a slot on one of the edges of the case is a clear miscalculation in the development.
The top end is occupied by a 3.5 mm mini-jack and a lock/power button. Why it is on the left is a big question. With such dimensions of the device, in order to reach it, you need to move your fingers, dragging the smartphone a little lower. At the bottom, a conversational microphone and an unexpected element in our time took its place - a loop for a strap.
On the right side there is an HDMI connector covered with a flap, a volume rocker and a camera button. On the left, directly opposite HDMI, behind exactly the same plug is microUSB. The plugs fit snugly, but their design does not inspire confidence and they can start to wobble. In addition, they are too inconvenient to open.
Despite the miscalculations in ergonomics, the Xperia S is assembled superbly and fits perfectly in the hand, despite its large dimensions (128x64 mm) and today’s considerable thickness of 10.6 mm, and the material of the back cover deserves all sorts of praise; you don’t want to let go of the smartphone.
Screen
Fabulous! This is the first word that came out to me and many other people (including owners of both the iPhone 4/4S and smartphones with super-duper Amoled screens) when they first looked at Xperia screen S. And this is not surprising, since the device has a 4.3-inch capacitive LCD screen with a resolution of 1280 * 720, which, coupled with the absence of PenTile, gives the highest pixel density per square inch to date - 342 ppi, which exceeds Retina Display in an Apple product.
The picture itself is also pleasing to the eye - it is juicy and bright, and the colors are not twisted. Also, traditionally for Sony, there is Mobile BRAVIA Engine technology, which makes blacks blacker and increases image contrast when viewing images and videos. The viewing angles are also good, which are much greater than those in the Arc S. Naturally, there is also multi-touch, as many as 10 clicks are perceived simultaneously. The sensitivity of the touch layer is high, there are no false clicks.
Camera
Ever since the K750, Sony Ericcson (and now Sony) has been famous for the quality of its cameras. This tradition continues in the Xperia S, which has a 12-megapixel module with autofocus, equipped with a back-illuminated Exmor R sensor and LED flash. Like the Arc a year ago, the Xperia S sets a whole new bar for Android camera technology. The photos come out great, the camera is virtually wash-free, and the noise level in low light is minimal. Autofocus works clearly and quickly, this is especially noticeable during macro photography.
It is also possible to record video in FullHD (1080p) at 30 frames per second, while autofocus works.
At first glance, the camera interface is very simple.
But when you press the “Menu” button, a rich settings menu appears, where you can choose a lot - from shooting conditions and image resolution, to enabling the function quick launch, which allows you to take a photo in 1.5 seconds after pressing the camera button on the device while it is in a locked state.
There is support for several shooting modes, including panoramas. You can also switch to a 1.3-megapixel front camera capable of recording video in 720p.
Examples of photographs
Example of video shooting
Performance
The smartphone has a dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8260 processor operating at a frequency of 1.5 GHz, and the graphics accelerator is Adreno 220. The same hardware is installed in Sensation/Sensation XE and, at first glance, is not particularly powerful at the moment, but the lack of a gluttonous Sense and Android optimization have done their job - the Xperia S, despite the high screen resolution, simply humiliates the vast majority of competitors in various benchmarks, even with Android 2.3 on board and is very close to the Samsung Galaxy Note, second only to the quad-core Tegra 3.
1 gigabyte of RAM is installed, in reality about 600 megabytes are available to the user to run their applications - this is more than enough to run the most demanding games and applications. The games themselves run quickly and smoothly on the device, but not all are optimized for this screen resolution - the same Modern Combat 3 says that it is not compatible with the Xperia S, and Angry Birds has frankly small controls, but this is the fault of the developers.
Battery Life
Although the device has a fairly large 1750 mAh battery, you shouldn’t expect miracles - the Xperia S lasts a standard day for Android under my usage regime (3-3.5 hours of Internet, synchronization with social networks, email updates and 30 minutes of calls per day). When watching videos, the S will last about 9-9.5 hours and about 24 when listening to music.
Sony tried to solve the problem with battery life in their own way. The kit comes with a very unusual charger - it is much larger than the average today, but has a huge advantage - increased output current, which made it possible to implement fast charging in Xperia S – the battery charges in about 1.5 hours.
Multimedia
The smartphone has radically redesigned applications, compared to last year's Sony Ericsson, and they look beautiful and fresh. IN music player There are two tabs - the playback screen and the user's music screen. The playback screen illuminates part of its area to match the album cover, and the music library tab shows a photo of the artist of the song being played, while offering several ways to sort music, including the SenseMe function familiar from old Walkmans. It recognizes the mood of music and suggests playlists for all occasions.
There is also an equalizer - it also has two tabs. The first contains the actual 6-band equalizer and ClearBass, the second allows you to turn on xLOUD, which increases the speaker volume, and adjust the surround sound in the headphones.
The radio here supports RDS, has a simple interface, and also the ability to recognize a track using TrackID.
In turn, TrackID – useful service, whose functionality is similar to the popular Shazam and Soundhound, but is free and unlimited. It works quickly, songs are almost always recognized correctly.
The sound together with the included headset is not bad, but it clearly lacks detail, so it’s better to think about choosing other headphones or a headset, fortunately there is support for accessories for the iPhone, which allows you to choose not from one or two, but hundreds of headsets in a wide variety of price ranges. The sound from the speaker is loud and clear, both the call and the music can be heard even in a noisy place.
Things are going well with video as well. Although the standard video player supports video up to 1080p, only .mp4 is supported, which is not good compared to other manufacturers who build support for a variety of codecs into their devices. When installing a third-party player, Xperia S digests all the videos that I had - from DVD/HDTVRip series to heavy BDRip .mkv format with several audio tracks and subtitles. What does the video look like? high resolution on a wonderful screen, I don’t think it’s worth explaining.
NFC
Another feature of the device is support for NFC, and here the scenario for using the technology, unlike Nokia and Google, is more interesting and at least somehow suitable for use in our country. It's called SmartTag - a tag slightly larger than a five-kopeck coin. There are 2 of them in the set.
When you touch the mark on your smartphone, the actions we specified are performed - you can turn on or off a function, launch applications, or change the screen brightness. You can configure your own tasks for each tag.
To reset the action of a tag, there is a “Favorite actions” item. These tasks are also customizable and activated on a beautiful app widget.
Performing actions is also possible when connecting accessories; everything is customizable and flexible.
Memory
The Xperia S doesn't have a memory card slot, but it does have 32GB of built-in storage. This is the maximum partition size that Android can see. And everything would be fine, but these 32 gigabytes are not entirely fair.
25.8 GB of memory are available for user files, about two more are allocated for installing applications. The system took everything else. Although the lack of memory cards is a disadvantage for many, I don’t see any particular problems; the device works much faster and more stable with built-in memory. There is also support for external USB.
Communication/calls
Although the antenna is located in a part separated by a glass strip from most of the body, the communication quality is excellent, the interlocutor can be heard well, but there is no death grip. Wi-Fi also works great and connects to any network you choose without any problems. The vibration alert is well felt in your pocket, and the vibration feedback of the keys is also pleasant.
Interface
The smartphone has a new shell Sony, installed on top of Android 2.3.7. This smartphone is inferior to the One X and the upcoming Galaxy S III, although the latter is not yet on the market. For those who like the fresher versions, I hasten to tell you that an update to Ice Cream Sandwich is in development and will be released at the end of April - beginning of May.
The shell itself is called NXT UI and is a development of Timescape UI used in Sony Ericcson devices. It is made in shades of gray, it looks beautiful and unusual, information is perceived much better than the black background and white text in devices from other manufacturers. In addition, the device has many beautiful proprietary utilities from Sony and a set of its own widgets, although their number is inferior to that of HTC Sense. You can look at the interface in more detail in the screenshots below.
Unfortunately, you can often notice an annoying slowdown when flipping through desktops when large quantities widgets on screens. Moreover, even in simple lists, such as on the available screen Wi-Fi networks There are terrible brakes, why this is so is not clear.
conclusions
Sony managed to create a wonderful, albeit controversial smartphone. Although it was not created on the latest hardware platform and has obvious shortcomings in design and ergonomics, I will be very sorry to part with the Xperia S. Why? Because S, unlike most of today's smartphones, evokes some special emotions when using it. This is probably the very Sony style that has turned out to be almost completely lost in today's Sony products and which the company is now carefully trying to return. Well, with the Xperia S they succeeded.
Bottom line
Nice interface
Excellent quality materials
Good performance
Quality
– miscalculations in ergonomics and design
– not the latest version of Android
Sony Xperia S video review
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In 2011, the undisputed leader among Android smartphones became. Neither the smartphone from the Swedish-Japanese alliance nor the devices from HTC could shake its strong position. In the race of cores, processors and other interesting characteristics, an imbalance often occurs when a device that is quite powerful in its characteristics suddenly begins to disappoint the user with slowness, short operating time or other strange things.
Having tried the Sony Xperia S, you can guess what prospects await the company in the future, and if you don’t touch on global issues, then just understand how interesting and attractive the new model is. Among the main features of the smartphone are a 4.3-inch HD screen, a 12-megapixel camera, a dual-core 1.5-GHz processor, additional NFC functions and other capabilities appropriate for a device of this class.
Contents of delivery
- Smartphone
- Stereo headset with attachments
- HDMI cable
- USB cable
- High Power Charger
- Two NFC tags
Design
Unusual, curved lines have been replaced by more traditional chopped shapes. The design is dominated by calm, smooth edges. Appearance has become more conservative, unlike and. If they were more airy, elegant, very unique models due to their non-trivial curves, then here they did without such techniques.
The dimensions of the device body are 128x64x10 mm, weight 144 g. The model is moderately large, comparable to similar top-end gadgets. When the screen is turned off, the entire front panel turns black, but as soon as the backlight turns on, the frame around the display is immediately noticeable. On the sides it takes up about 5 mm, and the space at the top is 12 mm.
The model will be sold in two colors: black or white. Regardless of this, the body is completely made of high-quality plastic.
The surface is also pleasant to the touch. Now a slightly different softtouch is used, this is an improved version. If the first generation was rough, as if made of rubber, then this is different. It looks more like simple matte plastic.
The front panel is visually divided into three parts. At the bottom is the antenna module, then there is a transparent insert and the rest of the body rises above it. All attention is drawn to the transparent plastic; this detail is illuminated and looks very beautiful. It bears the designations of the touch buttons.
As it may seem at first, they are not located on this plate, but a little higher. They are marked with small dots, but out of habit, at first you are tempted to click on the transparent part where the visual icons are highlighted. The idea is very strange, because even after several days with the phone, you still can’t say that it processes absolutely all clicks with 100% accuracy. Sometimes an additional action is required for the smartphone to carry out the command. Why this was done is unclear. In the dark, the points that need to be pressed are not highlighted, they are not illuminated, so adaptation to the device is required.
The left button brings you back, in the center is the home key and launches the application manager, and the latter launches the auxiliary menu.
Above the screen is a 1.3-megapixel speaker front-camera and a proximity sensor. Next to it there is also a light indicator for notification of events of various types; it is illuminated with different lights, highlighting the events.
The bottom end is distinguished by the presence of a strap mount and a microphone.
On the left side there is a microUSB compartment, which is closed with a special lid. A cable is connected to it and Charger.
On the right is a microHDMI connector under a cover. A little lower there is a volume button. It protrudes clearly, but its stroke is small and it is pressed tightly. On this side there is a convenient two-position key for shooting.
At the top there is a separate conveniently shaped screen lock button and a 3.5 mm jack for connecting a headset or headphones. By the way, there was evidence that you can connect accessories from Apple technology to your smartphone through this port. But the headset remote control for Apple iPhone didn't work with it, so it's not very clear why practical use such a solution for the buyer if he decides to change his smartphone from Apple. And one more note. The headphone jack is located right next to the screen lock button. As a result, it may turn out that the wire ends up next to it and gets in the way. This creates some inconvenience when headphones are connected. It would be worth spreading these elements over a more significant distance, there is enough of it here.
The back panel sits tightly in place at first, but over time the feeling of solidity disappears; it can move up and down a little, which is unpleasant.
At the top there is a round cutout of the camera lens, next to it is an LED flash. Just below you can see the oval hole of the phone's speaker and the second microphone.
Since the smartphone has a built-in battery and non-removable memory, it back cover There is only a microSIM slot.
Screen
The display has become larger, it has a diagonal of 4.3 inches, a resolution of 720 x 1280 pixels, and up to 16 million colors. Here is a beautiful picture with a very clear font that is pleasing to the eye. The pixel density is high, 342 PPI, which is more than /4s, so you can imagine what this wonderful display will feel like.
The capacitive screen supports 10-point multi-touch and responds well to touch. The smartphone does not have an air gap between the glass and the matrix, which has a positive effect on picture quality. The ideology of the Japanese world itself is such that priority is given to natural, natural colors, in contrast to Korean companies, which are dominated by an overly bright, but at the same time somewhat distorted, “cartoon” image.
The proximity sensor turns off the screen when the phone comes close to your face during a call. Thanks to the built-in accelerometer, when you turn the phone on its side, the image on the screen changes orientation from vertical to horizontal. There is no automatic screen brightness setting in the menu, as in the Xperia Arc/Arc S.
Implemented Mobile function Bravia Engine, familiar from this company's TVs. Its peculiarity lies in the fact that when it is activated, the contrast and sharpness of the image increases. The picture is bright, the colors are rich and natural.
The display is covered with tempered glass; it should serve as reliable protection against scratches and abrasions. It is worth noting that this is not Gorilla Glass, but an original development of the company. The coating is durable, I tried to scratch the test sample with sharp objects, but there was no other damage on it. But just in case, all smartphones will be sold with the factory film attached. She's practically invisible additional protection never hurts. On the street, the data on the display is clearly visible.
For comparison, I’ll give an example of how the Sony Xperia S (center) looks next to (left) and the Apple iPhone 4S (right) at maximum screen brightness.
Filling
The smartphone runs under the operating system Android systems 2.3.7 Gingerbread. As for the update for Ice Cream Sandwich, it will be available after the smartphone goes on sale; you will probably have to wait about a month. A dual-core Qualcomm MSM8260 processor with a frequency of 1.5 GHz and an Adreno 220 graphics chip are installed. There is 1 GB of RAM, as well as 32 GB of internal memory. It is not possible to install a memory card here; there is no connector. However, due to such a large data storage space, problems with free space will not be. The device works well, in general you expect smoothness from such a filling, but here sometimes you can notice a twitching of the desktops when moving between them. The gallery is also not very quick to think. In general, we can only wait for ICS to eliminate these shortcomings.
Menu
At the top of the screen there is a service line, which displays the time, battery charge, and signal reception level indicator. Active connections and other data are also displayed there. By clicking on it, you can find out in more detail what programs were downloaded, what messages and letters were received, or what files were received via Bluetooth.
Both preinstalled images or wallpapers from Sony Ericsson, as well as your favorite pictures, are used as design elements. There are seven different colored menu themes available. In addition, shortcuts and folders are placed on the desktop. For the latter, you can choose one of eight design options and assign a name. Icons are added by dragging them from the phone menu directly into this area.
Of course, there are widgets here too, you can also add them to your desktop. There can be five such screens, their number does not change. An interesting function works: you can swipe with two fingers different angles, all desktops will shrink and appear on one screen. The widgets have been improved - for example, a large list of icons is available for making various connections, which is initially hidden in a small rectangle. Weather forecast data is animated and beautifully displayed.
Moving between zones may have slight delays and is not as smooth as we would like. There are 5 icons at the bottom of the screen. These are multimedia, messages, menu entry, contacts and dialing. If you click on media, an additional menu will pop up with those applications that are in this category.
The Application Manager is activated by the Home button. It displays 8 programs and in essence it is not a traditional task manager. As you know, Android closes applications on its own, based on the amount of free RAM.
When the screen is locked, the display shows the date and time. To unlock the screen, you need to swipe your finger along from left to right. If you do it the other way around, it turns on silent mode, as indicated by the additional icon.
This can be displayed Additional Information about missed calls, new messages, emails, calendar events and Facebook notifications. If such notifications seem unnecessary, you can turn them off.
The smartphone menu consists of several work zones, initially there are three. If you install additional applications, then over time there will be more such areas. There are 20 icons on the screen translucent background, under which you can see the wallpaper installed on the main screen. Icons can be arranged in a way that is convenient for the user. There is also sorting by several criteria: alphabetically, frequently used, recently installed. The icons are beautiful and neatly designed. The camera icon will remind you of the NEX series cameras.
Phone book
The smartphone has a convenient assistant for importing contacts both from the SIM card and from accounts Facebook posts and Google, they are displayed in a single list. Created backup copy list of numbers onto a memory card, the data can later be restored. Sorting by first and last name works.
When you create a new contact, many fields are created. This Various types telephone numbers, email addresses, means of quick communication (AIM, ICQ, Gtalk, Skype and others), residential addresses and others (nickname, note, Internet call).
The smartphone has a list of letters of the alphabet located on the right side of the screen. If you press your finger on this line and move down or up, a letter will pop up on the screen - a kind of quick search, which helps in cases where the phone has several hundred, or even thousands of contacts. The search works by the first letters of the contact name for both language layouts.
There is a menu of favorite numbers where you can add the most popular contacts. A quick menu is available: you need to click on the icon with a contact photo, after which you can call, send a message via SMS or e-mail, see data on Facebook.
Call log
You can access the call log directly from the phone book; it is highlighted in a separate tab. There, a single list contains dialed numbers, received and missed calls; for clarity, they are marked with icons different color. By clicking on a line, you can delete a number from the call log, add it to a contact, or perform some other actions. Selecting a number from the list will display detailed information about the call.
By viewing your call history, you can not only make phone conversation with the selected subscriber, but also send him an SMS or email from this list, without going to another menu. Dialing is carried out using a convenient virtual keyboard. There is an automatic search for numbers that match the numbers.
Messages
For SMS and MMS there is a shared folder, where received messages go. When sending, adding various objects to the SMS can automatically convert it into an MMS. Messages are grouped by recipient into a correspondence feed. When dialing a subscriber's number, the phone displays a list of matching numbers in alternating numbers.
While typing, a small field reserved for characters will be displayed. The longer the message, the more the space allocated for the character set increases. The device can copy, cut and paste text. A convenient cursor is used for navigation, which helps to correct typos and highlight the necessary sections of text. In addition, you can use arrow buttons.
Intellectual text input is available, when word correction and auto-completion systems help you type text, allowing you to avoid wasting time correcting errors. Possible word options are shown in a separate line above the keyboard. Copying and pasting of fragments is supported. Now Sony has implemented Swype, which simplifies text entry.
To work with e-mail it starts automatic setting mailbox(unless it is Gmail, which connects immediately after the email address is entered during the initial activation of the phone). It includes entering basic information (login, password). The phone perfectly understands various encodings, supports loading attachments (you must insert a memory card, otherwise this function will not work) in familiar formats.
When creating a letter, you can also attach various files from the device memory to it. The function of copying text and automatically checking the mailbox works (the interval is set manually). The device simultaneously runs two applications - Gmail and Email. The only difference is that in the first, mail comes only from the gmail.com server, while the second application works with any mail storage. You can create several accounts for email, and each of them has its own color. This is convenient because you can view mail for each mailbox separately, or display messages from all accounts into one. Sorting mail by date, subject, sender and size works.
Camera
The smartphone uses a 12-megapixel Sony Exmor R module with backlighting, autofocus and LED flash. Today this is the most powerful module among Android smartphones. To launch the camera, use a dedicated key on the side of the smartphone. By holding it down for a few seconds, the shooting mode starts; this can be done from any application; it is not necessary to go to the main menu. I liked the high launch speed of the camera, as well as the very fast saving of pictures.
The most original feature of the device is fast shooting. The smartphone can take a photo in just 1.5 seconds. You need to point the device at the target, hold down the shutter button, and in a moment a photo will be taken. It’s very convenient because you don’t need to unlock the device, wasting precious time. The main thing is to hold the button until the frame appears on the screen, otherwise you may shoot the wrong object.
The interface is designed not only for landscape, but also for portrait mode. The screen displays auxiliary icons that make it easier to set up photography modes and conditions. In the upper left corner there is a settings mode, at the bottom the flash is turned off. At the top right is a lever for switching between photos and videos, then there is a shutter button. Even lower is a stack of icons that show thumbnails of recent photos. If you click on it, you can go to the gallery.
Various options are available:
Image capture mode: normal, scene recognition, panorama, 3D panorama, multi-angle view, front camera.
Photo size: 12M (4000x3000), 9M (4000x2250), 2M 4:3 (1632x1224), 2M 16:9 (1920x1080 pixels).
Shooting conditions: normal, portrait, landscape, night photography, night portrait, beach and snow, sports, party, document.
Focusing: single autofocus, multi-autofocus, macro photography, face detection, infinity, touch focusing.
Flash: auto, off, fill, red-eye reduction.
Timer: 2.10 seconds.
Exposure number.
Image stabilizer.
Geotags.
Shutter sound.
Shooting method: screen button, touch shooting, key only.
Quick start: start and remove, start only, turn off.
White Balance: Auto, Indoor Light, Fluorescent, daylight, cloudy.
Measurement: center, middle level, point.
ISO: auto, 100, 200, 400, 800.
To understand how good the camera is on the Sony Xperia S, I offer a comparison with other phones. This is, which, despite its age, still remains the best camera phone on the market, and the Apple iPhone 4S, which has an excellent camera, surpassing the Samsung i9100 Galaxy S II in image quality.
Nokia traditionally came out the winner, offering maximum detail and the right colors. The Apple iPhone 4S has a sharp and high-quality picture, but the pictures come out embellished, brighter than they really are. The advantage of Sony is that the smartphone takes pictures very quickly and is convenient when you like to photograph something on the go. Mobile device It looks good in this regard, although it is not as interesting in terms of quality as other tested smartphones. I liked macro photography and the behavior of the camera in low light; the phone performed well in such modes.
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This year, as in the previous two Sony Ericsson, Sony, to use the words of the classic, “is in a hurry to live and in a hurry to feel.” Like LG, the company hastily announces and brings new products to the market, trying to get ahead of competitors in technology. On the one hand, such a rush allows the first to sell a smartphone with an HD screen (Galaxy Note does not count), on the other hand, Sony XPERIA S buyers are doomed to receive an update to Android 4.0 later than buyers HTC One or new Galaxy SIII, about which there are only rumors for now. In any case, XPERIA S has a number of other advantages - good design(especially if you remember how similar numerous Android smartphones of competitors are to each other, you will never confuse them with this model, and this one with others Sony models Ericsson, released earlier), good performance, the opportunity to experiment with the newfangled NFC (only Sony has figured out how to do this conveniently for the user) and an interesting camera with 3D shooting capabilities, borrowed from Sony cameras.
The editors thank the online store
for kindly providing the Sony XPERIA S smartphone for review
This year, as in the previous two Sony Ericsson, Sony, to use the words of the classic, “is in a hurry to live and in a hurry to feel.” Like LG, the company hastily announces and brings new products to the market, trying to get ahead of competitors in technology. On the one hand, such a rush allows the first to sell a smartphone with an HD screen (Galaxy Note does not count), on the other hand, buyers of Sony XPERIA S are doomed to receive an update to Android 4.0 later than buyers of HTC One or the new Galaxy SIII, about which there are only rumors. In any case, the XPERIA S has a number of other advantages - good design (especially if you remember how similar numerous Android smartphones of competitors are to each other, you will never confuse them with this model, and it with other Sony Ericsson models that came out earlier) , good performance, the opportunity to experiment with the newfangled NFC (only Sony has figured out how to do this conveniently for the user) and an interesting camera with 3D shooting capabilities, borrowed from Sony cameras.
Technical specifications and equipment Sony XPERIA S (LT26i)
So, the main thing that we will remember about the Sony XPERIA S is a 4.3-inch screen with a resolution of 1280x720, a 12-megapixel camera, a 2-core processor with a frequency of 1.5 GHz and NFC support “enhanced” by two smart tags that allow you to perform a chain of operations. But there is no support for memory cards, there is a non-removable battery inside, and on the case there is a place for a microHDMI socket. It is worth remembering that, according to the latest telephone fashion, the device uses microSIM cards. Today this is a unique set of characteristics, although everyone has long known that 12 megapixels is less interesting than, for example, a xenon flash, and the lack of memory expansion is completely viewed with hostility by geeks for whom it is extremely important to control everything, despite the fact that that the whole world has long since given a damn about installing a memory card in a phone with 32 gigabytes. It’s also worth mentioning the unique 3D photography capabilities (including panoramas), but more on that later.
I had a gray package, which did not include (another reason to buy the original) an HDMI cable and a couple of tags with NFC tags. Inside the box was a pack of booklets, a USB cable with an L-shaped plug, a power plug with a USB socket, and a wired headset with earbuds.
The headphones of the headset are the most ordinary, but they are earplugs with rubber seals that provide sound insulation. In the end, it’s good when the phone comes with “plugs” that don’t constantly fall out of your ears, and it’s good when they say Sony on them, despite the fact that all electronics have been produced in China for many years.
Frankly speaking, a smartphone for 6,500 hryvnia could use a player control panel on the headset wire, but that’s how it is.
Sony Ericsson is written on the fork (in fact, they shouldn’t remake it, since the car has already been produced). The second inscription “Green Heart” recalls the environmental direction of the company. It is when save on wires the company is trying to reduce the amount of plastic and all sorts of poorly recyclable materials in order to cause less harm to the environment when the fork becomes unusable and ends up in a landfill.
The USB cable, as I already said, has an unusual L-shaped microUSB plug. Which, taking into account the location of the microUSB socket, can even be called justified - it looks more aesthetically pleasing and there is less chance of the wire breaking.
Appearance of Sony XPERIA S (LT26i)
When turned off, it is almost impossible to determine the boundaries of the screen - it looks great. Pay attention to the three white, barely noticeable dots above the transparent panel - these are touch buttons, we will return to them later.
The back cover is pleasant to the touch thanks to the matte plastic good quality, it looks expensive and looks like a top five, although you should understand that it is quite possible to scratch it. And the days of lacquered surfaces in phones seem to have sunk into oblivion with the advent of large and easily soiled touch screens.
The bend at the end makes me think of the XPERIA X10 model. Thanks to this, the designers managed to maintain some continuity. At the bottom end there is an element that has become rare - a loop for attaching a cord or keychain. The double volume key, despite its already miniature size, was made concave. This improves ergonomics - volume control becomes more comfortable by touch, and designers get another line of ode to their honor. Well, the hardware camera button is a separate special thanks for the fact that Sony remembers its role in the development of electronics and does not follow Apple’s lead.
Behind the cover, which occupies almost the entire back surface of the phone, only the microSIM card slot is hidden. In my opinion, by abandoning memory cards and a removable battery, it was necessary to go further and generally make a non-separable case, and place the microSIM slot on the side. It would look even more stylish.
The signature feature of the smartphone is a transparent insert. The last time I saw the use of transparent elements was in the LG GD900. Everything was still more interesting there, but the topic, as they say, “didn’t work.” In this case, the insert does not look like a revolution, but simply a design element used with taste and grace.
The transparent panel contains icons of three touch keys. One hundred percent of the people to whom I showed the device tried to click on the icons, although the buttons themselves are located higher (those three inconspicuous dots). On the one hand, this looks like a violation of all usability principles, on the other hand, you get used to it in five minutes, so you can’t even call it a problem.
Under the camera lens there is a backlight LED, a second speaker and a second microphone, designed to cut off external noise during a conversation.
Close-up of the back panel without cover. The white area in the center of the case is an approximate area for contact using NFC tags.
The plugs for HDMI and microUSB are made very tight. They are difficult to knock off and also difficult to put back in place. But when closed they fit perfectly, they fit like a glove.
Video from Sony XPERIA S (LT26i)
The video takes 11 minutes, but in addition to the appearance of the device, it demonstrates the interface (evaluate its speed yourself and draw a conclusion - is it smooth enough for you?) and a pre-installed set of applications.
Performance Sony XPERIA S (LT26i)
Synthetic test results Sony performance XPERIA S is just some kind of balm for the heart. The smartphone overtakes last year's dual-core LG Optimus 2X and is very close to its equal-class Galaxy Note with its 6408 points in AnTuTu. The Vellamo browser benchmark shows 1250 points - this is one of the best scores I have ever seen. Ahead are only Asus Transformer Prime and the Chinese Xiaomi Mi-One (read “Xiaomi Mi-van”). AnTuTu Tester showed an honest 10-finger multi-touch sensor. The device feels like it works quickly, but the animated wallpaper, coupled with the proprietary interface, makes scrolling through desktops a little slower than we would like.
Interface and installed applications Sony XPERIA S (LT26i)
The smartphone has five desktops. I have not found a way to somehow reduce or, conversely, increase their number. You can choose from seven theme options that differ in background color. The set of pre-installed widgets is traditionally scanty (compared to what Samsung and HTC do); the widgets themselves are called mini-programs.
The set of pre-installed applications takes up almost three full screens. In addition to the standard set of Google applications, there is Facebook, Foursquare, Evernote, WatsApp, file manager Astro, program for reading QR codes NeoReader, McAfee antivirus Security and office suite Office Suite. From own developments It is worth noting the LiveWare accessory manager and the Media Remote that works with Sony equipment. There is also a special application for viewing 3D photographs and panoramas on the screen (it shows files in MPO format as usual JPG). And also all sorts of whistles like PlayNow, an NFC tag manager and an intriguing XPERIA apps Football Downloads.
XPERIA S uses the new weather widget of the AccuWeather service (it seems that these guys managed to sell their services to all smartphone manufacturers without exception, while each drawing their own interface). Other new interesting widgets compared to XPERIA Arc I just didn't notice. There is clearly still work to be done here.
LiveWare Manager allows you to assign one of three accessories to launch one application. There are similar applications on Google Play, but most users will not look for them - they will either be lazy, or (more likely) will not even know about such opportunities. Therefore, the idea is good, deserving of all approval, and fits into the general strategy of Sony, which manages to stuff its laptops with a bunch of pseudo-useful programs that frankly clog the system. In this case, LiveWare is a useful thing, which I actively used. We'll have to look for its analogues for Everyday life on other phones.
The Football Downlods app turned out to be a pretentious dummy. It feels like football fans, like children, should be happy about every little thing. In this case, we are talking about a dozen background images and ringtones in the form of sound effects that can be heard in the stadium.
But this application can be called useful, but, unfortunately (and here one cannot blame Sony for defending its interests and the interests of fans of the brand) it can only be used with the company’s audio-video equipment. It would be interesting to try, but, alas - Sony TV I couldn't find it at hand.
Camera interface and sample images Sony XPERIA S (LT26i)
The camera has its own version of the interface, different from what the operating system itself provides. The main differences are the image stabilizer, the ability to select a focusing mode (for some reason there is no macro, but there is five-point focusing and focusing by pressing a finger). There is an adjustable (depending on its width) smile detection mode. You can configure how to press the shutter release - a hardware button or a touch button. And also what to do when you press the camera button in a locked state - launch the camera or not, take a photo immediately or wait for other actions by the photographer. Well, and, of course, there are 3D shooting modes - fortunately, Sony got the hang of this with its 2011 line of photo and video cameras.
There is a special section in the album for viewing 3D photographs (in 2D, of course). The pictures simulate 3D image shaking (I didn’t notice the depth effect at all), and the panoramas are shown as a slow scrolling of the picture across the screen from left to right.
Unfortunately, this week brought very little sun, which did not allow us to appreciate the camera's capabilities in all its glory. On the other hand, when you need to photograph or video something, the weather may not be kind to you either. Overall, the photo and video results were predictably good, but not ideal. The camera is slightly “yellow” and is inferior to the reference camera - for Android this is samsung camera Galaxy SII/Galaxy Note.
You can download pictures in original resolution in the photo gallery on Torba.
Example of video recording in FullHD Sony XPERIA S (LT26i)
The video is provided for pro forma purposes, to view it in FullHD, you need to go to the YouTube website by clicking on the video and select FullHD there. While shooting video, zooming works (using the volume key), but the results of digital zoom are predictably disgusting; it’s better not to do this.
Impressions from work
In real conditions, the Sony XPERIA S performs at its best. It works quickly and always makes an excellent impression on others thanks to its transparent insert. It has a nice bright screen with excellent viewing angles. However, I noticed a few of it weaknesses. Firstly, the touch keys are especially inconvenient to use on this device. The point is not that you need to press not on the key icons, but a little higher - you quickly get used to it. The touch keys are very difficult to press in some places; you have to press them twice or even three times over and over again. Secondly, the starting camera takes a picture not so instantly - a couple of seconds pass, and the picture is sharp only if you shoot at a long distance. When shooting macro, the focus simply does not have time to reach. And somehow it happened that on a short distance I have to shoot a lot more often. I was also completely disappointed by the lack of a macro mode. In the example images there is a frame with a branch where I unsuccessfully switched focus modes in the hope of catching a swollen bud in focus. Even touch focusing did not help - the focus stubbornly failed to achieve, assessing the entire area of the frame over and over again. Thirdly, I personally am upset by the lack of a normal package of widgets - XPERIA buyer You will either have to be content with the meager set of installed widgets, or look for something in the Google store. In fact, the only thing that can be called useful is the weather widget, which has finally begun to suit me. The complete uselessness of the DLNA function in practice seemed somewhat strange to me, since everything that the phone could reach (which, by the way, it handled very well) was not reproduced by the standard video player. No, it is clear that Sony, as the owner of the large studio Sony Pictures, cannot approve the use of the DivX codec, but it’s 2012! The problem, of course, can be cured by installing a third-party player that plays everything with a bang - gigabyte files, MKV, HD resolution, and so on. But why open access to DLNA while blocking the ability to play video from home network- unclear. Otherwise, I was very pleased with the device, especially appreciating its incredible image boost. Sony jumped over its head by creating, after the objectively beautiful XPERIA Arc, the even more amazing design of the XPERIA S.
Bottom line
Sony XPERIA S is a true representative of " Sony style" This is a modern (before the release of 4-core competitors, although it will remain fast even after their appearance, but the image charge of technological leadership will inevitably fade away) smartphone with an outstanding appearance, a good camera and a built-in 32 GB drive. It seems to me that it was created simply to drive geeks into a frenzy with its set of technical characteristics and design. This device is not for those who want to update firmware from morning to evening, change memory cards every 2 hours and be sick of the delay Android updates until the next unavailable (and it will always loom on the horizon) version. This is a smartphone for those who want to buy a beautiful and modern thing that can impress others not only with FullHD video shooting and 3D panoramas, but also with its remarkable design and good materials. Therefore, we can confidently recommend the Sony XPERIA S for purchase. Recommend it to everyone who does not suffer from a particularly severe form of techno-boring. 4 reasons to buy Sony XPERIA S (LT26i):
- good recognizable design and excellent materials;
- excellent bright screen with HD resolution;
- a decent camera with FullHD video recording and 3D shooting capabilities;
- high performance.
4 reasons not to buy Sony XPERIA S (LT26i):
- geek factor (you can’t remove the battery or insert a memory card);
- the need to wait for an update to Android 4.0;
- temporary technological leadership, which will be leveled by competitors in the summer;
- poor sensitivity of touch buttons.
