Sony Xperia U Review

Sony Xperia U is the third model in the NXT series of the Xperia line of 2012, which was reviewed by the editor of this blog, and the most frivolous of them. Sony introduces the Xperia U as a compact, attractive smartphone. Externally, it is distinguished by colored interchangeable panels and a backlighting flourishing with all the colors of the rainbow, which fairly dilute the severity of the generic features of the smartphones of this series. And on board - a high-resolution screen and a powerful dual-core processor. And all this - for a very modest price. In general, it should be interesting. We'll see?

Main characteristics:

Screen: 3.5 ”, TFT, 854x480 pixels
Weight: 110 g
Dimensions: 112 x 54 x 12 mm
Processor: Dual-Core 1 GHz STE U8500
Camera: 5 MP, 16x digital zoom, video - 720p
OS: Android 2.3.7, upgradeable to 4.0
Memory: RAM - 512 MB, internal memory - 8 GB, 4 GB free
Battery: 1320 mAh
Body colors: black, white
Colors of plastic inserts: white, black, yellow, pink

Equipment

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In a typical Sony black and white cardboard case, there was an unusual set of accessories - besides the standard batteries (1320 mAh), USB lanyard, charger and headset, there were also:



1. a protective sticker on the screen, a cloth for wiping the screen and a spatula for smoothing air bubbles - a standard set, in general.



- this is a relative innovation: those who have been following Sony for a long time know that they used to stick a protective film on the Xperia right at the factory. And now, it turns out, there was a choice: if you want - stick, you want - so go. Given the curvature of my hands and the scratch-resistant Xperia U mineral glass, I decided to dispense with the film this time.

2. and the adapter from microSIM to the standard connector - for those, therefore, who have already managed to cut their SIM-card earlier. Yes, on the Xperia U, in contrast to the fellows on the NXT Xperia S and Xperia P line, it is supposed to use the standard sim card.



Film, adapter for sims - nothing, you say? Yes exactly. Pleasant trifles.
And also complete with the Xperia U there was a part inherent only in this model - a plastic lining on the bottom (under the transparent strip) part of the body - the “chin” of white color. I should note that in black with a white chin, the smartphone looks quite extravagant:





- therefore, having experimented, I returned everything back. Fasteners, by the way, do not look like some kind of super reliable:



- the usual plastic tongues, so I would not recommend changing it too often.

Ergonomics

It is time to take the phone in hand. The back cover of the Xperia U is made of soft-touch plastic - pleasantly velvety to the touch. The shape of the cover is traditionally already slightly convex, so that the device is more comfortable to lie in your hand.



The entire lid opens, together with the “sides” - with one movement it shifts up to five millimeters upwards, and then it is simply removed.



Under it is a removable battery (for Xperia S and P - non-removable), and on the side - a connector for a SIM card.



There is no connector for the flash drive, as there is no possibility to connect it - 4 gigabytes of 8 GB of total internal memory - everything that is available to the user. So Xperia U is hardly suitable for fans to carry the entire music collection with you.

Nice detail - the camera's eye is closed with a protective film so that it can only be removed under the lid.



- tear off the sticker and close the lid back.

The arrangement of buttons and connectors on the case as a whole repeats the Xperia P - on the right is the power button, volume and camera controls, on the left is a microUSB connector. HDMI connector no.





By the way, in comparison with the same P, the location of the power button is almost in the very corner of the case, at the top right, much more convenient (on the Xperia P it is closer to the center, because the top corner is occupied by the speaker), because so she is instantly groping.

Below - the hole for the lace (you can fix it by removing the "chin" - very convenient!) And the main microphone.

Above - a 3.5-mm audio jack and a second microphone.

Well, behind the speaker and the camera connector, everything is normal.



Touch buttons on the Xperia U are located above the transparent flat one and are marked, like on the eske, by dots.
Separately, praise microUSB-connector - it is open (I can not stand stubs) and is located on the left.



What is the difference, you ask? But there is. According to the operating experience of Xperia arc, in which the USB connector is just on the right, I can say that this is not the most convenient solution - because usually the phone is held in the right hand, and the cord, respectively, is stuck on the left. When the connector on the right is not very convenient, the phone has to be turned over. For left-handers, of course, the opposite should be true.

Screen

Okay, they turned the phone in their hands, you can turn it on now. I will not say anything special about the screen - it is not scratched, covered with anti-reflective coating. In the bright sun a little "blind", because normal TFT. But overall a decent display.



Pleases his resolution, 854 by 480 pixels in three and a half inches - this is very good. Naturally, there is a multitouch that supports gestures up to four fingers at once.

Mobile Bravia Engine technology, which migrated to Xperia smartphones directly from Sony Bravia TVs last year, is responsible for image quality. There is a good article on Sony’s developer blog on what it does and how it works.

Backlight

A nice feature of the transparent strip under the screen - well, except for making the image recognizable - is in the built-in backlight.



It lights up bright blue when the phone turns on, changes its color, like a chameleon when viewing photos or showing album covers while listening to music. I noticed the last feature by chance - I rewound the track list and suddenly noticed that the backlight changes color to the basic tone of the album cover. Also nothing, but nice.

Music and sound

Xperia smartphones have always had good “vocal” data - the sound from the external speaker is loud and clear enough. So that this assessment does not seem too subjective, I decided to write a short video for non-believers:



You can evaluate the sound yourself and take a look at the changing colors of the backlight. In general, decide for yourself - it’s a good sound for a smartphone’s speaker or it’s something with my ears. It seemed to me that the Xperia U "sounds" even better than the Xperia P - most likely, this is due to the acoustic features of the enclosures. However, I hope you are not one of those who like to listen to music from the phone on the bench, and this information will be purely speculative for you ;-)

I will not review the player for a long time - I did it already in the Sony Xperia S review. There are no changes in the interface and sound. I just want to note once again the function of setting the surround sound in the equalizer - club, studio, concert hall, off. Well, you definitely need to listen with your ears.



The last Xperia test that I have had on me make me happy with the quality of the radio - they catch the signal pretty well even indoors, which is rare for mobile devices.



For example, on my player of one very respected brand, for which a radio, it would seem, one of the core functions, you can almost enjoy radio broadcasts only in open areas - just hissing, wheezing. And with the Xperia U, you can even slip through a short underpass without removing the headphones - it’s a little under the ground and it’s all. Ears do not bleed.

Camera

Five megapixels are reasonably enough, and a quick start (1.5 seconds on) is priceless. As a bonus - shooting video in 720p format.

Iron and software

My copy is still working on Android 2.3.7, which is already familiar to readers of this blog from previous reviews. The performance of the processor in the style of the Rolls-Royces advertisement of the last century: “Sufficient power”. But unlike the Rolls owners, I can confirm the words with measurement results:

Battery

Working time is the most popular question for smartphone reviews, so I decided to confirm my subjective impressions with the results of a small survey. For a start - official information:

• Battery Capacity: 1320 mAh
• Talk time - up to 6 hours and 36 minutes
• Standby time - up to 260 hours (11 days)

The main enemy of the battery is the screen, so it’s not surprising that the 3.5-inch Xperia U exhibits decent endurance:



In absolute terms, this means that the phone will be enough for a day, if you use it in any one incarnation - as a player or as a mobile office (that is, the Internet and everything).

Filling

And for a sweet - video parsing Sony Xperia U from the GTV channel:

Summary

So, what we have:

Compactness
high screen resolution
good performance
bright design solutions

inability to expand memory



Now the device can be purchased at a price of about 10 thousand rubles , which is another of its advantages. It happens, people are judged by their gadgets. If you try to do the opposite, and present a person similar to Xperia U, then he will definitely be young, his pocket will not be burdened with extra money, and his head - with ponts, but he will compensate for the lack of all this with a great mood, love for parties and experiments. Summer is the time of such people. And the time of Xperia U.