Sony Xperia S / Reviews

Multimedia lovers will like it for its excellent camera and screen, standard micro HDMI port, Great audio quality and huge storage. NFC technology inbuilt with1750 mAh strong battery life Xperia S lives up to the expectations. But its rectangular, sharp body does not fit into hands easily. On all other aspects, Xperia S gives tough fight to its rivals in every aspect.

Read original review at TelecomTiger.

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I have to say I had high hopes for the Sony Xperia S. Its aggressive futuristic style will certainly turn heads, something few smartphones are capable of. There are risks to pushing the design envelope, however, and the Xperia S stumbles in places. Its capacitive buttons are tricky to operate and the phone's illuminated band may be slickly distinctive but is more style than substance.

Read original review at Cnet.

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The Sony Xperia S is a device I expected more from. I liked the look of it from the very start, but found that the fit and finish, and the display, just come up lacking. There was potential, as Sony showed with its fine software, but in the end the execution just wasn't there to give the Xperia S an edge over its competitors. There are many that will like, or even love, the Xperia S, but there are much better phones on the market today.

Read original review at MobileBurn.

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The Xperia S was an opportunity for Sony to jump into 2012 at the top of its game and release an unforgettable Android flagship that would be the envy of the industry. In many ways they’ve done just that: a stunningly gorgeous, well-made handset, with one of the best displays in the industry and  a superlative camera experience. But an unfortunate combination of aging software and poor battery life muddles what could have been a great success. If this had been released even six months ago I might be signing a different tune, and I hope when Sony and Rogers release Android 4.0 I’ll be able to revisit the device favourably. For the avid photographer, the Xperia S may be a better choice than the One X, and the two-step shutter button is fantastic. So too is the build quality, which seems better able to stand up to punishment than any previous Xperia phone. For avid media watchers, the combination of a 720p screen, HDMI out and Video Unlimited may be the ticket, and if you’re already entrenched in the Sony ecosystem it’s a no-brainer.

Read original review at Mobile Syrup.

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Sony without Ericsson. Xperia S a couple of cores short and a year late to the flagship party. Doubters may still have a point there but the Xperia S has more things going for it than against.

With a top-notch camera and excellent screen, standard microHDMI port, very good audio quality and plenty of storage, the Xperia S will readily meet your multimedia needs. As long as you install a proper video player from the Play Store that is, as the stock one just doesn't cut it.

We didn't run into a situation where the available processing power wasn't enough, so for the time being the dual-core vs. quad-core argument seems like a matter of pride rather than performance.

Sony are trying to infuse their phones with the company's innovative spirit and they've done interesting things with the NFC connectivity and the close integration with other multimedia devices in the house. The TV launcher that can be controlled with the TV remote was quite clever we thought, but in typical Sony fashion, you're likely to run into compatibility issues (unless you have a BRAVIA HDTV).

The Sony Xperia S is aggressively priced, and offers a lot of bang for the buck. Still, there are plenty phones that would like to challenge it.

Read original review at GSMArena.

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There is much to like about the Sony Xperia S, and while most people would not notice the lack of the Sony-Ericsson logo on it, Sony is heading in the right direction with this; The dual-core processor kept everything running smoothly and quickly, while the 12-megapixel camera was in a class of its own, providing some of the best image quality we have seen on a smartphone so far. And if Sony pulls it off correctly, it is a great addition to the ecosystem of Sony devices which you may own.

However, there are certain issues that detract from the overall experience, namely the limited 32GB internal storage. Sure, it might sound a lot, but if you are anything like this writer, most of that space will be taken by media files and games that take up space in the hundreds of megabytes, so you will eventually find the lack of a microSD slot a problem. Also, the touch keys can be somewhat iffy in responsiveness at times, and the less than impressive battery life calls for a somewhat frugal usage.

With all that said and done, the Xperia S provides some of the best on-the-go entertainment experiences around, and is a great alternative if you are looking for a powerhouse device that is not made by Apple or Samsung.

Read original review at Mobile88.

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As soon as you get the Xperia S out of the box you can't but help notice its shape. Its 128x64x10.6mm dimensions make it longer and narrower than many other handsets on the market, and it's comparable in size to the HTC Evo 3D. The handset is available in black or white and is a very angular design with squared off edges rather than the normal rounded shape. It has a curved back that is made out of black plastic. This design might not suit everyone - we found the phone fine to use for making calls, but more awkward to hold for long periods in landscape mode for typing.

The display is undeniably gorgeous. It's a 4.3in TFT touchscreen boasting 1280x720 resolution with 16 million colours. As a reference, the Iphone 4S features a 3.5in display with 960x640 resolution, while the Samsung Galaxy S II has a 4.3in Super AMOLED 800x480 resolution screen.

The camera is a real selling point of the Xperia S. It offers a 12.1MP camera with 16x digital zoom, facial recognition and auto focus. There are several shooting modes to choose from, including 3D or normal panoramic image, allowing you to slowly pan around a scene and create extra wide shots. There's also a 1.3MP front-facing camera.

The mobile OS is the older Android 2.3 Gingerbread version, with an upgrade due in the second quarter to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS). Since it's an Android phone, you get lots of pre-loaded Google apps, including Gmail and Google Talk and other standard features like the pull-down notifications bar with updates on the latest emails, Google+ posts, text messages and other apps.

Inside the phone there's a speedy 1.5GHz dual-core Qualcomm chip and 1GB of RAM. The internal storage should keep you going for a while, with 32GB of embedded Flash memory. About 25.8GB of this is available for storage, with the rest taken up by the Android software and pre-installed items such as images and videos.

If you do run low on storage, you won't be able to add to the internal storage, so Sony is offering all Xperia S owners 50GB of free cloud-based storage, which you can access through the Box app on the Android Market. The Xperia S also requires a micro SIM rather than the standard size SIM card.

Poor battery life is the only real drawback on this phone. In our experience, it was really poor. Sony quotes talk time as up to eight hours 30 minutes, standby time at up to 420 hours and music listening time at 25 hours, but we didn't reach anywhere near those durations.

Read original review at The Inquirer.

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Despite the Xperia S's impressive specification, we can’t help but feel disappointed; the screen's huge resolution is impressive, but it lacks the vibrancy of other phone displays we've seen recently. Performance, storage and battery life are all acceptable, but you'll have to wait a while for Android 4.0. The HTC Sensation XE has just received the Android 4.0 update and has a better overall screen despite its lower resolution, so is a better option.

Read original review at Expert Reviews.

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With a great HD screen, 12MP camera and a few quirky extras, the Sony Xperia S should be right up there with the best of the rest but it doesn't quite come together. The screen isn't quite as good as we'd hope and the camera is well below expectations. Meanwhile the design, although quite nice, doesn't really wow us. It is still an excellent phone, just not the barnstormer it could've been.

Read original review at TrustedReviews.

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It’s an attractive device with some nice design features, and is likely to become a lot more attractive from April onwards, when the handset is due to be getting an upgrade from the current Android 2.3 Gingerbread OS to the latest release, Ice Cream Sandwich.

As soon as you get the Xperia S out the box, you can’t but help notice its shape. Its 128x64x10.6mm dimensions make it longer and narrower than many other handsets on the market.

The display on the handset is undeniably gorgeous. It’s a 4.3in TFT touchscreen, boasting a resolution of 1280x720 with 16 million colours. As a reference, the iPhone 4S features a 3.5in display with 960x640 resolution while the Samsung Galaxy S II has a Super Amoled 4.3in 800x480 screen.

The camera is a real selling point of the Xperia S. It offers a 12.1-megapixel camera with 16x digital zoom, facial recognition and auto focus. There are several shooting modes to choose from, including a 3D or normal panoramic image, allowing you to slowly pan around a scene and create extra wide shots. There’s also a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera.

Inside the phone, there’s a speedy 1.5GHz dual-core Qualcomm chip. The in-built storage should keep you going for a while, with 1GB RAM and 32GB embedded Flash memory.About 25.8GB of this is available for storage, with the rest taken up by pre-installed items such as images and videos, and for the Android software.

The Xperia S features Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and wireless or USB tethering. The latter was really easy to set up and use. The phone also supports near-field communication, so you can tap a tag and get information on the selected item, or use it for small payments.

The battery life is the only real drawback on this phone. In our experience, it was really poor. Sony quotes talk time as up to eight hours 30 minutes, standby time at up to 420 hours and music listening time at 25 hours, but we didn’t reach anywhere near those levels.

We managed less than 10 hours before the battery died, making a few phone calls, browsing the web, watching around 30 minutes of HD video and using some apps. The phone also spent a few hours in a bag with the screen locked.

Overall, the Xperia S is good value for the high-spec screen, fast performance and storage on offer, but the battery life is very poor compared to other similar devices.

Read original review at V3.

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