Hi-def handset
The phone’s 4.3in screen is exceptionally high-resolution, beating even the Retina Display on the iPhone 4S. Here, there are 720 x 1280 pixels, that’s 342 of the little blighters per inch. It looks tremendous, never better than for video playback – the film trailer and demo video on-board, for instance, gleam spectacularly. However, viewing angle is limited, so for the brightest, crispest colours you need to be front and centre.
Slide along the tiles
This is an NFC phone – as you know, this is the contactless system used for Oyster cards on the London Underground and plenty of office door entry systems. Sony has a cute twist on the tech with its NFC tags. The idea is that you can set a tag to perform an event.
Media access options
So when you touch the phone to a tag you keep in the bedroom, say, it turns your phone alarm on and mutes the ring so you won’t be disturbed as you sleep. Setting it up takes care and although there have been other attempts to domesticate NFC's potential, it’s interesting to see Sony's take on this tech: the Google Nexus S came and went without the technology being used.
Equipped with a dual-core CPU, the Xperia S notches up a very respectable AnTuTu benchmark score
Sony Ericsson’s Android phones featured the company’s Timescape aggregator which piles Twitter and Facebook tiles for you to scroll through. It’s here, too, though the photo backgrounds to tiles mean they are often hard to read easily, though definitely improved over earlier versions – and the larger tiles help. Other Sony specialities are here but are not always well implemented.
Next page: Brain drain
COMMENTS
Re: Flagship phone 12 months ago maybe
I know, it's embarrassing isn't it. We all know the number of cores you have is THE most important thing a phone can have. For instance I don't get out of bed in the morning unless there is a penta-core phone on my bedside table. It's just not worth my valuable time.
Oh and don't get me started on Sony. I mean they did bad stuff with rooting or something and something that offended linux people. I mean, how bad can a company get?
And lastly, that thing looks suspiciously shiny. We all know that's bad too. Something to do with Apple or something.
All in all, just outrageous.
Re: Flagship phone 12 months ago maybe
Nobody has managed to ship a device with the ICS yet apart from Google. I think people generally underestimate the work required to get a new OS up, running, fully tested and certified on new (or existing) hardware. And remember google don't do their OEMs any favours - the source code was only released in November - no "partner previews" or "developer previews" like Microsoft tend to provide in advance of the public release of a new OS.
So you get a code drop in November - you have to update or rewrite your HAL and device specific drivers along with any custom software components. It then has to be run through an absolute barrage of basic quality, regulatory, and carrier tests and certifications. And only then you can get it to market - 5 months doesn't really sound like a lot of time to me. And anyway, Sony have already committed to an ICS upgrade in Q2.
Re: IPhone please!
Why have a poxy 3.5in screen when you can have a 720p 4.3in job?
Have you seen an Xperia S next to an iPhone 4S? I have. For video playback the Sony knocks the iP4S into a coked hat, "retina display" not withstanding.
Twit, Troll. Apple Catamite.
How does it sound?
Actually Sony have been really good with updates for their recent devices and have donated devices and drivers to XDA. I have an Arc S which is running the ICS beta and it's rock solid so I doubt the ICS upgrade for the S will be far away. And the Home button is still the Home button - press and hold it and bingo, a list of apps appears.
I wish these reviews would talk about music playback quality as surely many people use their phones as music players? I had an S2 for a while and couldn't believe how bad the audio quality was for a flagship phone (thanks to some crappy Yamaha chipset) and so I swapped it for an Arc S - which sounds fab in comparison.
However, no removable battery? No expandable storage? And that little USB flap? Ack. That's a shame Sony.
Re: Flagship phone 12 months ago maybe
Me either.
But he has a point on price. Regardless of how silly people think the race for number of cores has got, Sony are selling a phone full of 'last year'
It's not even shipping with the latest OS.
