Sony Xperia U review



    Sony Xperia U - the third model in a row in the NXT series of the Xperia line of 2012, which got into the review of the editor of this blog, and the most, perhaps, frivolous of them. Sony introduces the Xperia U as a compact, sleek smartphone. Outwardly, it is distinguished by color interchangeable panels and backlight blooming in all colors of the rainbow, which pretty much dilute the severity of the generic features of smartphones in this series. And on board is 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 will 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 , with the ability to upgrade to 4.0
    Memory: RAM - 512 MB, internal memory - 8 GB, 4 GB free
    Battery: 1320 mAh
    Case colors: black, white
    Colors of plastic inserts: white, black, yellow, pink

    Equipment




    In a typical black and white cardboard case Sony hid an atypical set of components - in addition to a standard battery (1320 mAh), a USB cord, a charger and a headset, there were also:



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



    - this is a relative innovation: those who have been following Sony's products 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 it on, if 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 an adapter from microSIM to a standard connector - for those, therefore, who have already managed to crop their SIM card earlier. Yes, on the Xperia U, unlike the brothers in the NXT line of Xperia S and Xperia P, it is assumed to use a standard SIM card.



    A film, an adapter for a SIM card is nothing, you say? Yes exactly. Pleasant trifles.
    As well as bundled with Xperia U, there was a part inherent only to this model - a plastic overlay on the lower (under a transparent strip) body part - a “chin” of white color. I must note that in black with a white chin, the smartphone looks quite extravagant:





    - therefore, after experimenting, I returned everything back. Mounts, by the way, do not look any kind of super reliable:



    - These are ordinary plastic tongues, so I would not recommend changing it too often.

    Ergonomics


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



    The entire lid opens, along with the “sides” - with one movement it moves five millimeters up, and then it is simply removed.



    Underneath is a removable battery (Xperia S and P are non-removable), and on the side is a SIM card slot.



    There is no connector for a flash drive, since there is no way to connect it - 4 gigabytes of 8 GB of shared internal memory - all that is available to the user. So Xperia U is hardly suitable for fans to carry the entire music collection with them.

    A nice detail - the camera eye is covered with a protective film so that it can only be removed under the cover.



    - tear off the sticker and close the lid back.

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





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

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

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

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



    The touch buttons on the Xperia U are located above the transparent flat and are marked, like on the “esque,” ​​by dots.
    Separately, I praise the microUSB connector - it is open (I can not stand the plugs) and is located on the left.



    What is the difference, you ask? But there is. According to the operating experience of the Xperia arc, which has a USB-connector 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 in the left. When the connector on the right is not very convenient, you have to turn the phone over. For lefties, of course, the opposite should be the case.

    Screen






    Okay, you turned the phone in your hands, you can turn it on now. I won’t say anything special about the screen - it’s not scratched, it is covered with anti-reflective coating. In the bright sun a little "blinds", because regular TFT. But overall a decent display.



    Pleased with its resolution, 854 by 480 pixels in three and a half inches - this is very good. Naturally, there is a multi-touch that supports gestures of up to four fingers at once.

    Mobile Bravia Engine technology is responsible for the image quality, which migrated to Xperia smartphones directly from Sony Bravia TVs last year. On the topic of what exactly she does and how it works - there is a good article in the Sony development blog.

    Backlight


    A nice feature of the transparent strip under the screen - well, in addition to making the image recognizable - is 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 - rewinding the track list and suddenly noticed that the backlight changes color to the main tone of the album cover. Also a trifle, but nice.

    Music and sound


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



    You yourself can appreciate the sound and stare at the changing colors of the backlight. In general, decide for yourself - is this a good sound for a smartphone speaker or is it 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 cases. However, I hope you are not one of those who like to listen to music from a phone on a bench, and this information will be purely speculative in nature ;-)

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



    Even the last ones who visited me on the Xperia test make me happy with the quality of the radio - they pretty well catch a signal even indoors, which is rare for mobile devices.



    Say, on my player there is one very respected brand, for which the radio, it would seem, is one of the profile functions - you can enjoy radio broadcasts almost only in the open area - just a little hissing, wheezing. And with the Xperia U, you can even slip through a short underground passage without removing the headphones - a little hiss under the ground, and that’s all. Ears do not bleed.

    Camera


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

    Iron and software


    My copy is still running on Android 2.3.7, which is already familiar to readers of this blog from previous reviews. Processor performance in the style of the Rolls-Royces advertising of the last century: "Power is sufficient." But unlike the owners of the Rolls, I can confirm the words with the measurement results:



    Battery


    Operating time is the most popular question for smartphone reviews, so I decided to confirm my subjective impressions with the results of a small measurement. For starters - the official information:
    • Battery capacity: 1320 mAh
    • Talk time - up to 6 hours 36 minutes
    • Standby time - up to 260 hours (11 days)

    The main enemy of the batteries is the screen, so it is not surprising that the 3.5-inch Xperia U demonstrates decent comparative endurance:



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

    Filling


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



    Summary


    So, what do we have:

    Compactness,
    high screen resolution,
    good performance,
    bright design solutions, the

    impossibility of expanding the memory



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

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