Sony is working its way through the letters with their new Xperia T to replace the Xperia J, S and U. The Xperia T is now offering a 4.6 inch screen HD screen, NFC capability and a dual core 1.5Ghz processor with a 13 megapixel camera. But do all these tricks add up for a great phone? Read the full review to find out.
Design
Hearing that the back of a phone is made of plastic never really shouts quality in the first instance, however the matte textured plastic used on the Xperia T comes in a choice of silver or Black. The rubbery plastic really helps you grip the phone, and whats more, there is s light curve which was borrowed from the Xperia Arc. This may not be to everyone taste, but with such a big phone, something that fits nicely in your hand is a pleasant welcome.
Unfortunately the battery is not removable, so the only way to get inside the phone is via a little plastic tab on the right hand side. This reveals slots for the Micro-SIM and microSD. Disappointingly this tab does feel like it could easily break off once open, however once its closed its fits perfectly with the rest of the phone and you’ll hardly notice it’s there.
Below the tab you’ll find the buttons for the power, volume and the camera. These are the only physical buttons on the handset. We wished Sony had moved these buttons to the top of the phone as we found ourself accidentally pressing these buttons when using the phone with one hand – So you’d inadvertently change the volume or launch the camera. Very annoying. Over on the left hand side of the phone you’ll find a micro-USB charging port that also acts a HDMI output, so you can play HD movies on your TV. And on top you have a 3.5mm headphone jack.
This is also one of the first phones to follow Google’s “perfect Android phone” as it does away with capacitive buttons all together and displays them on the screen instead. So the back, home and multitasking buttons are displayed on the screen, so when you rotate your phone, they reposition and when you are watching a movie or power down, they completely disappear. I do have mixed views about this, as there could have been plenty of room to use capacitive buttons on the phone which would result in a larger viewing area for websites etc, however this is all down to personal preference.
Display
On the Xperia T we have the luxury of a 4.6 inch screen which has a similar pixel density of the iPhone. So images and graphic’s are beautifully displayed. The screen is also very bright which meant it could easily be used in direct sunlight and viewing angles were also up to par.
Internals
Despite the Xperia T now utilizing the latest quad-core processors, inside we find a 1.4Ghz dual-core Snapdragon processor with 1GB of RAM. Overall performance was impressive, however it’s when you start to really push the phone to its limitations, the slower processor become apparent. The interface can become sluggish which can ruin the whole experience. On the other hand, Sony has done a great Job customizing the older version of Android (iCE cream Sandwich) which resulted in much smoother transitions than other equivalent Android phones.
In terms of storage, you have 16GB of built-in memory to play, despite only having 2GB of space for apps and games. So this can be a huge deal breaker for heavy app and game users. But to make up for this, the Xperia T comes with a microSD slot so you can expand the storage an additional 32GB.
Sony has jumped onto the band wagon and included NFC along with all the normal ways to connect, such as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. No LTE sadly
Interface
Out of the box the handset is powered by Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. It is a shame that it didnt launch with their most up to date operating system “Jelly Bean” however we are expecting to see an update in the future. Something that Sony has done which I’m not a huge fan of is load the phone with Sony own apps which effectively do the same thing as Google’s counterparts. Also, when you use the web for the first time you have an option to choose between Chrome or Androids default browser. I can imagine this being very confusing for people using an Android phone for the first time.
However, once you have got your head around the amount of apps pre-loaded onto the phone, you’ll soon realise there is a lot to like about the Sony customised UI. You have the normal widgets such as Timescape that lets you see your social network feeds, plus Sony have incorporated small apps that run in the multitasking window. A small voice recorder, calculator and post-it notes are some of the small apps available with more coming soon.
Camera
The 13 megapixel camera found in the Xperia T offers to do the business, by offering excellent shots in both high and low light conditions, this could easily replace your point and shoot camera for some. Also, being able to launch the camera using the dedicated camera button on the same and the same key to focus makes it very fast and easy to use. We also found that you were able to get decent close up shots whcih can be hard to do in most smartphones.
The font facing camera is intended for video calls, so don’t expect to see any photographic masterpieces. The rear facing camera also records Full HD 1080p video and it does a very good job at it. The autofocus works very eel and it comes with fast movement too. Something that other smartphones struggle to do.
Battery
The Xperia T’s 1850 mAh battery is powering a 4.6 inch screen and a fairly powerful processor. This doesn’t really result in great battery life. Under normal use which consists of web browsing, YouTube videos and making calls you can manage to get it to last around a day, however this is a bit of a challenge. Like so many smartphones, you have to charge it every night to help you get through the next day. With the battery not being removable, if your planning some serious use away from the grid, then I’d recommend a battery pack or take a wall charger.
Verdict
The Xperia T is a very capable phone, but it is certainly falling behind in some key areas. Even though the processor has been improved over the predecessor, but the Galaxy S3 give you more for your money and the latest version of Android, which is something that’s lacking here. However, if your moving from an older device then I would highly recommend this phone, but I wouldn’t rule out others as of yet.
