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Sony Xperia P review: Ironclad

1 June 2012 | Read the review | Post your comment
Sony Xperia P review: Ironclad - read the full textSealed in an aluminum unibody but still oozing the new NXT series style, the Sony Xperia P joins an elite club of metal-clad phones. And then there's the WhiteMagic screen to make it unique in the mobile world. In short, the Xperia P is one of...

 

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The phone looks very matured with metal casing but is it gonna be like another iphone4 case where the recption would be badly affected by the metal casing and antenna layout/design?
What happened to the Sony Ericsson name? Have they shed the Ericsson joint-venture?

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  • 2012-06-04 05:29
  • vjuP

Great phone.i love it.but cant afford it. :-(

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  • 2012-06-04 05:19
  • iwpJ

What's up with you Cowz.
Coz... I totally AGREE! :P
I've research and compare XP to other phones and eventually prefer XP better. But never had a chance to go hands-on with it yet. So I too was looking forward to know what the White Magic has in store for me. Questions:

1) If I'm prefer my Galaxy SL at 40%, what % will I have to set in XP for the same brightness? Sry I don't have lux meter.

2) Yes, the display does look awful at 90% brightness, but both pictures seems like taken indoors. Wonder how is it outdoors with bright sunlight? As in put i4S, S3, XS & XP side by side with screen facing the sun. At that time, is a non-posterized display prefered over a readable screen?

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  • 2012-06-04 03:09
  • PUi6

> In reply to Cowz @ 2012-06-03 21:34 from vxKC - click to readtotaly agree! I also want an answer because i want to know if it worth the change, instead of Arc S.

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  • 2012-06-03 21:43
  • JGxM

> In reply to himanshmodi @ 2012-06-03 21:14 from t}yP - click to read:) no I just want the review test results to be more accurate and hence useful.
I would have preferred a larger battery too. I wish that the back was not curved and was a uniform 10.5mm so that they put a larger battery in. Surely that would allowed for a 1700mAh battery.
Overall this GSMarena review is quite well written and performed ans is really useful. I saw a really poor review from another really well known website today that said that WhiteMagic uses more power because the phone has to power an extra sub-pixel. How rubbish is that.
GSMarena are really good but I wish they would correct the test method on their battery tests.

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  • 2012-06-03 21:34
  • vxKC

Sorry to post again. I am not a Sony or SE fanboy (have never owned a SE or Sony smartphone) but I had been looking to buy this phone.

This review does mention the compact nature of this phone and that is why I am looking at possibly getting this phone. The comparisons in the conclusion are all with larger phones. Basically there are no comparisons in the same size with similar functionality.

For web browsing especially this phone has a great screen (full sub pixels + good battery life) and 540x960 pixels.
The Galaxy S Advance and HTC One V are pretty much the same size. They have 35% less pixels and smaller 3.8" and 3.7" screens (the Samsung Galaxy S Advance would have about 50% the amount of rgb subpixels taking into account the pentile aspect).

It's an industry where manufacturer's are convincing us to accept larger and larger phones because they can't or no longer want to try to get more tech into a small device. It's like the evolution of software where code is now less efficient because is does not need to be as 'tight' now that we have so much processing power. The problem with phones is that they are not really offering more power they are just fitting more power into larger devices and that isn't really progress.
The Xperia P is a breath of fresh air. It is one of the few phones to buck that trend.

It is sad that the battery got such a bad review. The screen technology to save battery looks like a good idea and in fact if the tests were run properly I am sure for application and UI activities where the screen is on the results would have been much better (beat the S2 in web browsing battery).
Obviously for non-screen activities the new processor should have done better (like the quoted Sony talk times) and so there looks to be an issue there.

All in all I think I may get this and buy the external battery (maybe 6000mAh) I had been meaning to buy for long trips. I had been meaning to get one anyway as my Defy+ is almost dead after a plane flight spent playing games.

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  • 2012-06-03 21:24
  • vxKC

> In reply to Cowz @ 2012-06-03 19:14 from vxKC - click to readYou really want people to like this phone, ehh? See, the point is that 1300 mah battery is really tiny in absolute terms. People whose accounts are getting synced all the time, or the ones who play games a lot will really struggle with 1300 mah - even if they put the brightness levels at 25%. And 1300 mah will last lesser than 1750 of some other model. There is absolutely no excuse for Sony to have put such a small battery. But if the plan is to get people to buy xperia s... well, i might end up being one consumer who will fall for that!

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  • 2012-06-03 21:14
  • t}yP

m using this phone frm d 27th happily satisfied no such complains with battery easly last for 12hr or more camera is awsome n d smile detection is cherry on the top frm myside 9/10 n ics update will make +.5

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  • 2012-06-03 21:06
  • XjHG

review says phone shows poor black is that really true?

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  • 2012-06-03 20:40
  • 0C0H

> In reply to Blondy_Latvia @ 2012-06-02 09:17 from MfxH - click to readIt is not as bad as they make out. It is just the result of a VERY poor test method and VERY poor displaying of results.
If they wrote the display brightness on the battery test output you would be very surprised. Again, at a 50% brightness setting the Xperia P puts out 50% more brightness than a Galaxy S2.

Considering the S2 only lasted 10% longer browsing I would say that the S2 at the same brightness output is worse.
Same or the phone test if the screen was off (and not putting out 50% more brightness) then it would probably beat the S2. So only the video is poor.

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  • 2012-06-03 19:14
  • vxKC

> In reply to Bilou @ 2012-06-01 23:26 from 36Fk - click to readIt's not a 'terrible battery', it's just a mediocre battery made to look worse by a poor battery test. Read the comments against the test method.

The screen is 50% brighter than the S2 and 100% brighter than the Sensation when set to 50%. The battery comparison details do not even mention the brightness output (really the tests should be done on the same brightness).
GSMarena should go to more of an effort to point that out as the Browsing and Video playback times will be greatly effected.
Also when do the phone call battery test is the screen off or on? The Xperia P turns the display off (as most new phones do) when next to the ear.

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  • 2012-06-03 19:08
  • vxKC

> In reply to yeip @ 2012-06-01 21:20 from N9xA - click to readhaha, nothing can surpass the zillion model Samsung range and their continual reuse and reordering of the same labels to avoid obsolescence by tricking consumers into not knowing what is a superseded model.

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  • 2012-06-03 18:59
  • vxKC

Great review. Very interesting comment about the charger. I noticed that if I order one from overseas they provide the original charger with an adapter rather than just an alternate charger so as you say it may be needed for fast charge.

The battery test is really disappointing though as 50% is meaningless across phones. Can you please provide a comparison with the Sola, Xperia S, Galaxy S2, Galaxy, Galaxy S Advance and One V at the same brightness OUTPUT ?

Only odd thing is the One S being considered a direct competitor. The One S is much taller, wider, larger screen, more powerful and more expensive. It's a completely different phone that needs to compete with the Xperia S.

Incidentally the Xperia P and One V are about the same size. The Xperia P costs a lot more but that a lot more included in the size.

My only complaints with the Xperia P specs is that I would have preferred it to be slightly shorter and have a slightly larger battery. I think they could have achieved both those things by not providing a curved back but rather a uniform 10.5mm thickness.

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  • 2012-06-03 18:45
  • vxKC

> In reply to Jackskellington6sic6 @ 2012-06-02 09:25 from q8Q8 - click to readWell if you don know here is the info for you .

They both using sensor from sony . And ur brand loyalty make them different .

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  • 2012-06-03 13:58
  • uCnA

> In reply to Anonymous @ 2012-06-03 04:48 from wYBp - click to readThat's not the deal with this phone, this is the deal: ICS update in 2 month, the screen's brightness never needs to be set on 50% especially indoors

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  • 2012-06-03 09:38
  • HF29

> In reply to Anonymous @ 2012-06-02 17:58 from HFhE - click to readthe least possible (correction, Swype ruined it sry!!)

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  • 2012-06-03 09:34
  • HF29

Gingerbread? Poor battery life? No thank you.

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  • 2012-06-03 04:48
  • wYBp

ICS update is not far, it's here, v4.0.4 was already deployed for Xperia several phones.

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  • 2012-06-02 20:35
  • LaKt

I was thinking and I figured the test was done in 50% brightness which according to this review is too much for this phone with its white sub-pixels sooooo my guess is its battery is more reliable in everyday use, especially for a user like me, I have a desire right now and except for the times I get out of my home, my brightness is the last possible. And I'm gonna buy this phone as a replacement to mt HTC Desire.

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  • 2012-06-02 17:58
  • HFhE

I really like this phone that's why I'm reading and looking for the phone's review as much as I can, at least to lessen some questions in my mind. But some things lead me to even more confusion like the battery, other reviews would tell that though it has a smaller capacity it can still be used quite longer. Here, it seems like they are not that satisfied( ofcourse no one will be satisfied as battery life is one of the common weaknesses of smartphones), but at least this one's quite better. Also, the inclusions in the package; others have a small microfiber cloth, a screen protector, and a Micro HDMI cable aside from the charger and earphone.

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  • 2012-06-02 16:38
  • K7cW
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