# SONY XPERIA U -- feature packed device



## rahul.007 (Oct 29, 2012)

Guys this is my second review after reviewing and using motorola fire xt. Got this for my sister yesterday from flipkart @ Rs. 14790 (after rs. 200 cash back).

So lets begin....

REVIEW: Sony Xperia U

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 • Sony Xperia U is nice looking handset but one thing that you can't call it is sleek. 
 • It has a 3.5 inch lcd tft 480*854 pixel capacitive touch screen in the front along with a VGA camera and ambient light + proximity sensors.
 • package contains headphones(not good quality), user mannual, warranty info, charger, usb-data cable, screen protector, pink bottom cover(extra) battery and a micro sim adapter(now thats a new ).

*imageshack.us/a/img202/3079/img20121028222519.jpg


 • The back has a 5mp autofocus cam with an led flash and the old sony-ericson style branding.
 • The rim which changes colour according to the most prominent color of the picture bieng viewed or the theme being set up is a really cool thing.

*imageshack.us/a/img441/6137/img20121028223846.jpg

• Sony provides one extra swappable bottom color. I got pink one for my sister.

*imageshack.us/a/img713/5450/img20121028222540.jpg

*imageshack.us/a/img507/8052/img20121028222554.jpg

ALL IN ALL, THE LOOK OF THE DEVICE IS NICE BUT IT DOES FEEL A LITTLE BULKY WHEN COMPARED TO MY MOTOROLA FIRE XT(WHICH IS SLEEKER), BUT IT LOOKS BETTER THAN THE FIRE. 
8/10 TO SONY FOR A NICE LOOKING CELL PHONE(WHICH HAS BEEN THEIR FORTE).

2. *Hardware*

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 • The phone runs android 2.3.7 GB although the 4.0.4 ICS update is out.

*imageshack.us/a/img689/8830/screenshot2012102900431.png

 • The phone has an ARM V7(novathor u8500) 1ghz dual core processor and 512 mb ram.

*imageshack.us/a/img145/3582/screenshot2012102900432.png

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 • It has a mali 400-mp gpu.

*imageshack.us/a/img594/338/screenshot201210290044.png

 • the number of sensors are:-
 ~accelerometer
 ~magnetometer
 ~compass
 ~proximity sensor
 ~gravity sensor
 ~linear acceleration sensor
 ~rotation vector sensor

*imageshack.us/a/img259/7808/screenshot2012102900441.png

 • The is capable of detecting 4 simultaneous touches.

*imageshack.us/a/img39/2585/screenshot201210291104.png

 • It scored 2364 on quadrant benchmark and gave 27.3 fps on nenamark 2.

*imageshack.us/a/img31/9572/screenshot201210290045.png

*imageshack.us/a/img22/8659/screenshot201210290047.png

 • It scored 58.4fps on neocore and 5565 on antutu benchmark.

*imageshack.us/a/img840/3899/screenshot2012102900531.png

*imageshack.us/a/img600/2959/screenshot201210291230.png

Verdict: 8.5/10 very good and capable hardware. 

3. *UI*

 • The phone's UI is sony's timescape ui. It looks quite vibrant and crisp due to the screens resolution.

*imageshack.us/a/img9/8074/screenshot201210290053.png

*imageshack.us/a/img138/569/screenshot2012102900421.png

 • Their are a lot of widgets and themes through which you can customise your UI.

verdict-8/10 as i liked timescape.

note: by enabling sony bravia engine, the display quality does increases but it also drains out more battery.

4: *Camera* 

 • The phone is equipped with a 5mp autofocus cam with led flash. The daylight images are very nice. you can customize the camera a lot and it also has smile and face detection. 
 • The images captured using LED flash (in dark) are average quality.
 • Front-camera is a VGA (.3mp) camera hence strictly for video calls only.
 • The videos can be recorded in 720p, and when compared to the 5mp shooter on my motorola fire xt, the sony cam crushes it easily.

*imageshack.us/a/img692/801/dsc0005vcqq.jpg

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 verdict- 8/10 to sony for providing a good camera.

5: *Multimedia*

 • The phone has a nice speaker and it becomes even louder after enabling XLOUD from settings.
 • I couldn't find INTERNET radio support in the phones native music player (although you can download any player of your choice. i use player pro).
 • The video playback is VERY GOOD! the videos are crisp and vibrant due to the nice display.
 • The phones native player doesn't support divx and xvid, only mp4 and 3gp. but you can install mx player to view those files.
 • The bundled earphones are nothing to write about as they aren't in-ear type and i don't use those.
 • The phone has a fm radio and a 3.5mm jack.

verdict: 8/10 for a nice all round multimedia device.

6. *browsing*

~ the phones stock browser is nice. 
~ pinch to zoom and panning work though sometimes their may be a slight sluggishness while loading.
~ the phones supports full flash and loads all the flash content.
~ i personally use dolphin browser and it works perfectly. Due to the crisp dislpay, text reading is fun.

verdict: 8\10 

7: *Battery*
 The most important aspect of a cell phone is its battery. The Xperia U comes with a 1320mAh battery which would strictly last for a day on avg usage(1-2 hrs wifi + 1-2 hrs music + 10-20 mins calls etc.) 

 Verdict: 7/10 It depends on your usage pattern but sony could've done better with a 1500mah pack.

8: *Connectivity*

 -> The phone is equipped with 3G,gps with A-gps, wifi "n" and bluetooth 2.1.
 -> It has 3G hotspot, Wifi tethering & USB tethering.
 -> Wifi reception is good. There are no dropouts and browsing over wifi is a nice experience.
 -> call reception is good. Both callers were loud and clear on both the sides.
 -> the phone supports dlna.
 -> the phone comes with google maps installed.
verdict: 8\10

9: *Important Points*

 • The front cam cannot be used for native video calling over the network (as android doesn’t support video calling till now). It can be used for video calling over Skype. Skype’s present version supports this phone for video calling.
 • The phone's total memory is 8gb out of which 2gb is for the os, 2 gb as internal memory and 4 gb as sd card. thus, total 6gb is available to the users.
 • the phone supports usb otg. i have ordered an otg cable online. will test it when delivered.
 • I have already installed many apps like all the benchmarking apps used above + games like angry birds space HD, fruit ninja, plants vs zombies, temple run, world of goo. the phone plays them all without any issues and lag.
 • Sony has bundled many apps like teen patti, pvr cinemas, power saver, ea games, etc but they can all (almost) be uninstalled through the app manager.

final verdict: 8.5\10
apart from the low memory issue(for some), the phone is an absolutely amazing device at its price point in the market. 

Note: the phone has full xda-dev support and a lot of roms are already available for the device.


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## bhushan2k (Oct 29, 2012)

Nice review... Camera quality is good... Btw where did you buy usb OTG cable from? Can u provide a product link? Even i want to try it out...


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## rahul.007 (Oct 29, 2012)

USB OTG CABLE FOR SAMSUNG GALAXY S2 S3 I9100 I9300 SONY XPERIA NOKIA HTC | eBay

thanks.. trying to embed images via imageshack now.. lets see..


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## bhushan2k (Oct 29, 2012)

U can use Flickr too.. Get modified custom resolution images' embed code n get image link from it..
Thanks for the link.. Try it n let me know whether it works or not..  I will order it after ur experiment then


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## rahul.007 (Oct 29, 2012)

ok.. will get it tomorrow most probb..


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## duke123 (Oct 29, 2012)

another proud owner...should have mentioned about our cool color strip feature with photos...nice review!!


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## rahul.007 (Oct 29, 2012)

i have mentioned the rim at the start of my review..  and thanks


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## randomuser111 (Oct 29, 2012)

Congratulations ! 

Nice pics and review.


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## rahul.007 (Oct 29, 2012)

Thanks


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## KDroid (Oct 31, 2012)

Nice Review!  I too got it for my sister yesterday for 10.7k (without bill)

i can't seem to get the ICS update? Have you updated it to ICS?


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## duke123 (Oct 31, 2012)

KDroid said:


> Nice Review!  I too got it for my sister yesterday for 10.7k (without bill)
> 
> i can't seem to get the ICS update? Have you updated it to ICS?



ICS update is laggy with lots of problem..i flashed to custom ROM from xda...its better...


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## Nighthawk12 (Oct 31, 2012)

^Really?DOesn't lag for me anyhow and it is better than GB.


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## Zangetsu (Oct 31, 2012)

Nice Review...


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## duke123 (Oct 31, 2012)

Nighthawk12 said:


> ^Really?DOesn't lag for me anyhow and it is better than GB.



ya may be..i  used unofficial ICS using flashtool  caused a lot of problems..also i didint like lot of useless bloatwares preinstalled...so went for custom rom..now having good performance and better battery life..

guys pleasse check this app...its awesome and exclusive for xperia U..

*play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=nl.rckmn.leds.u.ctrl


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## zacfx05 (Nov 1, 2012)

@KDroid without bill means no warranty right???

OP gud review bro


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## rahul.007 (Nov 2, 2012)

Nope.. Will update when I get sm free time.. Right nw exams going on.. -

And one more thing, got my otg cable.. But its giving me sm problems.. Sometimes it connects and sometimes it doesn't.. I think its faulty.. Will have to return it. .  but I have successfully used sandisk cruzer 16 gb and transcend 4 gb pds on the device with it. No problems with the otg feature.. Played a lot of songs and a couple of 720p wlvideos.. No issues whatsoever.. Played flawlessly..


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## KDroid (Nov 2, 2012)

zacfx05 said:


> @KDroid without bill means no warranty right???
> 
> 
> OP gud review bro


Well, yes.


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## rahul.007 (Nov 16, 2012)

upgraded to ics just now.. it took a whopping 4hrs.. (and i thought motorola was slow).. 

*imageshack.us/a/img843/900/screenshot2012111619381.th.png

2364 to 2644 in quadrant.. 

*imageshack.us/a/img33/9016/screenshot2012111619270.th.png

an improvement of .5 fps on neocore(at least theres an improvment).. 

*imageshack.us/a/img198/3665/screenshot2012111619300.th.png

antutu score 5714, once again an improvement.. 

*imageshack.us/a/img201/4319/screenshot2012111619340.th.png

nenamark score: 28.4 fps, an improvement of 1 fps.. 

*imageshack.us/a/img69/576/screenshot2012111619372.th.png

so all in all, the upgrade has lived up to its hype(at least in benchmarks).. will use and tell if theres any problems(hope not)..


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## KDroid (Nov 17, 2012)

rahul.007 said:


> upgraded to ics just now.. it took a whopping 4hrs..



Thanks for the heads up. 

Will update in a few days.


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## eduku (Dec 20, 2012)

rahul.007 said:


> upgraded to ics just now.. it took a whopping 4hrs.. (and i thought motorola was slow)..
> 
> *imageshack.us/a/img843/900/screenshot2012111619381.th.png
> 
> ...



I am also looking to buy a smartphone in the next 3-4 months. I like the Xperia U but can you tell me how to update the OS to ICS and if video calling over the network is available in ICS and if jelly bean update is likely in future or not??


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## vamsi_krishna (Dec 21, 2012)

Bought this the day before yesterday on eBay. Waiting for delivery. 

I would like to ask about the Battery backup, which concerns me more. How is it. How long does it last for you?


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