Sony Xperia S the first Sony branded device

The first Sony branded device that Sony hopes will revive the company’s relevance in the smartphone space. Kaz Hirai has already pointed out mobile is going to be a key area of focus for the company and Sony smartphones will be backed up with content and services owned by Sony Corporation. In our first impressions, we pointed out some positives and negatives of the device, but we took it around for a longer drive. Read on to find out if the Xperia S has what it takes to stand against the likes of the iPhone 4S, HTC One X and the Samsung Galaxy S II.

hardware, Software, Looks-

Hardware: In terms of spec sheet firepower the Xperia S is no slouch but it is a tad behind the curve if one compares it to the quad-core slickness of the HTC One X. The guts of the device are powered by a 1.5GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S3 processor, which gets an additional boost with 1GB of RAM and 32GB of internal memory. Weirdly, only 25GB of this memory was available to the user.

Also on board is a 4.3-inch TFT LCD display with resolution of 1280×720 pixels, along with the additional BRAVIA engine technology while viewing videos and photos. All this converts into 343 pixels per inch, a number higher than the iPhone 4/4S. What does this mean for the user? For starters, immensely sharp and crisp text. Secondly, generally users will find the device to be very useful for video and general viewing of photos.

Software: Software is where things start to fall apart for the Xperia S. In a nutshell, Sony has shipped its latest hero device with outdated software that was released way back in December 2010. There is no reason why the Xperia S should not come with Android 4.0 ICS right out of the box. Sony is promising the update is just around the corner but it was not out by the time of filing this review.

With Gingerbread running at its heart, the Xperia S starts off with a massive disadvantage especially when the HTC One X already ships with it and to make things worst even the HTC One V ships with it and that’s a lower tier device.

The good news is that Sony’s proprietary Timescape UI is basically a lightweight Gingerbread skin that does not tinker around a lot with the core Gingerbread experience. For starters, the Sony overlay adds a much-needed visual gleam to the Android 2.3 user interface. We get a number of Xperia live wallpapers that are coupled with a theme. Of course, there is the usual array of Sony widgets such as the ‘Timescape’ social feed that integrates Twitter, Facebook and other feeds. Most OEMs bundle similar social media aggregators and frankly there is nothing new out here.

looks: Xperia S had a very languid and understated industrial design. That does not change. There are no two ways about it. The Xperia S is an absolute visual treat. While saying this, I must also highlight that the design is inherently Sony. The device marries elements with the monolithic design language of the BRAVIA HDTVs and matches the fascia with a unique edgy shape. Adding to the unique flavor of the design we have the ‘Transparent Element’ adding a bit of Tron like visual brilliance.

The idea behind the ‘transparent element’ is not only to add a bit of panache to the visual aspect of the device but also accommodate the antenna of the device. This is where the user gets to see the markings of Android keys. However, these are not buttons as the actual buttons are housed a notch above the transparent element highlighted with three dots for back, home and menu. There is an obvious flaw in this design as the user gets lulled into tapping the transparent element for control of the device when the actual buttons are slightly above.