Simple & Smart
My Ratings: 3/5
I have used almost all the major brands of mobile phones except Sony. Finally I have got a chance to use it. I gifted Sony Xperia Sola to my brother and am using it vigorously to know the positives and negatives of this phone.
I explored extensively for a right phone to gift it to my brother. There were few basic requirements before I started the search.
1. Android phone; the version was not of much concern.
2. Minimum 5MP camera (secondary camera was needed but not of primary concern).
3. Impressive screen resolution.
4. Preferably single-SIM support.
5. Amazing looks and design.
6. Minimum 3.5inch screen.
7. Pricing should be in in the range of 15-20k.
I was surprised to find out that there were not many mobiles matching these specifications . I choose Sony just because I want to try out something new and Sony is always a preferable brand for music playback.
Design & Performance
The Sony Xperia Sola is very basely designed in a decent way that appears like a candy bar (all square design) with well-built plastic body and matte finish for comfortable handling and finger print resistance . On the right there is microUSB port for charging and connectivity, volume up/down keys and dedicated camera button. On the left is power/screen lock button and 3.5mm audio jack at the top. It houses 5MP camera at the back along with flash .
The phone has 3.7-inch display with a resolution of 854 x 480 pixels . There are three backlit capacitive buttons (back, home & options) below the screen and a notification LED and the sensors on top. There’s no front camera that is surprising considering the price range of this phone. A non-removable 1320mAh battery is housed under the back cover along with a hot swappable microSD card slot and a standard sized SIM card slot.
The location of power and volume keys are quite odd as most people are accustomed to use power key or screen unlocking with thumb and volume control by fingers. Here in this phone it is opposite and the volume keys are very absurdly placed at right bottom side of the phone and you have move down the thumb to control the volume. All the keys work well except the camera button which is really hard to press.
The best part of this phone is its weight of 107gms and the 9.9mm thinness that you will not even feel that you are holding something worth 20k in your hands.
Sony Xperia Sola is powered by dual-core 1GHz Cortex A9 processor, 512 MB of RAM and 8GB of internal memory , of which 5GB is user accessible . The storage capacity of phone can be expanded upto 32GB using microSD card. The phone comes with Gingerbread version of Android but ICS update has been rolled out so you can update it.
The images with 5MP camera are decent in daylight , though indoor snaps using built-in flash are not upto the mark. Also in normal photos, there’s too much noise reduction and the colours are a bit washed out but anyhow it looks good. It also gives you the option of clicking pictures with a ‘3D Camera’ app . It’s not exactly 3D but Sweep panoramas and a Multi-Angle Panorama shots. There is dedicated camera button and you don’t even have to unlock the device to click an image (in tune with iPhone). It also supports up to 720p video recording that works quite well. The camera app can perform basic functions like choosing scenes, white balance, focus etc.
Sony has introduced an innovative technology with this phone called floating screen that help you to highlight an icon on the screen by moving your finger over it before you tap on it to open. As of now it is used only in default browser in this mobile. The Xperia Sola comes with Sony’s Mobile Bravia Engine technology for colour management, noise reduction, and sharpness filtering to reproduce high quality graphics and images. The Bravia engine gives the animations, videos, pictures all of super high quality which is one of the major advantages of this device. Believe me, reading texts on Sola is very much similar to my experience with iPhone and is very crisp and clear.
Sony have their custom Timescape for their phones that is useful in integrating social profiles; its quick and lag free with daily usage. If you’re somebody who installs a lot of memory intensive apps and games, you’ll have to be careful though as it slows down the phone and takes a toll on the battery as well.
Performance wise, phone works quite well and smooth (all credit to dual-core processor) and there is no lag in switching homescreens, multitasking or playing games .
For connectivity, Xperia sola includes Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, NFC, and DLNA. It can even be used as Wi-Fi hotspot to use mobile internet over other devices using Wi-Fi and the performance is quite impressive.
The default music player works quite nicely and gives decent audio output using Sony’s xLoud feature. It comes with a minimalistic interface , home screen widget, and always-on lock-screen controls available at the flick of a finger.
The call performance is upto the mark. The earpiece and loudspeaker volume is loud and clear. Another great addition is the use of a second microphone for noise cancellation . The second microphone at the device’s back identifies noises and cancels them to offer better sound for the receiver.
The major drawback is its weak battery performance . Android is known for battery sucking and still this phone is provided with meagre 1320mAH battery . If you use it regularly then it will hardly cross 10 hours line.
Pros
1. Superb scratch-resistant screen .
2. Rubberized back panel that provides fingerprint resistance and better holding grip.
3. Very light weight and small yet easy to grip and handle.
4. Excellent pixel density for this screen size.
5. NFC support with NFC tags supplied in the box, very less phone available to support NFC in this price range.
6. 5MP camera with panorama and quick capture feature.
7. USB on the go feature.
8. Bravia engine feature.
Cons
1. The phone comes with lot of bloatware just like Sony Vaio computers. It unnecessary eats up RAM and battery .
2. Very low RAM of just 512 MB out of which only about 350MB is user available.
3. No front facing camera .
4. Placement of volume button.
5. Very poor battery backup.
Verdict
The screen seems smaller for game lovers . Ironically its 3.7in screen seems much smaller than my iPhone’s 3.5in screen. May be it is because of huge difference in form factor. For a mid-range smartphone, this phone works pretty well. The animations are sharp and there is hardly any lag ever. Response time in starting applications and application performance is also quite impressive.
The customization over Android done by Sony is very neat and impressive. I like the minimalistic and sober approach in UI and simple yet impressive looks . In gist I would say that nothing is overdone and nothing is left out either.
Considering the market situations and available options, this phone has nothing new or great to offer. It is a very simple phone that has few unique features. I purchased this mobile for Rs.19490 but Sony has recently reduced the price to Rs.17490 on flipkart.com . It is really a nice deal at this price. It is available in three colours- red, white and black.
If you are looking for a decent mid-range phone that gives value for your money, do not hesitate to check it out!
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