Sony Xperia U Complete Review: Fresh Solution! Sony Xperia u features.

Despite some successes in the past year, with some devices like the Xperia Arc, Sony got off a slippery slope in 2012. Sony entered the market earlier this year with the flagship Xperia S smartphone, which eclipsed the HTC One X a month later. And with the announcement of the Samsung Galaxy S3, Sony's flagship product seems to be out of business.

Maybe the Japanese manufacturer will get better with the release of the Xperia U phone? At first glance, the smartphone looks like a winner - a budget device with a dual-core processor, Bravia Engine display technology and excellent build quality. But this can be overshadowed by an older version of Android. Well, let's take a closer look and move on to our sony Xperia U review.

Sony Xperia U design and ergonomics

In terms of industrial design, many entry-level smartphones look like miniature versions of their high-end siblings, and this undoubtedly applies to the Sony Xperia U and its big brother, the Xperia C. In addition to the size, the Xperia C has a 4.3-inch screen versus 3.5-inch. from the Xperia U. This year, Sony has decided to stick with the core design of the Xperia line, while continuing to solidify the line's branding.

Like the Xperia S, the U has a soft-touch plastic body and the back is slightly curved. Unfortunately, this uniqueness comes at the expense of ergonomics. There are three buttons on the backlit strip: home, menu and back.

Hardware: Sony Xperia U specifications

Above the buttons is a Sony Reality FWVGA display with a resolution of 854 × 480 pixels. The display also features Sony's Mobile Bravia Engine technology, which enhances contrast and color quality. The viewing angles are wide and the image quality is really good. It certainly doesn't match the HTC One X, but it is decent, even outdoors in sunlight.

The physical buttons on the Xperia U are located on the right edge - there is a power button at the top, in the middle is the volume rocker, while the camera button is at the bottom. And like other phones in the Xperia line, you can hold down this button to take a photo right away. The camera has a resolution of 5 megapixels and an LED flash, and there is a front-facing VGA camera for video calls.

There is a MicroUSB connector on the left side of the case and a 3.5mm headphone jack is located on the top. Behind the back cover you'll find a removable 1300mAh battery and a full-size SIM card slot. And the bottom panel of the case can be replaced, as shown in the photo.

Inside Sony Xperia U located 1 GHz dual-core ST-Ericsson processor, as well as 512 MB of RAM. While it is flattering to see a dual-core processor in a low-budget smartphone, its performance numbers are still quite modest and cannot be compared to dual-core monsters such as the Snapdragon S4. Nevertheless, it is quite enough for work, we did not notice any performance problems. And although you may notice some non-smoothness of the animation, we believe that this is due to the outdated Android 2.3 and with the release of the update to Android 4.0 this shortcoming will be eliminated.

Software

The Sony Xperia U runs Android 2.3.7, along with Sony UXP NXT software. Sony is promising to release an update to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich in the third quarter of this year.

Sony's user interface is by far one of the best Gingerbread skins we've seen - there's just the right amount of animation and visual embellishments to make the user experience enjoyable without going too far.

In addition to Sony's Cosmic Stream live wallpaper, there are weather widgets, search widgets and others that you can customize to your liking. And you can change the look of the Sony system theme based on seven color profiles. When changing the theme profile, the highlighting of the transparent bar with buttons also changes. Likewise, if you are viewing photos or listening to music, the backlight color will change to reflect the dominant color in the image or album cover. It might be a little gimmicky for some users, but we found this visual alert to be funny. The Xperia U includes an excellent set of Sony multimedia applications.

Other software goodies include Music Unlimited and Video Unlimited streaming services, which are included with this phone model. The phone player has been redesigned and is the same as on other Xperia 2012 models. It has a built-in equalizer with many effects for your music, including ClearBass with a surround sound effect that can be appreciated when paired with good headphones.

Integration with social networks is done through Timescape and the Facebook Inside Xperia application. Timescape organizes social updates of text messages and other data in a 3D list, there is support for Facebook, Twitter, Google Play and other services out of the box.

Sony Xperia U smartphone camera

Sony has historically impressed with its cameras on phones, even on low-end devices. And for the most part, the Xperia U's 5 megapixel camera maintains that impression. In intelligently lit rooms, the phone captures images almost instantly and produces clear images without noise.

Sony has also included 3D panoramic shooting in the app, however you'll need a 3D TV to view this as the phone has a simple 2D display.

Sony Xperia U review verdict

The Xperia U is far from flawless performance from Sony, but it is a very well balanced entry-level phone. Its in-store price tag is around RUR 12,000, which puts it on a par with the HTC One V and Desire C. In this price range, it's hard to imagine a phone that offers better value for money than Sony Xperia U... This makes it even more disappointing that Sony has decided to limit user storage space to 4GB, without the prospect of expanding with microSD cards. Samsung and HTC understand that this is not enough and are at least offering a microSD slot as a possible workaround in their entry-level phones - Sony does not offer that kind of compromise on the Xperia U.

However, a 12K 720p HD video recording dual-core phone was unthinkable a few months ago and Sony deserves credit for making it.

The device is made in monoblock form factor and is equipped with a 3.5-inch LCD display with Mobile BRAVIA technology. The display resolution is 854 x 480 pixels. The screen is capable of displaying 16.7 million colors. Communication capabilities are presented: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, USB 2.0, DLNA and aGPS.

According to readers of ZOOM.Cnews
Sony XPERIA U:

Beautiful, ergonomic, functional, has a capacious battery, has a good camera, can replace a player, can act as a GPS receiver, lightweight, affordable.

CHARACTERISTICS

beautiful

Ergonomic

Functional

Has a capacious battery

Has a good camera

Can be a replacement for the player

Can act as a GPS receiver

Easy

Affordable

Collapse

MAIN TECHNICAL CHARACTERISTICS

Food

Battery capacity: 1320 mAh Talk time: 6.6 h Standby time: 260 h Music listening time: 45 h

Additional Information

Features: 4GB of memory is available for use; battery capacity is possible - 1290 mAh; talk time: GSM - 6 hours 36 minutes, UMTS - 5 hours 36 minutes; waiting time: GSM - 260 hours, UMTS - 472 hours. Package contents: smartphone, charger, battery, headset, USB cable, 3 replaceable covers

General characteristics

Type: smartphone Weight: 110 g Control: touch buttons Case material: plastic Construction: interchangeable panels Operating system: Android 4.0 Case type: classic Number of SIM cards: 1 Dimensions (WxHxT): 54x112x12 mm SIM card type: regular

Screen

Screen type: color TFT, 16.78 million colors, touch Type of touch screen: multitouch, capacitive Diagonal: 3.5 inches. Image size: 854x480 Number of pixels per inch (PPI): 280 Automatic screen rotation: yes Scratch-resistant glass: yes

Multimedia capabilities

Camera: 5 million pixels, LED flash Camera functions: autofocus, digital Zoom 16x Video recording: yes (3GPP, MP4) Max. video resolution: 1280x720 Front camera: yes, 0.3 million pixels. Audio: MP3, WAV, FM radio Headphone jack: 3.5 mm Face recognition

Communication

Interfaces: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, USB Standard: GSM 900/1800/1900, 3G DLNA support: yes Satellite navigation: GPS A-GPS system: yes Usage as USB storage: yes USB-host: yes

Memory and processor

Processor: ST Ericsson U8500, 1000 MHz Number of processor cores: 2 Built-in memory: 8 GB RAM: 512 MB Video processor: Mali-400 MP Memory card slot: none

Other functions

Controls: voice dialing, voice control Sensors: light, proximity, compass Handsfree (built-in speaker): yes Flight mode: yes Profile A2DP: yes report an error

Review of the smartphone Sony Xperia U: experiments with color and sound

The Xperia U smartphone model was announced by Sony at MWC 2012, but only recently appeared on sale. It belongs to a new line of smartphones, which also includes the Xperia P and Xperia S, which share a similar hardware platform and design in the same style. According to the spelling rules, Xperia U is pronounced as "Xperia Yu", which can be translated as "Xperia You". It is the "youngest" of the three, it contains not the most powerful processor and a moderate amount of memory, and has the predictably lowest price. However, this does not make the device a useless toy, since, despite the above, its capabilities deserve some attention.

The device is made in monoblock form factor and is equipped with a 3.5-inch LCD display with Mobile BRAVIA technology. The display resolution is 854 x 480 pixels. The screen is capable of displaying 16.7 million colors. Communication capabilities are presented: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, USB 2.0, DLNA and aGPS.

According to readers of ZOOM.Cnews
Sony XPERIA U:

Beautiful, ergonomic, functional, has a capacious battery, has a good camera, can replace a player, can act as a GPS receiver, lightweight, affordable.

CHARACTERISTICS

beautiful

Ergonomic

Functional

Has a capacious battery

Has a good camera

Can be a replacement for the player

Can act as a GPS receiver

Easy

Affordable

Collapse

MAIN TECHNICAL CHARACTERISTICS

Food

Battery capacity: 1320 mAh Talk time: 6.6 h Standby time: 260 h Music listening time: 45 h

Additional Information

Features: 4GB of memory is available for use; battery capacity is possible - 1290 mAh; talk time: GSM - 6 hours 36 minutes, UMTS - 5 hours 36 minutes; waiting time: GSM - 260 hours, UMTS - 472 hours. Package contents: smartphone, charger, battery, headset, USB cable, 3 replaceable covers

General characteristics

Type: smartphone Weight: 110 g Control: touch buttons Case material: plastic Construction: interchangeable panels Operating system: Android 4.0 Case type: classic Number of SIM cards: 1 Dimensions (WxHxT): 54x112x12 mm SIM card type: regular

Screen

Screen type: color TFT, 16.78 million colors, touch Type of touch screen: multitouch, capacitive Diagonal: 3.5 inches. Image size: 854x480 Number of pixels per inch (PPI): 280 Automatic screen rotation: yes Scratch-resistant glass: yes

Multimedia capabilities

Camera: 5 million pixels, LED flash Camera functions: autofocus, digital Zoom 16x Video recording: yes (3GPP, MP4) Max. video resolution: 1280x720 Front camera: yes, 0.3 million pixels. Audio: MP3, WAV, FM radio Headphone jack: 3.5 mm Face recognition

Communication

Interfaces: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, USB Standard: GSM 900/1800/1900, 3G DLNA support: yes Satellite navigation: GPS A-GPS system: yes Usage as USB storage: yes USB-host: yes

Memory and processor

Processor: ST Ericsson U8500, 1000 MHz Number of processor cores: 2 Built-in memory: 8 GB RAM: 512 MB Video processor: Mali-400 MP Memory card slot: none

Other functions

Controls: voice dialing, voice control Sensors: light, proximity, compass Handsfree (built-in speaker): yes Flight mode: yes Profile A2DP: yes report an error

Review of the smartphone Sony Xperia U: experiments with color and sound

The Xperia U smartphone model was announced by Sony at MWC 2012, but only recently appeared on sale. It belongs to a new line of smartphones, which also includes the Xperia P and Xperia S, which share a similar hardware platform and design in the same style. According to the spelling rules, Xperia U is pronounced as "Xperia Yu", which can be translated as "Xperia You". It is the "youngest" of the three, it contains not the most powerful processor and a moderate amount of memory, and has the predictably lowest price. However, this does not make the device a useless toy, since, despite the above, its capabilities deserve some attention.

A small mid-range Android smartphone from the new Xperia NXT line

At the beginning of the year, Sony Mobile (formerly Sony Ericsson) expanded its family of Android smartphones with three new products. The phones were united under the general sub-name Xperia, entering the new Xperia NXT line under the letters S, P and U. Sony Xperia S is the flagship of the new line with all the ensuing consequences, Sony Xperia P is a slightly simpler model, but also very technically advanced and not cheap at all, and we have recently covered both of them in detail in the respective reviews.

Today we will consider the third of the new products - the most inexpensive and, accordingly, the simplest hardware device. However, this does not mean that the model is completely weak and can only be attributed to the initial level - not at all. Sony Xperia U is a fast and modern dual-core smartphone with a high-definition display. Its "weaknesses" in relation to the older models of the Xperia NXT line are smaller dimensions and, accordingly, a smaller screen size, as well as a less powerful hardware platform and a simpler body structure. However, even this little one had several features that positively distinguish it from the general list of Sony new products. But first things first.

All phones of the new series have a very similar design, which is called "Iconic Design" within the company. The appearance of all devices is really so similar that one can hardly distinguish them in photographs alone. Our baby has the smallest dimensions of all.

The difference starts right with the packaging. All communicators of the new Xperia NXT line come in exactly the same outwardly flat and wide boxes. But this is only at first glance. The Sony Xperia U has the simplest of all three packages. It lacks a separate top casing, and the printing is applied directly to the opening parts.

The rest of the boxes are identical, and you can differentiate them in appearance only by small inscriptions at the bottom of the front surface. In our case, it says "Xperia U", and there is an icon next to it, which means that the device can be updated to the operating system to the new Android 4.0. So Sony Xperia U buyers don't have to worry about future manufacturer support for their new device.

In addition to the smartphone itself, the kit includes a universal charger with USB-output, a USB-Micro-USB cable for charging and synchronizing with a computer, a simple wired stereo headset with a standard 3.5 mm jack, as well as 3 additional removable covers and documentation. The content of the kit varies from country to country - for example, in our "European" kit there was only one additional plastic cover in white, but a protective film and an adapter for Micro-SIM were included.

Characteristics

• SoC ST-Ericsson NovaThor U8500, CPU 1000 MHz, ARMv7, two cores
• GPU Mali-400MP
• Operating system Android 2.3.7 Gingerbread (upgrade to Android 4.0)
• 3.5 '' TFT TN touchscreen display, 854 × 480 pixels, capacitive
• 512 MB RAM, 8 GB Flash (about 4 GB available)
• Communication GSM GPRS / EDGE 850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz
• Communication 3G UMTS HSPA 900, 2100 MHz
• Bluetooth v2.1 EDR
• Wi-Fi 802.11b / g / n, Wi-Fi Hotspot
• GPS, AGPS
• FM radio
• G-sensor
• Electronic compass
• Proximity sensor
• Light sensor
• Camera 5 MP, autofocus, LED flash
• Li-ion battery 1290 mAh
• Dimensions 112 x 54 x 12 mm
• Weight 113 g

It is interesting to compare the main characteristics of all smartphones of the new line, summarized in a single table. Let's add here another new model from Sony - not included in the Xperia NXT, but already on sale and quite interesting Sony Xperia sola (we will talk about it in the very near future).

	Sony Xperia U	Sony Xperia P	Sony Xperia S	Sony Xperia sola
Screen (size in inches, type of matrix, resolution)	3.5 ″, TN, 854 × 480	4 ″, WM, 960 × 540	4.3 ″, TN, 1280 × 720	3.7 ″, TN, 854 × 480
SoC		ST-Ericsson NovaThor U8500 @ 1 GHz (2 cores, ARM)	Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8260 @ 1.5 GHz (2 cores, ARM)	ST-Ericsson NovaThor U8500 @ 1 GHz (2 cores, ARM)
RAM	512 MB	1 GB	1 GB	512 MB
Flash memory	8 GB	16 GB	32 GB	8 GB
Memory card support	no	no	no	microSD
operating system		Google Android 2.3, update to Android 4.0	Google Android 2.3, update to Android 4.0	Google Android 2.3, update to Android 4.0
SIM format	standard	Micro-SIM	Micro-SIM	standard
Battery	removable, 1290 mAh	non-removable, 1320 mAh	non-removable, 1750 mAh	non-removable, 1320 mAh
Cameras	rear (5 Mp; video - 720p), front (0.3 Mp)	rear (8 Mp; video - 1080p), front (0.3 Mp)	rear (12 Mp; video - 1080p), front (1.3 Mp)	rear (5 MP; video - 720p)
Overall dimensions	112 x 54 x 12 mm, 113 g	122 x 59.5 x 10.5 mm, 122 g	128 x 64 x 10.6 mm, 146 g	116 x 59 x 9.9 mm, 107 g
average price	N / A ()	$112()	$123()	$58()

Appearance and usability

Sony Xperia U is a very small smartphone. It is the smallest in the Xperia NXT lineup. Next to the flagship - Sony Xperia S - it generally looks tiny.

However, the smartphone is quite comfortable in the hand. Not too thin, it fills the entire palm and fits securely in the hand. It would be even worse if the manufacturer made it a thinner body. Light weight coupled with miniature size allow you to carry the phone in any pocket, even in the breast pocket of a shirt, which is important for summer time.

The case materials are solid plastic, with most of the removable back cover. It is not flat, and covers not only the back, but also the side edges. Under it are a slot for a full-size SIM card and a removable battery, which is nice.

The lid has a rather thick profile and is securely fastened with several latches, sits like a glove and fits snugly to the body - there is no backlash, cracks or squeaks. At first, you might even think that the case is not separable, because all the buttons are located right on the lid. However, this is not so - the cover is removed together with the buttons, revealing the contacts that these buttons close.

The cover itself is made of rubberized plastic with a soft touch effect, so the phone does not slip in your fingers, is pleasant to the touch and does not store fingerprints. It traditionally has holes for an external speaker and a camera eye with a flash. The speaker is covered with a painted metal grill to prevent dust from entering and to protect the speaker. Its hole is located on the beveled side, so the sound is not blocked by the table surface.

But this is not the only cover in the Sony Xperia U. At the very bottom of the phone there is another cover - exactly the same as that of the Sony Xperia P. Only in contrast to it, the Sony Xperia U comes with three additional covers. They are all multi-colored, and are intended to change the appearance of the device, that is, to individualize it. The phone comes on the market in black and white, and in addition to these two colors, each will also have a yellow and pink cover - four in total.

At first, putting on a yellow cover, for example, on a black case, seems ridiculous, but customization of your own phone does not end there. It turns out that the transparent strip above the lid is also multi-colored. It can be brightly highlighted in the same color as the selected theme. So if you put, say, a yellow theme on the Sony Xperia U desktop and put on the yellow lid, you already get an interesting, complete solution. The same goes for other colors. Multi-colored themes are already pre-installed on your phone, and the strip automatically adjusts its color to the selected theme. In addition, the strip changes color depending on the overall color of the viewed photo. For example, if there are blue clouds in the photo, then the strip will glow blue, if there is a lot of greenery - green. An interesting and bright solution, which is designed, for the most part, for young people.

The front side is almost completely covered with a protective glass, in which a hole for the earpiece is cut, not covered by any grill. Dust is piling up there, but this is Sony's new design, and all phones in the line are the same in this matter. Nearby, proximity and light sensors are visible, as well as a peephole of the front camera for video calls.

The control keys, like those of the flagship, are printed on a transparent strip, but are not pressed. You should press just above the icons, on barely noticeable points. Unlike the flagship, the Sony Xperia U is not so large, and all the buttons can be easily reached with one hand.

The rest of the buttons are collected on one side - on the right: here is the power button, a two-position swing key for adjusting the sound level and a button to start the camera. Traditionally for Sony smartphones, the Xperia U also has a separate hardware button to activate the camera, which is convenient. As in other smartphones of the new line, this button can not only activate the camera, but also take a snapshot, even from a locked state. Users like this property, it is in demand, and the reviews on this matter are completely positive. Most people love that you can grab your smartphone and take a quick photo without looking for any icons in the menu.

For communication and synchronization with a computer, as well as for charging, a Micro-USB connector is used here, which is located at the top of the left side of the smartphone.

An audio jack for headphones with a standard 3.5 mm diameter is located at the top, and there is also a hole for an additional microphone. Underneath the removable cover there is a special fastener for a strap, which is convenient, but, unfortunately, is extremely rare in modern devices. The main microphone hole is also here.

In general, the new communicator looks modern and stylish, it is made in the recognizable Sony design. The smartphone does not look cheap, it is not a shame to appear in public with it. The phone does not have a pronounced gender, it will suit both male and female users. Most likely, the Sony Xperia U will appeal to young people - due to the low price and bright colors, which can be partly customized to your taste.

Screen

The Sony Xperia U display is a conventional TFT TN-matrix, which does not differ in large viewing angles, but has a good margin of brightness. Not to say that the brightness margin is excessive, but at the maximum level it is quite enough. True, the screen fades well in the sun.

In terms of physical parameters, the screen resolution of the Sony Xperia U is 854 × 480, with a physical size of 44 × 77 mm and a diagonal of 89 mm (3.5 inches). At a sufficiently high resolution in small physical sizes, the picture is clear and smooth, of course you will not notice any graininess - the pixel density in this screen is quite high (PPI \u003d 279.9).

The picture is further enhanced with the proprietary Mobile Bravia Engine technology, making it even more realistic. This technology is software, and it works only while viewing photos and videos. According to the manufacturer, the technology allows you to display the picture in a more natural way for the eye, adding clarity, saturation, contrast, and also removing some of the noise.

The colors on this screen look realistic, not as bright as on AMOLED displays, the picture is soft and slightly velvety. By the way, unlike the flagship, the Sony Xperia U settings have both manual and automatic brightness settings. However, in this case it is better to keep the slider closer to the maximum value, otherwise it will be a bit dark.

The outside of the screen is covered with a protective, scratch-resistant mineral glass. The screen responds sensitively to the touch of the fingers, no erroneous clicks were noticed. Unlike most of Sony's latest smartphones, this little one doesn't have a factory screen protector. The screen reflects well and gets dirty quickly - unlike the case. An anti-reflective film will do the trick here.

Sound

The sound from the external speaker is not too loud, which is to be expected from an inexpensive and small phone. Besides, high frequencies prevail, there is no bass. Even the fact that the sound is additionally processed using the proprietary xLoud technology does not help. This technology, developed by Sony, does not affect the sound quality in any way, but serves to increase the volume of the main speaker. But we could not notice the difference between the on and off xLoud mode.

The situation with the hearing speaker is about the same: the sound is not too loud and not very clear - however, in terms of frequencies, it is quite juicy. The speech and intonation of the interlocutor is conveyed quite tolerably, but there can be no question of any loud and crystal clear sound. Both Sony Xperia U speakers are average in sound quality.

As for the sound in the headphones, the complete stereo headset here is too simple to speak of any sound quality. In addition, the headphones themselves are ordinary here - not in-ear - so in this case the hands themselves reach for better in-ear headphones. The audio jack is standard here - 3.5 mm in diameter, so any will do. With high-quality headphones, the sound becomes more interesting - especially if you adjust the equalizer available here to your taste. You just need to remember that when you listen to music for a long time with the equalizer turned on, the battery is discharged faster.

The smartphone traditionally has an FM radio, and it traditionally works only with a headset connected. The settings are simple and easy to understand.

Camera

I am glad that even in such a baby, which occupies the lower price position in the general line, Sony was not greedy and included a front camera for video communication. Of course, it doesn’t represent anything special - no one expects quality from a resolution of 0.3 megapixels, but it will be enough to join a video conference.

The main camera module is a little more interesting, but, of course, it is inferior in quality to the cameras of its older brothers. Here the maximum image resolution is 5 megapixels with an aspect ratio of 4: 3. The photographs are obtained with a size of 2592 × 1944. If you want to shoot in a 16: 9 wide aspect ratio, then the frames will be obtained with a resolution of 2560 × 1440 pixels, that is, 3 megapixels. The quality and clarity of photos in their original resolution can be assessed by clicking on the thumbnails.

Thanks to autofocus, close objects, as well as text from paper or the monitor screen, are well captured by the camera.

The camera can shoot video in HD resolution. Here are a couple of ten-second clips shot at maximum settings with a frequency of 29 frames per second. Videos are saved in mp4 format, and have a resolution of 1280 × 720 pixels (# 1 - 10 MB, # 2 - 8 MB).

Sony representatives separately focus on the speed of shooting with cameras of their new smartphones. When you press the hardware key, the camera turns on and takes pictures, even if the phone was locked. In the settings, you can change the purpose of this button to activate the camera, but without shooting. The shooting itself can also be carried out without using the hardware key - by pressing the virtual button on the screen.

Software and telephone part

As for the software filling, everything here is identical to the contents of the rest of the brothers in the line - Sony Xperia S and Sony Xperia P, about which we have already written a lot and in detail. Like them, Sony Xperia U went on sale and is running the familiar and already outdated version of Android 2.3.7 Gingerbread OS with the promised upgrade to version 4.0.

The standard Google Android interface has been modified with its own software shell, which slightly changes and supplements it, but not much. On the five initial screens of the desktop, branded widgets (like weather) are scattered, the general internal list of programs can be sorted by several parameters, and when you first turn it on, the branded application prompts you to configure the smartphone.

The Sony Xperia U handles telephone functions at the level of modern devices. The phone keeps the cellular network reliably, in conditions of poor reception, the connection does not lose. No freezes or spontaneous reboots were noticed during two weeks of testing. The Wi-Fi and GPS modules are also tested in operation, and there are no complaints about them either.

Performance

The hardware platform for Sony Xperia U (model ST25i) is based on the SoC ST-Ericsson NovaThor U8500. The central processor here is a dual-core ARMv7, clocked at 1000 MHz. Graphics processing is supported by the Mali-400MP video accelerator. Everything here is exactly the same as in the older model Sony Xperia P. However, unlike it, the Xperia U has only 512 MB of RAM. The storage available to the user for uploading their own files is about 4 GB without the possibility of expanding with memory cards, because there is no slot for them.

In the Quadrant Standard, the Sony Xperia U scored a decent 2223 points, overtaking the older model Sony Xperia P, but slightly lagging behind its own flagship - the Sony Xperia S scores 3104 points in this test.

According to the results of the comprehensive AnTuTu Benchmark v2.8, the picture repeated itself: the device is slightly faster than a model with a similar hardware platform, but a screen with a larger area and resolution, and, of course, slower than the flagship.

We tested the graphics performance in NenaMark2 (v2.2). According to the results of several runs, the Mali-400MP graphics accelerator in this device gave a good, but not the best average result of 27 fps among its neighbors.

As for my own impressions, communication with Sony Xperia U causes only positive feelings: a small screen makes it easy to reach any element on the screen, all lists and desktops scroll smoothly, without jerking, there are no sticking when turning over; programs open quickly, and games from the Google Play Store do not slow down. The device is quite capable of playing video without slowdowns with a resolution up to 720p - another thing is that it makes no sense to clog a small amount of internal memory with such large files (the screen resolution is much lower, but the smartphone has no video output).

Battery life

The lithium-ion battery in the Sony Xperia U is replaceable. It has a capacity of 1290 mAh, not too large by modern standards. However, with such a small screen - the most power-hungry element of any phone - the battery is quite capable of keeping the device running on par with other modern smartphones.

Battery tests on the Sony Xperia U made a better impression than the Sony Xperia P. The battery was unable to keep the device running within reasonable limits. Here, continuous MP3 playback with the screen off lasted more than 31 hours from one charge, and continuous reading in FBReader at an average brightness level lasted 8 hours.

Watching video in an MKV container with 720p resolution lasted 3 hours and 20 minutes, but this is only because MX Player did not support hardware decoding when playing MKV, and the entire load fell on the processor. When viewing a file in an AVI container with a resolution of 624 × 352, the smartphone quietly worked for 5 hours or more.

Sony Xperia U charges fast enough. Full charging time was less than 2 hours.

Prices

The average retail price of the device in Moscow at the time of reading the article in rubles can be found by bringing the mouse to the price tag.

Outcome

Summing up today's review of the Sony Xperia U, I would like, first of all, to note precisely that this is the smallest and most inexpensive of the devices in the Xperia NXT line. Even the new Sony Xperia sola is slightly more expensive than this model. At the same time, the Xperia U is all right not only with the design - the smartphone also received a proprietary Sony "iconic design" - but also with the hardware characteristics. This little one has the same powerful dual-core platform as the older model - Sony Xperia P, but with a smaller screen, it gives out even more performance. In youth language, the model turned out to be very "nimble", which, in fact, the manufacturer hoped for when developing a smartphone for young people. The Sony Xperia U will appeal to young people all the more when you consider its customization options through a choice of different color variations of pre-installed themes and complete covers. True, young people may not like the lack of the ability to increase the size of the storage of their own files using memory cards, this imposes its own restrictions on the use of a smartphone. However, this is already becoming a general bad trend, and not only Sony has been subject to it lately.

As for the competitors, only the HTC One V comes to mind, occupying a similar position in the line of new smartphones from the Taiwanese manufacturer. It has a slightly larger screen (3.7 inches), but at the same time it has a slightly lower resolution (480x800) and, accordingly, a lower pixel density (PPI \u003d 252). At the same time, the screens of these models are not inferior to each other in terms of picture quality and viewing angles. HTC One V has a single-core processor but a larger battery capacity. In general, the models are almost equal on the scales, but the Taiwanese smartphone costs much more - by about 3 thousand rubles at the moment. However, the presence of a memory card slot in HTC One V is already a significant advantage.

In general, the choice and purchase of the Sony Xperia U can be considered quite justified for those people who do not need a large screen. In all other parameters, except for the screen, the device looks no worse, and in some respects even better than competing solutions.