Sony Xperia U - Almost perfect low cost smartphone
Sony Ericson fell behind in the Smartphone game after the launch of the mighty Sony Xperia X10, but since the second half of 2011, they have been offering some of the best entry and mid-level phones in the market. Now a purely Sony venture, Sony is trying to continue that trend, in a even more competitive market, with the Sony Xperia U
Quick specifications:
- Android 2.3, with a announced upgrade to Android 4.0
- 3.5-inch, 480 x 854 LCD display, scratch resistant glass
- 8 GB storage (but only 4 GB available to the user), non-expandable
- 512 MB of RAM
- Dual core 1 GHz processor, DB8500 graphical processing unit
- 5 MP autofocus camera with LED flash
- VGA front camera
- 720p video
- HSDPA 14.4 Mbps
- 1320 mAh battery
- Php13,990 suggested retail price
The two things a buyer should not is that the internal storage is not expandable and, while having a dual core processor, it only captures 720p video. Video recording being limited to 720p is easy enough to accept at this price. Storage being limited to 4 GB will be harder for most buyers to swallow. Still I only use only about than 3 GB of the 9 GB of storage I have on my current phone, so it is not necessarily a deal breaker at its Php13,990 suggested retail price.
If Sony were still competing with just Apple, BlackBerry, LG, HTC and Samsung this might be enough, but with Huawei coming into the Philippine market with the Huawei U8860 Honor which is also priced at the same Php13,990 retail price, it might be rough sailing for the Xperia U.
The Sony Xperia U is expected to hit the shelves in mid-may.