Sony’s new Xperia X is fun to play with, writes Jasmin Melan.
THESE days, there are many factors to consider when buying a smartphone. It’s no longer the quality of the calls you make or receive.
A smartphone should also be able to accommodate your habits and reflect your lifestyle.
If you’re the sort who takes a lot of photos, you should consider the Sony Xperia X as it has 23MP back camera and 64GB internal storage and expandable up to 200GB. For selfie fans, rejoice, because the front camera is 13MP.
The Xperia X caters to visual artist wannabes. With YouTube getting more popular as the medium of visual-sharing app alongside Instagram and Facebook, the video camera on Xperia X has good broadcast quality.
• CAMERA
Selfie fans should be pleased with its 13MP front camera with Sony Exmor RS for mobile sensor. Even in low light environment, image sharpness is quite impressive. This also makes Skyping with your loved ones across different time zones more pleasant.
Its 23MP main camera includes intelligent features like Predictive Hybrid Autofocus that tracks your subject and predicts its next move and maintains the sharpness of the next frame. This is particularly useful to capture precious moments of your children bolting on the playground, or even the ostrich on the run!
Its SteadyShot video stabilisation will make you feel like a pro. The video quality is so smooth that you can take more videos to upload on YouTube and create a channel for yourself than on Instagram.
• PROCESSOR
Sony Xperia X comes with Qualcomm Snapdragon 650 hexa-core 64 bit and 3GB RAM, ensuring fast responsiveness of the multitude of apps on your smartphone. Its operating system is Google Android M.
• STORAGE
The 64GB internal storage is sufficient for a medium user. There is a slot for a microSD card if you want more space. The second slot can also be used for a second SIM card, if you travel often.
•BATTERY
The battery will probably last you till the close of business, if you use it a lot to access your social media platforms and messaging. The excellent camera feature may zap you of the battery life beyond your commute home. The manufacturer claims that its 2,620 mAh has a two-day battery life based on Sony Mobile Communications AB’s smartphone user profile.
•DESIGN
The Xperia X’s 5-inch Full HD 1080p with Triluminous display and X-Reality for mobile and Dynamic Contrast Enhancement looks gorgeous. The colours are vibrant and sharp. The screen is sleek and stylish and quite edgy, with slightly curved glass. The 7.7mm thick phone feels exquisite to hold and is pretty solid at 152g.
The tray for the SIM card and microSD slots is easy to access from the side of the phone. Although it feels a bit filmsy, the tray flap is very firm and secure.
The phone also has a button that switches to the front-facing camera instantly even when it’s in sleep mode. Just point the front of the phone to the photography object and click on the button.
The positioning of the button, however, may cause you to accidentally take lots of pictures of the floor! The volume control buttons are a bit too close to the camera button. There is a tendency to click on the camera button in an attempt to reduce the volume of the audio.
Overall, the phone is pretty to look at. It’s available in four colours - graphite black, white, lime gold and rose gold.
•SOUND
The sound quality is simply beautiful. It has high-resolution audio and digital noise cancelling amongst others which makes it a joy to watch your iflix shows on your phone when your family hogs the television.
•CONCLUSION
The Sony Xperia X is really for those who are into capturing visuals, be it still photos or videos. Sony has the technology in photography and audio, and it’s maximising those capabilities so you won’t miss your dSLR. Priced at RM2,499.