Hands-on with the Sony Xperia S

Stripped off of the Ericsson tag, Sony is rolling solo and is all set to launch their NXT series of Android smartphones. Heading the pack is the Sony Xperia S, a 4.3-inch beauty with a massive 1280 x 720 resolution. We had a chance to get some alone time with this baby and here’s what we think of it. Despite the plastic body, the Xperia S looks and feels premium. There aren’t any creaking parts or badly cut-out holes in the chassis for the ports. Everything lines-up perfectly and the overall fit and finish of the phone is nothing short of impressive. Some may find the design a bit blocky, due to the squared off corners, but it’s not ugly by any means. There’s quite a bit of bezel around the screen and at the bottom, since the capacitive buttons are placed there. The little transparent strip at the bottom aren’t buttons, but they do light up to tell you which buttons do what. It’s not the slimmest phone around the block, but Sony has done a good job in distributing the weight, so it feels really light. We also get a dedicated shutter button on the side, which many Android phones lack, these days.

Familiar interface on a great screen

Transparent bit's just for show

The screen is definitely a sight to behold. Even at 4.3 inches, the 720p resolution makes images, icons, etc look incredibly crisp and clear. The interface is very similar to the existing Xperia handsets, so if you’re planning on switching then, you’ll be right at home. The icons and the bundled apps are pretty much the same, as well, so nothing really new here. The Xperia S will launch with Android 2.3.7 Gingerbread, but Sony has promised Android 4.0 somewhere down the line and you even get a little sticker on the box that reassures the buyer of this.

The 12MP shooter is quite impressive

Here's a quick look at the phones specifications:

• Android Gingerbread (Upgradeable to ICS)
• 4.3-inch HD display with a resolution of 1280 x 720
• 1.5GHz dual-core processor with a MSM8260 chipset, 1GB RAM
• 12 megapixel camera with Sony Exmor R sensor and 1080p video recording capabilities
• 1.3 megapixel front camera with 720p@30 fps
• 32GB internal memory
• HDMI port
• Weighs 144g

Many apps make a comeback

Built-in themes

The phone is out in the grey markets already and can be yours for Rs.32,000, without a bill and warranty. This is a bit expensive, but something tells us that this may be the very close to the official price. Going by the specifications alone and what’s available in the market currently, which sounds about right. We’ll only see prices settling to lower brackets once the quad-core beasts arrive. Overall, we quite liked what we saw here. We weren’t blown away by it, but it’s definitely a refreshing change from all the chrome infested handsets that Sony Ericsson have at the moment. Whether or not it’s better than the existing dual-core droids on the market, is yet to be seen. Has this gotten you excited enough to buy one or will you still hold out something else?