Sony Xperia J, a mid-range Android smartphone running the Ice Cream Sandwich version of the open source operating system, recently hit shelves in India. The mobile phone, first announced at Berlin’s IFA 2012 in late August and early September, is one of the latest additions to the Sony Xperia series of smartphones made available to the public by various online and in-store retailers.
Look and feel
Like any other gadget belonging to the aesthetically pleasing Xperia series, the Sony Xperia J scores massive points on looks alone. The design is based on the older Xperia Arc and Arc S, which looks svelte and sassy (well, it still depends on your taste and preference), and sports a gentle curve that makes it more handy.
The phone has a boxy and solid appearance. Wrapping its sides is a silver bezel that further emphasizes how slim the unit is (it’s only 9.2 millimeters thick). Its front face screams clean and shiny, while its rear chassis presents a matte black surface reminiscent of its other Xperia brethren.
Below its 4-inch scratch-resistant, Gorilla Glass-coated screen are three touch-sensitive on-screen buttons (from left to right) – back, home, and menu – that will help you navigate through the user interface. It also sports a nice and bright 480 by 854 pixel FWVGA display that runs the Sony Mobile Bravia Engine technology. The phone itself weighs only 125 grams and measures 124.3 mm high and 61.2 mm wide, so expect it to feel a bit lighter than most full-bodied touchscreens.
Sony Xperia J : Specs and features
While Sony decided to stick to a familiar ground by having Android 4.0 (a.k.a. Ice Cream Sandwich) run on the Xperia J, plans of releasing an official upgrade to Android 4.1 Jelly Bean is already on the grapevine. The handset packs 4GB of integrated memory with an expansion slot that supports microSD storage of up to 32GB. The unit is also powered by a 1,750mAh battery, which promises over 5 hours of talk time on 2G and 7 hours of talk time on 4G mode.
Other features include a 5-megapixel rear camera with LED flash, autofocus, geo-tagging, self-timer, touch focus, image stabilizing, digital zooming, and video recording capabilities, and a 0.3-megapixel front camera to facilitate video calling. In addition to its basic GPRS, EDGE, and HSDPA cellular calling capabilities, it also enables calls over VoIP applications such as Google Voice or RingCentral through its Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n port.
Performance
The Qualcomm MSM7227A Snapdragon chipset, the single-core 1GHz Cortex A5 CPU, and the 512MB or RAM renders an essentially sluggish nature to the handset. But this is nothing to get frustrated about, since most mid-range Android phones act as such anyways. Battery life, however, is fantastic and call quality is overall pleasant.
Sony Xperia J Hanads on Video
In a nutshell
Taking all the above things into account, the Sony Xperia J will do great for people who need an affordable yet sleek-looking Android-powered touchscreen. If you’re after its looks, then go get it. If you’re not planning to use it heavily, go for it. But if you’re after an ultra-powerful, super-responsive handset, then you can ignore this advice altogether and opt for the better and pricier ones from Sony.
You can get the Xperia J at the lowest starting price of Rs. 15,599 from online retailers based in India.
