With its newly launched Sony Xperia TL, Sony looks to captivate mobile lovers who are spellbound in the Android-dominated world. Ever since Sony integrated its Xperia X10 model with the Android devices, it has launched a spectrum of devices that have managed to get considerable appreciation for their hardware enhancements, but have disappointed users on the software front.
Nevertheless, the latest one from Sony – the Xperia TL – is as good a smartphone anyone would love to have. The phone features in the James Bond starrer – the Skyfall. Let’s now evaluate some of the important aspects of the Sony Xperia TL.
Design
At first look, the Xperia TL isn’t any different from the regular dark, rectangular slabs that we see in most Android devices. Measuring 5.1” by 2.6” by 0.4” the Sony Xperia TL looks pretty much similar to its earlier versions, but for slight variation in the dimensions. The LCD is 4.55 inches broad and offers a picture resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels. Similar to the Xperia Ion, the Xperia TL too weighs about 5 ounces. At the front is a 1.3 MP camera, a thin earpiece and a light sensor. There aren’t any real physical controls on the device but there are software-built buttons like the home, back, and recently accessed applications to help users perform various tasks. The tangible controls are: the power (On/Off) key, volume controller, and camera button. Also, there is a headphone jack, USB port present at the top of the device.
Display
The Sony Xperia TL has a 4.55” broad LCD display which offers great flexibility in varying brightness and contrast. While operating the device, we observed that the default contrast of the Sony Xperia TL was quite low when compared to the Samsung Galaxy S3 and most other AMOLED devices. The colors too look slightly extra-saturated than most of its competitor models.
Software and UI
Fortunately, the Sony Xperia TL is powered by the famous Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich OS that is common in most handsets today. This may not be as snazzy as Google’s latest Android, 4.1 Jelly Bean but is definitely far better than the previous OS models like the Android 2.3 Gingerbread (which we saw in Xperia TL’s previous versions).
The time is displayed on a digital clock in a thinner and more convoluted font style; however, there aren’t any real quick-to-access options to make jumping from one app to another faster. There are five icons appearing on the home screen that pretty much cover the short cut options to access an array of interior applications. One interesting thing you will find is the popular “Skyfall” theme (used in the James Bond flick) as a default icon, and there are special 007 sound effects – for James Bond movie users – that can be set as personal ringtones, e-mail or sms alerts.
Features and apps
The Sony Xperia TL is equipped with all the ingredients to be considered as a truly Google-friendly device. It gives users easy access to a range of Google apps such as Gmail, Google Maps etc. Also, there are easy short cut options to help users check out the Google Play Store for their preferred music, movies, and books. And yeah, you can easily download the complete Android software library via the Google Play Store.
Conclusion
Despite the low price tag, Sony and AT&T didn’t achieve great marks with their Xperia Ion launched earlier this year as the device had outdated software and a soggy processor, but the Sony Xperia TL manages to fulfill the consumer’s needs on most departments. Priced at just $99.99, the Sony Xperia TL offers high camera resolution, modern Android 4.0 OS, long battery life, quick 4G LTE access and of course, the Snapdragon S4 CPU. Our final verdict is: If you are on the lookout for a high-end performance handset, then Sony Xperia is a great option!
This is a guest post by Mark Bennett of Onlinecomcast.com, get internet and cable services from the website that offers the best savings and deals as well as the most current material.