Xperia Ion, First LTE Android Phones From Sony

Xperia Ion is one of the latest models of top-class smartphone Sony that was introduced last June in Indonesia.

One of the unique smartphone is scheduled to be released this September, lies in its LTE 4G connectivity.

Clearly, these features can not be used in Indonesia, but the Xperia Ion has many other capabilities that could be considered candidates for enthusiasts. What are they?

Design

The first thing that will immediately attract the attention of Sony Xperia Ion is probably a fairly large size with a screen size of 4.55 inches. The screen is framed in glossy black plastic body.

The rear is made of brushed metal material that makes this phone looks expensive. The impression is reinforced with extra rubber on the end of a matching top and bottom Xperia Ion.

On the face of Xperia Ion, there is a row of soft keys that represent the function menu, home, return, and search. While in the back there is a camera unit and grill that hides the speaker unit.

Xperia Ion back cover can not be opened, so the battery was not replaceable. Compartment SIM and Micro SD card hidden behind a rubber-coated cover at the top.

To open it takes a little effort and foresight because there was no latch / lever for doing this.

Compartment adjacent to the location of the SIM and Micro SD, at the top, there is a port for stereo audio jack 3.5 ".

Mini-HDMI port for outputting the display to the monitor / TV located on the left side, next to the USB port. As a number of other Sony mobile phone, the Xperia Ion supports USB On-the-Go (OTG) that can be directly connected to the flash device for data transfer.

The right side of the phone contains the power button, volume control buttons, and camera button.

With a thickness of about 11 mm, the Xperia Ion does not look thick. That's partly due to the shape of the back slightly curved outwards.

When gripped, the firm corners of this box-shaped phone feels a bit "stabbed" into the palm of the hand that gives the impression of not less convenient and held steady.

Packaging and Sales Package

Xperia Ion comes in packs of thin air-minimalist design. In it can be found the accessories such as auxiliary adapter, USB cable, and do not forget some tertulius documentation to assist users in using this smartphone.

Sony includes an in-ear type headset is pretty good quality that can be used to hear the songs through the audio port 3.5 " own Xperia Ion. Total of headphones with a cap of three different sizes can be found in the packaging.

Screen and Camera

These two aspects are hallmarks Sony Xperia Ion-equipped 4.55-inch screen-resolution 1280x720 (HD) with a layer of scratch glass and 12-megapixel camera unit.

Display screen is fairly clear and sharp, with a pixel density of 323 ppi. Especially when the "BRAVIA Engine" is enabled. This one feature seems to increase the contrast and sharpness of the screen so colors appear brighter with high saturation.

Xperia Ion screens large and sharp enough to be able to enjoy HD movies in their native resolution (1280x720), but the full-HD movies will run downscaling.

Some applications such as Angry Birds that run on the Xperia Ion have a display icon in few oddities of the interface is smaller than on other phones. The possibility of this is caused by high-resolution screen.

Then, what about the camera? Sony embed the unit as high-resolution camera with 12 megapixels on the Xperia Ion so this phone can record images with good detail. At the front, there is a second camera with 1.3 megapixel resolution.

Regarding quality, the camera on the Xperia Ion includes pretty good for a camera phone, especially when used to take pictures in low light conditions ideal.

When things went dark (night / indoor), from exhaustion and tiny sensor spots apparent noise in dark areas on the image.

ISO settings seem to insist on moving to the highest rate to avoid motion blur even if set to a low figure.

Operation of the camera feels agile and fast. The camera is also only takes 1.5 seconds to "wake up" from sleep mode and ready to take pictures so the shutter button is pressed.

Sony did not forget to include a number of additional features and options are quite extensive camera settings on the Xperia Ion. Users can change the ISO, white balance, exposure compensation, metering, or select the focus mode (center, touch focus, smile detection) in the camera.

It also features image capture "sweep panorama" similar to NEX camera line from the same manufacturer. However, the resulting panoramic image only has a width of 1080 pixels, 3000 pixels are not like the native resolution of 12 megapixels (4000x3000).

Want to record video? Ion Xperia capable of recording 1080p @ 30 FPS video with a rear camera, or 720p @ 30 FPS with the front camera.

Quality? Ordinary. The effect of "jello" that makes objects appear three curved frequent users perform fast panning motion.

Software and performance

Xperia Ion equipped with a dual-core Qualcomm MSM8260 Snapdragon combined speed of 1.5 GHz 1 GB RAM and GPU Adreno 220.

Are qualified fairly decent specs for the current size, although still under some top-end smartphone models from other manufacturers.

Xperia Ion comes with a number of applications pre-installed. Users would be to install the application itself or discard existing program if it is not necessary.

This phone does not have any problems when used browsing, playing games, and run applications downloaded. Everything can run smoothly without the slightest hiccup.

Problems arise when navigating precisely because Xperia Ion often unresponsive. Icon on the homescreen for example, that sometimes react when it is touched many times.

The same thing happened on the softkeys buttons on the front so that the experience of using the phones are less fun.

Unfortunately again, Sony only uses the Android operating system version 2.3.7 or Gingerbread for Xperia Ion. In fact, a number of other models whose position is under the mobile phone is equipped with the Android version 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich).

Sony itself promising party Android 4.0 update for Xperia Ion, but until the time of this writing it is still not done. Ion Xperia smartphone that was launched in China is equipped with Ice Cream Sandwich factory default.

About the durability, with non-removable battery capacity 1.900mAh has, Xperia Ion can survive a full day in a normal usage scenario (browsing, twitter, GMail).

When used to play the game is intense, especially the use of 3D graphics such as the Temple Run, the battery resistance shrunk to a mere matter of hours. The back of the phone is also a pretty hot because it is made of metal.

Conclusion

Xperia Ion is one interesting offer from Sony. The quality of the display screen including slick. Hardware used was fairly capable.

Unfortunately one of its main advantages, namely LTE connectivity, even can not be used in Indonesia. Do not be too much hope to use it someday because of regulatory issues in the country even this LTE is still not completed. Thus, the price of 5.5 million Rupiah or about $660 US dollar is requested for this phone so it feels a bit expensive.

One other thing that is somewhat wedge Gingerbread Android operating system for mobile phones that are old classmates Xperia Ion. Even so, Sony promises will soon release updates to Ice Cream Sandwich smaprtphone this.

Sony Xperia Ion

Pros:

+ 4.55-inch screen is sharp and bright

+ 12-megapixel camera, with many options and shooting modes

+ Performance can be relied upon to run today's applications.

Disadvantages:

- LTE-connection can not be used in Indonesia

- Android operating system was version 2.3.7 (Gingerbread)

- Less comfortable in the hand-shaped box form.

Specification

Processor: Qualcomm "dual core" MSM8260 Snapdragon (S3)

Graphic Processor: Adreno 220

RAM: 1 GB

Internal Storage: 16 GB

Storage External: MicroSD up to 32 GB

Screen: 4.55 inch, 1280x720 (323 ppi)

Camera: 12 Megapixel with LED flash (rear), 1.3 megapixel (front)

Battery: 1.900mAh

Connectivity: 3G HSDPA; HSUPA; LTE, W-LAN 802.11 b / g / n, DLNA, Bluetooth 2.1, NFC, USB 2.0 OTG, HDMI, audio 3.5 mm.

Colors: Black or White

Dimensions: 133 x 68 x 10.8 mm

Weight: 144 grams.