Hands on: Sony Xperia T review

The Sony Xperia T ushers in a new era for Sony Mobile, as the Japanese smartphone manufacturer looks to double its handset ranges, with a new series of devices which carry on from the now defunct Sony Ericsson design.



Sony says that the Xperia T will land in stores in the coming weeks, and while there's currently no word on cost, expect it to carry a lofty price tag, probably higher than the Xperia S, as it sports a bigger display.

When you ogle the Xperia T for the first time you'll note the arched back -a design nod to the Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc and Xperia Arc S, however the plastic rear which adorned the co-branded predecessors has been ditched, with Sony opting for a rubberised finish instead.


We must stay we much prefer the rubber texture on the rear of the Xperia T, compared to the glossy finish on the handsets it mimics -as it provides a solid, firm grip in the hand, with the arch in the chassis allowing the phone to nestle snugly in the palm, so no risk of dropping this one.

The Sony Xperia T feels tough and well made, although this has come at a slight cost in practicality terms, as you can no longer whip the back off and access the battery, with a seemingly flimsy flap (we hope this will be sturdier on the final product) to the side covering microSD and microSIM slots.


Sony is making a big deal of the 4.6-inch, 1280 x 720 display it's slapped on the Xperia T, and we reckon video playback will be top notch, thanks to the inclusion of Sony's Bravia Engine technology, made famous by the Japanese firm's Tv sets, enhancing the visual feast for your eyes.

However the movie clip on the handset we got our hands on didn't want to play -we'll put it down to the software being incomplete and we'll test this fully with another phone while at IFA and duly update here.
The Sony Xperia T does away with any physical or touch buttons below the screen, instead opting for the Google-encouraged, button-free interface, with the trio of Ice Cream Sandwich menu options housed at the base of the screen, providing a sleek finish on the front of the device.



The large screen which adorns the Xperia T puts it up there with the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S3 and HTC One X, although its innards are not quite as powerful, offering up a 1.5GHz dual-core processor, instead of the quad-core chips found in its rivals.

However the dual-core chip is by no means sluggish, with Ice Cream Sandwich running smoothly on the Sony Xperia T, allowing us to breeze through the five homescreens, floating widget selection and app list.


Sony looks to be on to a winner with the Xperia T, its large screen and slick user interface, coupled with the pleasantly curved, rubberised chassis means the phone is not only a joy to use, but also comfortable to hold during long viewing sessions.

It will be interesting to see what effect the powerful screen and wealth of media options has on the battery life of the Xperia T, something we'll investigate during our in-depth review later, but for now the signs are positive -let's just hope Sony gets the price right.

with the partner software Sony Xperia T Video Converter for Mac to help you enjoy videos on Xperia T freely and easily.

More relation information:
MP4 to iMovie , AVI to iMovie , MPG to iMovie , VOB to iMovie , iMovie to AVI .