Sony Xperia Ion Review: Great Display and Camera, Old Software - beckerstroardlean

The Sony Xperia Ion ($99 with a refreshing biennial contract on AT&adenylic acid;T) is an Android phone with exceptional hardware: Information technology has a 1.5GHz dual-core processor, a 12-megapixel camera, and a massive screechy-declaration display powered by Sony's own Bravia display locomotive engine. But, atomic number 3 we've seen with else smartphones, glasses aren't everything. The Ion's audible software proves that a speech sound to a higher degree just top-of-the-line hardware to be with child.

Design

One of the main selling points of the Ion is its large 4.6-inch 1280-by-720-solution presentation. Dubbed the "HD Reality Display" by Sony, it uses the Saame image and picture interlingual rendition engine found connected Sony's line of Bravia TVs. The screen packs much pixels per inch than even the Retina display on the iPhone 4S (which has a PPI of 326), and colours on the Ion looked extremely crisp–peculiarly when displaying high-resolving pictures operating room high-definition video recording. Unfortunately the beautiful display is extremely difficult to see open air; and though the glass is made of a scratch resistant fabric, I managed to scratch it (unexpectedly) after just a some days of use. If you settle to buy the Ion, you might want to picking up a couple of screen protectors, too.

Aside from the screen, the Ion looks like uncounted other Android phones we've reviewed: It comes with a front-lining camera, a back tv camera with flash, four navigation buttons (Menu, Home, Back, and Search), a headphone jack, a volume rocker, and a power button. The Ion also includes a MicroHDMI port that you ass usage to connect the phone to an HDTV, plus a dedicated camera button–a rarity on smartphones these days. The book rocker and power button felt a act flimsy to Maine, and the camera button was too soft for my taste. One other annoyance is that I often had to make many than two attempts to get the navigation buttons to record input. Commonly I would try to exit an app and obtain myself hammering away at the Home push, trying to get IT to responded. This problem English hawthorn be fixed in a software update later connected, merely for now it makes the Ion frustrating to use.

I'm accustomed to carrying a Samsung Galax Nexus (which, like the Ion, has a 4.6-edge in display), thusly I didn't mind the Ion's size of it. The phone slid easily into my pocket, and holding it up to my capitulum to make calls wasn't a chore. Though one of my colleagues complained that the Ion's sickle-shaped back made it uncomfortable to hold, I had no such issues. Even so, you should try belongings the earpiece to see if you are homely with this exemplary's design.

The Ion's assault and battery is not removable, but you can grasp the SIM and MicroSD card slots by removing a small panel from the rear of the device.

Performance

The Ion packs some sinful spectacles. The Ion runs on a dual-heart 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S3 central processing unit with 1GB of RAM. The S3 processor isn't As fast as Qualcomm's S4 line, which powers the HTC One X, but it was to a greater extent than subject of handling everything I threw at it. Apps opened without a hitch, and HD videos played back smoothly. In the main, games ran quite well on the Ion, to a fault.

The Ion potty connect to AT&T's speedy LTE network, and in little than 10 minutes I with success downloaded much 500MB of data to that at our San Francisco offices. Call quality over AT&A;T's network was fairly solid, though I did notice a distinct hissing noise during each of my calls. Voices on both ends of the call came through clearly, still, disdain the hiss. I would have preferred a shade louder default option volume from the speaker, but I had no perturb adjusting the loudness to a more sufficient level.

After about 5 hours of downloading apps over LTE, taking pictures, watching videos, and making calls, I establish that the Ion's battery was still at 83 percent capacity. That know suggests that, with mild use, you should have no trouble acquiring a full day's use from the phone happening a single charge. A more precise battery life-time list, however, moldiness await the phone's closing of our confirmed PCWorld Labs battery essa.

The Sony Ion also supports near-study communication, and you can use it to learn and write information to otherwise devices or tags that are NFC-enabled.

Software

The Sony Xperia Ion's Timescape overlayer.

The Ion runs a custom Sony overlay happening top of Android 2.3 (Gingerbread), which IT calls Timescape. The Timescape overlay looks similar to the one we've seen on previous Xperia phones, though information technology adds a handful of widgets and tweaks that exchange the look and feel of Gingerbread to (instead poorly) imitate the holographic UI institute in Mechanical man 4.0 (Icecream Sandwich). The changes include a new app draftsman and customizable four-icon pier at the tail end of all five of the overlay's home screens.

The Ion was running Gingerbread at CES, and I'm unsuccessful that, six months aft its introduction, Sony didn't send on IT with Icecream Sandwich. According to the documentation accompanying the phone, the Ion is upgradable to Ice Cream Sandwich–but there's no reason why the phone couldn't have shipped with the newer OS in the low gear place. It doesn't supporte that the overlay on the Ion makes actions so much atomic number 3 rearranging apps and widgets feel clunky and general, or that certain widgets (much as the social thingmabob) look back jagged on the phone's high-resolution display.

Like just about other Android phones, the Ion comes with its share of preinstalled applications (commonly termed "bloatware"), though you backside uninstall almost all of them.

Entertainment

The Ion is closely trussed to the Sony Entertainment Network, allowing you to check in to your Music and Video Unlimited accounts for access your playlists and movies on the go. Just in case you wear't subscribe to either of those services, or you prefer to save content locally, the Ion comes with 16GB of stacked-in storage that you can use to your heart's desire. The phone's MicroSD card slot lets you attach an additional 32GB of storage, just in case you want to watch the entire new-sprung season of Breakage Lousy along your phone.

If you want to watch TV shows along a larger screen, the Ion allows you to share your content with other DLNA-compatible devices wirelessly. Alternatively, you can use a MicroHDMI overseas telegram to connect the Ion to an High-definition television, giving you access to a custom launcher where you can act as back movies and music, display videos, or open certain applications. When I tried to use DLNA to share a song between the Ion and a PlayStation 3, the cardinal devices took a while to find each other. Plugging the phone directly into the TV via the MicroHDMI cable was much faster and more convenient.

Being a Sony phone, the Ion is PlayStation-certified, meaning that you'll be able to download classic PlayStation titles the likes of Crash Bandicoot from the Play Fund, and looseness them on your phone. So far, the library of available PlayStation titles is pretty slim, though Sony seems to be adding new games arbitrarily throughout the year.

Tv camera

Sony Xperia Ion: Indoor photo sample.

The Ion has two cameras: A 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera and a 12-megapixel camera with flash. The front-facing camera can record in 720p, but the pictur timber looked comparable to to that of the front-lining camera along some the iPad and the iPhone 4S. You probably won't want to purpose it for anything more than the occasional Google hangout or Facebook self-portrait.

Sony Xperia Ion: Outdoor photograph sample distribution.

The 12-megapixel fanny camera is a different beast altogether. I was very amused with the pictures I took with it: Colours and details looked crisp and reverberant. The Ion's camera app includes many another spare features, including a panoramic fashion and a modality that detects smiles before IT takes a picture. You posterior also instantly launch the Camera app and take a flic while the gimmick is still sleeping, by belongings down the camera button. It's a nice touch–and a great way to ensure that you'll ne'er miss a photo-worthy moment.

Though I was a fan of the Ion's figure-pickings capabilities, I can't aver the same about the call up's video-recording feature. The Ion can record in 1080p, but the test video I stab didn't look very sharp. A clean-cut jelly effect appeared whenever I moved the phone around, and the onboard microphone was terrible at transcription voices. When I played back the footage I shot, voices sounded as though they were coming from inside a far-flung tin give the axe–emphatically not the audio quality you want when capturing precious family moments.

Bottom Line

The Xperia Ion is a mix of good but seedy implemented ideas. It's a shame that the Ion suffers from nonresponsive navigation buttons and bad video transcription. I'm also still bitter that Sony didn't spillage the phone running Android Ice Cream Sandwich, though I retain to hope that, sometime in front the close of the summer, the company will release an update to the OS that addresses the issues I encountered with the handset. But even with those problems, the Ion should satisfy anyone looking a smartphone to replace their iPod, handheld gaming organisation, and point-and-shoot camera.