Saturday, May 19, 2012

Sony Xperia U - Should I get it?

I am looking for a new smartphone, Penang Uncle finally have enough money to change phone! Yeah!

Anyway, I went to Gurney Plaza the other night to look around. I was actually asking for the pricing of Samsung Galaxy S Advance. It was announced by Samsung Malaysia that the retail price is RM1299 (~US$420). And almost all the shops in Gurney Plaza is selling at this same price. There is only one shop can offer maybe RM50 (~US$16) of discount with no accessory such as casing, and screen protector that others are offering.

The salesman at the same shop that can offer discount introduced me to the Sony Xperia U. And the retail price is RM899 (~US$288), come with car charger in original package (from Sony) plus other normal stuffs you get when you buy smartphone. This is a very tempting offer! Why?
  1. The cheapest dual core Android phone. Samsung Galaxy W is selling at RM999 (~US$320) and it is single core only. I can notice the lagging when using CPU intensive apps only my wife's Samsung Galaxy W.
  2. Sony promised to upgrade to ICS (Ice Cream Sandwich, a.k.a Android 4.0) by Q2 this year. And ICS is known that cannot be run on Android phone with single core CPU. 
  3. The exterior is much more good looking compare to these Samsung Android phone:
    1. Samsung Galaxy S Advance (RM1299, ~US$420)
    2. Samsung Galaxy W (RM999, ~US$320)
    3. Samsung Galaxy Ace (~RM600 to RM750, ~US$192 to US$240)
    4. Samsung Galaxy Gio (~RM400 to RM550, ~US$128 to US$176)
The biggest attraction of Sony Xperia U to be is the dual core and Sony promised to have official ICS upgrade for it.

After I came back from Gurney Plaza, I did the normal routine, which is google it!
Here are some info that I found:
  1. From GSMArena (http://www.gsmarena.com/sony_xperia_u-4437.php)
  2. Compare with Samsung Galaxy W (http://www.gsmarena.com/compare.php3?idPhone1=4437&idPhone2=4114)
  3. Some review video of Sony Xperia U that I found, which after the comparison.

Comparison between Sony Xperia U and Samsung Galaxy W:
  • Sony Xperia U over Samsung Galaxy W
    • LED-backlit [screen looks nicer la]
    • Sony Mobile BRAVIA Enginer [again, screen looks nicer la]
    • 480 x 854 pixels which translate to ~280 ppi pixel density [SGW is 480 x 800 pixels only with ~252 ppi pixel density]
    • DLNA [able to share music, video and photos to other DLNA device, such as LED/LCD TV, no need to be same brand]
    • 4GB storage [compare to 1.7GB storage only on Samsung Galaxy W]
    • Able to shoot 3D sweep panorama [not default on SGW, but should be able to find such apps?]
    • Dual-core CPU
    • Upgradable to Android 4.0 (ICS), officially announced by Sony
    • Flashy LED strip [great for show off]
  • Samsung Galaxy W over Sony Xperia
    • 3.7 inches screen [compare to 3.5 inches on Sony Xperia U]
    • support microSD card [no card slot on Sony Xperia U !!!]
    • Come with SWYPE
 Some review video of Sony Xperia U:





Should I wait for the Sony Xperia U with ICS official upgrade or just go buy now?


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source: info from GSMArena, video from respective owners

5 comments:

189person said...

Hi,

Another 2 points you might want to consider:

BATTERY: Xperia U come with battery of Li-Ion 1320 mAh and SGW come with Li-Ion 1500 mAh.

If you are on the road most of the time, this should not be a problem coz you can charge the battery in your car.

USER EXPERIENCE:
I believe the touch sensitivity might be different. Personally I've tried few Sony phone (at the shop) but not SXU, the touch sensitivity it not that good compare to Samsung phone. Maybe you might want to try it out yourself.

Another option is to wait for the arrival of Samsung Galaxy 3, hope the price for other Samsung phones to drop.

Just my 2 cents. :)

ahsiang said...

@189person, I agree with you for waiting the price to drop. However since Samsung's phones are very popular in Malaysia, the dealers and seller don't want to reduce the price further unless it is announce by Samsung Malaysia. Therefore, SGW still stuck at RM999. Probably I should wait for a few more months.
Thanks for the advice on the touch sensitivity, I will visit the Sony Center to take a look. :)

Unknown said...

I really don't know what phone to get anymore! I want a Sony xperia phone but can't decide between Arc S (which is old and big), Xperia Sola (which is pretty cool I guess. Nice 3.7" dispay), and Xperia U (nice affordable phone with nice screen just no SD card!! :( ) I really like the size of the U, and it's not like I need a fancy phone at my age but the sola looks nice too just a bit expensive.

ahsiang said...

@Hermione Malik, I have read somewhere that the CPU that most of the Sony Xperia is one of the slowest CPU compare to Samsung or Texas Instrument. Therefore I am not getting any Sony Experia this year. But still up to you choose the phone that you like the most.

Unknown said...

My Sony xperia u got camera problem after the official ics update by sony.

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