Sony Xperia X Performance unlocked smartphone,32GB Black (US Warranty)

I had read a LOT of phone reviews before settling on the Xperia X Performance & I feel I chose well.PROS* Camera: Great camera! The colors are incredible & I've found the camera's focus to be excellent. It takes about 2 seconds to fully launch the camera from sleep, which for me is pretty great. Video is excellent as well & while it isn't supported out of the box, there is a way to enable 4K video on this phone. I'm not sure why they chose to disable it, but you can re-enable it & it looks great.* Performance: 3GB of RAM & a Snapdragon 820, it runs great! I've run high-end games, streaming video, browsed media-heavy pages, edited 1K+ row spreadsheets in Google Sheets & MS Excel, all a what I'd consider to be extremely impressive speeds. I've read reviews to the contrary, but this hasn't been my experience.* Design: Aesthetics are 'meh' but the form factor is nice. A bit of a smaller screen/phone than I'm used to. However, I should note I'm 6'2 & 240lbs so my wife has suggested maybe the phone isn't small to everyone. I'm also used to a near phablet screen, so there's that.* Screen: The display is sharp, great colors.* Battery: Battery is middle-of-the-road, I'd say. I don't know if the OS/hardware has some kind of heuristic learning? The first day the battery dropped really fast, even if idle. The more I use it, however, it seems the more that isn't the case. I've had the phone about a week & a day of calls, email & gaming only get me down to about 73%. Idle works really well now too - would be interested toCONS* Cooling: I shot video of my kids playing outside in the pool this weekend. It was about 82 F & I'd only been shooting outside for maybe 5 minutes when the phone gave me a warning the temperature was rising, & if it continued to do so it would auto-shut off. The phone was pretty hot, but I'm not sure how much was the case I have for it vs the environment + video recording. I haven't had any problems recording indoors for long periods of time, so I will try again w/o the case & update my review.* Design: The screen bevels just a little bit. It doesn't hurt the display at all, but I note it as a negative because this could be a problem if you drop it. On the cases I bought, it looks like the glass may bevel enough to stick out more than the case if dropped, which would result in a busted screen.NOTE: I should note that my previous phone was an Alcatel Idol 4. Some of the reviews I had read about the Xperia said that the reviewer thought their phone took better pics, even at a lower resolution. That might be true, results are subjective is my point. I upgraded from a junk phone to this. If you already own an iPhone 6 or something, you may not be as impressed as I have been.

Let me preface this review by stating I caught this on an amazing sale - brand new, only $269.At the time of purchase, this was without a doubt the best cell phone available in it's price range. We're talking about flagship specs (Snapdragon 820, 3GB RAM, 23MP camera, Qualcomm QC, finger print scanner (more on that), carrier unlocked) for less than $300. I love the overall appearance, especially the camera being flush with the back of the phone (the last phone I had that included a flush camera was the iPhone 5S). It definitely has a premium feel when you handle the phone.The display is crisp and bright. I've not encountered any problems using it, even in full sunlight. You might be in for a shock if you use in in complete darkness and have the display turned all the way up! Color reproduction seems to be accurate and there are two modes available to tweak contrast and color reproduction (X-reality for mobile and Super-vivid mode).I don't take a lot of photos, but the ones I've taken have been very high quality. The buttons on the camera are setup so that when the phone is rotated the zoom in/out and snap buttons are where you'd normally find them on a standard camera. If you take a lot of photos you'll appreciate the button placement.My favorite feature about this phone is the software - its basically running stock Android! In fact, I think this phone is closer to stock Android than my Moto X Pure Edition. The included launcher, Xperia Home, works exactly like the Google Now launcher, but it has more configuration options (like being able to change icon grid size). Sony also has an open beta program for Xperia Home, so check it out if you want to have access to the most current features available. I've also been very impressed with the speed in which updates are released. In the time I've had it I've received several updates, both for Android and security updates, and as of this writing the phone is on 7.1.1 with the August security update.My only knock against the phone was lack of fingerprint scanner in US markets. However, I was able to remedy this by flashing the UK firmware on my US phone. I was a little worried that it might affect access to cellular bands or cause problems with future updates, but I'm happy to report that this has not been the case. As far as I can tell the only difference is that instead of LTE and 5 bars in the signal strength meter, it shows 4G+ and 4 bars. Once the fingerprint scanner was activated I found it to be fast and accurate.As I mentioned earlier, I used to have a Moto X Pure Edition. Unlike that phone, I've not encountered any issues when trying to use Qualcomm QC devices. So far every device I've tested has been able to quickcharge my phone without problem.Overall, I've been extremely happy with this device. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a GSM carrier unlocked phone, especially if you can find it for under $300.

I don't know whether the Sony Xperia X Performance is a best smart phone but I know it has a best specification in terms of processor speed, screen resolution and cameras capability. Many customer reviews are unanimous in praising the phone's speed, screen sharpness and cameras IQ. But if you love listening to musics with your smart phone, this is the one for you. Just using it with a Sony High-Resolution Noise Cancellation Audio Headset MDR-NC750 and lossless sources (not just MP3) and you're in heaven. I listen to Spotify premium streams that I download into my phone for offline use with this headphone and the sound quality is almost unbelievable. The noise cancellation is so efficient that I would not recommend you to walk with this headphone in the streets without being extremely attentive to traffic.Sony does not go large and thin with the Xperia X performance as pointed out by many reviews. But it produces a well built device with elegant metal chassis that protects the cameras against accidental drops. On a thin phone the cameras often protrude, hence more easily damaged. I don't feel a need of a protective case for my phone although I covered its front with a screen protector. Once trying to put a protective case, I accidentally dropped it onto a hardwood floor without getting a dent. I have now removed the case. A complaint often raised is that Sony did not enable fingerprint on the power button. I take solace in the fact that I would not overuse the power button thanks to Sony smart wake-up: double tap on the screen wakes up the screen ready for you to swipe a security pattern to use your phone.The power button being mechanical is better not to be overused.After eight months using the phone, I am very satisfied with my purchase. Sony was also quick in updating to Android version 7 that works flawlessly for my need.

Having owned this expensive brick for two years, I can honestly say it is indestructible. I've thrown it on concrete, wood floors, out my car window, and at brick walls. The phone shows no signs of damage and the screen is still in perfect condition. And I threw the damn thing hard.With that said, if the phone actually worked I wouldn't be throwing it at brick walls. This idiot phone can't hold a signal during calls. Even with a brand new signal booster at work and home, incoming calls can never get through and the moment I try to make a call my 5 bars of LTE plummets to absolutely nothing.Sure, it handles everything else just fine. Mostly. When it isn't lagging. Battery life is great as the phone utilizes state of the art call dropping technology to ensure no calls can be made, which in turn preserves power.This phone has been very reliable and consistent. It doesn't overheat or crash randomly. It doesn't like sending texts or being on calls. It loves being thrown into hard surfaces.I have a love hate relationship with this brick. I want to love it. It's got the durability of a Nokia, decent camera too. But as an actual phone it's crap.

First, I'd like to address some questions or concerns about this phone that I have frequently seen throughout the internet.1) This model (F8131) is not the dual sim model. If you want to use 2 sim cards, you will have to purchase the international version of the XPERIA X Performance, which is model number F8132.2) This model (F8131) DOES have the fingerprint sensor. HOWEVER, the fingerprint sensor is disabled by Sony in the US market at the firmware level. What this means is that, the firmware for the fingerprint sensor, must be changed. You will have to flash an international firmware for the fingerprint sensor to be enabled. If you don't want to go through the lengthy process leading up to changing the firmware of this device, just buy the international version of this phone, which is model number F8132, which already has the fingerprint sensor enabled. So, in conclusion, the fingerprint sensor is not nonexistent on this model, just disabled by default by Sony in the US market.I am using this phone with a T-Mobile sim card, in the United States. I'm having no problems with connection.The phone does come with a few pre-installed apps that I wanted removed so I rooted my phone to be able to remove unnecessary apps so I'm much happier about that. Some of the apps that were pre-installed were: Spotify, Facebook, Amazon shopping, some Tetris demo game, some Spiderman demo game, and etc. Sony's stock apps on this device are: Music, Album, Video, Lifelog, PartyShare, TrackID, XperiaTransfer, and etc. I have only had this phone for a few days and haven't had time to explore the Sony apps yet, but I am interested in exploring them.This is my third Sony device. I had the Sony ZR and the Sony XA Ultra (HUGE phone *LoL*). I now have this phone. Make sure you get a case for this phone. The surface of this phone is very smooth and can easily slip out of your hand. I don't often buy cases for my phones, but this phone makes me a little afraid of dropping it due to the smooth surface. I just ordered this case: https://www.amazon.com/Performance-Ringke-Protection-Absorption-Technology/dp/B01HBWIPSI/ref=sr_1_62?m=A8YCUEQIOX5AP&s=wireless&srs=5811452011&ie=UTF8&qid=1493039145&sr=1-62&refinements=p_89%3ARingke%2Cp_n_feature_ten_browse-bin%3A11043312011%2Cp_6%3AA8YCUEQIOX5AP and a beautiful gold mirror case on another website.The lime gold color of this phone in Amazon's photo is off from the actual phone color. In person, the lime gold is more like a soft gold with a hint of lime. A slight disappointment, but nothing to make me return this phone.I only gave this phone 4 stars because I have only had it for a few days so not enough time to fully evaluate it, but so far, I have not had any problems. I've uploaded some pictures and sorry about the picture quality in advance.For the technically advanced, I've uploaded an image showing the kernel version, baseband version, and build number. I've unlocked my bootloader, rooted my phone, installed/flashed the kernel that you see in the image, and I installed a Latin America firmware on this phone which has enabled the fingerprint sensor. I have TWRP recovery in which I used to flash the kernel and SuperSU.I hope this information helps someone!----------------------------------------------------UPDATE (4-25-17): The battery life is great. I ran a small test. I went all day, on the 24th, without charging the battery. I browsed the internet, watched multiple videos, downloaded large files, left Wi-Fi and cell data on all day, and left quite a bit of apps running. On the 25th, I still have about half of my battery left to use. I am impressed so far. I've uploaded an image showing how much time I have left to use up the battery life, and this is without any of the Sony's battery management features enabled or any other battery management app. In the real world, I personally wouldn't be doing all of those things on my phone simultaneously, but it was a nice test that ensures me that the battery can handle multiple tasks without being drained extensively AND without running hot. However, if you are one who likes to play intense games on your phone for an extended period of time, I don't know how well the battery will hold up, but Sony does have battery management features on this phone to help extend the life of the battery. The battery is great so far and I've no problems with it.