Sony Xperia SP SIM-free Android Smartphone - Black (discontinued by manufacturer)

DISCLAIMER: I haven't written any reviews on Amazon before, so I apologise if this reads horribly. I really felt like this product deserved a proper review which would cover all the points I certainly wanted covered when I was looking to upgrade to an everyday-use smart phone.Introduction:So I set about looking to upgrade my phone in about October 2013, my previous model was one Blackberry Curve 9300. It definitely had served me well as a phone, but it's poor processor speed just couldn't cut it these days when it comes to trying to have the internet at your fingertips! If you're anything like me, your main reasons for choosing a mid-range phone should be something like:1. Your old phone can't use the internet / uses the internet very slowly.2. You want a new phone that can still make texts/calls/the basics very efficiently (as often people grow to their old phones and can text off them in a jiffy)3. You want a newer phone that can run multiple applications at once without slowing down - and also maintains good battery life.4. You want a phone with a decent camera which you can pull out on the fly and take good looking photographs with (maybe even wanting a phone that can take good selfies with the popularity of Snapchat at the moment)5. You also want a phone with good video recording and playback functions, having a crisp screen to enjoy images/videos on.6. The phone is generally easy to use, can be learned quickly and feels responsive.7. Finally, you want all of the above without having to pay a hefty price tag of £600+ for some Apple equivalents at the moment! AKA , the phone is good value.Well, I'm happy to talk you through all the good and bad points this phone has to offer, and why, 3 months on, I'm feeling happy with my purchase - which I think ultimately should be the bottom line.1. Internet Browsing - 5/5The Xperia SP's browsing capabilities are very strong. It has immediate access to Google Chrome browser, which I'm using right now to write this review. It's very easy to open new tabs and even has a widget readily available to Google search things straight from your home screen. I find this to be one of the best features about this phone, I find myself easily taking it out and can whip out a Google search or a Facebook stalk on the fly no problem. The processor speed of the Xperia is excellent for its price bracket, it can handle multiple tabs + videos with ease, and loads pages very quickly. The larger than average screen and responsive touch controls actually really suit the phone for internet use, and on using other smaller/thinner smartphones, I think this works to its advantage.2. Text/Calling functions and other basic elements - 3/5For me, this is probably where I think the Xperia falls down the hardest; simple texts and calls often get ignored and understated in phone reviews these days - I certainly hadn't heard much about it before I purchased the phone. However, before you read the reasons why I think this, understand that coming from using a QWERTY keyboard Blackberry for nearly 3 years has meant I generally have always disliked touch screen phones!Even when ,under settings, you turn off the 'Vibration on touch' feature, sending texts/Whatsapp messages results in the phone constantly vibrating under your fingertips, and a sort of feeling like its always 'catching up' to your speed of texting. I had no issues texting on a Blackberry phone before this, and could send long texts in very quick time with little to no typos - WITHOUT an auto-correct. With the Xperia SP however, I feel that almost every other word will have a typo in it, despite me trying very hard to press the small keys accurately. At first I thought it would just take some getting used to, but 3 months down the line, I still dislike texting and tend to avoid it to the same level my all-thumbs parents will.On using an iPhone 5/5s of one of my friends, it didn't feel as clunky as the texting system on the (notably larger) Xperia - further leading me to believe this might not just be a personal problem.When it comes to calls and contacts, the Xperia has a very attractive and easy to navigate Contacts book, which even can connect to Facebook and filter out contacts without mobile numbers on their accounts , instantly filling up some contacts. The speed dial feature is somewhat pointless, as it takes you multiple touchs to get to the numberpad, and it is often faster to just call a 'favourited' contact in the Favourites tab. All in all, it works as I would expect, and the microphone and speaker of the phone feel like a good volume for calls without having to throw it on speaker.The phones in-built e-mail system works very well. It looks clean and neat, and it had no issues connecting to my e-mail account. It also had several features for how often it checks for incoming e-mails/ to do it manually. This can be important if you have a very limited Data plan. The phone can open many different attachment formats for quick viewing without having to run to a computer.3. Strong processor ; strong battery life 5/5 ; 3/5The processor for the Xperia SP is , as stated, very very good for its price tag. I use my phone very often. I forget to close off applications (which can be easily done by swiping them off). And I often have a lot of stuff going on at once. Not once however, have I noticed any sort of lag or slowing down of the phone due to this. I imagine for the vast majority of customers, the phones speed at which it handles what you throw at it will more than impress them. The battery life for this phone was initially one of the selling points for me, as in many reviews they praised its inbuilt Stamina mode and high-powered battery. In practise, the STAMINA mode DOES help to conserve a little extra power , as it turns off mobile data when you lock your phone. It isn't though, as miraculous as you would expect. With normal usage and 3G always switched on, I find myself charging the Xperia at least every evening. Compared to other smartphone battery lives, I would say the Xperia is very average.4. Camera features - 3.5 / 5The Xperia SP comes with a single flash, 8 Megapixel rear-facing camera, and a somewhat sub-standard VGA camera facing the front. I find the focusing system and lighting when using the phones camera to be somewhat unremarkable (despite what the trailers may tell you). The phone definitely needs good lighting available to be able to take good pictures, and I definitely don't think it functions brilliantly in doors. If you have everything set up well however, the camera does take very crisp looking pictures/albeit the lack of optical zoom means they a very range limited. The colours do appear SOMEWHAT washed out, and if possible, I like to have a camera with me as well. It does more than good enough a job however for emergencies , and for taking quick snaps of people.The front-facing camera is somewhat of an Achille's heel for the Xperia, the VGA camera provided really does a poor job at taking selfies. Snapchat is not going to be your ally with this phone. If you have good lighting again, and can hold the phone VERY still (it can't focus) then a reasonable shot may be achieved - with the likeness to your webcam back in 2008...5. Video recording/playback - 4/5The video features of the phone are fairly average just like the camera, the microphone picks up sound to an ok degree as one would expect, and the videos can sometimes suffer from loss of focus issues. All round though, they work in the same situations you would want the camera for.The phone plays HD videos on its 720p screen VERY well however, and the colours look very nice and bold. I have no issues watching videos on my phone like I would my laptop.6. Ease of use - 4/5To me, this is one of the most important categories. I'm happy to say that I think the Xperia does an all-round great job at feeling very slick in how it works. The app store is VERY ease to quickly log on to and start downloading the wide range of Android apps in a jiffy. The multiple home screen system works very well for organising different spaces and apps on your phone. You can customise and move things around your home screens very easily by just holding your finger over things. The toolbox feature allows you to quickly turn off the backlight, mobile data, Wi-Fi, roaming and a whole range of other features with just the tap of a button - instead of having to trawl through Settings like I am used to. The phone has access to swipe unlock, pattern unlock as well as number code unlock, so is very versatile. I really like the LED light strip on the bottom of the phone, some may find it a little tacky or annoying, but I love it. In any case, its fully customisable to be different colours for a range of different alerts - from calls,to texts to charging/fully charged. If you really don't like it, it can be permanently switched off.To be honest, I could talk for hours on how I like features x,y and z - but I think you could figure it all out yourself without any difficulty! Please, if you have any specific questions about something that you might find to be insignificant to most, but important to you, please ask below and I'd be happy to answer.7. VALUE!I managed to pick up my Xperia SP in an October sale for only £199.99!(~$325). Comparing this phone to the other leading smartphones on the market these days, and let me tell you I definitely did my market research for good value, I find this price to be MORE than good value to warrant what the Xperia offers. Yes, you could spend £500, 600 + on an iPhone 19S, or whatever make is the newest model out now, but I honestly struggle to see what you're getting extra for over 3 times the money. You might just be paying an extra £400 for a fingerprint scanner...I would love to compare the differences of this phone to its other key midrange competitors, such as the Samsung Galaxy s4 mini, but I think this review has been long enough - and it is meant to focus on the Xperia!If you have any questions regarding the differences in more detail, and why I chose this phone, please comment below!Conclusion:The Sony Xperia SP is a sleek, attractive, great value and very easy-to-use midrange smart phone. It is underrated on the market and often it over-shadowed by Sony's own flagship Xperia Z as well as the more popular Samsung, but there's no question that the SP can more than hold its own in this very competitive market.If you want a new phone to put you up-to-date with seemingly everyone owning a smartphone, and for a great price, the Xperia SP should be for you!Thanks for reading.

I can't bring myself to write an article about this, so here are some pluses and minuses, now that I've road tested this phone for 4 months:Pluses:- Overall, the phone has been a good work horse for on the go maps, emails, web browsing, Netflix, calendar, Spotify, Kindle which is most of my usage. It has mostly provided what I asked for it, in terms of doing things smoothly and quickly (but please see below, it is not all smooth sailing)- Coming from an iPhone 3GS this was heaven, much better screen and larger too which I craved. It is just comfortable enough for me to reach the top left corner with my not overly large (right) hand. I consider one-handed use vital as I am constantly on the go and with one hand holding something- As I changed from iOS to Android, I have grown to like the on-screen widgets, which I also wanted- I love the LED bar at the bottom of the phone, which I customised to glow all sorts of different colours depending on events that happen, and personalising what happens when different contacts call/text me. Get the Illumination Bar Pro app for endless customisation. It really helps me with quickly glancing at the phone now and then to check if there is a missed call/text/email/event- It is light, and with a case on, still very comfy in the hand- Battery life has been pretty good. If I start with 100% in the morning and just do an average amount of texts, calendar, emails, some web browsing (mostly on office WiFi), maybe 20 mins of calls, and some maps or Kindle/Scrabble on the way home, I come back with around 50% left. Then in the evening it's quite often more web browsing, and Netflix. I almost never need to plug it back in before I go to bed, late. A massive improvement on the 3GS of course! I like the smart WiFi feature that turns on WiFi when it detects a known network (work and home)- I have had no problems at all with WiFi strength that many people complained online about. In fact, it picked up slightly better a network on the other end of a big house through many floors and walls, which the 3GS had trouble staying attached to.- It seems to stay connected to O2 a bit better than the 3GS in the bad end of my office- Call sound quality is good, especially with a clear voice feature turned on, much better than on the 3GS where I was really struggling to hear people. But it could definitely be louderMinuses:- While most web browsing works fine, when you browse Tumblr/Instagram blogs with lots of images, or Google Image Search, the browser (Chrome or Firefox) quickly runs out of memory and crashes. This is quite a small part of my usage but extremely irritating as the phone is basically unusable for that. It is unacceptable in a modern smartphone. Even the wheezy old 3GS coped better with this!- There are signs of stuttering such as icons taking seconds to load on the homescreens fairly frequently. Not a huge deal, but just feels a bit disappointing in a modern phone.- The speaker and headphone volume are really quite low. I have one of those small ball speakers and with the iPhone it was extremely loud at the top setting, while with the SP I really cannot hear it over the kettle boiling in the kitchen. Disappointing with Netflix. Just about OK with headphone volume, but would like more- Headphone in-line volume controls don't work with Beats or Klipsch headphones, only play-pause. Again silly and annoying - something to do with not sending enough current I believe- The camera is functional (and I like the physical button a lot) but in reality it's really rubbish compared to almost any competition. Colours are over saturated and there is heavy compression going on giving blurred edges. Zoom in, and photos look bad. I do like the exposure adjustment though which is accessible from the default camera app, making photos in darker environments easier to take. Video has trouble focussing quite often - e.g. the first 30-40 secs of a clip are blurry, and then somehow it manages to focus. Everyday clips in good light are OK, but anything with lowish light or slightly more difficult light conditions (e.g. I tried taking clips at music festivals of the main stage) is not good. I don't use the phone as a replacement camera, but as standards are so high these days, this is a disappointment.- I have had several system crashes/reboots, I guess due to memory run out. I do not play any graphic intensive games, so this was during everyday use. Most recently, the phone froze completely when I was using Google Street View in the maps app - I could not reboot the phone at all (even holding down on/volume buttons which is a known hard-reboot for Android phones). It actually was a bit of an emergency situation so I was really angry. Only when I got home and looked up what to do did I learn that there is an 'Off' reset switch under the back casing that you have to press with a pen (even that I would not have been able to do since I had no pen!). Recently there have also been quite a few more 'Unfortunately Xperia Home / Google Maps has stopped working' messages..- The ringer volume is about fine (depending on the tune) but could be louder, and the text/event notification should definitely be louder. Also vibration I would like to be more powerful. It is difficult to hear/feel things through a pocket. 3GS was better on both these counts- I have had some GPS troubles - GPS not turning on or not tracking me in the map app. The only solution is a reboot- This has started to happen more often - you press the On button to wake the phone, and the screen 'lights' but actually stays black. You have to lock and re-unlock again to actually see the PIN entry screen- There are only about 5Gb of system memory ('hard drive') available to install apps - you cannot install to the SD card. I have just checked and I only have 1.7Gb left, and I have not installed any huge apps, and I have my photos and videos saved to the SD card by default, so this is a bit of a worry now.- I had to return the first SP I got because its front speaker developed a resonant frequency vibration somewhere, which gave a buzzing sound on voice calls (but the replacement is fine)In conclusion. This phone was a huge improvement to the 3GS, and is a good phone for everyday usage, including video streaming. But it has a below-average camera and is showing some signs of being short of memory, which I have to say I have grown to think are more serious than I originally thought. Now that the Google (LG) Nexus 5 has come out at basically the same price that I paid, but better specs, I am kind of wishing I waited... For the *current* selling price though it does look like a better deal.