Sony Xperia L review
Sony Xperia L review
Design
Its a good-looking handset, with Sonys dynamic curve design that gives it a distinctive arcing shape. Its not especially slim at 10mm but that curve makes it seem thinner than it is. Top and bottom have an unusual looking slant to them too, which shows off the metallic strip that runs all the way around the handset. At the bottom theres also a rather attractive LED effect that pulses when you receive alerts.
On paper, the 4.3-inch touchscreen sounds like a step too far down towards budget level, with a resolution of 854x480 pixels -- well below the Xperia Zs full HD 1,920x1,080. At 228ppi it has roughly half the pixel density of the Xperia Z, and even behind some midprice rivals like the Google Nexus 4(320ppi). But while its perhaps lacking a bit in detail, it still manages to deliver rich and vibrant colours with good contrast that show off movies to good effect.
Android, software and processor
Its running Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean which is a perfectly fine operating system, but one thats now starting to look a bit old, especially with version 4.3 already starting to appear. Still, the age isnt immediately obvious since Sony has updated its user interface and you can now arrange the icons on the various screens in different ways -- alphabetical, most used or your own custom arrangement.
The dual-core processor is backed by 1GB RAM which is pretty much the least wed expect on a phone of this price these days. It does a decent if unspectacular job of keeping all its various processing balls in the air, though it did start to lag just a little with a handful of apps running at the same time. In our AnTuTu benchmark test it managed 10,918 -- not bad, but noticeably behind Samsungs recent S4 dual-core devices like the S4 Mini and S4 Zoom.
Photography
The 8-megapixel camera includes an LED flash, autofocus and Sonys Exmor RS sensor for better capability in low light. It starts up very quickly and you can get it going even quicker with the Quick Launch mode, which takes a snap or starts the video running as soon as you switch on. Other features to play with include HDR, panorama mode, image stabilisation and calibrated smile detection (you can set it to detect different levels of smile). Picture quality is pretty good overall, with nice sharp edges and accurate colour balance.
Photography
The 8-megapixel camera includes an LED flash, autofocus and Sonys Exmor RS sensor for better capability in low light. It starts up very quickly and you can get it going even quicker with the Quick Launch mode, which takes a snap or starts the video running as soon as you switch on. Other features to play with include HDR, panorama mode, image stabilisation and calibrated smile detection (you can set it to detect different levels of smile). Picture quality is pretty good overall, with nice sharp edges and accurate colour balance.
Theres 8GB of memory on board, though you can bump that up by a further 32GB via microSD card -- not for apps though, just pics, vids and music. The battery held up reasonably well too, giving us around a day and a half of steady use.
Conclusion
The Sony Xperia L is far from the cutting edge of smartphone development, but its a good looking, solidly built low to midrange device with a decent screen and a pretty good camera. The processor is a little lacking, and its a shame its not running the latest version of Android but its a solidly capable handset for the money.
