Advantages: The main advantage of the X1 is that Sony has finally turned its face to generally accepted standards: firstly, regular microSD memory cards instead of the less common Memory Stick, secondly, a 3.5mm audio jack and miniUSB instead of a combined Fast Port, like a bathroom, and c- thirdly, not very favorite but very standard Winmobile 6.1. Total - now you can use relatively cheap memory cards, any ears, synchronize and charge both it and the player with the camera via the same cord, install a lot of programs from a huge pile of software easily available on the Internet (filling the gaping gaps in the standard software) . The speed is quite sufficient for the operation of almost all programs (I just haven’t tried video playback, the screen is still not for cinema), the system’s operation is quite stable, in 4 months the reset was needed 3 times. Of the other advantages already listed in previous reviews, I would like to repeat about a nice design, high quality workmanship, a full set of wireless interfaces, reliable signal reception and quick search network, quite decent operating time, excellent picture quality. Quite decent standard headphones - not Sennhaiser, but you can listen to music quite well.
Flaws: What I personally didn’t like: despite the excellent picture quality, the screen is narrow and on-screen keyboard You can only poke with a stylus. And the retractable layout is far from QWERTY; the keys are still too small for my not very thick fingers, plus there is no cursor control. :-(Moreover, when you call up the on-screen keyboard, a scroll bar does not always appear, especially in the program registration window: entering the registration code blindly when the input window is completely blocked by the pop-up keyboard is still a pleasure. The buttons on the control panel are also not very convenient - well, very good with the location The stylus (by the way, quite convenient) was also overdone - even after 4 months of use, when I remove it, I remember their Japanese mother. And for placing the reset button under the cover (And this is in a device running Windows!!!), the developers are generally sentenced to lifelong use of only this model. When reading, the scroll wheel is really missing, but this is Sonkin’s own patent. :-(4 LEDs at the ends of the device are cool, but absolutely impractical: if the machine is in your hand or in a holster, this illumination is not visible, and even in the sun they are practically invisible. It is easy to accidentally block the external speaker and then it is almost inaudible. There is no indication of the operation of wireless interfaces, if you forget to turn it off via Comm Nanager, they will waste the battery in vain. The reliability of the network signal level indication leaves much to be desired: maybe after 5 minutes. in the same place, after 4 bars, show one, but the call goes through normally and the connection is stable. The battery charge indication is displayed in 10% increments - well, a very controversial decision. Changing the firmware via the Internet and SEUS is also not for everyone; you could give users a choice: update automatically or download the required firmware themselves. The equipment is ascetic: a spare stylus for a Russian person is a useful thing, it’s either broken or loved, but the lack of a holster, protective film and fastening in the car is, in my opinion, redneck. It wouldn't affect the price that much.
Mid-level model with a nice design and balanced characteristics
Last spring in Barcelona during the Mobile World Congress, Sony not only felt proud of its flagship smartphone Xperia XZ Premium, which was favored by the press and critics, but also managed to present a new product from the middle class, which became the successor of the Xperia XA family. The new smartphone, called the Sony Xperia XA1, does not have cool flagship features, such as recording slo-mo videos at 960 frames per second, but it can also do something. Today we present detailed review one of the most balanced and affordable models modern smartphones Japanese manufacturer.
Main characteristics of Sony Xperia XA1 (G3112)
- SoC MediaTek Helio P20 (MT6757), 8 cores ARM Cortex-A53 @1.6/2.3 GHz
- GPU Mali-T880
- operating room Android system 7.0
- Touch display IPS 5″, 1280×720, 293 ppi
- Random access memory (RAM) 3 GB, inner memory 32 GB
- Nano-SIM support (2 pcs.)
- MicroSD support up to 256 GB
- GSM/GPRS/EDGE networks (850/900/1800/1900 MHz)
- WCDMA/HSPA+ networks (850/900/1900/2100 MHz)
- LTE networks Cat.4/6 (B1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 12, 13, 17, 20, 28, 38, 39, 40, 41, 66)
- Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac (2.4 and 5 GHz)
- Bluetooth 4.2
- GPS, A-GPS, Glonass
- USB Type-C,USB OTG
- Main camera 23 MP, f/2.0, autofocus, 1080p video
- Front camera 8 MP, f/2.0, fixed. focus
- Proximity, lighting, magnetic field sensors, accelerometer
- Battery 2300 mAh
- Dimensions 145×67×8 mm
- Weight 143 g
Appearance and ease of use
In the new season, Sony Mobile is not going to deviate from long-standing traditions: all new smartphones, including the Xperia XA1, use the familiar Loop Surface principle. That is, the metal frame, bending, with its curved edges extends onto all panels - front, back and end.
At the same time, the body continues to remain “square”, with sharp corners, this is also a signature touch of all mobile devices of the Japanese brand. Company representatives steadfastly endure all user complaints about the sharp corners of Sony smartphones tearing their pockets, and continue to stand their ground.
The Sony Xperia XA1 body received a shape that is not quite familiar to ordinary smartphones, with a very thin frame on the sides of the screen, but with very wide top and bottom margins. The result is a thin and long, elongated device, and its sharp corners (without any rounding at all) visually lengthen it even more. Of course, the narrow device is held well in the hand due to a comfortable grip, but it cannot be said that, for example, the Huawei Nova 2 with slightly wider sides, but much smoother contours and rounded corners, fits worse in the hand.
The case turned out to be non-slip and non-marking, but its matte plastic back wall is instantly covered with numerous and quite noticeable scratches, this is noted by many users who have encountered the problem. The cute Sony Xperia XA1 can quickly lose its presentable appearance if measures are not taken to protect it.
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At the top of the front panel, in addition to the sensors and front camera, there is an LED event indicator.
At the bottom, as usual for Sony smartphones, there are no touch buttons, but at the same time there remains an empty, unoccupied space almost two centimeters high. By modern standards, a device with such indents looks somehow old-fashioned, old-school.
The glass surface of the panel has subtle curves on the sides, but the sloping edges are barely defined and the bends are minimal. The smartphone, which costs 22 thousand rubles, did not receive a fingerprint scanner at all, and this is a rather strong disadvantage of the Xperia XA1; it is impossible to find an excuse for this at such a price.
On the back side there is only a single camera eye with a flash, also single. The flash is not very bright. These elements do not protrude beyond the surface, so the smartphone lies firmly on a hard surface.
Hardware buttons are located on the right side. The one that is responsible for power and locking has a round shape, the rest of the buttons are of the usual shape, oblong.
Naturally, there is a traditional Sony dedicated key responsible for working with the camera. The Xperia XA1 model does not have protection from dust and moisture.
You can simultaneously install three cards into the smartphone: two Nano-SIM format SIM cards are placed on the sled, and next to it there is a separate slot connector for a microSD memory card, without a retractable tray. All connectors are covered with a convenient cover that does not need to be pulled out with a special key or paperclip. All Sony smartphones automatically reboot as soon as the SIM card slots are removed from the case, regardless of whether the cards are installed in the slots.
At the top end there is an audio output for headphones (3.5 mm), as well as an auxiliary microphone.
The bottom end is given over to the speaker output and a universal USB Type-C connector that supports connecting external devices in USB mode OTG. The main conversational microphone is located at the very bottom of the front panel, not at the end.
Sony Xperia XA1 is available in four colors: white, black, gold and pink. The front panel under the glass in all cases matches the overall color of the case, which visually makes the design more holistic. In addition, Sony has decided to always set the color themes of the interface in accordance with the color of the body, which makes the image of the product complete.
Screen
Sony Xperia XA1 features an IPS display with Corning protective glass Gorilla Glass. Perhaps, formally, this glass belongs to the category of 2.5D glass, but the sloping edges are very weakly expressed, the curves are barely visible. A certain image enhancement technology is used without any symbols or names. The screen dimensions are 62x110 mm with a diagonal of 5 inches. The resolution is 1280×720, the pixel density is about 293 ppi. The frame around the screen has a minimum (about a millimeter of the black frame and about a millimeter of the body itself) thickness on the sides, a total of 2 mm. But the indentations at the top and bottom range from 16 to 17 mm.
The display brightness can be adjusted manually or set automatic settings, based on the operation of the ambient light sensor. The AnTuTu test diagnoses support for 4 simultaneous multi-touch touches.
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A detailed examination using measuring instruments was carried out by the editor of the “Monitors” and “Projectors and TV” sections Alexey Kudryavtsev. Here is his expert opinion on the screen of the sample under study.
The front surface of the screen is made in the form of a glass plate with a mirror-smooth surface that is scratch-resistant. Judging by the reflection of objects, the anti-glare properties of the screen are better than those of the Google Nexus 7 (2013) screen (hereinafter simply Nexus 7). For clarity, here is a photograph in which a white surface is reflected in the switched off screens of both devices (Sony Xperia XA1, as it is not difficult to determine, is on the right; then they can be distinguished by size):
Both screens are dark, but the Sony screen is still darker (its brightness in the photo is 108 versus 112 for the Nexus 7). Tripling reflected objects in Sony screen Xperia XA1 is very weak, this indicates that there is no air gap between the outer glass (also known as the touch sensor) and the surface of the matrix (OGS - One Glass Solution type screen). Due to the smaller number of boundaries (glass/air type) with very different refractive indices, such screens look better in conditions of intense external illumination, but their repair in the case of cracked external glass is much more expensive, since the entire screen has to be replaced. The outer surface of the screen has a special oleophobic (grease-repellent) coating (effective, better than that of the Nexus 7), so fingerprints are removed much more easily and appear at a lower rate than with regular glass.
When manually controlling the brightness and displaying the white field in full screen, its maximum value was about 490 cd/m², and the minimum was 40 cd/m². The maximum value is high, and, given the excellent anti-glare properties, the image on the screen should be clearly visible in bright daylight. In complete darkness, the brightness can be reduced to a comfortable level. Works automatic adjustment brightness by the light sensor (it is located to the right of the logo on the front panel). IN automatic mode When external lighting conditions change, the screen brightness both increases and decreases. This function is dependent on brightness adjustment. If it is at a minimum, then in complete darkness the auto-brightness function reduces the brightness to 5.5 cd/m² (dark), in an office illuminated by artificial light (approximately 550 lux) it sets it to 110 cd/m² (normal), in a bright environment (corresponding to lighting on a slightly cloudy day outdoors - about 10,000 lux) increases to 500 cd/m² (even slightly more than the maximum with manual adjustment). If the brightness slider is at half scale, then the screen brightness for the three conditions indicated above is as follows: 50, 210 and 500 cd/m² (a little bright in the dark). If the brightness control is set to maximum - 110, 320, 500 cd/m² (the first two values are too high). We were more satisfied with the option with a slider of about 10% - 30, 140, 500 cd/m². It turns out that the auto-brightness function works adequately and to some extent allows the user to customize their work to individual requirements. At any brightness level, there is no significant backlight modulation, so there is no screen flicker.
This screen uses an IPS type matrix. The microphotographs show a typical IPS subpixel structure:
For comparison, you can see the gallery of microphotographs of screens used in mobile technology.
The screen has good viewing angles without inverting shades (except for the very, very dark ones when deviating along one diagonal) and without significant color shifts even with large deviations of the view from perpendicular to the screen. For comparison, here are photographs in which the same images are displayed on the screens of the Nexus 7 and Sony Xperia XA1, while the screen brightness is initially set to approximately 200 cd/m² (over a white field in the entire screen), and the color balance on the camera is forcibly switched to 6500 K .
White field perpendicular to the plane of the screens:
Note the good uniformity of brightness and color tone of the white field.
And a test picture:
Colors are moderately saturated on both screens, and the color balance is noticeably different.
Now at an angle of approximately 45 degrees to the plane and to the side of the screen:
It can be seen that the colors have not changed much on both screens, but on the Sony Xperia XA1 the contrast has decreased to a greater extent due to the greater brightening of blacks, and there are also signs of inversion of dark shades.
And a white field:
The brightness at an angle for both screens decreased noticeably, but in the case of the Sony Xperia XA1 the drop in brightness is slightly less. When deviated diagonally, the black field brightens greatly and acquires a purple or reddish tint. The photographs below demonstrate this (the brightness of the white areas in the direction perpendicular to the plane of the screens is the same for the screens!):
And from another angle:
When viewed perpendicularly, the uniformity of the black field is good:
The contrast (approximately in the center of the screen) is normal - about 860:1. The response time for the black-white-black transition is 25 ms (12 ms on + 13 ms off). The transition between halftones of gray 25% and 75% (based on the numerical value of the color) and back takes a total of 35 ms. The gamma curve, constructed using 32 points with equal intervals based on the numerical value of the shade of gray, did not reveal any blockage in either the highlights or the shadows. The exponent of the approximating power function is 2.20, which is equal to the standard value of 2.20, while the real gamma curve deviates little from the power dependence:
Due to the presence of dynamic adjustment of the backlight brightness in accordance with the nature of the output image (in dark images, the brightness tends to decrease), the resulting dependence of brightness on hue (gamma curve) may not correspond to the gamma curve of a static image, since the measurements were carried out with sequential output of shades gray almost all over the screen. For this reason, we carried out a number of tests - determining contrast and response time, comparing black illumination at angles - when displaying special templates with a constant average brightness, and not monochromatic fields in the entire screen. In general, such non-disabled brightness correction does nothing but harm, since it reduces the visibility of gradations in the shadows in the case of dark images. In addition, this dynamic adjustment when displaying any image other than a white field on the entire screen significantly reduces the brightness, which impairs readability in bright light, and the constant adjustment of brightness can be very annoying.
Color gamut is close to sRGB:
The spectra show that the matrix filters moderately mix the components with each other:
As a result, visually the colors have a natural saturation. The balance of shades on the gray scale is good, since Colorful temperature is close to the standard 6500 K, and the deviation from the blackbody spectrum (ΔE) is below 10, which is considered an acceptable indicator for a consumer device. At the same time, color temperature and ΔE change little from hue to hue - this has a positive effect on the visual assessment of color balance. (The darkest areas of the gray scale can be ignored, since color balance there is not very important, and the error in measuring color characteristics at low brightness is large.)
This smartphone has the ability to adjust the color balance by adjusting the intensities of the three primary colors.
That's what we tried to do, the result is data signed as Corr. in the graphs above. As a result, we slightly improved the balance on the white field, but in fact it makes no sense to make corrections in this case. In the settings you can choose one of three correction profiles.
The photos above are taken for option Switch off. Note that the correction only works in Sony applications - when viewing images and, apparently, in the video player. This is what happens if you select a profile Extreme brightness mode:
The color contrast increases, nothing remains of the naturalness of the colors. In mode Image enhancement image correction is not so extreme:
Let's summarize. Brightness adjustment range of this screen wide, anti-glare properties are excellent, which allows you to comfortably use your smartphone both on a sunny day outside and in complete darkness. It is also possible to use a mode with automatic brightness adjustment, which works adequately. The advantages include an effective oleophobic coating, no air gap in the screen layers and flicker, good black field uniformity, and close to sRGB color gamut and good color balance. The disadvantages are the low stability of black to the deviation of the gaze from perpendicular to the screen plane, as well as the non-switchable dynamic adjustment of the backlight brightness. Nevertheless, taking into account the importance of characteristics for this particular class of devices (and the most important thing is the visibility of information in a wide range of external conditions), the quality of the screen can be considered high.
Cameras
The front module has a 1/4″ Exmor R sensor with a resolution of 8 MP, as well as a 23 mm wide-angle lens with f/2.0 aperture and autofocus, but without its own flash. The maximum light sensitivity of the matrix is ISO 3200.
The shooting quality is good: the image is bright, the sharpness across the entire field of the frame is satisfactory, there are no complaints about detail.
For main Sony cameras used its 1/2.3″ 23-megapixel Exmor RS module for mobile devices with a pixel size of 1.22 microns. The 23mm wide-angle lens has an f/2.0 aperture. The maximum light sensitivity of the matrix is ISO 6400, but you can manually set only ISO 3200. There is a digital 5x Clear Image zoom and proprietary electronic stabilization SteadyShot, as well as fast hybrid autofocus.
The control menu is standard for all Sony devices; it is not very convenient, since the settings are scattered in different places, but for regular users this is no longer a problem. Automatic and manual shooting control modes are standard; it is possible to download and install additional modes. As usual, there is an AR effect with augmented reality.
Manual settings, as usual, offer access to shutter speed, ISO, exposure compensation, white balance and focus options. True, the camera always turns on in auto mode if you use the side button.
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The camera can shoot video in a maximum resolution of 1080p with the H.264 codec; there are no 4K and 60 fps modes. The camera does not cope well with video shooting. Focusing does not fail, but the image is loose, detail is not as high as we would like. The sound recording is clear, but the noise reduction system suppresses certain frequencies too much, deafness appears, and the sound loses its natural liveliness.
- Video No. 1 (27 MB, 1920×1080@30 fps, H.264, AAC)
- Video No. 2 (25 MB, 1920×1080@30 fps, H.264, AAC)
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The sharpness across the frame is quite good. |
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The camera does relatively well when shooting indoors. |
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The camera copes with macro photography. |
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The text is well done. |
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The license plates of nearby cars are distinguishable. |
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Sharpness according to plans is not bad. |
The camera turned out, as follows from most reviews, not bad. It copes well in high light, but at the slightest drop, large grain from the noise reduction begins to appear. However, it does not always spoil the details: in most cases, the noise reduction is quite accurate. You can often notice small areas of out of focus around the edges of the frame. Otherwise, the camera is really quite good and will cope well with documentary shooting.
Telephone and communications
MediaTek Helio P20 supports LTE Cat.6 with maximum download speeds of up to 300 Mbps, and in some regions it Sony model Xperia XA1 is supported, while others can use slower LTE Cat.4 (up to 150Mbps). A large number of LTE FDD and TDD frequency bands are supported, including all three of the most common bands in Russia (Band 3, 7, 20). In the city limits of the Moscow region, the device did not behave quite confidently, it took a long time to “catch” the network, demonstrated far from the maximum possible speeds in familiar test places, and there were always one or two “sticks” on the indicators, although this, of course, was not A completely objective indicator. In general, I got the impression that once again the Sony smartphone is not doing very well with the sensitivity of the radio modem, such a sin is common with them.
In addition, Bluetooth 4.2 is supported, both Wi-Fi range(2.4 and 5 GHz), there is NFC with support for Mifare Classic, that is, the device works with an application for travel documents. You can organize a wireless access point via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth channels. The USB Type-C connector supports connecting external devices in USB OTG mode.
When dialing a number, Smart Dial is supported with search by the first letters in contacts. IN phone book you can find standard Android options for sorting and displaying contacts.
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Software and multimedia
OS is used as a software platform Android versions 7.0 and its own proprietary shell, which changes little from series to series. However, updates happen, and right now it's the closest thing to stock Android.
This is not the first time that Sony Xperia smartphones have used Xperia Actions technology, which studies user behavior and helps in various situations with customizable settings and personalized recommendations. For example, Xperia can learn to detect what time you usually go to bed and wake up, so it can dim the screen brightness and lower the call volume at those times. Smart Cleaner automatically disables unused apps and clears the cache to free up memory.
The set also remained familiar preinstalled programs, moving from model to model (Movie Creator, Sketch, AVG antivirus). By default, all Sony smartphones come with a SwiftKey keyboard pre-installed.
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To play music, the device uses a familiar branded player with a familiar set of settings for optimizing ClearAudio+ sound.
The sound of the main speaker is rather faded and quiet; there are no two stereo speakers, as in older models. In headphones, the device sounds more or less decent: the sound is clear, loud and rich, although low frequencies not in excess, and it cannot be called crystal clear. To use certain models of in-house headphones, Sony has preinstalled ready-made profiles. There is also a built-in FM radio. But, as usual, there is no voice recorder application on Sony smartphones.
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Performance
The Sony Xperia XA1 hardware platform is based on a single-chip system MediaTek MT6757 (Helio P20), made using 16-nanometer technology. This SoC includes eight 64-bit ARM Cortex-A53 cores in two clusters with a frequency of 1.6 or 2.3 GHz. The dual-core Mali-T880 GPU is responsible for graphics processing. The amount of RAM is 3 GB, and the built-in flash memory is 32 GB. Initially free 23 GB file storage and 1.7 GB random access memory.
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MediaTek MT6757 (Helio P20) is a relatively recent SoC released in 2016, designed for mid-range smartphones and tablets. It is quite productive: at the level of Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 and noticeably more powerful than the previous MediaTek MT6755 (Helio P10). In the AnTuTu test, the hero of the review demonstrates a quite decent 60K-plus points, this is a confident average level.
This SoC provides the system with reliable performance and in real scenarios allows the smartphone to cope with any modern tasks. There are no problems with games either; all the games we tested, including Modern Combat 5, Mortal Kombat X and others, run without slowdowns.
Testing in comprehensive tests AnTuTu and GeekBench:
All the results we obtained when testing the smartphone in the most latest versions popular benchmarks, we have summarized them in tables for convenience. The table usually adds several other devices from different segments, also tested on similar latest versions benchmarks (this is done only for a visual assessment of the obtained dry figures). Unfortunately, within the framework of one comparison it is impossible to present the results from different versions benchmarks, so many worthy and relevant models remain “behind the scenes” - due to the fact that at one time they passed the “obstacle course” on previous versions test programs.
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Testing the graphics subsystem in gaming tests 3DMark, GFXBenchmark and Bonsai Benchmark:
When testing in 3DMark, the most powerful smartphones now have the ability to run the application in Unlimited mode, where the rendering resolution is fixed at 720p and VSync is disabled (which can cause the speed to rise above 60 fps).
| Sony Xperia XA1 (MediaTek MT 6757) |
Huawei Nova 2 (HiSilicon Kirin 659) |
HTC One X10 (MediaTek (MT6755) |
Asus Zenfone 3
(Qualcomm Snapdragon 625) |
Nokia 5 (Qualcomm Snapdragon 430) |
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| 3DMark Ice Storm Sling Shot (more is better) |
671 | 413 | 421 | 466 | 299 |
| GFXBenchmark Manhattan ES 3.1 (Onscreen, fps) | 15 | 5,2 | 5 | 6 | 10 |
| GFXBenchmark Manhattan ES 3.1 (1080p Offscreen, fps) | 6 | 4,7 | 5 | 6 | 4,6 |
| GFXBenchmark T-Rex (Onscreen, fps) | 32 | 20 | 17 | 22 | 20 |
| GFXBenchmark T-Rex (1080p Offscreen, fps) | 21 | 18 | 17 | 23 | 16 |
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Browser cross-platform tests:
As for benchmarks for assessing the speed of the javascript engine, you should always make allowance for the fact that their results significantly depend on the browser in which they are launched, so the comparison can only be truly correct on the same OS and browsers, and this is possible during testing not always. For Android OS, we always try to use Google Chrome.
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Further testing of video playback was performed Alexey Kudryavtsev.
Theoretically possible support for adapters for output to external device We were unable to check the images due to the lack of an adapter option that connects to USB port Type-C, so we had to limit ourselves to testing the output of video files on the screen of the device itself. To do this, we used a set of test files with an arrow and a rectangle moving one division per frame (see “Method for testing video playback and display devices. Version 1 (for mobile devices)”). Screenshots with a shutter speed of 1 s helped determine the nature of the output of frames of video files with various parameters: the resolution varied (1280 by 720 (720p), 1920 by 1080 (1080p) and 3840 by 2160 (4K) pixels) and frame rate (24, 25, 30, 50 and 60 fps). In the tests we used the MX Player video player in the “Hardware” mode. The test results are summarized in the table:
Note: If in both columns Uniformity And Passes Green ratings are given, this means that, most likely, when watching films, artifacts caused by uneven alternation and frame skipping will either not be visible at all, or their number and visibility will not affect the viewing comfort. Red marks indicate possible problems with playback of the corresponding files.
According to the frame output criterion, the quality of playback of video files on the screen of the smartphone itself is good, since frames (or groups of frames) can (but are not required) be output with more or less uniform alternation of intervals and, in most cases, without skipping frames. When playing video files with a resolution of 1280 by 720 (720p) on a smartphone screen, the image of the video file itself is displayed exactly along the border of the screen, one to one in pixels, that is, in the original resolution. The brightness range displayed on the screen corresponds to the actual range - all gradations are displayed in shadows and highlights.
Battery life
Fixed accumulator battery, installed in the Sony Xperia XA1, traditionally has a small capacity of 2300 mAh. As expected, a smartphone with such a small battery, and even on the MediaTek platform, which has never been famous for its economical power consumption, does not demonstrate high level autonomy. The level, one might say, is barely satisfactory by modern standards.
Testing has traditionally been done at normal power consumption levels without using power-saving features. Naturally, there is a proprietary energy-saving Smart Stamina mode, and the proprietary Qnovo Adaptive Charging technology is responsible for a more gentle approach to battery charging.
Continuous reading in the Moon+ Reader program (with a standard, light theme) at a minimum comfortable brightness level (brightness was set to 100 cd/m²) with auto-scrolling lasted no more than 13 hours until the battery was completely discharged, and when continuously watching videos in high quality (720p ) with the same brightness level through home network The Wi-Fi device works for 8.5 hours. In 3D gaming mode, the smartphone can operate for about 4 hours.
From regular network adapter The smartphone is fully charged within 2 hours 45 minutes with a current of 1.28 A at a voltage of 5 V. Wireless charging smartphone does not support.
Bottom line
The device has already been presented in Russian retail; the official price of the Sony Xperia XA1 is 22 thousand rubles. For this money, the user gets a balanced mid-range smartphone that is not the highest flight, but also without noticeable failures. The screen, the camera, the performance of the hardware system, the set of communication modules, the sound in the headphones - everything is at a completely satisfactory and even good level. The sound of the main speaker and the level of autonomy are worse than we would like at this price, but overpricing has always been the norm for Sony products. This does not stop true fans of the brand; they overpay for a popular brand, as well as for confidence in the high quality of the company’s products.
XPERIA X1 has not even appeared yet, but has already become a record holder. Record holder for the time it goes on sale. It “only” took her a little over a year to get into our hands, as well as on the shelves of Ukrainian stores. Was our wait worth it?
Standard GSM 850/900/1800/1900 (GPRS/EDGE)/UMTS 900/1900/2100 (HSDPA/HSPA)
Dimensions and weight 111×53×17 mm, 158 g
OS Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional
CPU n/a
Memory 256 MB RAM, 400 MB Flash ROM+ microSD (up to 16 GB)
Screen TFT, 3", 800×480 pixels
Battery, autonomy Li-Ion, 1500 mAh, 1-2 days
Communications USB (Mini-USB) 2.0, Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR, A2DP, Wi-Fi
Camera 3.2 MP, max. 2048×1536 pixels, autofocus, video recording (VGA, 30 fps), backlight
Working with messages SMS, MMS, e-mail
Audio formats MP3, MIDI, WAV, WMA, AMR, AAC, AAC+, Real Audio
Video formats 3GP, WMV, Real Video, MPEG-4
Internet browser WAP 2.0, HTML, XHTML, Opera Mobile
Additional features GPS SiRF Star III; radio, X-panels, 3.5 mm jack
Design; ergonomics of the QWERTY keyboard; the idea of X-panels, their expandability; multimedia
Ergonomics of the control key block; X-panels need improvement
An extremely interesting WM communicator from a company specializing in multimedia devices Oh. The result almost met expectations
Verdict
Product provided by Sony Ericsson
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At the time of its announcement, XPERIA created a sensation. Of course, the first Sony Ericsson communicator on Windows Mobile, a new user interface, an “advanced” multimedia component, etc. Then it turned out that the release dates were postponed, then postponed again... Soon HTC Diamond, Touch Pro, Samsung Witu appeared. Both journalists and users began to forget about XPERIA. And finally she reached us, and interest awoke with renewed vigor. I desperately wanted to know what we had been waiting for so long. As it turned out, the interest of potential users also did not fade away: this was demonstrated both by the activity of readers on and the reaction of people who saw this device in the hands of the editorial staff. It remains to be seen whether the product is worthy of such attention, whether the competitors managed to get ahead during the time they received as a head start? Our detailed test is designed to answer these questions.
Appearance
The device looks very cool. We got the black version. It’s impossible to say with certainty that it’s more interesting than the combined one (we haven’t seen the second one live), but this one looks its best. The metal body with a dark coating evokes associations with blued steel and generally suggests that this is a device capable of solving any combat mission and reliable, like a Kalashnikov assault rifle. In a word, XPERIA really looks cool, is built well, and really doesn’t let you part with it. Moreover, when open, the device is no less impressive: the light, again metal, keyboard block contrasts favorably with the dark body. In general, a solid A for appearance.
Display
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With a diagonal of three inches, the XPERIA display has a resolution of 800x480 pixels. To clearly imagine how much it is, it is worth making a picture of this size and displaying it on the computer display in “full size”. Naturally, there can be no question of any graininess - the display is magnificent. There are also no complaints about the picture quality and displayed colors. In the sun, the screen fades, but not too much, remaining quite readable. There is a light sensor, thanks to which the brightness of the backlight can be adjusted automatically, saving your battery power and vision. Processing of clicks is carried out without problems - everything is typical for such devices. There is only one minus, and it is not even related to the display as such, but to its design. According to the old “communication” tradition, the screen is recessed into the body, which contributes to the accumulation of dirt around the edges. There is an opinion that this is even better - there is somewhere to glue the protective film. But we believe that in modern devices with an interface focused on control without a stylus, this should no longer be the case.
Ergonomics
But ergonomics, especially some of its aspects, are perhaps the weakest point of the XPERIA. Although the problem is most likely not even in the communicator itself (by and large, everything is “on the level”), but in the fact that we are gradually getting used to the best and want everything to correspond to this best. However, first things first.
Our complaints are primarily caused by the controls of the communicator. An external keyboard is a prime example of the triumph of design over common sense. The layout as a whole is unsuccessful - the keys are located too low and close to the edge of the case, you need to reach for them, as a result of which the rather heavy device is outweighed. But the keys themselves are extremely inconvenient. Not only are the accept/end-end buttons the smallest of all, but also “thanks to” their shape, you have to press the very edge. Doing this without aiming is quite difficult. Apparently, the one who designed these buttons himself did not believe that they would be used, but would rely more on the touch interface.
The joystick is really interesting. Firstly, it is large, protrudes above the body and is very comfortable. With the OK button in the middle - everything is as it should be. And secondly, this same OK button is also a touchpad, quite suitable for scrolling. But if the company, so to speak, went all the way and added a free cursor to this joystick, which could be controlled like on a laptop, there would be no price for such a solution! But this is already from the category of “used to the best.”
We have few complaints about the full QWERTY keyboard. The buttons are small, but well separated, the action is clear - everything is just great. And although not all the Cyrillic layout fits into its usual places, there is a slight shift at the bottom right, but there are a minimum of key combinations. You can complain about the lack of cursor control arrows, but in principle it’s easy to do without them thanks to the joystick on the right side, which your thumb can easily reach.
Functionality, performance
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In terms of functionality, if you don't take into account the X-panels, the Sony Ericsson X1 seems quite ordinary. To paraphrase the classic, all Windows communicators are the same inside, only each user interface is original in its own way. So XPERIA, as far as the “panels” are concerned, is, in principle, a typical communicator, which, due to high resolution The display looks rather poor in performance tests. The only plus we can put is the presence of a 3D accelerator, which has proven itself excellent in games, but the device turned out to be too tough for unconverted video, which is somewhat disappointing, especially in comparison with regular phones, because some of them can easily cope with VGA resolution and video stream. 1.5 Mbit/s.
X panels
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| Spb Mobile Shell is the most interesting and functional panel on this moment, which seriously improves operation of the device | ||
Finally we got to the most interesting part - X-panels. What is it? X-panels is an interface within which the user can work with individual applications, panels, the capabilities of which are very wide - from performing one simple function to complete control over the communicator. They are called by a special key; no more than nine can be displayed on the screen at a time. Actions with panels are accompanied by beautiful animation - everything flies around the Desktop and turns over. It just slows down a bit - we hope that the programmers will be able to optimize this moment. The user is free to place panels at his own discretion, choosing the most necessary ones. Only one is firmly fixed - the Today screen, which opens access to the traditional Work Windows desktop Mobile. Unfortunately, the choice of panels is not very wide, but official page There are only a few XPERIA devices, and third-party developers have not yet paid enough attention to this niche. Installation of new panels is very simple: they are familiar .cab files that can be installed using a synchronization program or downloaded directly to the device. Unfortunately, the implementation of the panels cannot yet be called final. There is a serious drawback - the lack of multitasking. So, after launching the player, you cannot exit this panel and go to Facebook - playback will stop. But click Start and launch Opera - please. Only if you then click on X-panels will the playback still stop. It’s an annoying flaw, but, as far as we know, the company is actively working on this and promises to fix everything in the next software versions.
Multimedia
And now, armed with the knowledge that using X-panels from a multimedia point of view is possible with some reservations, we proceed directly to studying the possibilities.
Multimedia panel. In fact, we have a painfully familiar multimedia menu, which can be found in almost every new Sony Ericsson phone. In any case, it looks very similar - the same Image Viewer, Music and Video Players, Contacts (read below for why they were brought here - read below) and Games. Moreover, the games are not only preinstalled, but also installed by you. Magic, no less. But seriously, the presence of Contacts in the multimedia panel amused us at first, but then we realized that such a solution is quite rational. Since we can’t implement multitasking, let’s give the user the opportunity to at least conveniently make calls, write SMS and e-mail directly from here, from the player. The solution is extraordinary and probably temporary, but, as they say, thanks for that.
The music player is interesting - it looks great and is not lacking in functionality. An organized library with metadata and tags is welcome. Everything is updated automatically, right up to the instantaneous appearance of newly recorded music in the menu. But the most important thing is the sound. It is simply magnificent, and without discounting the fact that this is a WM communicator. This is the best thing we have ever listened to on this platform; the terminal definitely “plays” in the same weight category as the leading music devices of our time. Record your favorite tracks on a memory card, take your usual headphones, go to the store and listen. It's worth it.
The video player is also implemented very well. True, as we have already said, it cannot cope with unconverted video, but if you adapt a video specifically for it, with a stream of up to a megabit and a resolution up to VGA, in a digestible format, for example the H.264 codec (container.m4v), - the result will please you. You can get hundreds of videos like this different ways, and any iPod/iPhone/PSP video converter can help you with this.
Exploitation
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In the best traditions of multimedia devices, Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1 is equipped with two speakers designed to provide high-quality stereo sound. Indeed, the device plays well and is quite loud. But on the street this is still not enough, and it is very easy to miss a call. The vibration signal doesn’t help either; in fact, it’s very weak - the device is heavy, and it’s not so easy to “shake” it. The body does not show a tendency to rub off, and apparently the paint will last a long time. The autonomy of the device is not outstanding: browsing, GPS, Wi-Fi/3.5G network, conversations - all this drains the battery very quickly.
conclusions
What's the end result? Not a revolution, unfortunately. Rather, he is a good, very good communicator, who still needs some time to be “processed with a file.” Multitasking of the panels will be added, their work will speed up a little, the software will become stable - and here it is, an excellent multimedia communicator. But this does not mean that he is not interesting now. On the contrary, it’s sometimes nice to feel like a pioneer, to be the first to try new panels and firmware, to see how the device improves before your eyes. I want to believe that all this will happen. In the meantime, we have before us an interesting communicator, excellent in appearance and not at all empty inside. And only time will tell whether Sony Ericsson will be able to develop the full potential of not only this device, but also the future XPERIA line - if it is destined to appear. The result is a well-deserved four stars and recommendations to take a closer look at it when choosing a new device. I would really like to give it a five, but we don’t like to give ratings in advance.
Alternatives
XPERIA X1 or HTC Touch Pro?
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| HTC Touch Pro |
These communicators are very close to each other - due to the fact that the X1 was created on the basis of the HTC model. The product form factor and basic configuration elements are the same, but the prices are currently almost the same. The most significant hardware differences are the resolution, and therefore the aspect ratio of the screen and the associated features of the QWERTY keyboard layout and, of course, the case materials. The XPERIA is more elongated, which makes it feel more like a “phone” and fits more comfortably in the hand when talking, and its “sparse” alphabetical keyboard is easier to work with. Both communicators are equipped with specially developed software shells, with the HTC TouchFLO 3D being less functional, but more ergonomic and better integrated into the system. Ultimately, when choosing between these two models, we would prefer the XPERIA.
XPERIA X1 or top all-in-one communicators?
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| Samsung SGH-i900 Witu |
If you plan to use your communicator specifically as universal device, that is, to constantly make calls from it, it makes sense to compare the XPERIA with two models of a similar class, also designed as “phones”, but in an all-in-one case - HTC Touch Diamond and Samsung SGH-i900 Witu. All three products differ significantly from each other, so it will be interesting to choose. To briefly describe its competitors, HTC is a “designer” device, beautiful and unusual, with a convenient TouchFLO 3D interface, the brand of which is quite prestigious, but the equipment looks rather weak in modern times: 4 GB of non-expandable memory and a 3-megapixel camera are no longer available to anyone today. You'll be surprised, although the VGA screen is very good.
| HTC Touch Diamond |
Samsung is a fairly technological product; in terms of equipment, it is the strongest of the three. There is 16 GB of memory plus a microSD slot, a 5-megapixel camera, a touch joystick with a “virtual mouse” function, and a gyroscope that works in all applications. However, the name Samsung is not as beloved among “technomaniacs” as the other two, but shell software In our experience, it is better to replace TouchWiz with the paid Spb Mobile Shell 2.0. As for Sony Ericsson, it has the best ratio of “external data” (design, body materials) and equipment, and the QWERTY keyboard is still very important for a Windows communicator. Therefore, the decisive argument in this dispute will be the price: if you are willing to spend $800, take XPERIA, if you want to save money, pay attention to Samsung.
XPERIA X1 or glofiish M800?
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| glofiish M800 |
At first glance, these communicators are very similar, and the product from glofiish promises significant savings. And in terms of equipment, the devices are not very different from each other, because the M800 is practically an analogue of the HTC Touch Pro, also with a 640x480 pixels screen. But the quality of the Sony Ericsson product is objectively higher in many respects, therefore, despite the difference in price, we recommend the XPERIA.
XPERIA X1 or “super communicators”?
| ASUS P835 | HTC Touch HD |
Recently, a large number of devices have appeared with the same screen resolution as the X1 (800×480 pixels), but with a larger diagonal - 3.5-3.8". We compared the XPERIA with two such products - ASUS P835 and HTC Touch HD - with similar equipment. The result in both cases is the same: with a seemingly insignificant difference in screen diagonal, the devices are perceived completely differently, because the “super communicators” are noticeably larger. And they are oriented ASUS products and HTC is more likely for those who actively use Mobile Internet and multimedia, respectively, the difference in screen size is of great importance for them. A comparison of the external design and dimensions of the products reveals the more fashionable nature of the XPERIA - it seems that the Sony Ericsson device is “for people”, while its competitors are “for computer geeks”. This is exactly how you should approach the choice, although no one will deny the benefits of the XPERIA QWERTY keyboard, including computer geeks.
Type: smartphone Operating system: MS Windows Mobile 6.1 Case type: horizontal slider Case material: steel and plastic QWERTY keyboard: yes Control: navigation key SIM card type: regular Number of SIM cards: 1 Weight: 158 g Dimensions (WxHxT) : 53x110x17 mmScreen
Screen type: color, 65.54 thousand colors, touch Diagonal: 3 inches. Image size: 800x480 Pixels per inch (PPI): 311 Automatic screen rotation: yesCalls
Light indication of events: yesMultimedia capabilities
Camera: 3 million pixels, 2048x1536, led flash Camera functions: autofocus, digital Zoom 3x Video recording: yes Audio: MP3, AAC, WMA, FM radio Headphone jack: 3.5 mmConnection
Standard: GSM 900/1800/1900, 3G Interfaces: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.0, USB Satellite navigation: GPS A-GPS system: yes Use as a USB drive: yesMemory and processor
Processor: Qualcomm MSM7200A, 528 MHz Number of processor cores: 1 Built-in memory capacity: 400 MB RAM capacity: 256 MB Memory card slot: yesNutrition
Battery type: Li-polymer Battery capacity: 1500 mAh Talk time: 10 h Standby time: 640 hOther functions
Speakerphone(built-in speaker): yes Flight mode: yes A2DP profile: yes Sensors: lightAdditional Information
Features: Arc-shaped design; RSS feeds; Open GL ES support Announcement date: 2008-02-10Smartphones are very popular among the masses of consumers today. This phenomenon may have been caused by Apple's first phone. Although the iPhone is not technologically flawless, the phone has an innovative interface, and some are proud of being an iPhone owner. In fact, all competitors have attempted to replicate the iPhone's success with varying degrees of success. HTC introduced the CoverFlow interface, LG released the Prada and Renoir smartphones, and Samsung released the WiTu Omnia SGH-i900. Now Sony Ericsson has caught up with Xperia model X1, which, however, was somewhat late.
Sony Ericsson has long been producing smartphones aimed mainly at professionals, which is evident from the price and complex interface. From the very beginning, the manufacturer began to rely on operating system Symbian, developed by a consortium of Nokia, Motorola and Psion. In this regard, the Xperia X1 stands out because new smartphone Sony Ericsson uses Windows Mobile.
Sony Feature Set Ericsson Xperia X1:
- Networks: Quad band GSM, 3G+, EDGE, GPRS
- Dimensions and weight: 110.5 x 52.6 x 17 mm, 145 g
- Screen: 800 x 480 pixels, 65,000 colors
- Camera resolution: 3.15 megapixels
- Player: MP3, AAC, MPEG-4, FM tuner with RDS
- Connectivity: WiFi 802.11 b/g, A-GPS, Bluetooth 2.0 (A2DP), USB 2.0
- Memory: 400 MB built-in and MicroSD card reader
- Average retail price at the time of publication: 36.5 thousand rubles in Russia
Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 | Design
Quite narrow Xperia phone Sony Ericsson's X1 remains quite long and thick. This is due to the slide-out keyboard, which is much easier to enter text than the touch screen. Currently, only LG's Prada and HTC Touch Pro models combine a touchscreen with a full keyboard. The keys are small, but typing using the tip of your index finger is no problem, even if you have thick fingers. We tested this by asking an overweight colleague to type the text. He was able to do this without any problems, although slowly, but this is due to lack of habit.
The finishing is well thought out, the body combines plastic and textured metal. Unlike its competitors, the Xperia X1 did not get rid of the keys, on the contrary. There are as many as nine keys under the screen. On the right panel there are volume control and camera shutter keys, and on the left panel there is a standard USB socket. This is another difference from phones of this brand, so you don’t have to carry a cable with you to copy content or charge the battery. On the top panel there is an on/off button, a pen compartment and a standard headphone jack.
The key in the center of the navigation panel is analogous to a touchpad and allows you to work with the menu without touch screen.
Finally, we note the presence of a main camera on the rear panel, which is complemented by a flash. There is also a small sensor on the front panel that allows video conferencing.
Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 | Screen
At first glance, the display of the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 is not impressive due to its size. Indeed, the body is elongated in length, and the keys under the display further reduce the available space. The smartphone's screen diagonal is three inches, compared to 3.2" for the Samsung WiTu Omnia SGH-i900 and 3.5" for the iPhone. Therefore, operating the phone using the touch screen and fingers is not very easy. However, you just need to turn on the Xperia X1, after which “tasty” details begin to appear.
Indeed, the 800 x 480 pixel resolution is impressive. Photos are displayed in great detail, the text is also clear and easy to read. The phone has a built-in accelerometer that switches the screen to portrait or landscape mode, depending on the angle of inclination. However, we sometimes had difficulty confirming with a fingertip (or rather, even with a fingernail, given the size Windows menu Mobile). In other words, if you have thick fingers, then you can’t do without a stylus.
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