phone 29 – sony xperia sp

this is a loan collateral as i am writing this. and since i am allowed to test it, i did this review. also putting this on review of my collections, means i have a feeling that i will own this eventually. this is one of the phones i wanted to have. so considering i owned it since 2020 that was released on 2013 means it is 7 years since the release.

and here is the battery test for 2021. i have not tested it in 2020, so i cannot compare it to its previous charging duration and battery life. charging is too slow for 2021. for almost 5 hours, some people’s sleep duration is not enough for this phone to fully charge. but i tested worse than this before – asus fonepad note fhd6 for over 7 hours and htc windows phone 8x for over 11 hours. but xperia sp managed to last for a day, 2 hours and 22 minutes. what is interesting is, the battery percentage climbs up when the phone is inactive, at least on the first two sessions of inactive use. perhaps, the battery software recalibrates the capacity during those times. can somebody explain this?

battery score card

one thing that made me want this phone since years ago, is the led strip on its bottom part. unlike my xperia miro, xperia sp only has this led strip. no other led light for notifications. it means, the large led strip on this phone handles the notification, unlike xperia miro that needs an app to fully customize a small led strip on its bottom part, since the led light on the top part handles the notifications by default (and will still light up even with the led strip customized). and where did i enjoy watching the large led strip? the walkman app. the large led strip does not only use the dominant color of the album art of the song being played. it also blinks along with the beats. it resembles sony speakers with led strips on them. as for the sound, the back firing loudspeaker is decently loud. wireless audio and 3.5mm wired audio experience is on par with xperia miro, quite near xperia z1 compact (a) [xperia z1 compact (b)] and xperia z3 dual.

web browsing on the phone is not advisable though. the display size is just okay, since i managed to browse the web using xperia z1compact (a) [xperia compact (b)] with ease. what makes the experience not ideal, is the inconsistent touchscreen. i am not sure if xperia sp works like this since the release or because the phone is old, or refurbished. zooming and scrolling on the pages are quite frustrating. though, images and texts look good on the display, except when you used to view it at an extreme angle, which is less likely.

gaming on this phone is better than on xperia miro. but not in comparison to xperia z1 compact (a) [xperia z1 compact (b)]. occasional stutters happen on my test game – subway surfer. the problem on touchscreen also affects the game play.

photo shoots and video recording, is quite a downside. at times, i even see xperia miro having better resulting images and videos. it just surpasses xperia miro on the selfie camera, but not by much and is obviously quite far to that of xperia z1 compact (a) [xperia z1 compact (b)].

for video play, the display has good colors. in 2021, it looks washed out compared to other phones, not only of those having oled panel but also those having ips hdr, like the xz2 compact. but there is an option to make the videos have a little punch – more contrast and saturation. it comes in handy for those who wants it that way.

overall, for 2021, it is a good phone. a back up phone. if you want a phone for usual sms and calling, and music play that turns beats into lights, then this phone can cover those wants.