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#askmodaco - The Sony Xperia S

Mar 01 2012 03:00 PM | PaulOBrien in Android

Following on from our Xperia S / P / U preview... we're taking #askmodaco questions on the Xperia S!

If you have a burning query you'd like us to answer, you'd like to know something about the hardware or software or indeed you'd just like me to test something for you... ask below! If it's a question I can't answer i'll forward it to Sony as appropriate.

About the author

Paul O'Brien founded MoDaCo in 2002 as a site focused on Windows Smartphones and has grown it since then by concentrating on providing a friendly community for both experienced and beginner mobile enthusiasts.

31 Comments

evad
Mar 01 2012 03:19 PM

How does it feel like in hand compared to Galaxy Nexus and HTC One X? It looks much thicker hence heavier, is it really that noticeable?

evad
Mar 01 2012 03:21 PM

Also, how does it compare to Arc/ArcS in terms of footprint and general in-hand feeling?

PaulOBrien
Mar 01 2012 03:23 PM

It's not really much thicker in hand that the Galaxy Nexus, at least mine with the slightly bigger battery. It feels a fair bit bigger than the Arc / S tho, primarily because of the cool curved back on that!

P

AP2012
Mar 01 2012 03:25 PM

Realise this is early days, but any inkling about battery life?

Unless battery life is stellar, could be a deal breaker for me given it is non-replaceable.

evad
Mar 01 2012 03:35 PM

Thanks Paul. Does Xperia S have roughly the same footprint as Arc/ArcS? I'd expect so, given both have same screen size (4.3").

Few other things that crossed my mind:
1) How is the camera, is it better than in Arc? The latter seem to struggle with lots of noise in lowlight conditions.
2) Is the gallery app replaced/improved, ie. does it also lag to load pics when swooping through the gallery quickly as on Arc/ArcS?
3) Is 32GB memory accessible via USB mass storage or MTP only?
4) How the display compares to Galaxy Nexus, which one do you think looks better?

3shirts
Mar 01 2012 03:37 PM

Do you know if the bootloader can be unlocked easily. I've heard talk that it's a simple command much like the Nexii.

PaulOBrien
Mar 01 2012 03:38 PM

Quadrant 2 score!

P

PaulOBrien
Mar 01 2012 03:39 PM

AP2012, on 01 March 2012 - 03:25 PM, said:

Realise this is early days, but any inkling about battery life?

Unless battery life is stellar, could be a deal breaker for me given it is non-replaceable.

Far too early to say! It's 1750mAh tho, so hopefully it'll be pretty decent.

P

flibblesan
Mar 01 2012 03:40 PM

Impressive Quadrant score on stock. I can only imagine how high it could be with some nice customisations and tweaks

PaulOBrien
Mar 01 2012 03:41 PM

evad, on 01 March 2012 - 03:35 PM, said:

1. I'm just about to go out and start taking pictures. I found the Arc / S pretty good tho!
2. I'll test.
3. Ewww, it appears to be MTP only. I imagine that'll be the case with ICS too.
4. I'm not a massive fan of the GN display tbh, I think the the Xperia S looks sharper!

P

PaulOBrien
Mar 01 2012 03:41 PM

3shirts, on 01 March 2012 - 03:37 PM, said:

Do you know if the bootloader can be unlocked easily. I've heard talk that it's a simple command much like the Nexii.

It will depend I believe on where you buy your device, but generic devices can be unlocked via the official Sony Mobile tool as I understand it.

P

jack42
Mar 01 2012 03:44 PM

What sort of protective layer, if any, is there on the display? Does it offer Gorilla Glass-like protection?

In case the camera software is final or near-final, I would love to see some actual camera pictures too.

PaulOBrien
Mar 01 2012 04:00 PM

jack42, on 01 March 2012 - 03:44 PM, said:

It doesn't say if it's gorilla glass per se, but it is 'reinforced and scratch resistant'.

P

AP2012
Mar 01 2012 04:08 PM

PaulOBrien, on 01 March 2012 - 03:39 PM, said:

Far too early to say! It's 1750mAh tho, so hopefully it'll be pretty decent.

P

Thanks Paul.

Also, have you seen it in white, and if so how to the two colours compare? Any difference in finish or your own preference?

3shirts
Mar 01 2012 04:28 PM

In what way does the 'Playstation certified' slogan manifest on the S?

PaulOBrien
Mar 01 2012 04:32 PM

3shirts, on 01 March 2012 - 04:28 PM, said:

In what way does the 'Playstation certified' slogan manifest on the S?

It doesn't yet - the Playstation icon goes to a mid-march launch placeholder.

P

PaulOBrien
Mar 01 2012 04:33 PM

AP2012, on 01 March 2012 - 04:08 PM, said:

Thanks Paul.

Also, have you seen it in white, and if so how to the two colours compare? Any difference in finish or your own preference?

Sadly i've only seen it in black. The white looks great in the pictures tho...

P

3shirts
Mar 01 2012 04:44 PM

Did they give you a timeframe for ICS or the usual 'soon' or 'Q2' or whatever?

PaulOBrien
Mar 01 2012 04:47 PM

3shirts, on 01 March 2012 - 04:44 PM, said:

Did they give you a timeframe for ICS or the usual 'soon' or 'Q2' or whatever?

'Q2'.

3shirts
Mar 01 2012 04:59 PM

Thanks for all the answers here, sorry to bombard.
Does the NFC work 'freely' so will worth with Wallet, NFC Task Launcher etc just like on the Nexus S and Galaxy or is it restricted to Sony's own tags?

PaulOBrien
Mar 01 2012 05:15 PM

3shirts, on 01 March 2012 - 04:59 PM, said:

It works fine with my generic tags.

P

mrblax
Mar 01 2012 06:13 PM

Which screen is better , xperia S or Htc OneX ?

gadgetshop
Mar 01 2012 07:21 PM

Got the SGS2 at the moment but can upgrade in a few weeks, If you had to choose between the 2 which 1 would you choose?

RiotRick
Mar 01 2012 10:34 PM

I've seen a couple of different unboxing videos. The box contents seem to differ a bit from each other (perhaps by country). Some seem to have a screen protector pre-applied, some have a screen protector in the box, some have none. Just wondering if I need to order one seperate for mine. Same goes for the hdmi cable, did yours come with one?

koldaman
Mar 02 2012 06:02 AM

I have also some questions...
1. I have seen lot of videos and noticed people struggle with hitting capacit buttons. How does it work from your point of view?
2. Some people say display is amayzing, some still preffer Samsungs AMOLED. What is your opinion?
3. I am also wondering what is battery life like. Also heard that Sony is using some bettery supporting fast charge. Did you noticed any difference?
Still waiting for Huawei to come out with their new Ascend D line, looks promissing to me (but not confident about Huaweis quality).

Thank for answering.

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