[Full Xperia S Review] The Xperia S, one of the very first devices under the new "Sony" branding (rather than the former "Sony Ericsson") was announced at CES 2012. The Xperia S comes loaded with Google Android 2.3.7 Gingerbread with Sony's custom UI, and is expected to update to Android 4.0 in Q2 2012. Inside is a dual core 1.5GHz processor with 1 GB of RAM and 32 GB of internal storage. Its 720 x 1280 HD resolution screen measures 4.3-inches diagonal. The Xperia S smartphone features two cameras, one 1.3-megapixel front facing camera and a rear facing 12-megapixel camera with LED flash. Read on for the latest Sony Xperia S news, reviews and videos:
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by Anton D. Nagy | December 18, 2012 4:49 AMRead OnTwo months ago Sony published information about its Jelly Bean update plans, when approximately will the refresh hit and which devices should be those that get it. Now Sony has published new information about the matter "including uplift to Jelly Bean Android 4.1 for 2012 Xperia". February and March is where you should expect and Android 4.1 Jelly Bean update notification on your Xperia T, Xperia TX and Xperia V. If you own an Xperia P, Xperia J or an Xperia go you should be on the lookout for the new firmware starting end of March, soon after that for the Xperia S, Xperia SL, Xperia ion ...
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by Stephen Schenck | December 6, 2012 11:48 AMRead OnSony threw fans of custom ROMs a bone when it first started offering its bootloader unlock service, but the company made clear from the get-go that if this was a road you wanted to head down, you were on your own. That meant no more access to software updates, and no official way to go back to Sony's stock ROM. Well, if after all your experimentation you've decided that it might be nice to spend some time running Sony's software again, you're finally in luck, as the company has just a beta of a new flash tool that can restore your unlocked phone to stock. For now, hardware support is ...
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by Anton D. Nagy | August 20, 2012 2:58 AMRead OnSony had "nothing to announce" regarding an official Jelly Bean update for the phone back in July and there's no word about it even today. On the eve of the Xperia SL unveiling, the Xperia S predecessor will become subject to a rather interesting experiment. Jean-Baptiste Queru, Technical Lead for the Android Open Source Project at Google, said: "For a new challenge, I'd like to try to go one step further, and to target some hardware beyond the usual categories. I've added a git project for the Sony LT26, i.e. Xperia S. This seems like a good target: it's a powerful current GSM ...
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by Anton D. Nagy | August 2, 2012 2:43 AMRead OnThe Sony Xperia SL will be the successor to the Xperia S launched at this year's MWC in Barcelona and, as we've heard last month, it will bring new color options to the table as well as bumped up processor specifications. We're expecting Sony to unveil the Xperia SL (among others) at their pre-IFA press event in Berlin at the end of this month. In the image above you can allegedly see the new color options (or some of them). The phone is also rumored to pack a faster processor, replacing the 1.5GHz Snapdragon on the Xperia S with a new, faster, 1.7GHz Snapdragon (S3). However, there is no ...
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by Stephen Schenck | July 26, 2012 12:59 PMRead OnWe're still waiting to hear from many Android manufacturers about their official plans for bringing Jelly Bean to existing handsets. From a technical perspective, it's seemed like Jelly Bean should be a possibility for phones that are able to run Ice Cream Sandwich without issue, but just because something's technically possible doesn't mean an update's guaranteed. Sony has yet to provide a complete account of the update prospects for all its Android models, but statements made on the company's UK Facebook account aren't painting a very hopeful picture of Jelly Bean coming to any 2011 Sony ...
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by Stephen Schenck | July 25, 2012 1:29 PMRead OnShortly after Sony's Xperia S hit the scene, we started hearing reports from users that the display on their handsets was experiencing some yellow discoloration during use. Sony itself confirmed the issue, caused by a manufacturing problem, and triggered when the phone reached high temperatures. It announced that it had resolved the issue, and would replace defective models free of charge; sounds good, right? We're now hearing from users who had unlocked their bootloaders that Sony is refusing warranty service on this hardware issue due to those software modifications. Is Sony completely ...
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by Stephen Schenck | July 16, 2012 11:08 AMRead OnBack around the start of April, we learned that plans were in the works to bring three of Sony's latest Xperia Androids to the United States, following their debut abroad. Distributor Brightstar revealed that sometime this summer, it would work with Sony to introduce the Xperia S, Xperia P, and the Xperia U to smartphone fans in the States. Sure enough, the time for these models to land has arrived, and all three are now available for purchase, unlocked. The Xperia S is the highlight of this group, with a 1.5GHz dual-core S3, gigabyte of RAM, 12-megapixel camera, and a 4.3-inch 720p ...
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by Stephen Schenck | July 13, 2012 11:02 AMRead OnBack at the start of June, we caught wind of the Sony Xperia SL, revealed to us by name and model number alone. We tossed around a couple ideas at just what Sony might be up to with the SL, focusing on what kind of improvements might be introduced compared to the original Xperia S; that left us with plenty guesses, but not much in the way of certainty. We still lack official word from Sony, but some additional rumors to arrive since then attempt to nail-down some of those hardware changes, and some newly-leaked imagery shows off some new colors Sony may be planning for the model. The ...
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by Stephen Schenck | July 2, 2012 3:24 PMRead OnAfter Sony had a chance to show-off its Xperia S at this year's CES, the Android smartphone made its retail debut late this past winter. Since then, we've seen it make the journey to Android 4.0, getting its Ice Cream Sandwich update just this past month. Now evidence of a new Sony handset has appeared, the Xperia SL; will this be a upgraded version of the Xperia S, or something else entirely? The name Xperia SL shows up in an Indonesian database, where it's identified as model LT26ii (the Xperia S is LT26i). Beyond the name and model number, though, we haven't any real idea what Sony's ...
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by Anton D. Nagy | June 27, 2012 9:50 AMRead OnOn June 21, Sony has finally decided to release the official Ice Cream Sandwich update for the Xperia S, meeting the Q2 target, but unfortunately things were not as smooth as everyone expected. Users were reporting problems updating even with phones having SI numbers for which Sony confirmed the updates. Now the manufacturer has updated the status of the refreshes and told the world they would re-release the firmware updates. The official wording says: "We have identified the earlier issues and are working to implement the solution across all available ICS updates. This process will happen ...
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by Stephen Schenck | June 21, 2012 4:08 PMRead OnSony's Xperia S arrived a few months back, heralding the start of Sony transitioning to releasing smartphones under its name alone, rather than as Sony Ericsson. We were really impressed with the phone's hardware while conducting our review, but felt a little let-down when it came to the software department, especially seeing as the phone arrived running Gingerbread. Clearly, Ice Cream Sandwich was needed if we wanted a full understanding of the phone's performance, so we patiently started waiting for Sony to deliver the model's official Android 4.0 upgrade. After a bit of a false start, ...
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by Anton D. Nagy | May 22, 2012 4:02 AMRead OnWe hate to bring you the bad news but we're just as disappointed as you probably will be after reading this. Long story short: when we were in Barcelona Sony promised an official ICS update for the Xperia S sometime in April, then it all of a sudden we woke up in May with no update and last week Sony officially said that, well, let us quote: “Xperia S is planned to get ICS somewhere around late May/early June. That’s what’s been said and that’s still what we’re sticking to. Any other dates (such as “June/July”) is just speculation. The roll out is, as always, gradual and will ...
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by Anton D. Nagy | May 15, 2012 6:45 AMRead On
When we were in Barcelona for the MWC, where Sony announced the Xperia S as part of its new Xperia line-up, we were told that an official Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich update should arrive sometime in April. We reviewed the phone running Android 2.3 Gingerbread but that speculated April timeframe for the Android refresh roll-out has somehow shifted towards May. Now according to official wording from Support on the Sony forum, the Xperia S will receive its Ice Cream Sandwich treat sometime in late May or early June. "Xperia S is planned to get ICS somewhere around late May/early June. ...
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by Anton D. Nagy | April 3, 2012 3:34 AMRead OnAt this year's Mobile World Congress, Sony Mobile Communications announced its NXT series of Android-powered smartphones which includes the Sony Xperia S, Xperia P and Xperia U. At CES, Sony introduced the Xperia Ion on AT&T but looks like the aforementioned trio might be also hitting the U.S. Brightstar is "the world's largest specialized wireless distributor and a global leader in services and solutions for the wireless industry". They announced that they'll bring the Sony Xperia S, P and U to the U.S., though no carrierm, region or exact timeframe has been mentioned. Paul Hamnett, ...
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by Stephen Schenck | April 2, 2012 4:09 PMRead OnNew smartphones have developed a reputation over the years for occasionally arriving a bit jaundiced, showing a yellow tint to their displays. When the Apple iPhone 4 first launched, owners complained of yellowish patches that marred their phones' screens. We saw something similar last summer with the displays on the Samsung Galaxy S II. The latest to fall victim to this yellow curse is Sony's Xperia S, which the company now admits experienced some manufacturing issues. The problem with the Xperia S is transient and temperature-dependent, with the yellow only really showing up after the ...