Gadgetory

now it used to be a big fan and user of the Walkman and cyber-shot Sony Ericsson phones back in the day and as great as those phones were it doesn't seem like Sony is at the top of the list when it comes to smartphone manufacturers these days but the experience is hoping to change all that with some unique features and some very very interesting developments hey this is Joshua Berger from Android authority what's going on everybody and this is a fish bowl full of water and this is the Sony Xperia v yes as you saw in the intro this is a phone capable of working even after being immersed in water you can even get a glimpse of it right on the box while it is quite a great feature of this phone there is more it can offer from top to bottom it's no secret that we like the design of the sony xperia phones here at Android Authority and even though this is my first foray into the Xperia line I have to agree the 4.3 inch screen is surrounded by a black bezel that sees the speaker at the top by the notification light and the front camera there are no dedicated capacitive buttons for navigation instead you get soft keys much like that found at vanilla Android systems found on Nexus devices the button layout you might be used to is in Sony style as the volume rocker and power buttons have been shrunken down and put on the same side it might take a little bit to get used to but having all the buttons accessible on one side is actually kind of useful on the opposite side is the charging port covered by a protective piece of plastic much like the headphone jack at the top now these covers are obviously provided to add to the expiry of ease waterproofing but in my experience no less with Sony Ericsson phones they can break off after a lot of usage coming around the back the white cover is actually detachable and allows access to the replaceable battery and the two slots made from micro sim and microSD cards above the Xperia logo is the 13 megapixel camera and flash diode a silver lining separates this back portion from the front panel altogether giving this phone a very nice aesthetic only at the bottom can one see that the back half of the phone is a little bit bigger than the front panel it and the top are the thickest parts of the Xperia v the result is a curved design along the back that makes the middle portion lighter than the top and bottom which are a little heavier coincidentally this makes the phone very balanced in the hand and the slightly smaller size compared to other devices with 4.7 inch screens helps as well speaking of the screen it might come in at only 4.3 inches but I think a lot of users will find that a happy medium TFT capacitive display is capable of displaying 16 million colors at 1280 by 720 resolution it is quite a crisp display as a result but the text is given a very welcome sharpness due to the 342 PPI density interestingly enough the multi-touch specs state that this screen is capable of registering touches from up to 10 fingers now I have no idea how to test that many presses at once but turning on the option in developer settings to display touches showed that this multi-touch is indeed functional all in all this is a display capable of giving an enjoyable experience however it isn't the brightest display I have ever worked with colors then are crisp and detailed but lack of vibrancy that I'm used to from other devices screens this screen could use a little more brightness and a bit more contrast to make the colors take precedence over the black and gray tones of the Xperia v's theme tucked under the display is a number of worthwhile features added in that make the Xperia v an attractive package and these are found under the back cover even some top-tier devices no longer come with a replaceable battery or expandable memory but the Xperia v manages to put all of that into the smaller body pop off the back cover and you'll find a slot for an SD card that you will likely use because only eight gigabytes are included otherwise you'll probably take advantage of replacing that battery too because with 4G LTE enabled you might run out of juice before your day is over now these are nice features to have on a device this size and it makes you wonder why top-tier device manufacturers can't sometimes find a way to include them connectivity is standard on this device as the basic bells and whistles are included GPS Wi-Fi Bluetooth and NFC the Xperia v is capable of all major 3G bands as well as 4G LTE as I mentioned but it does lack support for 4G HSPA+ so t-mobile might not be the way to go with this ultimately the Xperia v does have quite a bit to offer over even some top-tier devices so we're going to have to see if it's performance can keep up a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor is included in the Xperia v and clocks out at 1.5 gigahertz it does the Krait variation and is backed up by one gigabyte of RAM and in Adreno two to five graphics processor off the bat one would see that these specs are well below those found in the likes of the nexus 4 and the HTC One x+ but the optimization still yields a pretty smooth and snappy experience even the startup is quite fast going from power button to full functionality in just under a minute there is some lag in particular parts of the experience especially when opening intensive apps like games unfortunately a little can also be noticed on the home screens but I did find that this is only one a widget hasn't loaded its information yet perhaps unsurprisingly then the benchmark tests put the Xperia v well below the top of the Android Market just above the original HTC One X and below the Samsung Galaxy s3 performance then is just above average at best the average user won't have many qualms with the speed or the usage of the Xperia v but power users will be wanting just a little bit more which brings me to the camera as a former user of Sony Ericsson cyber-shot phones I actually had some high expectations for the one found in this expiry of II I'm really happy to report that this is actually a very good camera it would seem that Sony hasn't lost its touch with optics on its phones and the Xperia v is a fine example of this the app first of all has a nice looking interface much like that found in the jellybean app HDR panorama and even various toy effect modes are available to modify your shot with an aperture of F to the scammer is capable of taking pictures with some good depth of field and makes a good quality photos under even some less than adequate lighting situations touch focusing is quick and responsive in the camera app and after specifying an area to focus the camera easily autofocuses to anything found within going from shutter button to resulting picture is also quite fast a feat that just adds to the overall functionality picture quality then is actually quite good with colors remaining detailed and not very washed out as you can see in these pictures there's a fair enough depth of field captured using the Xperia v optics that the pictures get an artistic selective focused kind of look ultimately this might be one of the best smartphone cameras that I have ever worked with to have this camera pocketed and easily on hand can make daily random shoots and even Instagram photos a real treat and finally we have the software even if the Xperia v is a little behind in the Android game with its 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich Sony has been able to add some functionality to keep the package fresh unfortunately it isn't the most unique looking user interface available nor is it the most customizable it generally looks and feels more like vanilla Android which isn't really in its favor when you're hoping for a quintessential Sony experience Sony thankfully added some functionality underneath that surface hit the recent apps button and you will see not only the apps you have just used but a lot of icons on the bottom these are the small apps and while there are more that can be installed from the Play Store the ones included give you quick access to a calendar a timer and a note-taking overlay that sits above your current working application this is a welcome way to get some extra tasks done while keeping your current one available in the background the Xperia v is PlayStation certified but when I installed the app I found that the titles most of us might want to play on this or many of these certified Sony phones are only available for the Xperia Play or the PlayStation Vita now there is some content that you can try out in the PlayStation mobile store but they cost a little extra money and current or even classic Android games will probably satisfy your gaming needs anyway and now the part you've all been waiting for the waterproof test this Xperia Z is supposed to be able to withstand immersion in depths between 0 and 100 centimeters but I saw some other users completely submerging it in cups of water I decided to take it a step further by putting it in a filled fishbowl almost quite miraculously the phone remained on and even played the next video in the playlist after my intro I've left it in for about 10 minutes before taking it out and seeing if it still worked it indeed did as I even jumped into fruit ninja and played a quick round even with the phone still dripping wet and my fingers damp from using the phone it was able to register all of my touches and was working flawlessly waterproofing might not be the most practical feature to put on a smart phone but it will shield your phone from weather rain the occasional spill at a restaurant or a bar and is admittedly a really nice party trick goes to Sony for doing a great job of waterproofing that Xperia v and so there you have it Sony's Xperia v might not be a top-of-the-line device but it has features even top-tier devices which they had expandable memory a replaceable battery waterproofing and an exceptionally great camera make this a more than worthwhile package the Xperia v is reported to be delayed in Europe and in some parts of Asia and it is currently unknown what kind of release that will see in the United States if at all preliminary eBay listings show the phone being sold at around five hundred US dollars unlocked I hope that this and more experiences arrived and become popular in the United States as it seems Sony still has got the touch for my full written review head on over to android authority comm your source for all things Android