Gadgetory

hi this is Brian Bennett for cnet.com and today we're taking a first look at the Sony Xperia P as the middle device in Sony's next line of Android smartphones for 2012 the Xperia P looks a lot like its bigger brother the Sony Xperia S at four 7999 however the unlocked Xperia P costs about eighty dollars less yet has a more thoughtful and attractive design first it's slightly smaller and about an ounce lighter than its bigger brother second the phone's aluminum body has a more premium feel in my view than the Xperia S has plastic construction I also like how the clear bar running along the bottom of the Xperia P uses capacitive buttons that actually sit on top of their associated icons the Xperia S annoyingly places them above these symbols in the form of heart to see dots other features include a four-inch screen that uses what sony calls its white magic technology basically a way to pump up its brightness the expiry also links to Sony's Entertainment Network letting you buy rent and stream music movies and TV shows above the screen is a VGA front-facing camera below is Sony's signature clear bar that's found on all the new next series handsets the left side holds ports for micro USB HDMI and a micro sim card slot hidden under a flap on the top is a standard 3.5 millimeter headphone jack while on the right are controls for volume power plus a dedicated camera button what's also nice is that the camera key will wake the camera app even if the phone is asleep finally around back is a 8 megapixel camera with LED flash there are some things that will disappoint hard core android users here the Xperia P still runs android 2 dot 3 Gingerbread and is powered by an aging 1 gigahertz dual-core processor as a result performance can be choppy and sluggish I'm Brian Bennett and this has been a first look at the Sony Xperia P be sure to check out our full review at cnet com you