Sony Xperia XA Ultra

Sony

VERDICT

An impressive-looking phone that will be empowered by a mid-range price. The front facing camera offers smarts that others can't match.

PROS:

• Great edge-to-edge screen
• Strong front-facing camera

CONS:

• Price unknown
• Unproven CPU

If you're wondering why there are so many big-screen phones out there at the moment, then you're probably missing the point. They're designed to hit a certain market, a more youthful user that cares less about phoning their parents and wants more to take pictures of themselves and browse the web or use apps.

Well, that's the theory that Sony's putting forward for the reason it's created the Sony Xperia XA Ultra - a large-screen version of its forthcoming Xperia UA handset.

It's simple to see what this phone is all about, as it's got a 6-inch screen and a hugely powerful front-facing camera - both of which are designed to attract the more youthful user, as well as appealing to a segment of the lucrative Asian audience.

And this thing is BIG, make no mistake. As you can see in the pictures, it's something of a palm stretcher, although what impresses the most is how easy it is to wrap your hand around it.

I'm not saying that it's comfortable, but at the same time the edge to edge display allows for a larger screen in a chassis that you might see on a phone 5.5-inch display.

The Full HD screen is pretty clear too, with Sony using its tech smarts to make everything look crisp and clear. It's not got the clarity of something like the Google Nexus 6P, but at the same time we're expecting a cheaper price for the Xperia XA Ultra.

The specs aren't too bad for a phone aimed at the youth market (where you'd expect the price to be a little lower) with a Helio P10 CPU on board from Mediatek, 3GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage - which can be expanded using a microSD card.

Sadly that's not adoptable to let you expand the internal memory for increased app storage, but Sony says it's still looking at that tech at the moment.

Those internal specs apparently will allow for a two day battery life - it's hard to believe many phones can match that number at the moment, but it will be interesting to test whether Sony has deployed its full range of power-saving smarts here to help achieve that number.

Let's talk cameras - and there's some powerful spec on offer here. The rear camera has a 21.5MP sensor (which is an odd number, but hey, that's what it is) and a 1/2.4 aperture Exmor RS sensor. Indeed, the test pics I took weren't terrible at all, even in varying light levels.

Sadly there's no predictive hybrid autofocus used on the XA Ultra, the technique on offer with the Xperia X where it'll guess where an object is going to be in order to keep the picture as sharp as possible.

The front facing camera on the Xperia XA Ultra is a powerful sensor, with a 16MP Exmor RS sensor coming with a very wide angle picture taking ability and optical image stabilisation. In short, great selfies even in low light (with a screen flash on offer as well to help when things are a little darker).

There's also a new feature used here, one that takes the usual HDR option (where a sequence of shots are snapped at various exposures and mixed together) to another level.

The Xperia XA uses a similar theory but adds a flash into one of the photos, meaning you've got a perfect level of brightness for the fore and background of the snap - at least, that's the theory as I wasn't able to test this.

You can use a hand to start the selfie too, where the phone will recognise your palm and start the selfie countdown when needed.

In terms of design, there's not a lot to say about this phone that's not the same as other Sony devices already. The boxy design is back, but at the same time it's got a nicely rounded metallic rim, and feels very well constructed.

The Sony Xperia XA Ultra will be coming in black, lime gold and white. The good news is that the release date has been set for July and it'll be coming to the UK and (likely) the US, although the latter isn't confirmed. Sadly, no word on price though.

Early verdict

The Sony Xperia XA Ultra is a phone that will live and die by its price - there's clearly a new wave of handsets coming from the Japanese brand under the 'X' moniker, and this is the big-screen, youth-oriented model that would previously have sat in the 'C' or 'M' lines.

Whether this replaces those ranges or sits alongside remains to be seen - but without things like the USB Type C connector that's coming in a lot of flagship phones, there's definitely room for improvement here.

That said, the powerful selfie camera and beautiful edge to edge display are winning traits of this phone - if the brand gets the pricing right, the Sony Xperia XA Ultra could be an affordable phablet with very few flaws.

Sony Xperia X

Sony

VERDICT

Sony needs to define who exactly this phone is aimed at - it's a touch expensive given its weaker specs compared to the competition

PROS:

• Smart design
• Hi-Res Audio
• Powerful camera

CONS:

• Not as pretty as the XA
• Not water resistant

The Sony Xperia X is a curious device. I say curious because I don't really know what kind of phone it is.

I could look at the CPU used, the screen size and resolution and the intended market - but based on what Sony's telling me, the first two points aren't really relevant and there's no information on which sort of buyer the Xperia X is aimed at.

It's very much a Sony phone though, stuffed to the brim with components from all departments in the company: screen tech from Bravia, audio from the Hi-Res Audio workers and the DSLR team working in tandem with the smartphone guys to make a compelling spec list.

But given we've been waiting for the Xperia Z6, the all new flagship, for ages it's hard to know if this is the new phone or just a side-range that sits alongside the Xperia Z choices - and given Sony doesn't seem to know the answer to this question - or just isn't telling me - it's hard to gauge.

What we do know now is that this phone is £459 in the UK (around $660 / AU$900), which is pretty expensive indeed - not quite flagship prices, but a lot more than I was expecting.

Design

The Xperia X is a phone that, as shown by the spec list below, is dripping with Sony heritage. Coming with a 5-inch Full HD screen, it sits within the same industrial-style design that the previous handsets have used.

It's something of a shame really - and that's not to say there's anything wrong with what's been put together here. No, the front glass is strong and slightly curved at the sides, the back is all metal and the sides, while plastic, really fold into the chassis well.

No, it's a shame because this is meant to be a new chapter for Sony, and that was a chance to rip up what it's done before and start with a blank slate, a phone design that starts a new direction and maybe appeals to a new set of consumers.

There's still the same lozenge power button on the side, which doubles as the power key, and as the phone isn't water resistant this time around doesn't have extra flaps to cover the charging port, which lives at the bottom (and sadly isn't USB Type-C, which Sony tells me is just a timing issue from when it created the phone).

The smaller screen is still sharp and vivid and the 5-inch form factor slides into the hand pretty well, although it's not a patch on the beautiful edge-to-edge display of the Xperia XA, which is curiously cheaper than the more well-specified X.

The power under the hood comes from the new-but-mid-range Snapdragon 650 CPU from Qualcomm, and combined with 3GB RAM is a decent enough combination of battery-saving and grunt to run the phone.

That said, the Xperia X didn't like taking a lot of large (23MP) photos in a row, as it began to slow down rapidly after that. I'll give this a pass though, as I'm among the first in the world to get a hands on experience with this phone and it's very much early software - and camera speed optimisation is one of the first to improve.

The camera is clearly the big hitter on the Xperia X, the only part of the phone that's higher-spec than the previous Xperia Z5. It's the same 23MP camera, but with Predictive Hybrid autofocus.

What those overly complicated words mean is that the phone can go from sleep to tracking an object in space very, very quickly - the tests we did showing the camera could go from sleeping to taking a picture in 0.6 seconds were indeed proved true.

It doesn't mean you'll get a GREAT picture, as you're pretty much guessing at the framing of the shot, but it's a nifty ability if you're rushing to get a snap of your child pulling over the laundry bin or your dog doing something hound-like - you know, the usual stuff the human race is obsessed with.

There's still some tidying up to do on the camera, as some of my test shots weren't amazing - but then again, some were. Sony's attitude seems to be that it recognises what it's missed with the camera in the past, and is looking to make the phone more user-friendly to get great shots from without having to mess around with the professional settings.

The battery life on the Xperia X should also last longer - not just in terms of time between charges, but also the length of time before your battery becomes so awful that you need change your phone.

That's another way to get around the lack of removable battery that some smartphone fans still clamour for (although microSD card is supported).

The system works by constantly monitoring the charge going into the battery and then making sure the phone is completely removed from the charging while the wall outlet is still plugged in. I obviously couldn't test this yet, but a long time shooting with the phone for an afternoon didn't make anywhere near the dent in the battery performance that I was expecting.

There are some other decent features as well, from the smoother lock screen to the continued use of Hi-Res Audio. I don't understand why the brand has given up on water resistance, one of its key selling points, though.

The overall ethos of Sony's new Xperia X range is yet to be defined - after all, this isn't even the first X smartphone from Sony, as the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 was actually the first to bear the moniker and was very much a flagship device (although it was NOT a great phone...) but it's hard to see who this is aimed at.

Early verdict

The Sony Xperia X is a phone that's just crying out for an identity to hold onto; a cheap price, a superb build quality, a stunning screen, and it has none of those things. At first glance it's a slightly different Xperia Z with lower spec.

But dig a little bit deeper and you'll see a phone that's wanted to come out and play for a while, but it couldn't because the other kids in school were having none of it. Then it grew up and got much better looking BECAUSE it was alternative, and suddenly the world was very much interested in what this handsome hunk of tech has to say.

The price of £459 in the UK is confusing, as it seems to suggest the Xperia X is going to be a flagship phone, one that's worthy of taking the Z's place at the head of the line.

The camera is great, the audio strong and the battery has potential - but I still think we should have seen a new design ethos from Sony when the new phones came out. Then again, I've been banging that drum for years - maybe it's time to admit this is just what Sony does to its phones.

Either way though, the Xperia X needs the 'why should I buy it?' answer when in your local phone shop choosing between the reams of options, and I can't think of anything amazing off the top of my head - just very good elements.

Sony Xperia X release date: where can I get it?

Sony announced a brand new series of phones at Mobile World Congress back in February including the Xperia X, Xperia XA and Xperia X Performance and since then it's also announced the Sony Xperia XA Ultra.

The company didn't reveal whether these phones would replace the Xperia Z5 series as the flagship must-have Sony devices, but they still pack a punch with high-end specs and a beautiful new design.

The Xperia X features a full HD 5-inch screen, 23MP rear facing camera, 12MP selfie snapper, Android Marshmallow and a Qualcomm Snapdragon 650, while the Xperia XA features an edge-to-edge 5-inch 720p display, 13MP rear camera and 8MP front facing shooter.

Then there's the Xperia XA Ultra, a newer addition to the range which has an edge-to-edge 6-inch 1080p screen, a 21MP rear camera, a 16MP front-facing one and an octa-core MediaTek processor. It's coming to the UK, but with a launch set for July it's not available to pre-order yet.

That just leaves the Sony Xperia X Performance, which sits at the top of the range, though at the time of writing won't be readily available in the UK. Sony did tell techradar that it will allow third-party retailers to stock it in the UK though, so you may be able to buy that soon. We'll update this article if we hear anything else.

Sony

Today you can pre-order the Xperia X from Sony's website for £459 in black, white and rose gold.

Meanwhile, the Xperia XA can be pre-ordered now for £239 in white, black, rose gold and lime gold as well.

The release date for both phones is currently unclear, although the Sony site states the Xperia X will begin shipping towards the end of May, while XA per-orders will start rolling out late June.

Amazon

You can pre-order the Sony Xperia X for £459.99 on Amazon while the Xperia XA is up for grabs at £239.99.

The Xperia X will be released on June 3, while the Xperia XA will take a little bit longer, coming out on June 20.

Carphone Warehouse

The Xperia X is up for pre-order from Carphone Warehouse with the lime gold version an exclusive to the retailer. If you pre-order now you'll also get a free Sony Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact that's worth £249.

The phone pricing starts at £32 a month with no upfront cost and at the time of writing it says delivery is expected within 11-14 days, which would be May 30 - June 2.

Mobiles.co.uk

UK retailer Mobiles.co.uk has released pricing information for the Xperia X with deals beginning at £32 a month for 3GB of data and a free phone. If you want to spend a little upfront it's £50 on day one with £28 a month after that - plus that's for 1GB of data, you'll have to pay £100 upfront for that monthly price with 3GB. Delivery is expected on May 27.

No word on whether the Xperia XA will be available from Mobiles.co.uk yet.

EE

EE has confirmed it will be stocking both the Xperia X and Xperia XA but so far it only has the Sony Xperia X up for pre-order.

It can be had from £35.99 per month with a £69.99 upfront cost, for which you'll get 1GB of data, 500 minutes and unlimited texts. Or if you don't fancy paying that much upfront you can get it for £38.49 per month and just £9.99 upfront with 500MB of data, 500 minutes and unlimited texts.

Whichever tariff you choose at the time of writing it says to expect dispatch within 14 days, which would mean the phone would be on its way to you by June 2.

Three

Three has the Sony Xperia X available to pre-order from £26 per month plus £99 upfront, which would get you 500MB of data, 600 minutes and unlimited texts. You can drop that upfront cost down to £19 if you pay £33 per month and that includes 2GB of data, unlimited minutes and unlimited texts. The network gives a delivery estimate of May 27.

Vodafone

Vodafone has revealed that both the Xperia X and Xperia XA will be on the red network, but hasn't provided any details of when or for how much. We'll keep this updated if we hear more.

O2

The bubbly network hasn't said if it will be stocking the Xperia X and Xperia XA, but we'll keep an eye out.

Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016) vs Xiaomi Redmi Note 3

The Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 is going to be used as a benchmark whenever a new mid-range handset is released. With the Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016) now making its way to India, it's only fair that we compare the two handsets. 

Key features: 

The Galaxy J7 and the Redmi Note 3 are not exactly the same when it comes to displays. While the Redmi Note 3 enjoys a crisp 5.5-inch Full HD display (1920x1080), the Galaxy J7 (2016) available in India comes with a 720p display (1280x720) on board. Surprisingly, the Chinese variant of the Galaxy J7 comes with a Full HD display, so it's a little surprising that they've decided to stick with a sub-par 720p display for the Indian version. 

However, the Galaxy J7 seems to have a minor advantage in this area as it sports a Super AMOLED panel, while Xiaomi is sticking to a standard LCD panel. But to counter this, Xiaomi's offering comes with a fingerprint scanner and a relatively large 4,000 mAh battery, while the Galaxy J7 lacks a fingerprint scanner and comes with a 3,300 mAh battery on board. 

Design: 

Gone are the days of mid-rangers being plastic dummies. Manufacturers take design very seriously today and almost every mid-range handset comes with a metal body, just like the Redmi Note 3 and the Galaxy J7. Although Samsung's design is less flattering compared to Xiaomi's. The Galaxy J7 is also slightly heavier than the Redmi Note 3, which doesn't help its cause. 

Camera: 

Samsung has crammed in a 13MP rear camera and a 5MP front camera with the Galaxy J7 (2016). Xiaomi is touting a 16MP rear camera and a 5MP front camera with the Redmi Note 3. Since we're yet to properly judge the camera performance of the Galaxy J7, it's hard to come to a conclusion here. But the Redmi Note 3 has proven itself to be a more than capable performer in the camera segment, so the Galaxy J7 will have its work cut out. 

Processor: 

Samsung is utilizing a 1.6 GHz Exynos octa-core processor, while Xiaomi is using the Snapdragon 650 hexa-core CPU. This is an area where we think Xiaomi has an advantage. However, we're yet to encounter detailed benchmark details to back up this claim. 

Battery: 

Xiaomi has a winner on its hands with the Redmi Note 3 and its 4,000 mAh battery. Samsung comes close with the 3,300 mAh unit, but one has to admit that it's not going to last as long as the Redmi Note 3. But we must mention that both devices will have a flurry of UI tweaks which should eke out at least a day's usage on full charge. Customers can't go wrong with either device. 

Other features: 

The Galaxy J7 is available with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage. The Redmi Note 3 is available in a 16GB + 2GB configuration as well as a 32GB + 3GB variant, so one can say that Xiaomi has an upper hand as far as variants are concerned. Both devices can support microSD cards of up to 128GB. 

Pricing and availability: 

The Redmi Note 3 is an Amazon India exclusive and is available on a flash sale every week, with prior registrations required. It is priced at Rs 9,999 for the 2GB RAM model and Rs 11,999 for the 3GB RAM variant. 

The Galaxy J7 (2016) will be available for Rs 15,990 via e-commerce retailer Flipkart starting Tuesday (10th of May). As you can see, Samsung has yet again missed a trick with the pricing of its latest mid-ranger. 

Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016) and Galaxy J5 (2016) first impressions

Samsung is betting big on its Galaxy J Series smartphones and is constantly pushing a number of handsets to keep its presence felt in the budget and mid-range segment. After launching a sub 10K handset- Galaxy J3, the Korean giant is back with the second edition of Galaxy J5 and Galaxy J7 smartphones.

Both the smartphones come with slightly upgraded hardware as compared to their predecessors and is part of the mid-range family that offers 4G connectivity with quality hardware and software features without burning a hole in your pockets. We were present at the launch event and got the chance to have a first-hand experience with the new Galaxy J5 and Galaxy J7.

Micromax Canvas XP 4G is a 3GB RAM phone for Rs 7,499

Micromax has launched the Canvas XP 4G smartphone for Rs 7,499. It will be available exclusively on Snapdeal from May 10 onwards. The main differentiating features of the phone are its 4G LTE support and 3GB of RAM.

The phone has a 5-inch HD screen with a 720x1280 resolution, which translates to a decent pixel density of 294 ppi. It weights 124 grams and measures 142.7x72.8x8.7 mm.

Under the hood, the phone is powered by a MediaTek 1GHz quad-core processor and 3GB of RAM. It offers 16GB of internal storage, which can be expanded through a microSD card. It is one of the few phones in the market packing 3GB of RAM for under Rs 8,000.

The phone has a relatively meager 2,000 mAh battery as well as dual-SIM support. The phone also supports 4G LTE, 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 as well as GPS.

It runs on Micromax's own Indus OS running on top of Android 5.1 Lollipop. The lack of Marshmallow is a big letdown. Indus OS has been designed by Micromax specifically for the Indian audience in mind. It supports 12 Indian languages, out of which the 'Canvas XP' supports 10.

The Chief Marketing Officer of Micromax, Shubajit Sen, said, "Micromax has successfully expanded the overall smartphone market and created a favourable impact in the ecommerce channel capturing over 11 percent of the exclusive online market last year. A significant part of this success is attributed to our partnership with Snapdeal, where we have grown the overall entry level smartphone market. With the launch of Canvas XP with Snapdeal, we are further bringing a very strong product to our consumers to upgrade to the latest 4G phenomena."

For the price, the phone has a lot going for it, especially the 3GB of RAM. However, the underpowered processor, meager sized battery and lack of Marshmallow might count against it.

At this price range, the phone faces tough competition from the likes of the 'Coolpad Note 3 Lite', which offers a fingerprint sensor and a better camera for just 6,999 as well as Micromax's own 'Yu Yuphoria'.

Coolpad Note 3 Plus vs Lenovo K3 Note

The Coolpad Note 3 Plus was launched over the weekend by the company as a marginally upgraded version of the standard Coolpad Note 3. The only upgrade here is that the 'Plus' model comes with a Full HD (1920x1080) display while the standard variant sports a 720p (1280x720) display.

Key Features

Given the low price tag, the only key feature we can talk about here is the presence of powerful and crisp 1080p display panels. Both devices sport 5.5-inch displays with the said resolution, which means that there's not much to separate the two in terms of display quality. The Coolpad Note 3 also has 3GB of RAM on board, while the K3 Note is settling for 2GB, which can be an area of advantage for those opting the Coolpad offering.

Design

This is an area where the Coolpad Note 3 Plus has a distinct advantage over the K3 Note. Thanks to the premium metal body used by Coolpad, the Lenovo offering seems to be lagging behind. That's not to say that the K3 Note is a bad looking device, but just that Coolpad has paid more emphasis on the appearance of its handset.

Camera

Both phones come with 13MP rear cameras and 5MP front cameras, so there's very little to tell the two apart. It would ultimately come down to the customizations made by Coolpad and Lenovo.

Processor

The Coolpad Note 3 Plus is packing the octa-core Mediatek 6753 processor, while the K3 Note is sporting the slightly lower specced MT6752 chipset by Mediatek. However, the octa-core processor on the K3 Note has a clock-speed of 1.7 GHz, while the Coolpad offering is running at 1.3 GHz.

Battery

Both devices come with a 3,000 mAh battery under the hood, which means you will get the same amount of backup for the most part. However, the battery life is dependent on the kind of software optimizations done by the manufacturers, so we can't say for sure if both devices will offer identical battery backup.

Other Features

The Coolpad Note 3 Plus comes with a fingerprint scanner on the back, while the K3 Note doesn't have it on board. This is what makes the Note 3 Plus a very attractive offering in the mobile industry, especially given the pricing. Both handsets come with 16GB of internal storage as well as a microSD card slot. However, the K3 Note can only take cards of up to 32GB, while the Note 3 Plus can expand its storage by 64GB.

Pricing and availability

The Lenovo K3 Note is freely available from Flipkart without any flash sales or pre-registrations. The handset is priced at Rs 9,999 and is available in a 16GB model.

The Coolpad Note 3 Plus will be available on the 12th of May via Amazon India for Rs 8,999, so you still have some waiting left to do if you're interested in purchasing the device.