Just in: Sony Xperia L1 hands-on

The affordable Sony Xperia L1 is the latest phone to come to our office and we are rushing to share our first impressions with you. It certainly lacks the geeky appeal of the Xperia XZ Premium, but it has something few of its entry-level peers posses - a distinctive design.

While its specs sheet is understandably modest, the Xperia L1 is an instantly recognizable member of the Sony family. It even comes with a back panel that changes from pink through pearl to white depending on light, suggesting more premium materials than is the norm in the price range.

Sony says the polycarbonate it used is also a more durable material than the conventional plastic polymers.

Sadly, the 5.5” screen of 1280 x 720 pixel resolution somewhat spoils the look of the front panel as it's image quality is lacking. Good news is it comes with a scratch-resistant glass - another feature not that common in the sub-€200 category.

The chipset is MediaTek’s MT6737T, which is as underpowered as they come these days. That's definitely felt even with some of the preinstalled apps such as the camera, which has pretty long shot-to-shot time.

And since we mentioned taking photos, here are a few shots with the 13 MP F/2.2 camera. It's quality is pretty decent for the price range, but we were rather unpleasantly surprised to find out that it lacks some basic functionality such as a panorama mode.

Sony Xperia L1 initial camera samples

The front camera has a 5 MP sensor and the same size aperture.

Sony Xperia L1 selfie sample

The launcher is a standard Sony affair, but the good news is it runs on top of Nougat.

We are already performing our usual tests on the device and it should go live on our homepage towards the end of the week.