Sony Xperia V review: Bond’s wetsuit
- V
- Vio
- 0U2
- 30 Jan 2013
sboy, 30 Jan 2013I have this phone and I have to say I'm very pleased with i... moreYou can control the music player with the included headphones?
- s
- sboy
- nxw
- 30 Jan 2013
I have this phone and I have to say I'm very pleased with it. Came to it from an S3 as I wanted something a little smaller. The V is pretty nippy and I'd say it's actually a tad faster than the S3, internet is quick, well made, great camera and screen, quite a sexy looking phone too. Battery life isnt great but it's not that bad either, I'd say its about 20-30% worse off than the S3 depending on use.
- ?
- Anonymous
- vj1
- 30 Jan 2013
Tom, 30 Jan 2013As usual with SONY - display with poor viewing angles... Wi... moreIts for your own privacy. Why would you want to see your phone at an angle? Not unless youre not the handling the phone.
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- AnonD-86903
- N}Y
- 30 Jan 2013
Tom, 30 Jan 2013As usual with SONY - display with poor viewing angles... Wi... morethis is one of the best phones available now. don't try to muck its performance as well as Sony's name and quality.
- F
- Fade.
- S2e
- 30 Jan 2013
Tom, 30 Jan 2013As usual with SONY - display with poor viewing angles... Wi... moreThe thing with the wieving angles is simple. If they are bad anyone can´t spy what you are doing with your phone.
- w
- wbt
- mTT
- 30 Jan 2013
Anonymous, 30 Jan 2013I dont get it, "its current price sets it on a collis... moreYes i agree with you i have the XV since to mounth now and i live in Norway and remmber when i bourgth my XV i was pretty expencive but now the price is much lower its also depence on where you buy it the only drowback i experience is not the videorecording here the XV performs pretty good but the sound is a bit low but that al but calling and receive incoming calls here thr sound is far above average i can say that becourse i have also sgs 3 which i dont use it anymoore also the screnn of the XV is much moore visible in direct sunligth here the sgs 3 performs very bad ifen with full brigtness you see not really if you got a message father on i have installed the new Xperia Z home launcher and lookscreen and in my XV is 64 gb sd card slot and that XV is have less fleshmemmory is also not a let down and if you want to have better standby mode then this is also possible to find under settings and in dayly use i must say that XV performs better then my 9 mounth old sgs 3
- T
- Tom
- 0wQ
- 30 Jan 2013
As usual with SONY - display with poor viewing angles... Will we ever see Sony flagship with good quality IPS screen? Even with the Xperia Z the situation is the same.
In contrast: look at what HTC is doing, in One X they have one of the best displays in a phone.
- x
- xperiaman
- GLP
- 30 Jan 2013
i think xperia tx looks better than xperia v
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- Anonymous
- m7K
- 30 Jan 2013
AnonD-80553, 30 Jan 2013I agree. The flagship "monster" SIII is a crap ph... moreYeah, i didnt want to dive too deep into the display of the S3, it is kinda outside the scope of the review. I totally agree about the dimness, big disadvantage, i have a Note 2 which has a better and brighter display but still its annoying that i have to up up the brightness to get good detail in dark scenes in movies, for example. And this is a much bigger problem on S3. If i need full brightness for OK video on Note 2 then it is impossible to achieve it on S3.
This is my last AMOLED phone, the contrast between dark colors is horrible, i do not believe that Note 2 and S3 has 16M colors, dark grey easily turns black, and so does deep navy blue. For more understanding of the problem one can refer to the black clipping/missing greyscale issue of Note 1, thats the extreme case but Note 2 and S3 has it also to some extent.
- ?
- Anonymous
- m7K
- 30 Jan 2013
Zeph, 30 Jan 2013"There're also no widgets in the app drawer, which is ... moreWidgets in the app drawer is a bad idea anyway, after browsing app drawer for widgets then next time you go to app drawer widgets are selected by default, and you have to seloect Apps again before you can start doing something useful. Destroys the work flow, very inconvenient.
Widgets do not need to be easily available, and FOR SURE they must not slowdown the process of finding an app in the drawer as they do on my Note 2.
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- AnonD-80553
- 5i4
- 30 Jan 2013
Anonymous, 30 Jan 2013I dont get it,
"its current price sets it on a collis... moreI agree. The flagship "monster" SIII is a crap phone. Very cheap quality feel, too dim screen (the most important part of the phone) and not the beast screen calibration (cartoony). Battery is not at all impressive either. Exynos support is bad, very bad. Just check Google play, in almost any apps, if there are complaints it's from users with Exynos phones.
Sure, the Optimus 4X is a very good buy, very very low price right now and I also like the Nexus 4, despite it's one very obvious drawback.
All in all I like the V, it's not as nice as the Motorola RAZR HD, but still very very nice :)
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- AnonD-80553
- 5i4
- 30 Jan 2013
Anonymous, 30 Jan 2013Only think I dislike is that... theres no microSD included.... moreGo to SM Moa. They can custom cut the screen saver for you there at many of the gadget shops.
Unfortunately they only have matte types. Same at SM Dasma - and any other I've checked. Alternatively, you can buy a proper ultra clear from ebay, either for your phone or a bigger one/tablet (and customs cut it yourself, it's quite easy).
- ?
- Anonymous
- m7K
- 30 Jan 2013
I dont get it,
"its current price sets it on a collision course with the quad-core flagship monsters that wouldn't mind one last fight before retirement, especially one that they're guaranteed to win."
They are guaranteed to win in what way? Lets say Galaxy S3, it loses 5 out of 6 benchmarks to the Xperia V, most of them with considerable margin. And you go on to say "But it is real-life performance that counts the most.
Luckily, the Xperia V handles that very well too and didn't slow down not even once during our time with it."
And then no pentile crap. Sounds to me like the Xperia V won.
Xperia V is very good, several carriers are sold out in certain 4G markets, the reviews has been great, for example in Norway it received a 6 out of 6, while Lumia 920 received a "weak 5" out of 6 from the same reviewers. User reviews has been good also, cant see anyone having regrets getting the V, cant say the same about the 920. =)
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- Anonymous
- vj1
- 30 Jan 2013
Only think I dislike is that... theres no microSD included...
Other than that. a great phone indeed. Has some features of the Z, albeit in a smaller size...
Now for the burning questions:
Will the flaps lasts? Any feedbacks from the old xperia owners?
And where can we buy the dock? And the Sony branded screen protector?
I still cant use mine because I still cant find any protector. Im from Manila btw =)
V is for Vengeance
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- AnonD-80103
- 7Xb
- 30 Jan 2013
sam, 30 Jan 2013The poor battery is a deal breaker for me. I really waned t... moreDont u worry my friend.. Mugen made a 3600mah battery for xperia v ..it comes along with a back cover (balck white red) ..i just read this article on xperiablog
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- Zeph
- PGq
- 30 Jan 2013
"There're also no widgets in the app drawer, which is slightly inconvenient."
Custom launchers solve everything
As fancy as the Timescape UI is, it's functionality is just barebones at best, focusing more on form over function
- t
- the_seba
- mN{
- 30 Jan 2013
You gotta love Sony, their Timescape UI is really modern and refreshing and the design of handsets is superb. I've had my fun with Xperia S and I have to say it's one of the best handets I've had the pleasure to deal with. This adds water resistance to that package making it a good choice for specific scenarios (my aunt once dropped a phone in the toilet bowl, true story). This bad boy, even on ICS is going to be a pleasure to own, and the HD screen is amazing, especially on Sony hansets with their BRAVIA miracles.
- s
- sam
- uNV
- 30 Jan 2013
The poor battery is a deal breaker for me. I really waned to get this one. It had great looks.....
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- Anonymous
- nGx
- 30 Jan 2013
"There're also no widgets in the app drawer, which is slightly inconvenient."
I disagree. I find Google's recent moves after ICS to put widgets on the app drawer illogical and cluttering. Sony's method of long pressing on the home-screen makes much more sense, and is quicker too.
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- Ben
- vC}
- 30 Jan 2013
Thanks for the comprehensive review GSM Arena!
The thing that really stands out for me is its water-proof, has a good camera, and nice screen and is relatively quick. And about the battery life, 30 hours isnt bad at all, my cousins HTC One X lasts only a couple of hours. If you want it to last longer why not carry around a backup battery?