My first thoughts on the Xperia SP compared to my Xperia T

It was only a week ago when I thought that the Sony Test Lab was nearly a goner. It has been incredibly quiet and inactive from Sony and we all thought the worst. 

Granted, it isn't saved yet, but I was incredibly pleased to hear that they still needed some input from a couple of us.

Like reviving a corpse with a defibrillator and having it walk around the room like zombie Lincoln, someone from the team at Iris wanted two of us to test the Xperia SP and its capabilities, mainly by syncing it up to a Playstation 3 as a game pad.  Naturally, I jumped at the chance!

I was ever so excited to try the SP because of its new technology such as the Bravia 2 engine, Exmor RS sensor and the Playstation Mobile app.

After a few days of begging and moaning, here I am, the new Xperia SP!

Huzzah!

We all know from my countless and repetitive posts that I get a little obsessed with a certain phone from time to time. A while back it was the Xperia T, then the Xperia Z,  recently it has been the Xperia SP.

The Xperia SP, unlike the other two, is a mid ranged phone. The main reason I loved the sound of this phone was mainly what you get for its price range. Estimates are around £250 it manages to pack in the new Bravia 2 engine, the new Exmor RS sensor with HDR in the camera and a Qualcomm S4 processor, like the Xperia T's, only newer. You cant complain at that. Especially since its spec destroys the Samsung S3 mini in every single aspect for only £50 more.

When I first started reading about this phone the first thing I noticed was the very bland look. The specs were all there but Sony are well known for making very sexy, stylish looking phones (the Xperia Pro, Xperia Arc, The Xperia T etc). It reminded me of a very bulky and square Xperia S. Once I got my hands on it and had a closer look, I found that this phone actually looks more like an Xperia T. Its the same size and has the same matt backing to it, though with the Xperia SP you can actually take off the back and access the battery, HUZZAH PRORESS!

The buttons are more sensibly placed than on the T, and the power button is made of metal, though I have to say because it lacks the Arc shape, it is a little chunkier, the phone feels cheaper because of this. 

Ok, a little cheaper, but considering its a mid ranged phone you can forgive,  but for something which looks so similar, it feels so different. It certainly looks and feels much better than the last mid ranged phone Sony released, the Xperia P. So again, small steps.

I have noticed they have stuck on the flashing strip from the Xperia U. This is a nice little touch, it flashes different colours depending what notification you get. Its great to know if its worth picking up your phone or not when a message comes through, or finding your phone in the dark.  The strip was something introduced by Sony in the last generation of phones but for some reason only the Xperia U got a strip which flashed different colours. The Xperia S and P did not. Either way, nice touch, I love it.

I am not too sure what Sony were thinking when naming this phone. Knowing how top heavy and bloated the company is, I assumed that a Sony big wig came in half way through a meeting, took one look at it, and decided it looked a bit like an Xperia S and P. So they merged the two together to become SP.  Thats it. 

...Well, that's how it feels!

I will spare you the long winded rant on my thoughts on the Xperia alphabetical labelling system and how it makes little sense. This however, comes across as just lazy. The phone looks like the Xperia T without the arc shape, some rearranged buttons, and has the glowing strip and shape of an Xperia U. If anything this should be the Xperia TU or Xperia UT.

What do you think?

I have decided to give the Xperia T and SP a benchmark test to see which one is fastest.  Both phones have very similar processors. Both are the new Qualcomm S4  snapdragon processor. The SP has a 1.7Ghz processor with an Adreno 320 GPU. The Xperia T has a 1.5Ghz Krait processor with an Adreno 225 GPU. Surprisingly the Xperia T out performed the SP by 706 points.

Xperia T - 11497.

 

The Xperia T benchmark test.

  

The Xperia SP benchmark test. Xperia SP -10791.

I have also tested the two phones against each other with the cameras. The two phones are quite different in this respect. The Xperia T has a 13 megapixel camera with the older Xperia R sensor at full HD. The Xperia SP has an 8 megapixel camera with the new Exmor RS sensor with HDR at full HD.

The Xperia T is often used by me on 9-10 megapixel mode as the 13 megapixel setting can only do square photos. The Xperia SP ends up being a 7 megapixel camera once you put it in to photography mode. The Xperia T has the advantage with the higher megapixel count but the SP has the HDR feature and the newer sensor.

Keeping in mind that I haven't had a good chance to compare the cameras, and this was a very basic test, I have found that a lot of the photos do seem to go in favour of the Xperia T. The low megapixel level does miss some good detail. I have found however that the Xperia SP is king when it comes to handling bright light and moving images, something which the Xperia T has often struggled with in the past. Not only are the results slightly better in high light and with moving images but it focuses and handled the photo much faster. This, as far as I am concerned, is down to the HDR feature. 

Still, a lot of this is undermined by the fact that the 7 megapixel camera is losing just that little too much detail than it should.  Its funny, as the 8 megapixel Xperia P's camera was absolutely fine.

Xperia T 

Xperia T photo of bright light.

Xperia SP 

Xperia SP photo of bright light.

So far, in all honesty, the Xperia T is actually the better phone in terms of raw power. This is only a first impression however, and I haven't really had a good chance to compare the screen quality of Bravia vs Bravia2 yet, not to mention some other features. Considering both phones are very similar AND in the same price range currently then I would suggest people go with the Xperia T. It has the style, the feel, a better camera for detail, currently a better performing processor and GPU (even though its spec are more dated).

The Xperia SP isn't completely defeated though, its flashing strip may appeal to certain people. Its camera does have some areas where it would be much preferred to the Xperia T, its certainly more suited for Facebook. The Xperia SP has had some better results with its photos with handles moving images, especially with the HDR function,  low and high light conditions are great too. It also has physical buttons which are much more sensibly placed on the phone.

It comes with Stamina mode too which does make a difference, which is useful as Sony haven't always been king of battery life.

I am going to continue comparing these two phones over the next few weeks, have a bash on the Xperia SP's new syncing with the Playstation 3 and see how I get on.