Dealing with NFC (2012) - By Ste Crossley!

You may be aware of my position within the Sony Mobile Test Lab, a group of regular consumers invited by Sony to participate in product trials and provide honest feedback.

I recently got talking to a fellow test-labber, Simon Tompkins, about getting him in as a guest blogger. I asked Simon if he would provide his experiences of Sony's implementation of NFC, and here is the end result. A fantastic account of one mans experiences, and I hope you'll agree.One thing Sony seems to be pushing more than any other manufacturer lately is NFC, which stands for Near Field Communication.

For anyone who hasn't heard of NFC before probably will in the near future. It is a new way for smart phones to share low amounts of information very easily, quickly and with just one touch. 

This feature is already being used by most high end Android phones to share photos, playlists, pay for small amounts of items in a shop which supports NFC financial transactions and playing music through NFC speakers from your phone. As you can begin to see, NFC is making high and loud promises for the future. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Exz22WFsC5g

I've had the Sony Xperia P, one of Sony's 2012 NFC sporting phones, for about 4-6 months now. To start with I really didn't see much use in having it, as the most exiting feature of NFC for me was being able to pay for items quickly through Google Wallet. Unfortunately Google Wallet isn't yet supported here in the UK with no official news on when to expect it, and those payment options that do exist here are found sparely across major chains and cities only. 

Not only that but very few people have phones which use NFC either so I was still having to share photos and such the old fashioned way...the Apple way.

Sony have released a lot of accessories which have caught my interest and have encouraged me to get off the couch start figuring it all out, mainly the smart tags and the NFC sphere speakers. 

It's not an overly complicated concept, but like any new technology even the simple kind can prove a challenge to those new to it, so I decided to share my experiences with you to help out with the transition.

My Xperia P comes with a couple of "NFC Smart Tags". This innovation is courtesy of Sony and are a pretty cool accessory. They store a small 'identity' which when scanned by a correctly configured phone can automatically trigger a series of events all at once in without having to painstakingly do it all by yourself. 

The idea is to put them in places like your front door for instance, where a tag may trigger a profile to disable your Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, saving your battery life for the day ahead. Additionally you might with to include events so that at the time of scanning the tag, the phone reads out the time and weather forecast. You may even wish to split these commands across different tags, and include the time and weather commands at the point of waking up and scanning a tag on your bedside. 

You could even scan a bedside tag to set your phone to silent, set the alarm for the next morning and post a good night message on your Facebook timeline.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfkFgtoQtFQ

My first experience with doing this was simple enough. I decided where I wanted my two smart tags and placed them by the back door and my bedside. I hung the tags accordingly and programmed the commands I wanted. 

To give you an idea of what the tags can do and what they're all about, I'll show you the commands I recorded in both tags.

BEDSIDE TAG Do this: Wi-Fi off,  Bluetooth off, Sound silent, Start application alarm clock, Speak current time, volume settings applied (alarm turns up, everything else turned down) and a goodnight post to my friends on Facebook (very cool!).At the end: Wi-Fi on, Bluetooth off, Sound mode normal, Post a good morning facebook message (its for testing purposes, honest!), speak the current time, volume settings readjusted, open google news and start the Facebook application.

BACK DOOR TAG Do this:  Wi-Fi off, Bluetooth off, sound mode loud, start news and weather app, speak current time.At the end: Wi-Fi toggle, speak the current time, sound mode adjusted to lower setting.

The problem This is where I stumbled across my first problem. The 'Do this' option means when I scan the NFC tag to my phone, it does exactly as I command. This works fine. Its quick, easy and responsive. 

When I programmed 'at the end' however, I had assumed this meant when I returned and scanned the phone a second time, that it would apply these settings. No matter how many times I scan the NFC tag is seems to continuously apply the 'Do this' settings. 

This leads me to wonder why an 'at the end' option present. Is there a timer to apply these settings at the end of which, that I'm supposed to configure? Do these settings make the 'Do this' settings a temporary configuration until the 'at the end' configuration kicks in?

Like I say, the concept is a great one, however as simple as it is, it seems to have been overcomplicated, much more so than it needs to be, by the process required to configure the commands. Even just renaming the event options to 'scan once' and scan twice' would have made for a much more clear and understandable setup.

I've also noticed the need to unlock your phone to scan with NFC (though there might be a setting for this which I'm yet to find), meaning I need to press the button on the side with my thumb before swiping to unlock my phone. Finally at this point, I can scan my NFC tag. This may take just seconds to do, but it's a fiddly process and just isn't the same experience shown on the adverts. It's far from a one touch experience. 

The good parts By pairing the smart tags with the NFC sphere speakers, I could really imagine this being a cool party trick. Walking in and tapping my phone on the speakers, having it instantly playing my music wirelessly. 

Pretty cool, especially paired with Music Unlimited which has a huge library of music. Who doesn't want to be the guy with all the tunes in the world? 

The following video shows just how easy it is to play music on the NFC speakers, without an exhaustive amount of setting up before hand. 

Here is a guying showing you how to use the NFC speakers http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKgk69mbMeM

Its a really cool idea, and one that I can't wait to start using more as the technology becomes more widespread, especially as the accessories are rolled out.

I do have a few friends with NFC phones but don't see them often enough, and certainly don't trade playlists or photos with them. Doing so would be more for the sake of it, rather than something I actually need. 

Once the technology becomes more available then I can really see myself making the most of it. For now, its a novelty with a lot of potential...

Update 12/11/12

I have been having some fun with the NFC tags. I have set up a command to my  NFC tag to post  a good night message to my friends on Facebook when I scan my bed time tag before I go to sleep. I thought I would use Rik Mayals good night speech from the 90's BBC series "Bottom". Again this is just novelty which proves no real useful purpose for day to day life but fits in well with Sonys light hearted fun time image which they try very hard to portray in their marketing and adverts.     (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wsz87hpzk-c) (7:16)

Update 14/11/12

I suppose it was inevitable that using NFC would take some getting used to. I keep forgetting to scan my phone before bed and therefore leaving my sound turned up which is quite annoying because of those late night texts or calls. Not to mention that it leaves my wifi and bluetooth on (which isnt too much of an issue as its on charge).Also my Facebook friends are clearly missing my goodnight NFC message too!

I am remembering to scan my phone when I leave the house, but since I leave through the back AND front door depending on what I am doing I sometimes have to walk across the house to scan my phone to put it on the settings I like before I leave. Which to me is more of a hassle than changing the phones settings the old fashioned way. Also, since NFC doesnt have a second scan settings ability I feel like I need two NFC tags for everyplace I originally thought id only need one.

For example, if I leave the house then I need certain phone settings for being in the outdoors (wifi off, loud ring tone etc) but when I get back home I am unable to scan the same tag again for indoor settings. So I need a whole new tag for that as when I scan the tag a second time it just readds the same settings I wanted for when I left the house. Now duplicate that for every exit in the house. 

The tags arent expensive but is seems like a bit of a complicated mess. Its also a hassle to have to spend another ten pounds plus delivery on another three tags to do something I though the tags could do in the first place.

17/11/2012

I have decided to take my NFC tag out of my car and put it with the one next to my bed. This way I have a tag to set my phone before bed and a tag to set my phone for the morning.  Its a shame I need two tags for this rather than one but I think I will benefit from this a lot more. I have wanted to try this for a few days now so I can use the "open URL" option. I am going to select Google News and Facebook so my news and Facebook news feed are ready to view when I get up in the morning. I will also use it to turn on my wifi, turn my sound back on, speak the current time and perhaps add another annoying automated message on Facebook for the morning. 

Lets see how this works out..

Music Unlimited (2012)

I have decided to give Sony's Music and Video Unlimited a bash. 

I want to state that I have had very little experience with anything like this. I have had some very stressful experiences with Itunes and Spotfy in the past but that's about it. 

Sony have been kind enough to give me a free trail on their premium service for a month or so, then a free trial on the basic package. From what I understand the premium account is £9.99 a month and gives me unlimited access to music on their millions of tracks. This basically gets rid of a lot of adverts on the service. If you have a PSN account you will occasionally get offers for Music Unlimited for £60 a year, which works out at half price at £5 per month which is one of the most competitive prices of any music streaming service around.

I was a little confused to see that Sony require my card details for a free trail. Later I find out that they automatically jump over to the pay monthly service and start charging you once your free trail has ended. I have also learned from A LOT of online complaining that they do not warn you that they are going to start charging after your trail is over. I have yet to find out the truth to this but if it is then I am pretty disgusted with Sony. I have taken the liberty of writing down the date it expires so this doesn't happen. This isn't unheard of mind, this is something Netflix and Love Film do also. Very nasty if true.

As we all know Sony are a major player when it comes to music and cinema so they will be easily able to complete with Apple on this front. I was very impressed with their selection, I have even found some of my terrible noisy music which nobody has ever heard of on here from Atari Teenage Riot to Bong Ra. Thats pretty impressive as they come from two spectrum of music at other sides of the stratosphere. Sony certainly do get some brownie points there. Their cinema selection seems decent too.  Well done guys.

I am also impressed with the fact that Music Unlimited has upgraded its entire collection to full CD quality (320kb I believe). Some other services have done this too, though only with a certain percent of their catalogue. So again, bravo Sony as most other rivals have not done this. I have heard so many people mention that audio quality was a big issue for them not getting involved with music streaming, so this is key to Music Unlimited and its success.

As for the experience goes the software is quite slow. When i scroll up and down it lags. I like to think we are past that kind of rubbish now days. The user interface is also dull and could do with some modernization. I am finding it crashing several times a day, especially if I ask it to do too much at once. This is the main issue which is dragging down the experience for me.  Sorry guys but that is a massive fail from me.

I am happy with this music service. It gives me unlimited access to all their music. This competes with the pirating which is so rife online but makes it much easier to share with friends and other consoles like the Playstation 3. For a tenner a month this is something I really could see using. All depending on usability. If your strapped for cash you can even get the basic service for £3.99 with adverts.

I am not too sure how the adverts are going to be once my premium account gets downgraded. If its like YouTube and I have to sit through 5 seconds of advert to listen to the next song then I will quite simply stop using this service. I like to think this is the kind of software I can use at parties when I plug my phone in to some speakers like they probably show on the adverts on TV. It will hardly be as fun as they portray if we are having to sit there listening to Martin Clunes talking to the Churchill dog between each track. 

Streaming music seems to be fast with little issues. I have mediocre broadband and there was no buffering and very little waiting for the next screen to come up. If Sony could just make the scrolling experience smoother and modernised the look and feel of the software then we could be on to a winner. 

more to follow! 

****UPDATE****

Well I have just tried to sync my account to the PS3 by downloading the app on the PSstore. My console doesn't give me a "sign in" option, so I accidentally made another separate account.  I had to spend about 20 mins finding the option to cancel the automatic subscription to stop Sony charging me when my free trial ends. Its unnecessarily complicated and a pain in the arse to use. I have just spent another 15 mins looking up how to cancel my automatic subscription to my Xperia P too. I think Sony must have made this a real pain to cancel on purpose. I had to actually go in to "Help" and find out how to do it. Which from what I can tell, can only be done on a PC and not the Android App.

Anything that requires that kind of effort needs to be rethought out.

I am going to try this again when I can be bothered but it makes me wonder if other people could be...

Simon Tompkins - A lazy consumer who wants a simple life. 

***update****

I am trying to make a simple play list but the songs I add aren't always being added. I have to do it several times before they come up. This is really annoying as you have to go back quite a few pages to check it has gone on. Sloppy Sony. Not only that but I have noticed a lot of spelling mistakes on some of the track names. I am not sure how this all works but still pretty basic. Not happy. 

On the plus side I am very happy with your selection of music. On further searching I have found nearly all my favourite bands and DJ's. Not only that but the selection is VERY good too.  Nice work.

If Sony can sort out Music Unlimited's kinks and perhaps make it easier to use then this could be something special.

My final thoughts of the Xperia P

I have had the Xperia P for a while now and I thought id close with my very final points.

Over all I have enjoyed this phone, though it hasnt come without its massive problems and irony. First off I will say that this is a good phone, especially for its price. Anyone who is new to the mobile phone world and has perhaps had a low end smart phone before looking to move up a little but doesnt want to bust the bank with insanely priced Samsung S3's and I Phone 5's would do well to look this phone up. 

As I expected from the start the 1.5 second photo taking has slowed down over time. It is still fast, and much faster than previous Xperia cameras after the same time period. I am sometimes faced with lag when I have REALLY needed to take a picture fast due to law of the sod. The pictures are still being taken within 5 seconds (at the very worst) even with a lot of crap on my phone. The fast photo taking feature does feel like the camera does get rushed as it tends to blur often when using this feature. It would have been great to do multiple bursts with this feature so I could pick out the best one. 

The camera is pretty much the high standard of 8 megapixel camera you'd expect from Sony. At first I thought the 8 megapixel camera was much better than my Xperia Pro and Arc. After uploading the photos to my computer and comparing them to other Xperia phones I found I decided  that the quality was about the same. The White Magic feature on the Xperia P's screen making the photos look much better than they were while viewing them on the phone.

The White Magic feature is where the irony comes in. It is FANTASTIC. It really brings photos to life. I would easily put it as MUCH better than Super AMOLED. As we know AMOLED has its issues with screen burn and giving off very unusual radioactive colours, which is fine when your looking at graphics and menus but when looking back at photos and watching films then not so much. I really wish they had put White Magic in EVERY Xperia phone as its easily the best feature of this phone. Sadly since the battery is so small (being smaller than the Xperia U) you are scared to turn the screen brightness over 30% when going out to work for the day (and I only work a 6-7 hour day). This usually means that I can only really enjoy White Magic when I am at home or with a charger near by. White Magic may be a sensational viewing experience but I have failed to see its battery saving abilities like Sony claim (or if it does work then I dread to think what the phone would be like without this battery saving feature!). I also noticed little advantage when out in the sun. I was in Barcelona last month and the White Magic on full did very little to help my viewing experience at mid day. 

Anyone who owns this phone needs to know that you WILL NEED TO TAKE YOUR CHARGER WITH YOU...EVERYWHERE. Or at a very minimum just be very mindful of battery life. Turn everything off if your not using it. I know this is something your supposed to do anyway but you really cannot afford to make a mistake with this battery. I live in a rural area with 3 as my network operator so my phone is often searching for signal too which kains the battery even more. When I get home from a shift it is not uncommon for my battery to be on 1-5%. Sometimes its run out completely.  

The dual core S3 processor works well. Like with the instant photo taking feature the dual core processor does lag a bit after time but is still performing much better than previous single core phones last year. This is something you would expect with any laptop or phone. The whole experience is much smoother than anything ive had before. 

The phone is made out of a plastic. It looks the part and is very light. The size of the phone is just right with a 4 inch screen which makes using the phone one handed a bit easier (even with my fat fingers). It does mean that the phone is sliding out of my pocket a lot. This isnt a problem with jeans but with anything else I am often finding my phone down the sofa, at the bottom of my car or down the side of the bed. I am very exited to see that Sony have given the Xperia T some sort of rubber casing to add some friction to the phone. Just be careful with this phone as it spends a lot of time on the floor. 

The screen is pretty good. Like I mentioned above the White Magic is brilliant. Its Pixel density is 275 which is very high and beats the S3 Mini by far. Its just the right size and is incredibly responsive. I did manage to get a large scratch on the screen which could be down to the plastic casing making it slide out my hand every five minutes. 

Sonys integration with Facebook makes the social networking experience fantastic. This isnt exclusive to the Xperia P but all Xperia hand sets. Tech Radar came out a while back and congratulated Sony on this and even went as far as to say that Sony are the very best at this atm. If you love Facebook then this phone (or brand is for you, no question).

There were a lot of things I assumed about this phone when I first got it which I was dead right about. The instant photo taking lagging after a while being the main one. However there was one thing I thought I was going to absolutely hate about this phone which I have grown to love. The see through strip at the bottom of this phone. A lot of reviews have said they are very disappointed with the fact it doesn't light up when a notification comes through...myself included. The strip is however much more responsive than I thought it was going to be. I love the way it vibrates when the buttons are pushed, and though it sometimes doesn't detect my finger when I push the button I have gotten used to it and have learned how to use it in day to day life with little trouble. I really like this feature and really hope Sony keep it. This is just me though and this could be different for other users. 

More to follow....

Xperia P camera (August 2012)

Though I am very impressed that Sony decided to have a near instant capture on its new camera. I have noticed that the stabilizers on the camera do not work as well when taking a photo from sleep. Not only that but the flash never comes on. Needless to say I think I am expecting too much immediately with the flash as it takes  a few seconds to power up but the stabilizers are a different story but this could be something for them to work on in the future. I am finding myself just using the camera as I did with the Xperia Pro rather than using the instant capture because I am finding that photos (especially of my toddler son) are coming out blurred as he moves around so much. Aka, its no good for action shots.

The camera is of good quality. People on reviews have been amazed by the results of the 8 megapixel Sony camera in reviews. I was  impressed too until I done a few tests. When looking at the photo I had just taken on the marvelous White Magic screen the photos look much better, but when they are uploaded on to a computer and compared to the Xperia Pros 8 megapixel camera, there isn't much difference, if any. 

My predictions were correct on the instant capture getting slower as time went on. Though I will say that the time difference isn't as bad as I thought it would be. Maybe this is down to the dual core processor, maybe not. Who knows. 

I have said it before and I will say it again. The Exmor R, as far as I can see, makes no difference in low light situations. I have little way of comparing it with a Sony phone which doesn't have it as I do not have my old c905 or Vivaz anymore but I am still getting pretty poor results in low light. Which leads me on to my final point...

I have given up all hope on ever seeing an Xenon flash ever again. I have heard rumors of a 13 megapixel Sony phone coming out soon. I'm afraid its going to be just the same results as the Xperia S, though probably the best results around other than Nokia, they still weren't what I was hoping for. Can we please have a cybershot or camera primary phone please? Sony has the technology to do this...

The Xperia P abroad. (August 2012)

I shall be going to Barcelona for three nights from tomorrow. I shall be taking my Xperia P and seeing how it handles.

I have no doubt that its camera shall not disappoint me and I know the White Magic screen shall serve me well in the hot sun but my main worry is the terrible battery life. I am going to need to turn my screen up reasonably high to be able to see the screen and I shall be using my camera a lot. All I ask from this phone is to be able to use my phone during the day without it running out of battery and then charging before going out again at night. 

If the phone cannot manage this simple task then i consider it a fail...To be honest it struggles to do this during the day in England with a low screen brightness and minimal use during work. So this will be interesting to see. 

Things I will be testing the Xperia P on during my trip away.

Battery life.

How the screen handles in bright hot weather.

The camera.

Practicality (how it handles in busy crowds like holding on to it, using it in a rush, etc).

Signal and connecting to networks.

(update)

Over all the phone was a success. I will say however this was mainly down to the fact I had a European plug converter to charge the phone every time I was back at my apartment. The battery seemed to last a lot of the day because of this.

The camera served me well but didn't serve me any better than the Xperia Pro or Xperia Arc. The camera hasn't evolved as far as I can see over the past year or so, especially in terms of results. The instant photo taking feature rarely gets used as I like to adjust my settings before each photo. The panorama capture proved very useful in the Barcelona FC stadium but otherwise i consider it a very standard camera. 

White Magic was quite useful in the hot sun though it didn't make much difference at mid day when the sun was at its brightest...even with the screen brightness turned up max. 

Sadly for me I couldn't test everything about the phone as 3 do not have a network in Spain so a lot of the time it was in flight mode...this also might explain why the battery didn't let me down too much.

The phone served me well but don't get too exited...so did some of the older phones from Sony. Little progress from this generation in my opinion...this phone is still using the same OS!

Dont consider this a phone bashing though as Sony's standards are still above the curve in reliability and functionality. Its just frustrating to see little progress has been made. I wouldn't recommend this phone if you do not plan to charge it while on holiday as I know some people do try and make the battery last. It will fail in the first day. 

Xperia P in the car (July 2012)

In the one in a million chance you read my first thoughts on the Xperia P you would remember that I was quite nervous about going back from the physical qwerty keyboard of the Xperia Pro and back to touch screen keyboards of the Xperia P. I have never got on with touch screen and it was something I was not looking forward too. I was however, exited about having a larger screen as a result. The Xperia P's screen is a realistic 4 inches where as the Xperia Pro's was only 3.7 inches. Not to mention that the Xperia P's screen has "White magic" which helps show the screen in bright lighting which you often get in cars. Therefore, am I correct in assuming it would be better as a sat nav?

Well in the short time I have used the Xperia P in my car I have noticed a few things. The screen is a bit easier to view in the car in the day and night. Sadly, thats it.

Even with the screen being turned right down The Xperia P's battery has been getting hit hard when using GPS, even for short journeys. I am hoping to head off to Brighton within the next month and I dread to think how long it is going to last. I am really unsure if it could last one way. A few friends and I have been talking about this issue and we came to the conclusion that a in car charger is a must for this phone. If Sony are going to cut corners for the sake of costs, I wonder how much a cheap in car charge would add to the price? As for someone like me, it would make a huge difference.

Even being able to charge it between journeys just so it lasts the day would be a good idea, as my battery is still not lasting until the evening when I am at work. 

I have also noticed that in the phone holder that the speaker phone is not loud enough to have a conversation while driving. I think the person can hear me fine but I am unable to hear them. The Xperia Pro had a similar issue also so its not such as issue on the Xperia P. 

The Xperia P's slim shape does make it easier for most phone holders to grip but otherwise this phone is a let down for the high mileage driver unless you buy some accessorys. 

This phone does encourage people to perhaps be less dependant on technology when driving, like being forced to use a map or learn the route themselves but am I just fishing for excuses for this phone? I could say the same about any phone struggling to keep up. 

Xperia S battery 1750 mAh

Xperia Pro battery 1500 mAh

Xperia Arc battery 1500 mAh

Xperia Neo battery 1500 mAh

Xperia Ray battery 1500 mAh

Xperia U battery 1320 mAh

Xperia P battery 1305 mAh

The Xperia P battery test (June 2012)

Xperia P battery test.

When I first started using the Xperia P I noticed that the battery was only a 1305 mAh. This being smaller than the big brother Xperia S and even the little brother Xperia U! Not to mention that the Xperia P has some very hot spec for a phone of its price range. Its equipped with a dual core processor, a very good screen with White Magic technology and a full HD camera. I had a bad feeling about this from the start looking at it on paper.

As I expected after a few days of using the Xperia P I noticed that my battery was running out half way through the day (2-4pm!!!). I tweeked a few settings to see if it made much of a difference and it really didn't seem to do too much. I must state though that I always have my phone on and I use it far to much than I should so this might not apply to the average person. My girlfriend will soon tell you that I have my nose in my phone nearly constantly. 

Thankfully the Xperia P uses the Android OS so I have taken it on myself to download an app to help manage the battery life and see what I can get out of this otherwise decent phone for the day. Most people who own Android phones probably own this kind of app already. A popular one is Battery Saver Dr.

Here is the log of my battery test through out today...

9:30: I got out of bed this morning and took my phone off charge. It was on 100%. I put my screen brightness down to about 25-30% as its commonly known this is the main drain on a battery. This was bright enough to use my phone without any visual problems. My first thought was that with the Xperia P's "White Magic" might take even more from the battery life. Sadly I cannot seem to find a disable button for this but I did disable the Sony Bravia Engine which is available on all Sony phones and used to provide more detail to photos and video. 

I also disabled unessential things like Bluetooth, the back light, GPS and hotspots. I used the battery saving app to close all apps running in the background also. 

I decided to try and use my phone less than I usually would to try and make this a test for a more realistic user who isn't addicted to his mobile phone. I didn't however want to cut all features like wifi and all data completely off as...well, what would be the point in the phone without it, right? I decided to still take the odd photo and video if I wanted as that's what the camera is there for. I also decided to try and stray away from music and video playback unless I really needed to use it. 

12:00: I was very busy up until this point. My battery was going quite strong. I hardly used my phone and the battery  life was well in to its 80's. In fact I hadn't posted anything on any social networking site by this point, I hadn't taken any photos or videos and I hadn't played any music. I had checked my emails, the time and Facebook. I even sent a few messages to some friends on FB Messenger, but for someone like me this was very light usage of a phone. 

14:00: It was nearly 2pm and I was still not using my phone as much as I would be regularly, though I had started to use it a bit more. I was sending texts, checking emails and web browsing. I had made a few calls, I was more active on numerous social networking sites and I had taken a photo or two. I was receiving texts and FB messages too. My battery was at 68%. 

16:30: My battery was at 45% at this point. I will say however that I was using my phone a lot more than I was in the morning. Probably towards more my average usage. By this point I had used a few apps like Autotrader, Youtube, Skyscanner, Amazon, Ebay and Gmail. Not to mention I was in the middle of a small conversation over FB Messenger with two people. I was fully active on numerous social networking sites and I had even taken some photos and a video on my camera. I made sure to keep canceling apps as I stopped using them with the Battery Saver App to make sure I wasn't leaving lots going on in the background. 

19:00:  At this point my phone was at 16%. I was expecting at this point for my phone to turn off any minute as for some reason the Xperia P turns itself off at about 8-10%. My usage had gone down a bit from before though was still a lot higher than it was in the morning and early afternoon.  I was mainly bumming around on Facebook while visiting family. I checked my phone battery usage for today and found out, as expected that the main drain of the battery was from the screen (55%), second was the Android OS (12%), Wifi (8%) and Facebook (7%). 

19:45: My battery died just as I was putting my son to bed. Since the screen was by far the biggest drain on my battery I checked how long my screen had been on today which turned out to be a whopping 3 HOURS. thats around 25% of the time I was out today (Yes I do have a problem. I'll seek help...one day).

 I am not too sure if the White Magic really made much of a difference to the battery as this was not too far different from the Xperia Arc I once owned which shared a similar sized screen and only a slightly larger battery.

The phone was able to run for around 10 hours on a modest Sy usage, though this would probably be able to stretch until bed time for most average people. I guess this phone is not right for someone like me but would probably suit someone who doesn't use their phone 3 hours straight throughout the day. As long as your charging your phone at night and using it with battery in mind then your probably going to be ok.

The main point I have learned today is that Sony have given me a phone with top end spec which belongs in a mid ranged price bracket. The phone runs like a lightening bolt and all for a modest price. They have cut a few corners to be able to give more people the best experience they can. Its giving you more freedom to use the high end hardware if you need it but not to use it all the time. 

I have read a lot of reviews about people bad mouthing the battery life of this phone also but if your a low/medium user of your mobile then you probably wont even notice the battery being a problem if you are charging it every night. Most people who are high users would probably want to invest the extra money in to a high end phone anyway. So it looks like Sony have probably hit a good audience here. 

I would really recommend that people think twice about where they are going with this phone however as even the most conservative users probably wouldn't want to take this phone out over night without a charger. I certainly wouldn't want to take this phone clubbing all night. 

I would also want to stay clear of using this phone for a sat nav on long journeys unless you have an in car charger. Which for me is a bit annoying as one of the things I was looking forward to going back to a touchscreen phone from the Xperia Pro was being able to use the bigger screen as a Sat Nav. 

Like with all phones, you have to find the right one for you. This phone isn't for me but after thinking hard about its spec, price range and battery life I have decided that I was probably a bit too quick to judge the Xperia P. Its a good little phone and I would recommend it to anyone wanting to taste the high end lifestyle of the mobile phone industry without busting the bank. 

"I like to look at the Xperia P as Sony giving people the opportunity to own a high end phone based on their ability to use a phone rather than being able to afford one"