This year has so far had a very impressive lineup of high end smartphones. Comparing with the likes of HTC 10, Samsung S7 and LG G5, Sony Xperia X is a big failure for the Japanese brand. The design of the phone lacks creativity and is mostly like the company’s previous flagship phones.
The side of the phone houses the lock button that also serves as the fingerprint scanner, volume controls and a camera shooter button. The positioning of these components is okay, but the fingerprint scanner is fast, but lacks efficiency. The volume rockers take a lot of getting used to as they are positioned very close to the bottom.
The Xperia X even lacks Sony’s signature water resistance. However, the display is a stunning one. The 5 inch full HD screen provides a detailed and bright viewing experience. The viewing angles are also very comfortable. The auto brightness feature also falls short of perfection.
The maximum brightness level of the screen is also too high. In a nutshell, the Xperia X is Sony’s previous flagship design with a slightly competitive display. At the given price range, the specifications of the phone are a big disappointment. It comes with a Snapdragon 650 CPU when all its other competitors are housing the Snapdragon 820.
3GB RAM and an adreno 510 GPU facilitate decent performance, but such configuration can be easily found in much cheaper phones. The 32 GB internal storage is decent, but a little more would was expected. However, the micro SD support can cover this issue. The phone performs fairly well when subjected to normal applications, but while playing graphic intense games or browsing image loaded websites, or even while playing HD videos, the phone heats up. The performance is in no way acceptable at this price.
The Xperia X does come with high-res audio supports and even the speakers do an incredible job. In terms of sound quality, HTC 10 is the only competition Xperia X has. The phone features Android Marshmallow 6.0.1. Sony’s UI is simple yet beautiful. However, a number of useless apps are stuffed in this phone.
The phone is powered with a 2620 mAh battery that delivers a decent run time for the phone. The support for quick charge 2.0 is also a good addition to the phone. Not using the USB-C connector was however a good move. The connectivity options provided are not a problem. The phone comes with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, NFC and a USB host can also be utilized.
The rear camera is a 23 megapixel ones and the aperture size is f/2.0. 4K video recording doesn’t work. The full HD videos recorded at 60 fps looks great though. There is not much to complain about the rear shooter, but it can be said that its rivals boast slightly better quality. The selfie camera is a 13 megapixel shooter that captures vibrant images.
The aperture is wide enough, but the processing results in somewhat unrealistic skin tones. The rear camera also faces the same issue. However, the camera is the strong suit of this phone.
As harsh as it may sound, the Xperia X is simply not good enough. If it were released at a much lower price, the phone would have been great. At this price range, the competitors overshadow Xperia X in almost every aspect.
Price: AED 1999
