Sony’s first smartphone, the Xperia S, has launched in the UK to much applause and fanfare. But what about the two smaller models that Sony also announced, but hasn’t yet launched: the Xperia U and Xperia P.
Both phones aren’t due to launch until late May to early June time in the UK, but we got our hands on both at the Sony booth yesterday at this year’s Gadget Show Live event. Sony has all three models on view, but as we’ve already gotten our hands on the Xperia S, we focused our attention on the mid-range Xperia P and the baby, the Xperia U.
When lined up together, the differences between the three handsets are clearly visible firstly in terms of size. The Xperia S is the daddy with a large 4.3-inch display, followed by the Xperia P with a 3.5-inch screen. Size easily depicts the grade of the handsets, but the differences continue when you look at the specifications sheet. In the camera department the Xperia S packs a 12MP shooter, the Xperia P has an 8MP offering and the Xperia U has a decent 5MP lens. Storage also ranges from 32GB in the Xperia S down to 16GB and 4GB in the Xperia P and U respectively.
Both phones feature the same design as the Xperia S, with the squared-off edges on the front and a curved, humped back. The Xperia logo is again engraved into the bottom section of the phone, which is separated from the top section by a clear plastic line, which illuminates on both models to show the back, home and menu icons. The Xperia U is available in a number of different colour options, and we had a good look at three different ones at the show: vibrant yellow, day-glo pink and lime green.
The Xperia P is a very light and small smartphone, perfect for those who want a decent phone but without the giant form factor that tends to come with it these days. A little larger is the Xperia U with its 4-inch display, although this model is still a good size and comfortable to hold in the hand thanks to the curved back.
Xperia No-la
You may remember that Sony introduced a fourth new Xperia smartphone this year, the Xperia Sola. It got tech hearts a-flutter with its innovative Floating Touch technology, which allows the user to control the touchscreen with their finger hovering around a centimetre above the phone itself.
Unfortunately the Xperia Sola will not be coming to the UK at all, as a Sony rep confirmed to us yesterday at the Gadget Show. We were hoping to try out the Floating Touch feature, but now it looks as though the Xperia Sola won’t be floating over to the UK at all in the future.
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