Sony Xperia J review

Can the Sony Ericsson inspired J jump in and make a splash?

Sony Xperia J review
Mid- to low-end device brings curvy Ice Cream Sandwich at a low price

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Battery life

The Sony Xperia J comes with a 1,750mAh battery which is pretty big for a phone in its price range – and it shows.

Sony Xperia J review

We got an impressive amount of life out of the Xperia J during our time using the handset, with it easily lasting a whole day, even with moderately heavy usage.

If you were a lot more conservative you could probably stretch battery life out to around three days between chargers, and it meant we were never left panicking about where the nearest source of power was.

Sony has included a power saver app on the Xperia J, which lets you manage consumption even more, possibly allowing you to eke out a few more days usage.

From within the app you can set what functions you want it to throttle, such as screen brightness, Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth and mobile data. This has been upgraded with the Android 4.1 update to shut off data when the screen is turned off, thus extending it further.

Connectivity

The Sony Xperia J comes well equipped in the connectivity department with 3G and Wi-Fi b/g/n network options both on board, as well as the option to use the handset as a Wi-Fi hotspot and share its web connection with other devices.

Sony Xperia J review

The microUSB port on the left hand side allows you to easily link up the Xperia J to a computer, while Bluetooth 2.1 lets you pair the smartphone with your car, wireless headphones or laptop.

A-GPS also makes an appearance, allowing you to locate yourself and find the way home at 2am after a long session down the pub.

The addition of a microSD card slot round the back really helps, especially as there's a poor internal offering in the Xperia J, but there's no NFC technology present.

If you love to stream media you'll be pleased to learn the Sony Xperia J is DLNA enabled, meaning you can wireless link it up to other DLNA enabled devices such as TVs, game consoles and Hi-Fi systems.

John McCann
Global Managing Editor

John joined TechRadar over a decade ago as Staff Writer for Phones, and over the years has built up a vast knowledge of the tech industry. He's interviewed CEOs from some of the world's biggest tech firms, visited their HQs and has appeared on live TV and radio, including Sky News, BBC News, BBC World News, Al Jazeera, LBC and BBC Radio 4. Originally specializing in phones, tablets and wearables, John is now TechRadar's resident automotive expert, reviewing the latest and greatest EVs and PHEVs on the market. John also looks after the day-to-day running of the site.