Sony Xperia P review

A feature-packed mid-range Android smartphone

Sony Xperia P
The Sony Xperia P features NFC capabilities and an excellent HD camera

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With the inbuilt cameras enabling you to generate your own premium content, the Sony Xperia P also features a number of impressive multimedia playback options, including integrated MP3 abilities, a video player and the Android standard YouTube shortcut.

Sony Xperia P review

Putting a slight spin on the stoic base Android handset MP3 players, the Sony Xperia P has brought a bit of flair to its music player, with almost Windows Phone-esque tile icons offering direct access to tracks, albums, artists and playlists.

Further bolstering the handset's musical abilities, Sony has thrown in a trial to its Music Unlimited service, giving users expansive track listings on demand.

Accessible direct from a homepage widget, the Sony Xperia P's musical abilities are deeply ingrained within the 4-inch device, with the Android smartphone's 16GB of internal storage offering ample space to hold a broad range of music, video, app and picture-based content.

Further enhancing the handset's music and all-round media abilities, the Android 2.3 smartphone features a surprisingly strong inbuilt speaker, with the Sony Xperia P more than capable of pumping out tunes and video-accompanying audio to high volumes with little of the distortion, rattle or tinny notes that are associated with most phones.

What's more, thanks to the speaker's positioning on the top right-hand side of the device, you don't need to fear hands slipping across the audio output when holding the handset in a conventional manner.

The 960 x 540p resolution hosting 4-inch LED backlit LCD display isn't the sharpest on the market, with a 275 pixels-per-inch image density.

Sony Xperia P review

But the Sony Xperia P is more than capable of eye-catchingly attractive and superbly high-end results with little motion blur and bright, vibrant colours, thanks to the 16 million colour contrast ratio.

Making for further comfortable viewing, the Sony Xperia P's inbuilt ambient light sensor, while anything but a unique feature, performs well under challenging tests, offering well balanced brightness settings for more pleasurable media absorption in a variety of environments.

A selection of minor image editing abilities is available, alongside an inbuilt FM radio, used in conjunction with the signal-receiving pair of basic in-ear headphones found boxed with the device.

The Sony Xperia P is a well-rounded media phone that remains comfortable in the hand throughout use, thanks to its well balanced 120g weight and compact 10.5mm thick form.