Sony Xperia Go review

Can Sony's Go Go gadget phone make a splash?

Sony Xperia Go
Sony's Xperia Go is a rugged Android smartphone with style

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Continuing the company's run of deep media integration within its latest smartphone offerings, Sony once again offers you a fully ingrained multimedia experience with the Xperia Go, a smartphone that brings all of its photographic, music and video functionality to the fore.

Although only half of the 8GB worth of internal storage is available to you, the optional microSD card expansion means up to 32GB of content can fill the media-loving handset.

You're able to enjoy playback through a selection of well designed outlets compatible with MP3, MP4, WAV and WMV file types.

Sony Xperia Go review

Although the handset's integrated music player can be accessed through the centralised app menu, more intuitively, a pleasant widget offers quick, simple and attractive access to your tunes without the need to open up a dedicated program.

While the handset's MP3 player is a joy to use, the audio output is somewhat less impressive, with the integrated xLoud speaker technology failing to complete the strong media package.

Losing some of its charm when hitting the top end, although the Sony Xperia Go's inbuilt, rear-positioned speaker does not suffer from the usual distorting issues, sound quality is reduced, with a lack of depth and clarity accompanying playback.

On top of this, thanks to the speaker's placement, it is hard to achieve non-headphone-based playback that is not muffled, with the lower back positioning seeing hands frequently cover the output when held. This issue is extrapolated and audio ability reduced to near nothingness when placed on a surface.

Sony Xperia Go review

Although the Sony Xperia Go's 3.5-inch 320 x 480p screen is capable of surprisingly strong video playback with clear, smooth lines, in areas of direct sunlight, viewing the screen becomes a struggle.

Unlike its Sony Xperia P sibling, the Sony Xperia Go doesn't feature Sony's WhiteMagic technologies, meaning viewing media playback, or indeed simply attempting to use the display in areas of direct sunlight, can prove troublesome.

A considerable amount of glare dramatically reduces the quality of the on-screen content and tarnishes the enjoyment of media absorption in the process.

Despite Facebook syncing being a feature that will appeal to many, it isn't without its media-depleting faults, since the Sony Xperia Go's image gallery quickly becomes clogged by folder after folder of Facebook images, a move that can prove highly annoying when attempting to find a specific snap.