Sony Xperia SP review

A mid-range marvel with a massively impressive spec list

Sony Xperia SP review
The budget version of the Xperia Z

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We mentioned in the introduction that Sony's camera prowess should be well regarded, and the bundled 8MP rear-facing camera on the Sony Xperia SP is one of the phone's highlights, shooting at 3,264 x 2,448 pixels. It uses Sony's new Exmor RS sensor, which has shifted some of the circuitry behind each photodiode in the sensor to create a slimmer design.

The usual bells and whistles have been added including a scene selection mode, sweep panorama and the ability to add on-the-fly picture effects. The effects are pretty trivial, and will be bested by dedicated camera apps on Google Play, but it's nice to have some choice built in. You can select the likes of Fish-Eye, Kaleidoscope and Nostalgia, among others, to change your usual photo routine.

Other options include geo-tagging and a self timer, as well as the excellent Quick Launch option. This enables you to configure the Sony Xperia SP so that the physical shutter button acts as a launcher for the camera app.

Sony Xperia SP review

So, if you want to quickly capture what's going on, you don't have to go through the business of unlocking the handset and navigating to the camera app. It was a feature Sony initially introduced back with the Sony Xperia S, and we're glad to see it remains in place here.

The front-facing VGA camera is sufficient, but little more than that. It'll allow for video calling but the image is a little on the grainy side and looked somewhat over-exposed to our eyes.

For the complete novice using the main camera, there's the illuminated Superior Auto setting, which selects optimal settings for 36 different types of scene to give you the best possible picture without the need to faff around with settings. Unfortunately, during our testing this was pretty hit and miss - the SP especially had trouble with motion blur.

Obviously the Sony Xperia SP can't compete with the top-tier of handsets, and a side-by-side comparison with the Ultrapixel-toting HTC One confirms this. But, taking into account its mid-level credentials and price tag, we feel the Sony Xperia SP is punching above its weight when it comes to the camera and can certainly stand in as a replacement for your regular compact.

Sony Xperia SP review

The camera on the Sony Xperia SP picks out detail nicely, especially with darker tones. The contrast between the green grass and the brown wood shows up really well here.

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Sony Xperia SP review

Colour reproduction is impressive when shooting close-up items. There's no fuzzing of the rich orange colour here and everything is clearly in focus.

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Sony Xperia SP review

Fish-Eye effect

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Sony Xperia SP review

Nostalgia effect

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Sony Xperia SP review

Sketch effect

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These settings are a bit gimmicky, and while we don't think the Fish-Eye or Nostalgic settings impress, we quite liked the outcome of the Sketch setting. There are numerous other modes to play with on the Sony Xperia SP, and all your pictures can be edited with apps from the Google Play store.

Sony Xperia SP review

This shot was taken in bright light with the auto settings on. As you can see, it appears slightly over-exposed and the moving cars and motorcycles are clearly blurred; we would expect the automatic mode to perform better here.

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Sony Xperia SP review

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The Panorama mode is included on most smartphones these days, and we were happy to see the stitching on the Sony Xperia SP was quite accurate - although there is still noticeable blurring of moving targets.

Sony Xperia SP review

Night-time shots without a flash, using automatic settings, come up grainy and practically unusable. Adding a flash helps slightly, but the best option is to change to Night mode.

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Sony Xperia SP review

This night-time image uses the Sony Xperia SP's Night shooting mode and is much clearer and more detailed. Although you can still see some grain in the wall on the left-hand side, the detail is substantially improved over the automatic settings.

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