THE GOOD :-
Amazing camera quality, Enormous Design, will allow you to synchronized all the movies which are downloaded from Play station 3 to your Sony Ion via Sony's video unlimited.
Rock Solid camera
Impressive 4.6 inch display
Aggressive Price
THE BAD:-
Run 2.3.7
Finicky Capacitive Touch Screen
Its been long time since Sony released a smartphone in the U.S. market that had a chance of hitting it off with customer. Too many of their recent launches have either been meant for their own Niche Market or were expensive and unlocked.
That said, they're looking to give it another go with this new Xperia Ion, and it certainly looks like that it would go straight away and become the consumers choice.
FEATURES:-
- 4.6 inch 720P reality display and Mobile Bravia engine.
- Runs on android 2.3.7 GingerBread
- 1.5 GHz dual-core Snapdragon S3 Processor
- 1 GB RAM
- 16 GB of Onboard Storage , Can take up to an additional 32 GB microSD card
- NFC
- 12 MP rear-facing camera and 1.3 MP front facing camera
- Records video on 1080p with Exmor R sensor
- Runs on AT&T's 4G LTE and HSPA+ networks
The Ion's aging OS and 1.5 GHz dual-core Snapdragon S3 CPU may be nod to mobile's past, but the rest of its internal definitely gonna be more interesting. This 4.6 inch screen boasts a 1280 x 720 HD reality display, 720p webcam/ 12 MP rear camera with Exmor R sensor, Play station certified, 16 GB storage and 1 GB RAM, a 1900 mAH battery
HARDWARE AND DESIGN:-
The Ion's face clad in black and is dominated by 4.6 inch reality display. A terribly small speaker grill is nested right along the device's top edge. In short it is not as much as looker from front.
Although with it's 4.6 inch display this phone matches up the size to the other large screen devices measuring ( 133.1 x 68.6 x 11.7mm). On its back, two strips of soft touch plastic break the back into segments.a removable bit up top that houses the 3.5mm headphone jack, a micro-SIM, a vacant microSD slot (the phone comes with 16GB of internal storage) and a fixed piece at the bottom, above which you'll find the Xperia logo. Move further up and you'll encounter the 12-megapixel camera, flash and nearly invisible speaker grill. The only other noticeable breaks from the flush metal housing are a curious division surrounding the side-mounted dedicated hardware keys (power, volume rocker and camera button) and a flimsy flap on the opposite edge that hides ports for micro-HDMI and micro-USB.
Things get a little better upon turning the device over, which reveals a similarly understated design. Strangely though, I think this is where the Ion actually shines a bit. A handsome dark metal backplate (that’s sadly prone to attracting smudges) takes up most of the Ion’s rear end and is bound on the top and bottom by a pair of removable plastic caps that hide both a microSD and a micro-SIM slot. The only bit of branding back there is the iconic green Sony orb plopped right above the Xperia logo, and I frankly like it that way.
The scratch-resistant mineral coating (read: not Gorilla Glass) laid atop the display does a fine job protecting the glass from in-pocket abrasions -- not that we Engadget staffers are in the habit of abusing precious mobile kit. What's more, the touchscreen is also fairly immune to unsightly fingerprint smears. And, according to the company's reps, the RGB LCD panel that lies beneath makes the 1280 x 720 HD Reality display much easier to discern in bright sunlight. Does that claim hold any water? To be frank, it's not that much more of an improvement over your standard mobile fare; certainly not enough to merit a bullet point.
The other thing to note about the Xperia’s back is that it gently curves to fit your hand, something that helps hide its 11.68mm waistline. That curve coupled with that metallic backplate imbues the Ion with a sturdy, comforting feel in spite of the fact that it weighs in at only 4.9 ounces. That said, I take some issue with the way Sony crafted the sides of the device — the edges were designed in such a way that the power, volume, and camera buttons are mounted at an angle. The buttons themselves aren’t any harder to physically press, but their angled placement means they’re not quite where your fingers expect them to be.
SOFTWARE:-
Perhaps I’m a bit jaded — after having used an Ice Cream Sandwich device as my daily driver for the past few months, going back to a lightly-tweaked take on Android 2.3.7 Gingerbread for nearly a week didn’t seem like a tempting proposition. Sony maintains that the device will gets its Ice Cream Sandwich update in due course (the Xperia S just got its own ICS update a few days ago), but really — it’s the middle of 2012 and Ice Cream Sandwich first hit the scene toward the end of last year.
Android 2.3.7 isn't the OS prospective fangeeks with credit cards at the ready -- nor I presume, Sony, with this much-anticipated debut -- wanted for the Ion. And despite attestations that the phone will absolutely, positively be privy to an ICS upgrade, that promise seems more wispy talking point than concrete rollout reality. Do you want a Gingerbread handset in June 2012? If you know any better, you won't. Need I remind you that Android 4.1 is on its way? Again, this is an area of contention that sub-$100 pricing could smooth over; a bet we're sure the company's itching to see play out in its favor.
The app launcher in particular seemed nice and clean, with apps being arranged on multiple horizontal scrolling pages a la Ice Cream Sandwich. What made the whole thing even better was the fact that Sony didn’t completely load the device up with bloatware or plugs for their myriad media services — Sony only preloaded a few apps and at least some of them are rather useful.
Of course, since AT&T is selling this thing, you can expect the full complement of carrier bloatware apps to round out the package. All the usual suspects are present and accounted for (I’m looking at you especially, Yellow Pages), but to my great relief, tapping a small grid icon in the bottom right corner of the app launcher lets you delete most of them quickly and without prejudice. Kudos to Sony for making that process dead-simple
It's not quite Timescape (or the company's execs wouldn't have us call it that, anyway) and going forward it appears Sony plans to sidestep skins in favor of an unobstructed upgrade path. So, that's definitely a bonus for consumers on the lookout for the latest and greatest. To further placate customers that opt-in for the handset, as well as to make up for the glaring lack of Android 4.0, elements of that more advanced system have been incorporated into the Ion: a screenshot shortcut (visible on the power menu) and audio controls on its lockscreen (accessible by swiping the time display to the left).
There's at least one area where Sony has kept its finger on the consumer's pulse, and it's most apparent when you tally up the Ion's dearth of truly offensive bloatware. In fact, the main offender here is AT&T, given that half of the 14 pre-installed apps belong to the carrier. But there is salvation for your 16GB of internal storage: you can uninstall nearly all of these unwelcome intrusions (save for Facebook which benefits from a special Xperia integration). And speaking of managing your allotted 16GB of space, Sony's made it so that internal storage is relegated to MTP, whereas any SD card you bring to the table will be handled by MSC.
PERFORMANCE AND BATTERY LIFE:-
The Ion’s spec sheet would’ve been considered top-tier just last year, but my how times have changed since then. We’ve since entered the age of the quad-core chipset (even though most of them don’t end up on U.S. soil), but the 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon S3 processor nestled inside the Ion’s curved frame still has plenty of game. The device seemed plenty responsive when put to the usual gamut of daily tasks — swiping between menus was buttery smooth, as was pulling down the notification drawer and scrolling through my innumerable contacts.
In terms of network performance, I’m loath to admit that I couldn’t latch onto an LTE signal in my particular corner of New Jersey (a problem that I imagine isn’t unique to me considering AT&T’s LTE network is only live in 41 cities), but I managed to pull down an average of 7.3 Mbps down and 1.3 Mbps up. It doesn’t sound great, but the Ion actually performed slightly ahead of other AT&T devices — namely an iPhone 4S and an unlocked Galaxy Note — I tested alongside it
Though one of the Xperia Ion’s main draws is going to be that nifty camera, Sony is positioning it as more than just a media creator — it’s also a media hub. As you might expect from a company that launched the working group behind it, the Ion is DLNA certified, and it was a snap to get it linked up with my DLNA-compatible LG smart television and media server. From there, I was able to fire up the included Connected Devices app and sling my media onto the big screen. Streaming videos from my media server proved to be a breeze too, and it didn’t take long before Plex was serving up (dorky) content to the Ion.
The Ion is a curious case. It's an outlier to every category it flirts membership with, so to really give you a sense of how it stacks up, I selected rival handsets running the same dual-core 1.5GHz Qualcomm MSM8660 Snapdragon S3 processor: the Spectrum on Verizon and Galaxy Note on AT&T. putting it on equal market footing as the Ion, although now it's also considerably older and consequently discounted. A shared processor, however, is not a recipe for standard benchmark results. we're sure further testing could even deliver flip-flopped results.
The handset's 1,900mAh battery offers some generous capacity for a smartphone that's not attempting to support a phablet-sized display or a more cutting-edge, multi-core chipset. Clearly, Sony wanted the Ion to compete with superior runtime. So, how does that juicepack translate into real-world usage? In keeping with this review's theme, the result are split. Under the duress of formal rundown test, the Ion lasted just shy of six hours -- a far from impressive endurance. In actual day-to-day moderate use, however, that figure tripled, rising up to about 19 hours -- that's with WiFi, NFC and GPS enabled, Twitter syncing every 15 minutes, one push email account active and brightness set to medium. Which to believe? I'd caution you to turn a blind eye to standardized testing and err on the side of everyday performance.
nce I started using the Ion as my go-to phone earlier this week, I’ve averaged about eight to nine hours of consistent use each day — checking my email, firing off text messages, watching the same clip of a tap dancing Broadway starlet over and and over — you know, my usual routine. If you’re not the sort to check your phone at every possible moment, you can expect to squeeze closer to 13 hours out of the thing before needing to juice up again.
CAMERA:-
One of the ion's biggest claiming area is it's 12 MP rear facing camera, which makes this device second only to HTC's Titan 2 for the title of "beefiest Camera phone" on AT&TBut first, let’s address some of the mechanical bits. Holding down the two-stage shutter button while the phone is locked lets users jump straight into the camera app while the device is locked, which sounds great except for one thing — by default the camera app is set to snap a picture as soon as someone uses the shutter button to unlock it. That’s right, it just takes a picture as soon as the phone wakes up, which means that you’ll have no clue how well you’ve framed the shot or if the camera focused on the right subject until it’s too late.
The Ion can also record 1080p video at 30fps, and results were generally passable — test recordings generally displayed plenty of detail, and additional features like image stabilization and the ability to light up the LED flash came in quite handy. The process isn’t entirely thoughbred though, as the camera tends to take a few extra moments getting into focus when you’re ready to begin shooting and the image stabilization can occasionally be hit or miss.
Now, about that over-saturation issue I was talking about — it’s not entirely the camera’s fault. It’s worth nothing that the images look extra vivid on the device itself thanks in part to Sony’s use of their Mobile Bravia engine, and that their level of vibrance will vary once you move those photos onto other devices.
The camera app's UI can also be customized to suit a user's taste by simply long-pressing and dragging the desired sub menu icon to the interface. Scene modes are just as diverse as we've seen on other camera phones and setting that to Normal will give a user the ability to toy with exposure settings as well. For most, though, leaving the Ion in default Auto should suffice, as we found the camera to, more often than not, settle on the appropriate mode for a particular shot. Ironically, as highly touted as that Exmor R sensor is, it was only in low light that we encountered difficulties getting a clearly focused image. Otherwise, as you'll notice from the gallery below, images deliver crisp levels of detail and an overall balance of natural color, appearing neither oversaturated nor dull.
CONCLUSION:-
Despite how harsh I may have been with some of my comments, I really do think the Ion is a good phone. The problem here is that like with many mid-range phones, the Ion straddles that very fine line between “good” and “great,” and it doesn’t seem to have quite enough oomph to push it over the edge.
