That it has launched them so close together is even more baffling, and surely risks rendering one of them obsolete.So, does the Sony Xperia Miro do enough to justify its price tag? Well, first impressions aren't great. The Sony Xperia Miro has a 3.5-inch 320 x 480 display, which is on the small side these days, particularly when cheaper handsets such as the Huawei Ascend G300 pack a 4-inch display. But coming from the Sony Xperia Tipo, it actually feels like quite a jump in size - it's only 0.3 inches bigger, but the difference is surprisingly noticeable.
A few of its other specs have been boosted above those of the Xperia Tipo too, though they're still fairly modest. It retains an 800MHz single core processor with 512MB of RAM. Its camera sees a boost in megapixels, up to 5 megapixels, versus the Xperia Tipo's 3.15MP snapper. It can shoot VGA video at 30fps and comes with 4GB of storage, only 2.2GB of which is useable. On the plus side it supports microSD cards of up to 32GB.
It comes running Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich, which isn't the latest build but it isn't too far behind.Despite having a name that aligns it with the Tipo, the Sony Xperia Miro eschews its sibling's rounded edges in favour of a rectangular look in line with the more premium Sony Xperia U, Sony Xperia P, Sony Xperia T and Sony Xperia S.
However, if the aim was to make it seem more premium, it wasn't entirely successful. At first glance the Sony Xperia Miro does look like a better - or at least more expensive - phone than the Sony Xperia Tipo. The more angular, less chunky form factor on the Sony Xperia Miro gives it a touch of class, but as soon as you pick it up you find that looks can be deceiving.
It's lightweight at 110g (0.24lbs), but with dimensions of 113 x 59.4 x 9.9mm (4.4 x 2.3 x 0.4 inches) it's not a tiny handset, and this makes it feel odd when held.
Your brain tells you it shouldn't be that light, like it's an imposter, or what every phone manufacturer dreads hearing - that it's a toy.
That impression isn't helped by the cheap, plasticky feel of the handset. Yes, most phones have a plastic shell of some kind, but there's a right way to do it and a wrong way to do it, and the Sony Xperia Miro most definitely does it wrong. It feels like a toy. An expensive toy, but still a toy.
Below the screen you'll find three soft-touch buttons. These are the home button in the centre, the back button on the left and the menu button on the right. Review
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Sony Xperia Miro review
TechRadar rating
2.5/5
For
Long battery life
Great music player
Great for calls and messaging
Strong connectivity options
Against
Poor screen
Terrible video recording
Sluggish performance
Cheap build
Little storage
Sony Xperia Miro review
Sony's second budget handset in as many months - does it do enough to stand out?
By James Rogerson October 17th
1 comment
Page 1 of 13Introduction
It seems like only yesterday that we were putting the Sony Xperia Tipo through its paces, but here already, with just the smallest of spec boosts, is the Sony Xperia Miro.
The entry-level smartphone market is becoming increasingly crowded as it is, so it's a surprise that Sony has seen fit to release two handsets that, on paper at any rate, are incredibly similar.
That it has launched them so close together is even more baffling, and surely risks rendering one of them obsolete.
Sony Xperia Miro review
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It's not just the Sony Xperia Tipo it's got to contend with, either. The boost in specs has brought with it a boost in price, as you can currently pick the Sony Xperia Miro up for £159/AU$240/US$239.99 SIM-free. This price range puts it in competition with the similarly styled Sony Xperia U and the HTC Wildfire S.
So, does the Sony Xperia Miro do enough to justify its price tag? Well, first impressions aren't great. The Sony Xperia Miro has a 3.5-inch 320 x 480 display, which is on the small side these days, particularly when cheaper handsets such as the Huawei Ascend G300 pack a 4-inch display.
Sony Xperia Miro review
But coming from the Sony Xperia Tipo, it actually feels like quite a jump in size - it's only 0.3 inches bigger, but the difference is surprisingly noticeable.
A few of its other specs have been boosted above those of the Xperia Tipo too, though they're still fairly modest. It retains an 800MHz single core processor with 512MB of RAM.
Sony Xperia Miro review
Its camera sees a boost in mega pixels, up to 5 megapixels, versus the Xperia Tipo's 3.15MP snapper. It can shoot VGA video at 30fps and comes with 4GB of storage, only 2.2GB of which is usable. On the plus side it supports microSD cards of up to 32GB.
It comes running Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich, which isn't the latest build but it isn't too far behind.
Sony Xperia Miro review
Despite having a name that aligns it with the Tipo, the Sony Xperia Miro eschews its sibling's rounded edges in favour of a rectangular look in line with the more premium Sony Xperia U, Sony Xperia P, Sony Xperia T and Sony Xperia S.
However, if the aim was to make it seem more premium, it wasn't entirely successful. At first glance the Sony Xperia Miro does look like a better - or at least more expensive - phone than the Sony Xperia Tipo.
Sony Xperia Miro review
The more angular, less chunky form factor on the Sony Xperia Miro gives it a touch of class, but as soon as you pick it up you find that looks can be deceiving.
It's lightweight at 110g (0.24lbs), but with dimensions of 113 x 59.4 x 9.9mm (4.4 x 2.3 x 0.4 inches) it's not a tiny handset, and this makes it feel odd when held.
Your brain tells you it shouldn't be that light, like it's an imposter, or what every phone manufacturer dreads hearing - that it's a toy.
Sony Xperia Miro review
That impression isn't helped by the cheap, plasticky feel of the handset. Yes, most phones have a plastic shell of some kind, but there's a right way to do it and a wrong way to do it, and the Sony Xperia Miro most definitely does it wrong. It feels like a toy. An expensive toy, but still a toy.
Below the screen you'll find three soft-touch buttons. These are the home button in the center, the back button on the left and the menu button on the right.
Sony Xperia Miro review
Below that there's a blue light that appears when you wake up the phone or when you receive a text or call. You can't even tell it's there when it's off and when it's on it looks good, extending out across much of the width of the phone. It's also incredibly useful, and we applaud Sony for supporting this feature when so few other manufacturers do.
Below that the body curves inwards slightly and is adorned with the word 'Xperia'. There's a little notch at the bottom of the handset to peel the back cover off, and doing so just compounds the feeling of cheapness as the cover itself is revealed to be very thin plastic.
Underneath you'll find the battery, along with the SIM card and microSD card slots. Unfortunately not only do you need to remove the back cover to swap out a microSD card, but also the battery. Granted, it's a minority of users that will need more than one card, but for those that do this is an unfortunate inconvenience. Given the tiny amount of storage on the Xperia Miro it would be nice if Sony had done more to ease expansion.
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Sony Xperia E is an affordable and compact for today's standards featuring Sony's recognizable design language. The stand-out feature Sony wants us to note in the Xperia E is HD Voice, the purpose of which is to noticeably boost the sound quality of phone calls. When it comes to specs, the Xperia E will deliver a mid-range experience with its 3.5" HVGA touchscreen and 1GHz processor. Let's hope that Jelly Bean's Project Butter will help get rid of the lag. Sony also claims that we'll be surprised by the battery life of the device. The 1500 mAh battery will benefit from a special extended stand-by mode designed to increase overall battery life. Basically, when the phone's sleeping, it will disable all functions except for calling and messaging, and once you wake it up, all functions will be restored to their normal state. Of course, users will be able to enjoy Sony's "Walkman" music experience, as well as the xLOUD sound technology, which works really well in most Sony smartphones.
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