After unveiling the acro HD to the public, Sony Mobile continues to introduce another rugged smartphone namely Sony Xperia go (Advance, ST27i, ST27a). The company stated that this is basically the slim touch-screen smartphone with improved durability. The following are the specs overview of this smartphone to determine its differentiation with the acro HD handset.
Design, Dimension and Display
In terms of overall design, Sony Xperia go looks rather similar with the acro HD as it still boasts the typical and sleek Xperia design. Measuring 111 mm in height, 60.3 mm in width and 9.8 mm in thickness, the device is obviously smaller than its close brother. Also, this smartphone is lighter as it weighs only 110 grams. The display has been made smaller with the size of 3.5 inches with the low resolution of 320x400p and pixel density of only 165 ppi. Having this screen specs, the device will deliver the poor viewing angles and also the less visibility under direct sunlight. Luckily, the device has been protected by the scratch-resistant mineral glass display (Mobile BRAVIA Engine) and also it has been IP67 certified (water and dust-resistant).
General Performance
To boost the overall performance, the company has added the dual-core 1 Ghz Cortex A9 processor along with the 512 MB of RAM. With this hardware specs, the phone will match the general performance of iPhone 4s since it has the exact same hardware. For the operating system, there will be the Android OS 2.3 (Gingerbread) which fortunately can be upgraded to the latest Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich). To store the files, users are given the spacious 4 GB built-in storage which can be expanded with microSD card up to 32 GB.
Camera
The main camera of 5 MP can capture image and record HD video with the quality of 720p (1280x720) along with the video stabilizer and video light features. This camera has been furnished with the single-LED flash, auto-focus, touch to focus, video stabilizer, face and smile detection, digital zoom, geo-tagging, 3D sweep panorama and self-timer function. Unfortunately, there’s no front-facing camera for video calling necessity.
Battery Life
When it’s used in 2G mode, the phone’s battery (1305 mAh) will provide the talk-time of up to 6.5 hours (the average is about 8 hours) and the stand-by time of about 21.7 days (the average is 21 days). In 3G mode, the phone will last for about 19.2 days and has the talk-time of up to 5.5 hours.
Connectivity
The phone has the internet speed of up to 14.4 Mbps through the HSDPA and also up to 5.76 Mbps via HSUPA connection. On the downside, you will not be able to access the 4G LTE network with this smartphone. There will be a complete connectivity tools in this handset including the Bluetooth 3.0, Wi-Fi (mobile hotspot), DLNA, OTA Sync and microUSB 2.0 port. It will be more pleasant if this phone has been equipped with the Near Field Communication (NFC) support.
Price and Verdict
The price of Sony Xperia go is around $499 (off-contract). The pros of this phone are the fast dual-core processor, small measurements and water-resistant design. The drawbacks of this device are the low pixel density, mediocre camera and it lacks 4G and NFC feature. [IS]
