Sony Xperia P LT22i-BK Unlocked Phone with 8 MP Camera, Android 2.3 OS, Dual-Core Processor, and 4-Inch Touchscreen--U.S.Warranty (Black)

I think that it is important to state I have never owned a smartphone prior to this purchase. I never thought it practical to own one on the premise that I'd be stuck in a contract with some lousy company and spend $130 per month (college student/part-time work). Unlocked = no contract? Hell yeah. Tech awareness level: I OWN an ASUS g75V, 12 Gb RAM, nVidia GTX 670M, it's pretty cool but that's a different story, I emphasize own because I don't want you to think that I chisel designs in rocks for fun.Anyway, enough pre-review ramble there is plenty review ramble to kill a few minutes of your time. Sorry, non-refundable. Take it for what it's worth: If you want to skip the specifics of my review, go to the end and I will briefly restate the points made throughout in the last paragraph. Thanks :)The OS needs an update upon delivery. This is, apparently, important to do with ALL Android phones upon update: you must do a factory reset after you update your phone to 4.0 (ice cream sandwich), or else you will have APN issues, and certainly other software incompatibilities. This will mess with your multimedia message delivery and probably some other important things I can't fathom. Make sure you factory reset the phone before you do anything after the update, because you will inevitably reset it at one point and lose this info. Don't back up anything until you reset, unless you have rooted chances are you didn't remove the default APN t-mobile settings. (Trust me it is in this order.) In order to set the APN to your carrier, I think installing the micro SIM card, update the phone software through WiFi or internet, and a factory reset in that order would be the solution. (I run AT&T and spent quite a bit of time trying to swap out of the t-mobile default before resetting.)Still no jellybean, which is version 4.1. Apparently it's an awesome OS, but the Xperia P will not have the ability to update to this version for a few months. Other 2012 models already have the capability of updating to jellybean, which was disappointing to hear about, but quite frankly it was not that expensive and the specs on this phone kick ass anyway. Hopefully February-March? Doesn't bother me, but I'm sure others would like to have the newest software now. For that matter, jellybean 4.2 is coming with wireless hdmi stream! (For Nexus tablet)The processor is fast. It has 1 gig of RAM and it seems to be using about 300mb default to run the phone itself. I'm sure there are background processes going on that I can remove (live wallpapers?? dafuk!), but I was a bit disappointed to run Pandora, and notice that my phone was sitting at 40% of it's memory. This does not impede it's performance. I haven't rooted the phone yet, so I'm sure possibilities exist that I currently do not understand. Streams media 1 process at a time, but it's fast and high quality. This means that if you are listening to music and you open a new media file, it will pause/mute the other (DUH), or if you turn on the camera while listening to music it will also pause/mute until you exit out of the camera.If you go to GSMArena and compare a few phones you'll find that it has the same CPU as the iPhone 4S, but the Xperia P has 2x more RAM. So you can laugh at your outdated friends and family who tote the 4s or less. Anyway, look for yourself if you are interested: google GSM arena and search phone models.The 8MP camera is great. It has superb resolution at close-mid range zoom. If you zoom in all the way, there will be heavy pixelation and a delayed focus, especially if you are aiming at something far away. This sounds like common sense, but I think it should be said anyway. There are also edit options for photos that can enhance resolution. Man you can see like pores on people's faces and stuff. Gross! I have no complaints about the front camera.The speaker: Crystal clear speaker phone. Decent volume level: I compared to a Samsung Galaxy S3 and was put in the dirt. The volume on stock for SG3 was 2x higher than the Xperia P. I read that it can be amped up higher, but I wouldn't chance blowing out the speaker. That would not be fun!The headphone jack antennae is very sensitive so be sure to stand in open spaces, or be away from interference if you want to have best quality reception. I listened to radio for about an hour while messing with the phone, it is clear as day if you are in the right position. The only benefit I think to this function is that you can listen to the radio if you're on the go with those specific headphones in, but realistically it doesn't seem very practical considering you can access internet radio or play libraries of music from the phone itself. To each their own. The ear buds are excellent quality, however. I can hardly hear with them in and no sound on! Sony quality if you don't want to buy a set of Bose or Beats.This phone comes preloaded with tons of useful apps. It also has a few that I guess you wouldn't need that most likely run in the background. I read that you don't need antivirus on an android/smartphone? Whatever I'll leave that one for now, but I guess some other apps such as weather and multimedia player can be removed for faster processing speeds/less memory use. This being my first smartphone, you bet I went crazy in that app store! However, I have not removed any apps that were preloaded. You should always check your running tasks to ensure apps you thought you closed aren't still running in the background. That would kill the battery and slow the phone down.I really like the design of this phone. Buy a screen protector and at least a rubber case. It is made of plastic! I think .. But anyway if you drop it or scratch it it will most likely lose color and just become an ugly mess, so be careful. For some reason, Otterbox has no love for Xperia P. #fragileBattery life ... Hah! Well I can't say I'm surfing the internet, streaming videos, and whatever my manager is doing on his phone when he says hes taking a break every 10 minutes, etc. Don't expect much, the screen itself is 40-50% of the power consumption of this phone. It is probably using all that RAM I can't seem to find! Lol. You get a cool power consumption tool that tells you how wasteful that 4" screen is! It was at 75% before I checked off a lower setting for brightness. I think I lose about 1% every 3.5-5 minutes browsing the internet/texting/streaming music. So it has roughly a 5.8--8.3 hour battery life if you aren't going crazy with the data use, I imagine. I think some people reported less than 4 hours? Cool story bro.I bought a RAVPower® 10400mAh Dynamo-On-the-Go RP-PB07 External Battery Pack after reading a bunch of low reviews on the Xperia P because I'm not a helpless child who can't solve insignificant matters. So there you go: want a badass power supply? Buy that too! Charges all kinds of things, inexpensive, portable- you're welcome. Want a product review? It's awesome.The fact that there is no external drive option for memory sort of bothered me. I mean, I guess I've never had to anticipate all the junk I could put on a phone before, just mp3 players and whatnot, but still what if I wanted more options?? Well, my friends, OTG cable saves the day. I won't get into 2.0 USB vs 3.0 USB (10x faster!) because I can't actually say I've uploaded data using the OTG cable with a flash drive into the phone, YET!. ***UPDATE*** This does work. I bought a 3.0 USB and was able to upload movies/music, temporarily for viewing. I do not think you can file manage with a USB attached, you probably need to sync to a computer to upload, although I could be wrong. Do note: using a flash drive in your phone DRAINS the battery. I don't recommend it unless you have a power supply nearby.*** However, if all goes well grab one of these mini-usb male->usb female adapters and bam you supposedly have all kinds of external storage space. Just go buy the flash drive? If it works I'll change this paragraph at a later time. I can say that I plugged my Razer DeathAdder mouse into the OTG cable into the Xperia P and guess what?!? I had a cursor! So cool!It has a mini-HDMI slot, which is pretty cool. I could be cynical about it because I can't imagine how often you are in a setting where you have both your phone and an HDMI cable that you bought separately just for such occasions and you found an HD monitor/TV that just needed the crap stored in your phone to make things complete ... Oops. It's cool, really!Well I'm burnt out on this review. I should mention that GPS works perfectly. It's almost creepy to set it to my location and have a blue arrow floating in my room. Just make sure your data is enabled, of course! I generally leave data off unless I need it to check scores or I get lost somewhere and need to turn on Pandora while I check my facebook and there is no WiFi around, which I mean come on ... how often is that really? GPS data consumption is insignificant, just in case you were wondering.Conclusion: This phone is B A! If you buy it, remember to put your micro sim in, update OS to 4.0, and factory reset immediately. It's fast, faster than the iPhone 4s. If you need something faster, buy a laptop. The camera is great, there are minor flaws in zoom, but overall it is excellent quality with many options, front camera is good as well. The speaker isn't anything crazy, but it's clear and the volume is perfect for speaker phone or listening to music in a relatively quiet setting. The radio antennae is in the headphones, and they are surprisingly good quality. Preloaded with useful apps. Learn to root linux if you want to maximize the performance, but be careful. Fragile design, buy the appropriate accessories. Battery life varies from 4-8 hours. I have not experienced anything less than 6 hours, and I bought a power pack anyway 'cause that's how I do. No external memory drive. Buy OTG cable, connect a flash drive-there you go.I hope this review was helpful. I spent hours reading about various smartphones before I bought this one, and I am happy with my choice. It was extremely cheap, comparatively, and I did not even need a contract! Don't let those complainers fool you with their 2-3 star reviews, This phone deserves nothing less than a 4 (as I am sure others have owned more complex phones, or can afford more options in a single phone), but in my opinion it is a solid smartphone and I would rate 4.5 if it were possible, but it is not so I have rounded up. Thus the 5.0 review.Good luck!

I was looking for a mid range phone but... without the cheap feeling, cause, being honest, we all want a superb phone to do "anything" but we end doing always the same basic.... calling, texting, whatsapp... facebook and other social apps... taking pics, videos and stuffs... so i didn't want to spend 600$ to end doing what i just mentioned. But i wanted a very sexy phone too... so after a lot of research, i found this one that fitted my needs and surpassed my expectations. To begin i dont like "phones" with huuuuuge displays, cause the are... logically... HUGE!!! To me they are unconmfortable to hold and operate... and i planned to spend 300$ tops and demonstrate that a very useful phone can cost less than 400$... and this one did it! The 4 inches screen is awesome... very sharp, very coforful, crystal clear, awesomely bright, the whites are outstanding, the blacks not so much but is really decent, good contrast at all!!! The speed is so good, even after the ICS update. Runs smooth. The overall performance is great. The camera takes very good pictures, beyond "acceptable". The only cons i have to say (and i don't blame the phone byt the software) is cause after updating the phone, appeared many lags and rebooting troubles, even when after 1 minute the phone gets stable again, this is a pain, but i hope the recently announced upgrade to JB fixes this bugs. I truly recommend this phone so far. If you are on a budget, go for it! Won't regret it! Now it's a little bit cheaper.. around 280$. Additional advice: Buy the Incipio Case http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008FOMTFC/ref=cm_cr_mts_prod_img :)

I'm a person who wants a few things from a phone.1. Does the basics well (call, receive, messaging)2. The equipment is quality (display, camera, speaker, gps, browser)3. Relatively modern without the expensive price. (I could care less about the latest edge in smartphones, anything that is outdated before its warranty ends should not be a heavy investment.)This phone fulfilled these challenges rather nicely.Description:This phone has a 4" display, finished with a rounded aluminum backing in matte black. The bar that contains the android's back, home, and menu keys is transparent. The top of the phone has the 3.5mm jack. The bottom piece is a removable plastic cap. Removing it will expose a label that shows the serial/manufacturer info. The speakerphone is on the right side of the phone, below that is the power/unlock screen button, below that button is the volume adjustment, and ends with a 2-stage dedicated camera button. There is a front facing camera for skype and a rear facing 8mp camera (6mp when used in 16:9 widescreen) equipped with a bright LED flash. On the left side of the phone there is the micro-usb charging port, the micro hdmi ouput, the slot for microsim. The micro usb and hdmi ports are uncovered whereas the microsim port is covered. Comes with in-ear headphones w/ microphone as linked here  Sony MH750 Stereo Headset with Microphone and Answer/End Button for Cell Phones - Black (Bulk Packaging)  Factory unlocked with 1 year manufacturer warranty.The good:-Screen quality and brightness. Big and bright with 960x540 resolution. The indoor/outdoor visibility of the screen is just phenomenal. All the displayed text is legible and all the colors are only minimally washed out even in the southern California sunlight. At times, I use this phone in the dark and the backlight adjustment is just perfect. My eyes aren't strained at all when I do my 10-20 minute web browsing/Angry Birds session before I sleep. The screen is bright enough to be used outdoors and sensitive enough to be used indoors. As an added touch it comes with a screen protector applied by the factory.-The camera. It is quick to focus, flash, and take a picture. The camera key can be used to activate the camera when the phone is in sleep (have to really press down on it for .5s), and it can be set to whether the phone will take a picture directly or just focused. This camera wake-up option (called Quick Launch by Sony) can be disabled altogether.-Speaker phone quality. It's not tinny and sharp and its loud enough.-Cellphone reception. It's been good for me even on T-mobile even without 3G and the other bands as seen in the chart Amazon as provided. WiFi strength is reasonably strong.-Texting. 3 choices in keyboard layout, traditional T9 and 2 versions of QWERTY. There is a gesture function (dragging your finger across the letters of a word will automatically type the word), texting too quickly will activate this function so I turned it off. Auto-correct can be fully tamed. The voice-to-text works really well for me, I tried the tongue twister "She sells sea shells by the sea shore" and it worked for the most part. The only mistake that it made was instead of sea it inputted see. There are options of different language keyboards as well, English, Chinese, and Japanese.-Optimization of Android OS by Sony. Very quick to jump from menu to menu, app to app. Applies updates independently with just a WiFi source. Facebook integration works, Skype works depending on bandwith strength.-Overall quality and feel. Thin and well weighted. The touchscreen is very responsive asides from the trouble I have swiping across screens with 1 hand. The transparent bar's keys are very responsive. It is incredibly distinct with its design, unlike those other just rectangular bars with a big screen.-No software required to connect the Xperia P to a PC. It opens up the ~12gb of usable space like a flash drive, transfers files drag and drop style. There's an optional Xperia companion software, but I prefer the simplicity of dragging and dropping files.-Language options. The Xperia P comes loaded with 50+ languages including multiple dialects of English, Spanish, and Chinese. As a cruel joke someone can set the language to Basa Sunda, Galego, Shqipe, or Srpski.-The included in-ear headphones aren't the best but it's better than the cheap earbuds normally packaged with phones. The headphone's wire lacks a slider because it's the behind the neck style wire where the left bud's wire is 1/2 to 1/3 the length of the right bud.The bad:-Subpar battery life unless all battery saving apps are on. Leaving WiFi connected alone drained the battery in half over night. Turning on extended battery saving mode and energy saver mode on the display will double the battery life to about 2 days of moderate usage. I've managed to average 25% of battery usage daily by just sending/receiving texts with minimal WiFi usage.-Non-removable backplate and battery. Battery life estimations are exaggerated to say the least.-Battery gauge was finicky at first. I charged it at 20% and the battery gauge would stay at 20% even though I charged it for a full night. Restarting the phone would show 100%. This glitch is now gone after a week of usage.-No SD card expansion.-Auto-rotate isn't sensitive enough, I have to swing the phone around a bit if I'm laying down and texting.-Camera key is a little stiff. Focusing with the camera is easy, taking a snapshot takes quite a bit more effort.Update: 12/08/12-Be mindful of the proximity sensor on the phone or you'll end up hanging on whoever you're talking to. When your face is close enough to the phone, the screen will automatically lock however I'm used to using my shoulder to hold the phone against my face. The phone will go out of place and I'll end up hitting the End Call button really easily. Sony, if you're reading this, make the range on the proximity sensor go farther on future phones.-Restart the phone every couple of days because the apps will drain the phone's battery life even after closing them. I've forgotten to restart my phone after a busy week and I find the battery life being drained down to 65% overnight.-After a few months of usage, the phone isn't showing any signs of slowing down. I still love using this phone.Update: 4/26/13-Sony has finally delivered a 4.1 Jelly Bean update to the Xperia P. However this may have caused my phone to brick itself momentarily. One day, the OS just stopped being responsive so I restarted the phone, only to have to fail to initialize and get to the homepage. So I used sony's update software to hopefully just patch and update from ICS to Jellybean. This didn't work either so I had to reformat. I consequently lost all my contacts and apps installed but still kept everything in the storage part of the phone (music, photos, etc). Since this problem was an easy fix and accidents do happen I still recommend this phone. I am not sure if this is Android's fault or Sony's fault and if this proves to be persistent than I will assume it's Sony's fault and will update this review.-On the plus side, 4.1 Jelly Bean adds Google Now and has updated the overall look of the phone ie screen lock, icons, menu layout, color themes etc. There is now a 'Stamina Mode' which replaced 'Extended Battery Mode' to increase battery life, it now provides an estimate of the stand-by time remaining. Sony Walkman has also been updated to have an equalizer and xClarity which is an automatic equalizer.