MWC – Xperia U – Up close

Although we were at the launch, we thought you’d appreciate yet more up-close shots of the Xperia U. The Xperia NXT range goes down in screen size. The Xperia S has a 4.3″ screen (720×1280), the Xperia P has a 4″ and this here is the baby of the bunch with a 3.5″. Still, it has a Reality Display with the Mobile BRAVIA engine and there’s a dual-core 1GHz chip inside which seems to do a pretty stand-up job during our hands-on.

We’ve got the whole spec-sheet below the photos here. It has a 5 megapixel camera (instead of the 12 megapixel unit on the S and the 8 megapixel on the P), front-facing camera (VGA) and will be available in white or black, with pink and yellow exchangeable caps for the base of the smartphone in the box. It’ll launch, and is running here at the show, Android platform 2.3 (Gingerbread), but they’re getting Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) ready for delivery during the second quarter of 2012.

All of the new Sony NXT phones showing here are micro SIM and have no microSD expansion. This is a growing trend and one we’ve seen with the HTC One Series.

Xperia U specifications
All services mentioned in this list may not be available in every market.

Colour

Black
White

Facts

Size: 112 x 54 x 12 mm
Weight: 110 grams
1 GHz STE U8500 dual core-processor
Google Android™ 2.3 (Gingerbread), upgradeable to Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich)

Camera

3D Sweep panorama™
5 megapixel camera
16x digital zoom
Auto focus
Face detection
Flash/Photo flash
Flash/Photo light
Front-facing camera (VGA)
Geotagging
HD video recording (720p)
Red-eye reduction
Self-timer
Send to web
Sweep Multi Angle
Sweep panorama™
Video light
Video recording

Music

Album art
Bluetooth™ stereo (A2DP)
Clear bass
Clear stereo
Manual equalizer
Music Player
PlayNow™ service
SensMe™
TrackID™ music recognition
xLoud™

Internet

Android Market™
Bookmarks
Google™ search
Google Voice™ Search
Google Maps™ for Mobile with Street view and Latitude™
NeoReader™ barcode scanner
Web browser (WebKit™)

Communication

Call list
Conference calls
Facebook™ application
Facebook inside Xperia™
Google Talk™ application
Noise suppression
Xperia™ Timescape™
Speakerphone
Twitter™ (Timescape™ integration)
Video chat ready

Messaging

Conversations
Email
Google Mail™
Instant messaging
Multimedia messaging (MMS)
Predictive text input
Sound recorder
Text messaging (SMS)
Gesture input
Voice input

Design

Auto rotation
Keyboard (on-screen, QWERTY)
Picture wallpaper
Reality Display with
Mobile BRAVIA® Engine
Screenshot capturing
Touch screen
Live Wallpaper
Contains post consumer recycled plastic and waterborne paint

Entertainment

Media browser
Radio (FM radio with RDS)
Sony Entertainment Network
Video streaming
YouTube™

Organiser

Alarm clock
Calculator
Calendar
Airplane mode
3D Album
Infinite button
Contacts
Setup guide
Stopwatch
Timer

Connectivity

3.5 mm audio jack (CTIA)
aGPS
Bluetooth™ wireless technology
DLNA Certified®
Media Transfer Protocol support
Micro USB support
Modem
Native USB tethering
Media Go™
Synchronisation via Microsoft® Exchange ActiveSync®
USB High speed 2.0 support
USB mass storage
USB Host
Wi-Fi®
Wi-Fi® Hotspot functionality
Wisepilot™ turn-by-turn navigation
All services mentioned in this leaflet may not be available in every market.

Display

3.5” Reality Display with Mobile BRAVIA® Engine
854 x 480 pixels
16,000,000 colour TFT
Anti-reflection coating on scratch-resistant mineral glass

Memory

RAM (for active apps and OS services): 512 MB
System memory (for Android firmware): 2 GB
Phone memory (for downl. apps and apps data): 2 GB
Internal storage (for photos, music, videos and downl. apps): 4 GB
Internal phone storage: 8 GB (up to 6 GB user-accessible memory)

Networks

UMTS HSPA 850 (Band V), 1900 (Band II), 2100 (Band I)
GSM GPRS/EDGE 850, 900, 1800, 1900
UMTS HSPA 900 (Band VIII), 2100 (Band I)
GSM GPRS/EDGE 850, 900, 1800, 1900

Battery life

Talk time GSM: Up to 6 hrs 36 min*
Standby time GSM/GPRS: Up to 260 hrs*
Talk time UMTS: Up to 5 hrs 36 min*
Standby time UMTS: Up to 472 hrs*
Music listening time: Up to 45 hrs
Video playback time: Up to 6 hrs
Battery: 1320 mAh typical, 1290 mAh minimum
*Values are according to GSM Association Battery Life Measurement Technique. Battery performance may vary depending on network conditions and configurations, and phone usage.

In the kit

Xperia™ U, battery, exchangeable caps, stereo headset, charger, micro USB cable for charging, synchronisation and file transfer, and user documentation