The Sony Xperia P and U

By Alex Angove

Last updated 29 February 2012

Not only boasting the Xperia S as its newest Ericsson-less phone line, Sony has introduced the Xperia P and Xperia U. Both the Xperia P and U sport a dual-core 1GHz U8500 chipset and both, unfortunately, will come running Android 2.3 Gingerbread out of the box with an Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich update to follow in Q2.

The Sony Xperia P

Physically the Xperia P is elegant and stylish. The handset is of unibody design, crafted out of a single piece of aluminium and will be available in the three colors seen above. It's definitely the more impressive of the two new Sony devices specs-wise, sporting a 540x960 qHD 4inch display and 8MP camera. Not only that, the Xperia P boasts what Sony is calling “White Magic” display technology. This new display tech is said to offer a great viewing experience even in direct sunlight with up to twice the brightness of the average smartphone.

What kind of effect this kind of brightness level will have on battery life is yet to be seen. Sony has claimed that the phone will be able to detect whether it is indoors or outdoors and adjust its screen accordingly. If it works, this would definitely be a handy feature, but we can definitely see it becoming a nuisance if implemented poorly.

The Sony Xperia U

At first glance the Xperia U is definitely of an interesting design. As far as form-factor goes it’s very straight, with square edges and only slightly rounded corners giving it an almost identical look to the Xperia P. With the Xperia U, however, the bottom slip can even be swapped out for ones different colors, taking a leaf out of the Nokia Lumia 710’s book when it comes to physical customisation.

Specs-wise the Xperia U is relatively unimpressive. Its screen is just 3.5 inches, despite the device being comparatively larger than that. Yes, there is a dual-core 1GHz processor, but even that is beginning to sound very mid-market these days.

However, Sony has done something unique with form-factor and display integration. There’s a small bar just below the screen and about the removable piece at the base. This bar changes color to suit the primary tone being shown on your screen is at any time. In a way your phone’s color scheme always matches your display, which is definitely a first as far as we can tell.

Availability and Pricing

As we mentioned before both phones should be receiving an ICS update in Q2, so expect them well before then. As far as pricing goes we can assume each of these handsets is heading straight for the middle of the market, so if you’re after something funky and just a little bit different but don’t want to pay top dollar then keep your eye out for the Xperia P and U in the coming months.