Sony Xperia X Review: Does X Mark the Spot?

Sony Xperia X Review: Does X Mark the Spot?

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We’ve taken a look at two of the smartphones from Sony’s X series, the XA and the XA Ultra, and we’ve saved the best for last. At least until the X Performance, plus the recently leaked Xperia XR and X Compact, land at Unbox  HQ. For now, we’re going to be taking a closer look at the Sony Xperia X, to see if it has what it takes to hang and if it’s worth your hard-earned moolah. Before we dive into the review, let’s check out its specs.

Sony Xperia X Specs

  • Qualcomm SnapDragon 650 Hexacore Processor
  • Adreno 510 GPU
  • 3GB of RAM
  • 5-inch Full HD IPS LCD Triluminous Display; 1080×1920
  • 64GB of expandable storage
  • 23-megapixel rear camera with Hybrid Autofocus, LED flash, Aperture f/2.0
  • 13-megapixel front camera, Aperture f/2.0
  • 3G, LTE
  • Bluetooth v4.2, WiFi b/g/n, NFC, A-GPS, Fingerprint Scanner
  • 2620mAh Battery
  • Android 6.0 Marshmallow
  • Php 29,990.00

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More of Sony’s Familiar Design

The design of the Xperia X should be extremely familiar to those who have seen or handled Xperia smartphones of the previous generation, it’s resemblance to the Xperia Z5 is uncanny save for the 0.2-inches they’ve had to shave off for the difference in screen size. This is why we had our eyes on the Xperia XA when we first saw it at Mobile World Congress and when both of the phones were launched locally; it’s got the goods, but it’s something we’ve seen before.

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Despite having the same design as the Xperia Z5, there’s something that the Xperia X didn’t take along with it, the IP68 certification, which means that unlike most of the Xperia phones of the past — the X is no longer dust and water resistant. We’re a little sad about that but we’re guessing it was a choice that may have been made to lower the price tag on the Xperia X and most of the X series. What it did bring, however, was the fingerprint scanner that’s embedded in its home screen and it’s still as fast and as accurate as ever.

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We’re also happy to see the Triluminous Display for Mobile on the Xperia X’s 5-inch IPS panel and it performs just as well as we remember it, which made us really wish that they had put it on the Xperia XA Ultra. Colors are vivid, but you could make them pop even more with the built-in image enhancements.

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A Mid-Range Package that Performs

For the Xperia X, Sony has decided to go with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 650 and paired it with an Adreno 510 GPU, 3GB of RAM, and 64GB of expandable storage. The combination produced good benchmark scores that translated into really smooth UI navigation and overall performance for day-to-day use. We wouldn’t go wild on multitasking, but it can hold its own to a certain extent.

Disclaimer: Not an actual game available on Android. Just more of the Tekken 7 trailer.
Disclaimer: Not an actual game available on Android. Just more of the Tekken 7 trailer.

Gaming on the Xperia X gave us a pretty pleasing experience as well. We always use Asphalt 8 as a barometer for this portion of the review, and the X handled it nicely with no frame rate drops at high settings. It managed well on NBA 2K16 with a little tweaks here and there to make sure everything ran smoothly.

Camera

The main camera on the Xperia X sits at 23-megapixels with an aperture of f/2.0 and is equipped with hybrid auto focus. Give it the right conditions and it performs beautifully. Shots were sharp and colors had a nice vibrancy to them. The hybrid auto focus can get a little iffy when the lighting conditions aren’t as good, so prepare to take a couple of safety shots just to make sure. At 13-megapixels, the front camera on the X may not be like the one found on the XA Ultra, but it’s no slouch either; producing really sharp selfies given the right lighting conditions.

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Battery Life

The Xperia X has a slightly smaller battery than the Xperia XA Ultra at 2620mAh. Running PCMark Battery Benchmark tests with WiFi turned off and screen brightness set to 50% gave us a result of 7 hours and 15 minutes, which isn’t bad. Real world tests with LTE turned on the entire day had us reaching in our bags for our powerbank at around the late afternoon. Not bad, but we really hope the next batch of X series of devices would come with high battery capacities.

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The Verdict

Overall, the Xperia X is a great device and we had a good time taking it around as our daily driver. It handled day-to-day tasks we threw at it easily, it’s main and secondary camera perform well, and — despite the size — has pretty decent battery life. But, it’s really the price that has us wincing a little. The Sony Xperia X is priced at Php 29,990 and we can already feel your inner keyboard warrior’s spirit rising up to leave a comment. We were hopeful when we saw that the XA and XA Ultra had been priced more competitively to other players in the market, but the daunting price tag on the Sony Xperia X could be a deal breaker.

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