Sony Xperia ION unboxed, in the flesh

The Xperia ION is one of the most anticipated handsets in the Sony line-up and while it has not been officially released in the Philippines, we’ve managed to borrow a review unit. Check out our unboxing photos and first impressions after the jump.

The Xperia Ion’s claim to fame is that it’s LTE capable with speeds of up to 100Mbps download and 50Mbps upload. Unfortunately, we can’t still test it here in the Philippines. Smart was supposed to commercially launch their LTE service this June but they seem to be very quiet about it recently.

Of all the Sony handsets we’ve tried this year, the Xperia ION is the biggest yet in terms of display size. The 4.55-inch LCD screen has a 720p resolution or 1280×720 pixels giving it a nice Retina Display-like density of 323ppi.

We were actually hoping for more than just LTE but it turns out the Xperia ION still has a SnapDragon S3 processor, the same one they used in the Xperia S.

Sony Xperia ION LT28i specs:
4.55″ HD display @ 720×1280 pixels, 323ppi
Sony Mobile BRAVIA Engine
Qualcomm MSM8260 Snapdragon S3 1.5GHz dual-core
Adreno 220 graphics
1GB RAM
16GB internal storage
up to 32GB via microSD card
HSDPA 21.1Mbps, HSUPA 5.8Mbps, LTE Cat3 50Mbps
WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
Bluetooth 2.1
NFC
FM Radio tuner
12MP autofocus, rear camera w/ LED flash
1080p video recording @ 30fps
1.3MP front-facing camera w/ 720 video recording 30fps
Android 2.3 Gingerbread
1900mAh Li-Ion battery
144 grams (weight)
133 x 68 x 10.8mm (dimensions)
Php24,900 (gray market price)

The design and form factor of the Xperia ION still follows the Sony NXT line (Xperia S, Xperia P, and Xperia U). The almost-unibody design is pretty solid, has a noticeable heft to it due to the metallic construction.

The handset also boasts of a massive 12-megapixel camera, just like the Xperia S. My initial tests from yesterday showed impressive shots on both stills and video. We’ll share samples shots on the full review.

The Sony Xperia Ion is being sold by Widget City for Php24,900 (see listing here). Watch out for our full review in a week or two.

[fancygallery ID=”xperiaion”]

Abe Olandres

Abe is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of YugaTech with over 20 years of experience in the technology industry. He is one of the pioneers of blogging in the country and considered by many as the Father of Tech Blogging in the Philippines. He is also a technology consultant, a tech columnist with several national publications, resource speaker and mentor/advisor to several start-up companies.

https://www.yugatech.com

19 Comments

jr says:

12 years ago

own Sony experia S. for experience for media such as video picture and sound quality. i will recommend it too bad majority here in phillippines is noy interested on this phone. (all waiting for samsung s3 not really a fan) as i recall they have almost the same specs.

base on experience to compare with iphone 4s 1(lowest) – 5(highest)
responsiveness – xperia s – 4 iphone – 5
display – xperia s – 5 iphone – 4.5
sound – xperia s – 4.5 iphone – 4
speed – xperia s – 3.75 iphone – 4
picture – xperia s – 4 iphone – 3
price – xperia s – 4 iphone – 3
battery – xperia s – 3 iphone 3.5

note xperia s is the same specs xperia ion but with 1900 capacity iand lte capable.

For the people who complains about ics software dont be discourage about that. reason is that its not a big deal since xperia user will move to that.
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moon says:

12 years ago

18,000 for this phone s like a hot selling smartphone kill S3/X/4s
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Jay2 says:

12 years ago

Galaxy Nexus is 18.7k.. Will this be 6.2k better than the Galaxy Nexus?
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juju says:

12 years ago

Sony handsets have long battery life in fairness
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jeijei says:

12 years ago

Sony is still 1 generation behind mobile. They need to stay in sync with other manufacturers spec-wise and OS wise. ICS is already out and they’re still stucked with 2.3, specs isnt also that impressive.
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jozef says:

12 years ago

take note that only 7-10% only dominates for ICS and the rest are still using Gingerbread.

Bottom line is try using ICS and you’ll know what are the things that doesn’t work as smooth as with GB.
jozef says:

12 years ago

take note that only 7-10% only dominates for ICS and the rest are still using Gingerbread.

Bottom line is try using ICS and you’ll know what are the things are doesn’t work smoothly as GB.

Billy says:

12 years ago

I’m hoping that the baterry life is good.
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Jam says:

12 years ago

Will there be a quick ICS update for this? Hope not after the end of the year that’s way making people impatient. When will be the official release?
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benchmark says:

12 years ago

Correction: smart is very QUIET about it.
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Neil says:

12 years ago

Hmm it has LTE 700 and 1700 MHz. Not compatible with Smart’s 2100 MHz LTE.
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Yahya says:

12 years ago

It has LTE 1700/2100. If it isn’t, then it won’t be compatible with AT&T either. As smart and AT&T has the same bands (2.1 Ghz).

roiji says:

12 years ago

nice battery capacity!
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Jv says:

12 years ago

Can you Make an Video Review ??
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Andrei Miguel says:

12 years ago

correction: its NXT design not NXP design
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