Telecom Lead India: The Sony Xperia E is a great value for money smartphone under Rs 10,000 powered by Jelly Bean. It is available in select markets with both single and dual-sim features. Xperia E with single sim is available in Flipkart for Rs 9990 and dual-sim is for Rs 10,990. Not many e-commerce sites are selling this.
In the box
- Phone
- Start Up Guide, Information, Warranty Card
- Earphones
- USB Cable
- Charger
- Battery
* Free Sony Headset ( MDR-ZX100A) worth Rs 1,490 with the Sony Xperia E (both single and dual-sim)
Design
This smartphone appeares with a sleek design as it is only 0.43 inches thick. A silver lining is running around its walls. It is a light phone (115.7 g) but gives out a built-solid feel. The Xperia E is little-bit curved so that users could hold it easily and experience its perfection. It has a flat matte back cover. On its right side there is a volume and a power button. A hidden light at the bottom glows when the phone is at stand-by or when the Walkman app is running. Xperia E with single sim is available in Black, Pink and White color.
User Interface
It is powered by Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) with Qualcomm MSM7227A Snapdragon chipset. It uses the Xperia keyboard and Swype like features for greater functionality. It has 4 GB internal memory (expandable upto 32 GB with MicroSD) and 512 MB RAM. We used the Chrome app with Wi-Fi connections and it worked pretty fast. It has many pre-installed apps like Walkman, Chrome, OfficeSuite, etc. Xperia E supports 3G but without a front camera it would be of no use if you are looking for video calls.
Display
The Sony Xperia E is provided with a Scratch-resistant glass with Timescape UI. It also supports multi-touch upto 2 fingers. All these features give you a crystal-clear display. Videos and movies will play perfectly with this phone.
Sound Quality
With its HD voice and active noise cancellation features, the Walkman app works perfectly. The 3D surround sound, Manual equalizer and the xLoud Experience make your calls more clean.
Battery Life
The new smartphone in the Indian mobile market is fueled by a Li-Ion 1530 mAh battery which helps the phone last very long (when discharging) and standby time is upto 530 Hrs.
Camera & Multimedia
It has got a 3.15 MP camera with 4x digital zoom and geo-tagging features but no secondary camera and flash. We first thought that a pix taken with a 3.15 MP camera would have grains in it but no, this phone took clear-clean pictures. Please see the quality of picture we took at our apartment in East Delhi. The picture quality may not be comparable with a high-end phone. But Xperia E is available at Rs 9,990 + a Sony free headset.
Read: Review of Sony Xperia Z
We accessed TelecomLead.com, InfotechLead.com, GreentechLead.com, Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin and a couple of other prominent site using Wi-Fi connected to our MTNL connection. The speed of the processor — Qualcomm MSM7227A Snapdragon chipset — impressed us. Google’s Jelly Bean clubbed with Sony’s quality will not let India’s smartphone users down.
If you want a trendy phone with Jelly Bean under Rs 10,000, the Sony Xperia E is the phone you should refer. It is value for money smarphone since Sony offers a free Sony Headset (MDR-ZX100A) worth Rs 1,490 with the Sony Xperia E (both single and dual-sim). But users may not be happy with white headset as it can become dirty when the user uses outdoors.
Before we ordered to buy the the Sony Xperia E from Flipkart, we went to a couple of shops in Laxmi Nagar market, in East Delhi, to check the price and the other available models from Sony and its competition.
We were stunned to hear a couple of comments from shop keepers. One sales person said that there would be no guarantee / warantee card when users buy from online shops. Plus the price, which e-commerce stores publishes, is exclusing taxes. Plus, users will face several troubles when we take the item for services, etc.
These offline shops across India, which are facing tough competition, are not in a position to compete with ecommerce sites on pricing. And, to retain a customer, who walks into their shops, they are mis-guiding customers. I suggest that all e-commerce shops need to talk more about the advantages they offer to smartphone users.
The Sony Xperia E offers enough returns to a smartphone user. I am sure that’s why Sony has grabbed #3 position in Indian smartphone market.
TelecomLead.com Rating: 8.5/10
Anand B
editor@telecomlead.com
