Huge screen phones carry high price, making it low on the list of purchase. When we talk about India, then phablets are not much popular. There are few phones that lie in the same segment but carry different price. And each of those also differs in terms of hardware and screen quality. Some of them are HTC One Max that comes at Rs. 53,909 and offers 5.9-inch. This one is the costliest one. The second is LG G Pro 2 that comes for Rs.45300 and offers 5.9 Inches screen. The third model is Nokia Lumia 1520 that comes for Rs.39,800 and offers 6-inch screen. There are two models by Samsung which is Galaxy Note 3 and Galaxy Mega. Note 3 offers 5.7-inch screen and cost around Rs.41,000, while Galaxy Mega offers 5.8-inch screen and comes for Rs. 18,500. The last model is the one which we are going to review today, called, Sony Xperia T2 Ultra Dual. This Smartphone provides you 6-inch screen and comes for Rs.28,800. This model becomes the cheapest 6-inch screen phone in the market due to its price. Big size screen provides you comfortable usage when comes to typing. You have ample of space to move your fingers and type an entire email or text document very comfortably. I also like the interface which is smooth and fast. It is right to say that Sony Xperia T2 Ultra Dual is a budget phablet. Overall usage is impressive here with some shortcoming. You can find that below in detail. Before moving ahead just have a look on the entire phone specification.
Specification:
- Operating system: Android 4.3 Jelly Bean MR2
- Display: 6-inch
- Resolution: 720×1280 pixels
- Colors: 16,777,216 color TFT
- Touch gesture: Yes – multi-touch, up to 10 fingers supported
- Processor: 1.4 GHz Qualcomm MSM8228 Quad Core
- GPU: Adreno 305
- RAM: 1GB
- Internal Storage: 8 GB (3.2 GB used by Rom. User Space- 4.8 GB )
- Camera resolution: 13 MP with 16x Digital Zoom.
- Flash – LED
- Video Recording – HD 1080p
- Front Camera – HD 720p for video chat and 1.1 MP for camera capture
- Sensors – Accelerometer, Proximity sensor, Ambient light sensor, Magnetometer & Gyroscope.
- Battery – 3000 mAh battery with Stamina mode
Design:
Sony Xperia T2 Ultra Dual Android Smartphone looks very classy. The phone is available in three colors. They are Black, White and Purple. We will checkout the black version which looks amazing and less shiny. The phone has 6-inch TFT-IPS HD screen. The screen is supported by TRILUMINOS Display and Mobile BRAVIA Engine 2. This makes it awesome. Large screen does not make it bulky. It is sleek and features a very thin design with overall glossy finish. From distance the front side looks like a flat glass and it is not very shiny. You can use the phone effectively under sunlight also. It does not get dark and viewing angles is also good.
In the front we have a 1.1MP Front camera that offers you 720p HD video recording. Next to that lies Proximity and light sensor with Notification led. These things are placed on the top side while at the bottom we have three capacitive keys, with speaker’s grills on the top and microphone at the bottom.
The left side is clean having only a Micro USB port and Micro SD Card while the right side is overcrowded. 3.5mm audio jack is placed on the right instead of top that can be a bit uneasy when you plug in a headphone and try to keep the phone in your pocket or bag. Just below that there are two micro-sim slots covered with a flap. Shiny silver round power button sits below that is in the center and easy for you to access. If this button was on the top side then it will be a bit complicated to unlock the screen. Volume rockers lies just below that with a dedicated camera key at the end.
At the backside lies a 13MP camera with LED flash. A second microphone is placed a bit ahead for video recording purpose. This separate mic allows you to record good sound quality while taking videos. NFC logo is just below that in center through which you can instantly connect this smartphone with other device. Sony logo is placed in the center and loud speaker grills at the bottom side. I did not find the camera placement proper. When I try to take photos in landscape mode, my fingers comes in between. That is because it is placed at a very top left side, the place where you hold the phone. Works well with the portrait mode.
The phone dimension is 165.2 x 83.8 x 7.65mm. It is a sleek phone with a locked 3000 mAH battery. This device is not waterproof unlike other high end Xperia Series. This can be due to low budget; Sony had to shed off some features. It would have been great if this phone carried a dustproof and waterproof feature. Overall the device looks very classic. It is a bit uncomfortable to hold if you are having small hands due to its widescreen size. But you can carry it quite comfortably in your bag. It offers you great screen output which is superfast and smooth. Buttons are well placed for easy accessibility. The entire weight is around 171.8grams. Big size does not make it bulky.
Features and UI:
Sony Xperia T2 Ultra Dual comes with lots of handy features. It runs on Android 4.3 Jellybean operating system. The UI is completely optimized. Sony uses its own proprietary UI that makes the entire OS bit heavy. The internal storage is 8GB where around 3.2GB is used by ROM. That is because of many additional things in the phone. Like ample of good personalization settings through which you can customize the pone lock screen, home screen, etc. You can do that directly from the settings. Under Wireless Network the phone offers Xperia Connectivity and Android Beam as additional features. NFC is quite common in many high end phones, but through Android beam you can instantly send a file when you are connected to any other device through NFC. Xperia Connectivity helps you to sync the phone with other Sony devices. You can play your phone content through wifi or you can simply mirror the screen of Sony Xperia T2 Ultra Dual to a Sony TV. In the same way there is Media Server settings which you can use to share content among DLNA devices. Windows tethering helps you to share content on a local network quite easily. The phone also comes with support for DUALSHOCK 3 wireless gamepad. You can instantly connect the gamepad and use it for playing games instead of touch screen.
Inside personalization you have option called as quick settings, through which you can enable and disable the shortcuts that you want to see on the notification panel. This is bit handy feature through which you can get a clean panel without unnecessary icons on the same. You can change them and access other customization options through this section.
The sound section always carries out great features on almost all Xperia phone. You can enable Clear Phase and Xloud technology from here. This will make your audio experience better. The display section carries out one more additional feature called as Glove Mode. When you tap on this, you can use the phone screen easily while wearing gloves.
Inside storage you can directly connect the phone with remote share. You can configure a sharing over SFTP. This is helpful by keeping files on the remote network and access when you need. Through power management you can boost the battery output of Sony Xperia T2 Ultra Dual. The phone runs on 3000 mAH battery. But if you think the battery drains out really fast then you can turn on Stamina mode where the phone automatically manages the battery by turning off things that are not needed. Or you can use Low battery mode. When the battery becomes low this mode automatically switches of things which are not required. And the last one is location based wifi where the phone manages the wifi automatically. When you are in a wifi zone it will turn on automatically and when you are out of range it will be disabled.
Under security you can use “my Xperia”. This one helps you to locate your device. It is like a remote access and remote wipe application that is provided by Sony itself. You have to go on the mentioned website and activate it. Once your device is registered then you can locate your phone if it is lost or you can simply run a full system wipe. So here you can see that the mobile brings out some impressive features.
Camera:
Sony Xperia T2 Ultra dual has dual camera support where on the front you get a basic 1.1MP camera and on the back you get a 13MP camera with 16x digital zoom. The camera has led flash. Overall image quality is satisfying. Camera app is modified and you get a bit more features on the same. Camera app is very easy to use. The settings are nicely placed which is accessible from the left corner when you hold the phone in landscape mode. With the settings the camera also comes with pre-set mode. They are superior, auto, manual, social live, time shift burst, AR Effect, picture effect, sweep panorama, portrait retouch and background defocus. All this features are unique. Super Auto is the best mode where you can take great pics. You don’t have to mess with manual settings. But if you want then you can set the mode on manual and make changes.
Social Live helps you to take photos and then upload it instantly on Facebook. Time Shift helps you to take multiple shots at the same time and choose the best one among them. AR Effect is a bit playful where you can add different animation on live video and picture effect brings around 9 different filters. For Panorama, we all know how to take a long image while the Portrait re-touch works with the front camera only. It is good for taking selfies. When you click a picture the mode automatically cleans your face making the picture better. Being a low resolution camera if you try to take the photos indoors, images are grainier and the output is fine in outdoor. For back camera images are fine if you are having enough light around. Taking pictures of close objects is quite impressive. You can see few images taken below on different mode.
Gaming and Multimedia:
Sony Xperia T2 Ultra Dual offers a good gaming output. It is powered by a quad core processor with 1GB RAM and a GPU also. Overall, the output is fine but I will not say it is great. Being a 6-inch screen phone, lots of memory is used in the process. Display is one of the best aspects here, and touch is also fast. Operating this phone is fun because it does not lag or freeze in between. Playing games on this big 6-inch screen is awesome. The screen gives you great output for multimedia also. The default audio application Walkman and video apps are capable of playing all kind of video and audio format. Playing HD quality videos bring out great screen output. Images are crisp and viewing angle is almost great. The screen does not get dark from sides. Due to super smooth touch you can instantly navigate to different apps. The loud speaker placement is somewhat affecting the audio output. But if you think the volume is low then you can go in settings and tap on sound and from there enable Clear Phase and xLOUD. This two will boost the audio. Audio on headphone is amazing.
Performance & Battery:
Sony Xperia T2 Ultra Dual is powered by 1.4 GHz Qualcomm MSM8228 Quad Core processor, 1GB of RAM and Adreno 305 GPU. The overall hardware configuration is really awesome. There is no doubt about the output, but at some point I found the camera a bit low when trying to take pictures. It works well when you have ample of light and when you are not using flash, images take a bit long time to save in the gallery. Other things are nice. I had tested different apps and games on the same where I did not find any lagging or freezing issue. As per my experience you can run different HD games on it. The GPU is not very latest, but enough to handle HD games. Sony Xperia T2 Ultra Dual on 3000mAH battery gives out good battery output. If you are not using the phone much for gaming or multimedia you can use it for entire day. There will be some power left in the end. And if you are a game freak then you have to carry a portable charger with you. I am quite satisfied with the battery life also. You can expect around 6 to 7 hrs of battery output on maximum usage, once it is charged fully. And to preserve more battery you can go ahead with using Stamina Mode.
Conclusion:
No doubt Sony Xperia T2 Ultra Dual is one the best phablet in the market. It is neither costly nor cheap. It falls in the price of mid range phones. You are not really spending too much on this phone. At a cost of Rs.28,800 this phone gives you amazing features. A big 6-inch HD display which is crisp and clear. Super fast touch support and good battery output are some of the primary aspect. Overall, the hardware config is also not bad. Camera is good but only when you have enough light. The look and design is also great. You won't be happy with the front camera here. When you buy this device it is recommended that you must not overload it with apps and games. Install things that you need and then remove them and add new stuff. I had faced crashing issue a few times trying to fill the internal storage with HD games. This is because of 1GB ram that gets limited for a 6inch display. 2GB RAM would serve lot better.
Pros
- Great Display
- Excellent Battery Life
- Good Camera Features
- Great Design
- Budget Phablet
Cons
- Poor Front Camera
- Not so great loud speakers
