Review Specifications Sony Ericsson Xperia Neo

Previously, we have discussed about SE Xperia Active and SE Xperia Ray, and now we will discussed about Sony Ericsson latest version, Xperia Neo. The name is simple and reflects something new. Neo is the successor to the Sony Ericsson Vivaz, Symbian phones based on multimedia from SE, but with various updates and the use of Android 2.3. With the multimedia aspect is quite capable as FWVGA 3.7-inch screen with Bravia Engine, 8MP camera with Exmor R and 720p video recorder, powered by a 1GHz processor and 512MB of RAM, how performance and value of this cell phones? Let's examine further.

Sales Package
* Data Cable + Charger
* Handsfree in-ear MH650
* Warranty Card
* User Manual
* Micro SD 8GB

Design and Body
Because Neo is indeed the successor of Vivaz, so naturally if we look the Xperia Neo reminded to that Symbian phones. when compared to the xperia arc indeed a different design, but its features are similar. In the body itself, although mostly made of plastic, but the quality and color to the body of Neo is pretty good and not making Neo look cheap. On the back of the casing there are gradations of color from black to blue. Because we review Xperia Neo with color Blue Gradient. On the left and right side have a shiny silver border. Whereas LED notification in the eccentric side, in the right side of Neo. On the right side there is also a volume button and camera button. The buttons below the screen using the physical buttons (back, home and option). In general, the Xperia Neo fits in the hand with a thickness of 13 mm and weighs 126 grams, relatively thick but not thin and not heavy but not too light.


Interface
Of course the interface of Xperia Neo same as Xperia Arc and Mini Pro with Android version used is 2.3.3. Timescape UI that is embedded in the ranks of Sony Ericsson Xperia was indeed customized quite well and although details have not changed as much as HTC with Sense UI.

Homescreen contains 5 pages with Timescape widgets and some others widgets were given the default background color of blue, although you can change the wallpaper as you like either with a live wallpaper and standard wallpaper. With a pinch and zoom to the outside (zoom out) the entire widget that is stacked on one screen. Notification bar shortage customization, only display notifications any time without access to shortcut and view any information. If you Pressing the Home button for a while will take you to the most recent Applications.

The main menu displays with the same background image to the homescreen. For the application icons are arranged in horizontal mode, which means divided into several pages in accordance with the number of applications installed, by default there are 4 pages. You can sort by alphabetical, most used or recently installed. Also of course you can set at will by touching icons on the bottom right corner of the screen. Performance of UI on the Sony Ericsson Xperia Neo is quite nice and smooth with a processor Qualcomm MSM8255 Snapdragon 1 GHz Scorpion and GPU Adreno 205.

Text Input
You can type in Japanese characters and Mandarin with this phone. There are only a QWERTY keyboard method. Typing in portrait condition is quite easy to do with the default keyboard. Vibration at the time of typing can be removed if you do not like it. Other settings are the Quick Text settings for text prediction and writing languages.

Phonebook
When you first use the contact on the Xperia Neo, you will be faced with the option to import contacts and synchronize with the accounts that you have such as SyncML, Exchange, Facebook and Google. For new contacts, some additional fields that can be selected are Phone, IM, Email, Postal, Organization, Notes, nickname, Website and Internet Call.

Messaging
There are three categories for the SMS messages, email and IM. To SMS like most other Android phones Xperia Neo do it perfectly. Very intuitive and easy to use both to enter the number of recipients or add attachments to make it as an MMS.

Email use Google Mail although you can use another email. Google Mail is version 2.3.4.1. GMail already supports push email which incoming email notification arrives at the bar almost in real time. This application also supports multiple Gmail accounts, and standard features such as signatures, text size, label, notification, and others.

For you who like to chat it seems you have to install third party applications, because the standard IM applications are available only Google Talk, although it is quite good and has push notif if any incoming chat, but Gtalk less commonly used.

Camera
With Exmor R sensor (plus LED flash) and large 8MP resolution, no doubt this is the main strength of this phone. For you who like dark picture dark, the results are far brighter than most other phones. For the interface just as the Xperia Arc and Xperia Ray, easy to use with icons that are easily understood. There are features smile detection, scene recognition, scenes, self timer, autofocus (single, multi, macro, face detection, infiniti and touch focus), touch capture, exposure, stabilizer, geo tagging white balance and metering.

The results are pretty good and the camera produces vibrant colors. Like the Xperia Arc, when shooting in low light conditions this phone reliable, catches the light far exceed other camera phones. This is because the backlit Exmor R sensor as used in Sony digital cameras. But the drawback is a less detailed picture, seen from the photos that only ranges between 600KB to 1.3 MB, the size is small for an 8MP camera. But the overall result satisfactory Neo camera.

Video Recorder
Video recorders are still a maximum resolution 1280x720 pixels, reasonable because the phone is still a single core. The features quite a lot, among other scenes, the resolution (720p HD, full wide VGA, VGA, QVGA and MMS), focus mode (single autofocus, face detection and infinity). Also like a camera there are some additional features such as exposure, stabilizer, white balance, metering, shutter sound, touch capture and self timer.

The results of 720p video recording belongs to the Xperia Neo produces a file of 45MB for 1 minute video recording. Its reach 6000kbps data rate, while the resulting frame rate is 29 frames per second. The results of smooth and sharp video, Exmor R excess also felt in the video recording mode.

Photo and Video Gallery
Gallery on Xperia Neo is Android default although given little touches that are not too meaningful, but this is not a problem because the default Android gallery itself was pretty good and complete, able to share files directly to social networking, email and bluetooth etc., do cropping, making the contact picture and wallpaper, and rotate images. Pinch and zoom can certainly be done as a way cool picture zooming.

Video Player
This is one weakness of Sony Ericsson, they do not put much Xperia codec in the phone, so it can not play popular formats other than mp4, although you can still install third party applications such as mobo player, but still it would be better if this phone from the manufacturer has been able to rotate. mkv for example. 720p video downloads from Youtube appear very smooth and uneventful, and can be viewed in portrait mode.

Music Players
The music player on Xperia Neo is divided into 4 categories namely Artists, Albums, Tracks and Playlists. Quite a lot of equalizer options are available in this mobile music player, ie, Classical, dance, flat, folk, heavy metal, hip hop, jazz, pop and rock. With XLoud feature, the sound produced by the loudspeaker is quite loud though Neo loudspeaker sound quality just average.

FM Radio
You must use a headset that functions as an antenna for listening to radio broadcasts. Station ID can be displayed (if any)

Connectivity
Xperia Neo runs on Quadband network 850/1800/1900/2100 and HSDPA 2100. Then the local connectivity is a-GPS, Bluetooth 2.1, WiFi (802.11 b / g / n) with DLNA and the ability to be a hotspot (WiFi tethering), and micro USB (as mass storage and PC sync using the Sony Ericsson PC Companion). There is also a mini HDMI port for connecting Neo with LCD TV, but mini-HDMI cable did not exist in the sales package.

Web Browser
As in the Android smartphone other types of middle and upper, of course the web browser on the Xperia Neo supports flash 10.1, but its performance in the play Youtube videos are not very good, 360p video playback was somehow broken and not very smooth. Performance in the full open sites like techno-phones pretty good, fast and smooth in the rendering of objects that exist on the website, other than that zooming can be done either with pinch and zoom with double click. A maximum of tabs that can be opened is 8 pages.

When you do a double-click on a news page to zoom in, the text will neatly fill the screen (fit to page) making it easier for you to read an article. Interface in this phone like as the default browser in another Android phone, has features such as bookmark, find, select text, share pages, and general arrangements such as text size, text encoding, javascript, cache, cookies and history. Easy to used.

Default Applications
Some existing applications built on the Xperia Neo is : Maps (version 5.2.1), Places, Latitude, Lets Golf HD, Foursquare, and of course do not miss the inherent features of Sony Ericsson : Timescape, Track ID and PlayNow.

Timescape
Timescape incorporates call, Facebook, Twitter Messages and you, being an application with a very interesting timeline view. Here you can manage updates from Facebook and Twitter, whether manually or automatically. Because Timescape is enough to drain batteries and feels no need if you prefer Facebook or Twitter ordinary applications. You can make the update status from here, with accompanying text 'via Sony Ericsson Xperia' on Facebook and Twitter.

Lets Golf HD
HD game that has funny graphics and enough detail is inherited from the Xperia Neo. The road is quite smooth, showing the Neo have a pretty good performance in playing the HD game.

Third-party applications
Mobo Player
With this application the playback file .Avi and .mkv is not a problem provided it is not up to 720p resolution, because in large resolution tends frameskip and out of sync between the picture and sound. The video player has many features that are not owned video player built like subtitles, adjust brightness in the video and others.

Crazy Snowboard
3d games on a snowboard that is quite exciting is running smoothly at the Sony Ericsson Xperia Neo.

Vlingo
The application uses a voice-based commands from the phone mic and turn your voice into various commands such as Google search, Maps, open the application in mobile phones and even change your Facebook status.

Benchmark
Quadrant Standard : 1329 points
Neocore 3D : 60.5 frames per second
Multitouch Test : maximum of 4 touch

Battery Life
With Lithium Polymer 1500 mAh capacity, it is reasonable if the batteries last a reasonable as the Xperia Neo Android phone. In the state 100 percent, from 9 am to 12 noon with the backlight on solid state lighting (screen timeout 10 minutes) and used occasional browsing, as well as several light applications, the battery status still shows 65 percent.

Conclusion
Xperia Neo has excellent features like good camera, Bravia engine and a 1GHz processor. Good performance and smooth. Competitors is the Samsung Galaxy W, will be priced in the range of approximately the same price. Galaxy W has a larger processor clock, while the Neo has a good camera. Options are now in your hands, just adjust to your needs because the needs and tastes of each person is different.

Excess :
* Bravia Engine makes the color that comes out naturally
* Camera with Exmor R promises great results in low light conditions
* Xloud make loud loudspeaker performance despite normal
* Have the camera button
* HDMI Port

Shortage :
* Body is very easy to get dirty, especially the rear casing
* Lack of default applications as assistance like a notepad, file manager and task manager
* Support default video codec is very limited