Sony Xperia L1

Sony Xperia L1 is a mid-range smartphone that Sony just released to please the majority. It’s a big-screen replacement for the Xperia E, one that borrows more than a bit of design inspiration from Sony’s more expensive models. The smartphone has a 3.5mm headphone port on the top, microSD card slot built in next to the SIM card tray, and USB-C charging on the bottom. There is only a single speaker, but if a user turns on the xLOUD setting, it becomes really loud. The chassis is made of polycarbonate shell which is much grippier than glass or polished metal. It won’t turn into a mess of smudges and fingerprints as soon as user pick it up. The Sony Xperia L1 features a 5.5-inch screen. It makes do with a 720p panel, which equates to a lowly 267ppi display density. That’s enough to see individual pixels without breaking out the magnifying glass, but only if a user gets their nose right up to the screen. Brightness is very impressive for a budget phone, boosting up to very high levels in Auto mode when you step outdoors. A user shouldn’t struggle to see what’s on screen, even on very sunny days. Colour accuracy is pretty decent too. The screen delivers realistic images with the vibrancy expected, without becoming overblown.

Sony puts a lot of stock in its phone cameras, so it is expected that the Xperia L1’s 13MP snapper to be pretty decent. Feed it enough light and be rewarded with colorful, yet realistic photos with a respectable amount of detail. Zoom in and quickly spot the noise and lack of resolution, but most of the shots should still be fine for sharing online. The f/2.2 lens isn’t especially wide. With no optical image stabilization, low light shooting can be a bit of a challenge. User will need a steady hand and patience to get great results using the manual mode. Sony always had a light touch when it comes to customizing Android, and the Xperia L1 is no different. It’s running Nougat out of the box, with Sony’s familiar icons replacing Google’s own and the Swiftkey keyboard installed by default. A user can always add a theme if they want a different look. A user gets a good old fashioned app drawer, plus a handy recent apps list when the user swipes down on the home screen. The app drawer is pretty full, as Sony does like to add its own versions of Google’s apps. If there’s one part of the Xperia L1 that really gives the game away, it’s the MediaTek MT6737T CPU. It might be low-powered, but that also means the CPU isn’t a massive power drain. Despite the comparatively tiny 2620mAh battery, the Xperia L1 can manage a respectable eight hours of web browsing, social media scrolling, and photo snapping. 

Hands-on article by Jagadisa Rajarathnam