Overview

Affordable Xperia Series Phone

Overview of Sony Xperia Miro

Sony Xperia Miro comes as a blessing in disguise for the young, socially active individual, who craves for a more idealistic smartphone combination- a phone which is remarkably low on budget and expectedly high on performance. Well, to set things straight- Sony Xperia Miro, which is an all-new entrant in the ever-expanding Xperia series looks promising to be just that ultimate mid-range smartphone. The phone empowers a 3.5-inch screen, 5-megapixel camera, and runs the superior version of Android- Android 4.0 ICS. It encircles almost everything you would expect from a mid-range smartphone. So, do we have a clear winner here in our hands with Xperia Miro, or do we fall just short of having one? Let’s pull the curtains up, and explore the Xperia Miro.

Sony Xperia Miro Design and Build Quality

Sony Xperia Miro doesn’t really grab your attention at the first sight. Sony has clearly not emphasized in making the phone look more out-of-the-box. When you grab it in your hands, it does grab your attention, but at all the wrong places. Unfortunately, the shiny bottom panel with silver logo and capacitive touch-screen buttons manage to steal the glare away from the Xperia’s resplendent black panel. Nevertheless, the build is solid and gives the device an expensive look. The rubbery back-cover provides the much needed grip while holding the phone, and the nicely curved edges make it an easy-fit into pockets. The phone also comes in decent colour combinations like- snowy-white and authentic black. Though the overall look-and-the-feel of the phone is good, we expected much better than a run-of-the-mill design from Sony.

Display

Sony Xperia Miro comes with a 3.5 inch LED-backlit LCD, capacitive touchscreen, which supports a resolution of only 320x480 pixels. The combination of a lesser sized screen and an inferior resolution, apparently, does not work out too well. The text does not appear crisp and the images lack detail, which does not provide a very laid-out web browsing experience. With Xperia Mini’s lack-lustre display, you would find yourself zooming through webpages and images most of the time. However, the colour contrast ratio and the viewing angles of the phone are pretty decent. Although the screen is not that bright, it’s not impossible to use Xperia Miro on a sunny day. However, with no light-sensor, you are deprived of the Auto-brightness luxury. All in all, though the display lacks the charm, it does not provide a very subdued performance. It’s not disappointing; it’s just not that charming.

User Interface - Android ICS 4.0

Sony Xperia Miro runs the most fluent version of Android- Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich). It is topped by a refreshingly new- Timescape UI, which is designed with special focus on social interaction. The tweets and posts of your friends on Facebook or Twitter get aggregated at one place, allowing you to always stay updated with the social on-goings. The only disappointment however is the number of home screens- which has been restricted to five by Sony. With lots of apps and widgets, five might seem like a game-spoiler. Also, with the processor not nimble enough, you are bound to experience certain lags while playing HD videos, multi-tasking (running more than 4-5 apps) or running high-performance apps.

Sony Xperia Miro Performance

When it comes to performance, well, the truth is that, on paper, Sony Xperia Miro feels vastly under-powered. The phone empowers an 800 MHz processor, with Adreno 200 Enhanced graphics and 512 MB RAM. These specs might seem out-of-place, considering the fact that 1 GHz benchmark has become the least possible standard for smartphone processors and 512 MB RAM is just not good enough for holding lots of apps. However, in reality, there are no noticeable lags while using the phone. You can easily run 4-5 apps at a time, play games like Temple Run, Dead Trigger and even surf web smoothly without much ado.

Music Player and FM Radio

Sony Xperia Miro bundles, undoubtedly, one of the most impressive music player app. It comes with awesome lock-screen controls and a handy home-screen widget, which allow you to control the music you’re playing from the front panel itself. There have also been audio enhancements with the inclusion of equalizer, surround effects, and Clear Bass to augment the quality of the sound even further. The XLoud feature boosts the output of the external speaker, without disrupting the quality of the music. We also loved the SenseMe feature, which fetches songs based on your mood and style of music.

Sony Xperia Miro Camera and Image Quality

Sony Xperia Miro flaunts a 5-megapixel auto-focus camera, which takes fairly decent shots. Outdoor shots are generally more detailed and vividly colourful than indoor shots. Indoor shots lack more detail and composure, even with the flash on. However, the photos are still acceptable. The phone’s front VGA camera allows you to make video-calls through Skype or Cellular networks. To sum it up, Sony Xperia Miro does not empower a superior camera. However, considering the fact that Miro’s a budget smartphone, it would be too harsh to expect more from Sony. After all, the corners had to be cut somewhere.

Video Camera and Video quality

While the photo-quality is still acceptable, the video quality is not. The maximum resolution up to which you can shoot videos is 640 by 480 pixels. Though we didn’t expect 1080p recording, we did expect at least 720p recording support. However, as size of the screen compensates for the inferior video-quality. Though the recorded videos do not seem aesthetically pleasing, they are at least watchable. The luxury is accredited to Sony Mobile BRAVIA Engine, which scales your videos to great resolution and respectable pixel density.

Sony Xperia Miro Apps and Maps

Sony Xperia Miro comes bundled with lots of interesting apps. There’s something called a Power Saver app, which allows you to save indispensable amount of power by cutting off all the unwanted services/resources. You can also set your customized triggers with the Smart Connect App. For instance, you can set a customized trigger which would autonomously turn on the music, when you plug-in your headphones. There’s also a Recommender app, which comes in handy as it suggests cool apps and games, which can be downloaded from the Play Store. Please note that these aforementioned apps do not come bundled up with the stock Android ICS 4.0; they are provided by Sony as premium features. Sony Xperia Miro’s navigation system is backed up by Google Maps. There’s no doubt that Google Maps offers the most detailed, extensive and elaborative view of the places around you. With Google Maps, it’s easy to search for local businesses, landmarks and places to eat, drink or have fun.

Connectivity and Storage

All standard connectivity features like Wi-Fi, 3G, GPS, and Bluetooth are supported by Sony Xperia Miro. You can transfer files conveniently using the inbuilt micro-USB port. The phone comes with only 4 GB internal memory, of which only 2.2 GB can be used by the user. However, the good thing is that you can always expand your storage via the expandable memory card slot. We strongly recommend getting a 4 GB/ 8 GB micro-SD card, when you buy this phone, as 2.2 GB won’t be sufficient to install more than a handful of apps.

Sony Xperia Miro Battery life

Well, surprise, surprise. Sony Xperia Miro comes with an awesome battery back-up, something which we have longed to see from a budget smartphone. Sony promises that its 1,500 mAh will last more than 24 hours on single charge. The accomplishment can be accredited to inclusion of a less powerful processor, which soaks up less battery power and in turn, provides sustainable performance and an improved battery up-time.

Value for Money

Well, priced at just around 12K (approx., may vary), Sony Xperia Miro, despite its mediocre build quality and lack-lustre display, is a catch by any given standards. The phone is priced extremely well, and is indefinitely- an absolute value for money.

Verdict

Having looked at all the pros and cons, we can say that Sony Xperia Miro has succeeded in availing our stamp of approval. The phone attracts us with its smoother interface, decent camera, lovely surround sound, and great battery backup. These are some of the things, which we look forward to in every budget smartphone. Though there are some compromises that have been made in the build, display and the video recording department, but that doesn’t tilt the balance any further. Sony Xperia Miro is surely one of the better mid-range smartphone this year from Sony. However, just in case you’re looking for some other viable options in this budget, you should have a look at Sony Xperia U, HTC One V, or the much alike kin- Sony Xperia Tipo.