Now let’s talk about the company’s latest flagship handset Sony Xperia X Dual. Priced at Rs 48,990, Xperia X Dual competes with the big players in the market. Even though the specifications of this phone are weaker than many affordable handsets, Sony has tried to overcome this shortcoming by giving a lot of new things in camera technology. Does Xperia X Dual justify its price? Let’s find out through its review.
Look and design
We were expecting a big change in the design since the name change, but that is not the case. The new phone looks very similar to the Sony Xperia Z5. With the Xperia X Dual, the company has repeated the old formula. As a result, it looks great.
The all-metal body works in its favour. It gives the phone a premium look and it also looks sturdy. The Xperia X Dual smartphone has a 5-inch screen. The design is such that there is no problem in holding and gripping the Xperia X Dual in hands.
There is scratch protection on the phone’s screen. Two speakers are provided for stereo sound. The front camera, Sony logo and proximity sensor are on the top.
The phone has been given a metallic finish. The Xperia logo, camera and flash are present on the rear panel. There is a 3.5 mm socket on the top. The power button is on the right side. Camera buttons are also given on this side. The micro-USB port is at the bottom. The hybrid dual-SIM tray is present on the left side. You will not need an ejector pin to open the SIM tray. Your fingernail will be enough for this. It is worth noting that the Xperia X Dual is not water resistant, which the company has been presenting as a premium feature.
The Sony Xperia X Dual has a fingerprint sensor integrated into the power button, just like the Sony Xperia Z5. The sensor does not work in standby mode. You need to put the phone into active mode first. To do this, you need to press the power button and then place your finger on the button for a few seconds. This works well sometimes and unlocks the phone quickly, but not always.
From our experience, this isn’t the best place for a fingerprint sensor. We didn’t encounter any issues using it many times.
The device sports a 5-inch full-HD IPS LCD screen with a pixel density of 441 ppi. The screen is slightly smaller than the 5.2-inch display of the Xperia Z5, but you won’t be able to tell the difference with the naked eye. It is brighter than handsets with AMOLED screens but is slightly weaker in contrast, black levels and colour range.
Overall, the Xperia X Dual has a good screen. Sony has also made some useful changes to enhance the picture quality.
Specifications and software
Most phones in this price segment are equipped with Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 chipset, but Sony Xperia X Dual uses Qualcomm Snapdragon 650 chipset. It comes with 3 GB RAM and 64 GB inbuilt storage. The interesting thing is that Snapdragon 650 processor has also been used in Xiaomi Redmi Note 3, which costs one fourth of this Sony phone.
This phone comes with dual SIM 4G connectivity, has a hybrid SIM slot, support for microSD card up to 256 GB, Wi-Fi A/B/G/N/AC, Bluetooth 4.2 and NFC features. The phone has a 2620 mAh battery and it supports Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 2.0 technology. However, we were given a regular 7.5 watt charger for review. Sony’s popular Stamina and Ultra Stamina modes are also provided in this phone which will work to increase the battery life of your phone.
The Xperia X Dual runs Android 6.0.1 with Sony’s Xperia UI on top. The look of the interface remains unchanged. The notification shade and quick toggle menu are similar to the stock Android launcher. However, there are a lot of pre-installed apps on the phone and some of them cannot be removed.
This includes Amazon Kindle, AVG Protection, Clean Master, Hungama Play, Sony Liv and some selected games. It is possible to disable them but not to remove them permanently. Sony Liv keeps on bothering by sending notifications repeatedly. It can be blocked only through system settings. We feel that Sony is trying to make its partner apps popular. The app drawer is a bit different. Some additional features have been integrated in it.
Camera
Sony Xperia X Dual has a 23-megapixel primary camera and a 13-megapixel front camera. Both use Sony’s own Exmor RS sensor. The rear camera has LED flash. You will be able to record videos in full-HD resolution with both cameras. The rear camera can record regular videos at 60 frames per second and slow motion videos at 120 frames per second. 4K video recording is not a part of this handset, which seems to be a surprising decision.
The camera app is well laid out. It comes with quick access to the flash, camera switcher, settings and gallery. The standard shooting mode is Superior Auto, but you’ll be able to choose manual or video mode just as easily. The fourth option in the menu gives you access to AR effects, Sweep Panorama, Timeshift and other features. You can also download additional camera apps via Sony’s What’s New app and Google Play. The settings menu lets you control a lot.
There is also a digital image stabilization tool called Steady Shot. It tries to eliminate the problems caused by shaking during video recording. But it does not emerge as an alternative to optical image stabilization.
The Sony Xperia X Dual takes photos with great colour reproduction and detail, especially in good light. The image resolution makes it possible to capture as much detail as possible. You generally won’t have much problem with the photos taken.
The phone does a great job of taking photos in low light. Grain is a problem, but the phone manages to take photos with commendable levels of detail and colour even in low light. Autofocus is fast and usually manages to focus on the right part of the shot. The phone’s camera only fails in macro photography and closeup shots.
The video quality is excellent. The phone uses its digital image stabilization feature to ensure that the pictures are not too shaky. The front camera is quite good. Selfie lovers will love it.
Performance
Sony has taken a gamble by using the Qualcomm Snapdragon 650 chipset, a mid-range processor, in the Xperia X Dual. While it is a capable phone in its own right, it is nowhere near the performance of a phone in the Rs 50,000 range. If we ignore its price for a moment, this phone performs at par with flagship phones launched last year. This shows how great chipsets have come in the mid-range this year. Performance was generally satisfactory, but the Sony Xperia X Dual did disappoint us at times.
The phone got very hot while charging, gaming and shooting videos. This is a matter of concern, especially when the phone stops recording videos due to overheating. This happened to us several times.
The phone scored respectable marks in benchmark tests. The phone is good in terms of performance, but there are many better performers available at an even lower price.
We are satisfied with the cellular, Wi-Fi network and call quality. Xperia X Dual comes with a front dual speaker setup. So the sound is good while watching videos and listening to songs.
The sound quality from the headphones is good. Battery life is satisfactory, but lags behind other phones in this price range. The battery life of the phone lasted for 10 hours and 29 minutes in our video loop test. In normal use, it should last for a day. Overall, the Xperia X Dual is not as good a performer as other phones of its price range. Hence, it is not possible for us to justify the price of Rs 48,990.
Our verdict
Sony’s new flagship Xperia X Dual gave us mixed feelings. It’s a beautiful looking device with good build quality and a fantastic screen. It has a feature-packed camera that takes good pictures in most conditions. Sadly, there are a few major drawbacks. The heating issue is not to be ignored. The fingerprint sensor also fails at times. The software is also a bit frustrating. The UI isn’t very smooth.
The biggest issue for us is the price. For a big brand like Sony, a slightly higher price is reasonable, but this time the company has made a wrong decision. Even Rs 15,000 is too much for the Xperia X Dual. Even though Sony feels that better camera technology and tricks are its most important feature, the Xperia X Dual is not an all-rounder phone.
If you are looking for a powerful flagship phone with a lot of features, the OnePlus 3 is always a good choice and it costs a lot less. If you are looking for a top-of-the-range phone, the Samsung Galaxy S7 and the LG G5 (Review) are far better options. The Xperia X Dual isn’t a bad phone. Only die-hard Sony fans will want it, at least as long as the price remains this way.
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