Sony XPERIA Ion Specifications, Tests and Review

The Sony XPERIA Ion has a height of 133 mm, a width of 68 mm and a thickness of 11 mm. The weight of the phone is 144 g.

The screen size reaches 4.6" inches. Phones with smaller displays are easier to use with one hand. The experience is less pleasant compared to phones with large displays. However, if you're buying a phone for basic use and don't want, for example, a good gaming experience or a large screen for watching movies, this size should be good enough for you. LCD displays are currently taking a back seat. This is mainly due to higher power consumption. In addition, they have the disadvantage of lower colour contrast, which can be reflected e.g. in the resulting photos. On the other hand, phones with LCD displays are in general cheaper than those with OLED technology.

Display Resolution of Sony XPERIA Ion is 1280 x 720 pixels. A higher display resolution is a prerequisite for a sharper image. The standard for mid-range phones today is a Full HD resolution of 1920 × 1080 px. Cheaper phones, which usually have a smaller diagonal, have an HD resolution of 1280 × 720 px. Smaller resolutions can only be found in older models. Best phones, on the other hand, have a 4K resolution of 3840 x 2160 px.

Sony XPERIA Ion is equipped with Qualcomm. The number of processor cores is 2. It is a number of cores that plays an important role in evaluating the performance of phone as it is responsible for computing operations. Smartphones already commonly have a core count of around 4 to 8. Multi-core processors can perform better and reduce the processing time of a request to a minimum, which is reflected in the responsiveness of the phone, e.g. in the speed of opening applications. The processor frequency indicates how many instructions phone can process in 1 second. The higher the frequency, the better the performance. Standard processor frequency range today is between 1.8 GHz and 2.8 GHz. Sony XPERIA Ion reaches the frequency of 1.5 GHz.

The phone´s internal memory capacity is 13.2 GB. The size of the internal storage determines e.g., how many photos, songs, movies, or applications you can store on your phone. This memory capacity is ideal for those who have a few basic apps and a few dozen photos on their phone. If you don't expect to use your phone to play games or need to store high-resolution photos, this size should be sufficient. There is almost no probability you're likely to see this low capacity on new smartphones. The standard memory today is around 64 and 128 GB. The best phones have internal memory of 256 GB or more. Luckily, most smartphone manufacturers nowadays offer models with different memory sizes to suit every user.

An additional option to increase the storage capacity of this model is to insert a memory card.

RAM memory of the Sony XPERIA Ion is 1 GB. Most powerful phones currently have an operating memory of 12 GB or more, which is especially useful for demanding users such as gaming enthusiasts. Normally, phones nowadays have 6 to 8 GB of RAM, which means that the phone can easily handle normal operation and more demanding applications. Operating memory of less than 4 GB is found in lower-end phones or older models, and they are suitable for low-end users who don't use demanding applications and have the phone more for basic use.

The rear camera of the Sony XPERIA Ion has only one lens. Single lens is more typical for older phones or lower-end phones with lower quality cameras. The rear cameras of modern phones nowadays are usually equipped with two, three and sometimes even five rear camera lenses. The resolution of the main lens is 12.1 Megapixel. Higher resolution does not necessarily mean super high quality photos. Furthermore, it depends on the pixel size but also on other important factors.

Digital zoom in this case offers zooming up to 16x. Of course, the higher the lens value, the more distant object can be zoomed in. Nonetheless, the disadvantage of digital zoom is that the quality and sharpness of photo deteriorates when using it. Some users will also appreciate facial recognition feature, which allows camera to recognise the face of person in frame and automatically focus on it.

Standby time is 400 hours and it expresses the maximum time your phone can last on a single charge when you are not actively using it. Talk time, or we can say battery life when making calls, then indicates amount of time your phone will last from a full charge if you are constantly on a call. Sony XPERIA Ion is provided with a talk time about 600 minutes.

Sony XPERIA Ion supports 3G. 5G connectivity, which is slowly replacing standard 4G connectivity, is still more the preserve of the latest phones. The operating system in this case is Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich).

Fans of modern technology will appreciate NFC function, which allows, among other things, contactless mobile phone payments, but also finds other uses in connectivity, such as unlocking the door or loading the menu in restaurant using the NFC tag. Basic connectivity standards also include Bluetooth, making it easy to communicate wirelessly with other devices such as headphones, tablets, speakers and smartwatches.