Solid build quality, decent battery life
Sluggish processor, not waterproof
At the bottom of Sony's Xperia range is the E1, which aims to offer sophisticated smartphone capability for a fraction of the price of the high-enders.
Chassis and screen
It's a solidly built device in two-tone textured plastic, with the distinctive Sony start button on the side. You get the feeling it will withstand a few knocks, but unlike most Xperias, there's not cover for the microUSB port to keep it water and dustproof. There is however a dedicated Walkman button on top that gets you straight into the E1's music player including Sony's Music Unlimited streaming service. Sound quality through the speaker is surprisingly good, and it goes fairly loud.
The 4-inch screen offers a less-than-HD resolution of 800x480 pixels (233ppi) but still looks more than sharp enough for reading small text on web pages. The screen isn't particularly sensitive however, and we all too often found ourselves pecking at it several times before getting the reaction that we wanted.
Processor and performance
The dual-core 1.2 GHz processor is backed by 512MB RAM. That's not a lot these days, and sure enough, it does feel a little 'relaxed' when switching between apps. Our AnTuTu benchmark test gave it 12,863, a little behind other dual-core models like the ZTE Grand S Flex and the HTC Desire 601. There's noticeable lag, but it tends to be fairly smooth rather than jerky and broken. Still, if you like your operation nippy, this ain't the handset for you.
Wi-Fi's on board of course, and you can use it as a Wi-Fi hotspot to share your link with other devices like your tablet for instance. Battery life proved to be pretty good though (the saving grace of many a budget phone) and it comfortably delivered a couple of days' worth of fairly busy use.
Photography
The 3-megapixel camera is a bit of a surprise considering Sony's usually superlative form when it comes to camera overkill. This is very much a basic model with no autofocus or flash and nothing like the full range of features you get on Sony's higher-end phonecams.
Still, you get HDR and panorama, as well as auto scene recognition (which is not particularly reliable), touch capture and a 4x digital zoom. Picture quality isn't bad, with realistic colours and a fair level of detail considering the low spec -- it will easily pass muster for quick snaps. There's also a back-to-basics VGA camera on the front for video calls.
There's only 4GB of memory on board, although you can bump that up by a further 32GB via microSD card.
Conclusion
The Xperia E1 is a decently built smartphone with a reasonable range of features for the price. The screen is good to look at, though it lets itself down a bit in the usability stakes, and it's a shame about the sluggish processor and we only really miss the quality camera and waterproofing because it's what the rest of the Xperia series are known for. It's not bad by any means, but at £199 there are plenty of cheaper Android smartphones, including Motorola's Moto G, that can offer much the same for less.
Software: Android 4.3 Jelly Bean
Processor: Dual-core 1.2 GHz Qualcomm MSM8210
Memory slot: Yes
Display: 4 inches, 800x480 pixels
Connectivity: Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0
Ports: microUSB, 3.5mm headphone jack
Camera: 3 megapixel with autofocus, Exmor RS sensor, LED flash; 2.2 megapixel front-facing camera
Video playback: 3GPP, MP4, M4V, MKV, AVI, XVID, WEBM
Audio playback: MP3, 3GPP, MP4, ADTS, AMR, SMF, XMF, OTA, RTTTL, RTX, iMelody, WAV, OGG, FLAC
Radio: Yes
Battery: 1700mAh
Size: 118x62x12mm
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
