Sony Xperia SP launched in India for Rs 27,490

After giving us a taste of the high-end Xperia Z and ZL, Sony has now launched the mid-range Xperia SP in India. The Xperia SP is an evolution of the Xperia S and brings a radical design—it has a transparent strip at the bottom—in a sturdy shell. The Xperia SP was announced in March and will be available from mid-April onwards for Rs 27,490.

A 4G-ready handset, the SP brings a 4.6-inch 720p display in a sleek body that's reminiscent of the Xperia ZL. Sony has retained the LED notification strip that we first saw in the Xperia U. The unique strip, which sits below the display, will match the approximate colours of the album art of the song that’s playing on the phone and will also pulse with the music. Additionally, users can customise the colour of the LED notification light to correlate to their contacts.

The Xperia SP has a sleek aluminium-based body

Available in black, red and white, the SP takes its design cues from Sony's flagship Xperia Z, which is given away by the very accessible aluminium power button. It is powered by a 1.7GHz Snapdragon S4 dual-core processor, while the Adreno 320 GPU is in charge of graphics. There's 8GB of internal storage space, but you can use the microSD card slot to expand that. The Xperia SP will run Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean out of the box along with Sony’s customisations and India-specific apps such as Sony LIV and Sony Music.

Another interesting perk is the capability to hook up with Sony's DualShock 3 controller to let you play games using real controls instead of on-screen controls. To hook up a DualShock 3 controller to an Xperia SP, you simply have to pair both the devices via Bluetooth, as the controller uses simple Bluetooth protocols. After you've paired the two, you can connect the controller to the SP by pressing the PlayStation button on the controller.

Around the back is an 8-megapixel camera module based on Sony’s Exmor RS sensor that's capable of shooting 1080p video, and there's a VGA front-facing shooter to take care of video chats. To improve the build quality of the Sony Xperia SP, the company has endowed it with an aluminum wireframe wrapped by a plastic casing. Connectivity-wise, the SP not only offers the usual Bluetooth, GPS/GLONASS, Wi-Fi and MHL-powered microUSB combination, but also brings in NFC.

Sony has added a 2370 mAh battery and has also thrown in Stamina mode, which should ensure good battery life. The official stand-by time is quoted as 709 hours (LTE), while the talk time is rated at 18 hours and 53 minutes.