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3.5
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TITLE :Sony Xperia L C2104 Unlocked Phone U.S. Warranty (Red) |
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Sony Xperia L C2104 Black Unlocked Smartphone
Brand:Sony |
349.99 | |
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Most helpful customer reviews
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful.
Great phone for price.
By Sam
A great phone for the price. Good all round phone for all basic needs, works in the US and Europe.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful.
Do NOT believe the negative "critic/editor" reviews-this phone is absolutely AMAZING!!!
By Lassie_D
My personal review of this includes side by side comparison to a Droid 4, and Galaxy SIII. I also hope to dispel some of the negative "professional/critic/editor" reviews (CNET, PCWorld, Engadget, to name a few) that almost made me pass this baby up!! I'm sorry for the length, but there's a lot of ground to cover. Feel free to skip over my "intro/validation" to the meat of this review a few paragraphs down. Now that I'm thinking about it, aren't both Samsung and Motorola, the 2 top phone manufacturers also connected to Google? (i.e. far more marketing power and bloatware) Go to [...] for more realistic, unbiased results and comparisons of phones (and no, I'm not affiliated with them, just happened upon the site as I did a search looking for the specs for this phone, although now, I'm planning to add my 2 cents--a 9.1 user rating vs a 6.5 "editor" rating). Also, for full specifications, the only site I found was Sony's own, [...]
After 6 years of owning Motorola phones, including the first "Droid" and, for the last 2 yrs being married to my clunky Droid 4 I hated, and Verizon (horrible, but that's another topic-poor coverage, poor service and only just now-as my contract is ending, FINALLY getting a bit of 4G-in spite of them insisting I HAD "great coverage" in my area....), sick of paying nearly $90/mo (that's over $1k year) for????? I started researching unlocked/no contract phones. Hello? The pay per month plans use the same networks (i.e. Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile) and can be as cheap as $25/mo-WITH unlimited text/data/web!!! Do the math-the phone pays for itself within just a couple of months.
This baby (in red) happened to pop up here on Amazon as a "featured phone". Remembering my first cell phone back in 2000 was a Sony Erickson, which I loved, and having a Sony Cybershot camera.....it was the price I wanted to invest in a phone, seemed to have the features I wanted, I bought it. Then, I started researching, since the description of the device here is FAR MORE than lacking in details. Almost every techie review site ripped this phone to shreds, particularly the "camera" quality, which was definitely at the top of MY criteria, as well as basically every other aspect of this phone. So I cancelled my order. Then I read the previous review saying how inaccurate the reviews were about it, read more of the actual USER reviews (all rating it very highly), went to the Sony Mobile website and read the manual and white paper about it, and purchased it again. THEN read more reviews, saw online "professional/editor" comparisons against other phones at other sites, tried to cancel again, but it had already shipped THANK GOD!!!!! (even though at the time I was already planning to return it).
1) NOT "cheap" looking as the photos (or "professional" reviews suggest). It's sleek and sexy. The red is a satin/brushed metallic looking red (plastic, yes, but I can't think of any phone on the market that uses real metal). Yes, it is light, but compared to my Droid 4, well..... with the beveled edges and curved back, even though at 2 1/2" w x 4 3/4" l, it is the same size as my Droid 4, it's half the thickness or less, with the curved back. Flimsy? No, not even slightly. I read some reviews talking about how, when they removed the case it felt like it would crumple-not true. In fact, in my opinion (after jacking up my Droid 4's cover removing it when it completely "froze") it just feels more flexible yet solid instead of having a few flimsy prongs.
2) The 2 1/4" x 3 3/4" display is gorgeous!! My Droid is supposed to have an HD display (I believe?) and my roommate has a Galaxy SIII. I would put this display VERY close to that of the Galaxy, if not equal. The Droid doesn't even come close. The colors are vibrant and rich, VERY easy to see at any angle and even in different light (NO tilting/struggling in light to see, as with my Droid). This was one of my "fears" since, according to the number of pixels/pixel density, it evidently *shouldn't* look so good, but it does. It comes with a little HD video sample to further display it's adequacy in this area.
3) The 8mp front camera is OUTSTANDING!! (also has a reverse/1mp camera, not mentioned in reviews) Upon taking it out of the box, I immediately took a few photos of my son doing his homework and a video. The negative reviews claimed about "shutter lag" and how the dedicated camera button didn't actually work. Yet, just as the Sony website claims, I snapped the photos immediately using the dedicated shutter button-while the phone was locked/in sleep mode. And, unlike in the blurred representation of its photo capability vs the Galaxy SIII (which further convinced me I'd made a mistake) the photos, in low light, turned out great, as did the video. Even at the lowest quality setting, some of the details like the legs of the chair my son was sitting on turned out a little blurry when zooming WAY in on the final photo, I could see his eyelashes thanks to the built in "face recognition" -not to mention our dog in the background was also crystal clear. This also has "smile" recognition (never used that on my Cyber-shot either) and I believe 4X zoom, which is controlled via the volume button (if you've owned a phone where the zoom is located on the screen-which, instead of picking up the zoom-refocused the shot on where you're touching the screen, etc. you know what a great feature this is).
Unlike what the professional reviews stated, the colors came out completely NATURAL and bright-even in low, normal house lighting. The photos looked EXACTLY like my subject (I looked at them while my son was still doing his homework, same lighting, everything). The reviews claim that it makes the colors look "fake", either over-saturated or grainy, or just flat in compensating for the low light. That's just not true. If anything, 80% of the photos I took with my Motorola were blurred (no compensation for movement, extremely slow shutter speed and lag) and extremely "grainy" even on the highest quality settings. The Galaxy SIII does take clear photos, no blur, but ITS photos actually DO look "over-saturated" and non-realistic (not saying they aren't good, just not an accurate representation).
****Back-illuminated sensor (BSI), Auto focus, Touch to focus, Face detection, Smile detection, Exposure compensation, White balance presets, Digital zoom, Geo tagging, High Dynamic Range mode (HDR), Panorama, Scenes, Effects, Self-timer
Honestly, if you want to take "professional" studio quality photos, you wouldn't use your phone to begin with, but I'm 110% convinced that if you want to take GREAT photos and capture real life moments in any lighting environment in an instant, THIS phone will do the trick for sure!!
4) HD Video. YES, this DOES record in HD. I'd also taken a video of my son when snapping the photos and the clarity and colors again, were exactly as they were, nothing like the supposed comparisons to other cameras--I mean phones ;-) PLUS, the sound was amazing! This phone has an extra feature of a second microphone on the back to cancel out external noise (how many phones have that?!) Again, the quick, unscripted results in just a normal setting were absolutely PERFECT!! No skipping, jaggy results like the professional tech reviews stated.
5) Sound quality: AMAZING!! For the first time (since owning my first cell phone, a Sony Erickson 10+ years ago) I can not only HEAR my phone ringing in my purse or within 5' of me at the highest volume setting/loudest (yet not obnoxious) ringtone, but even at half volume, it's got the volume when needed-I can hear even the most delicate ringtone on medium settings from 50' away-no problem!! There are 2 "extra" settings for sound. One is for clarity in which it uses the second microphone to detect surrounding sound, filter and adjust to for phone calls, the other is to further amplify the sound out of the speaker. I listen to streaming music all day long-if I turn on both of those settings, yes, like the professional reviews state, from the phone's speaker it does sound a little "tinny", but with them off, and just via the phone's speaker, and at just half-volume, or less, it sounds perfect, once I plug in my mini $5 desk speakers, the sound is full and complete-not just the vocals or a certain "range" (I'm not any kind of professional, slightly hard of hearing, so I'm just describing how it sounds to me). For the last 2 years, I've done the same with my Droid 4 and the sound was always HORRIBLE, maybe just enough to figure out what song it was, extremely flat, even using the "enhanced sound" functions. They also included a "preview" of their pay for unlimited music service that immediately demonstrates the phone's capabilities in this area as well-tied into the built in "Walkman" app. (oh yeah, it has a function that allows you use the microphone to capture a song you're hearing and tell you the song/artist and provide access to purchase-totally ruins the "name the song/artist" game).
With this phone, I can leave the volume turned WAY down, no extra "futzing" and it is crystal clear (like the other review stated, this IS a Walkman-aka-built for great quality sound). Phone calls sound like I'm standing face to face with the other person-no more, "Huh? What did you say?" or need to be in a quiet environment to clearly hear what the other person is saying.
6) Battery life:HA! I can charge this up the night before, go to work and listen to streaming music all day (switching channels often) make some calls, do a little surfing on my breaktime and after 9 hours, it only drains to about 70%. With my Droid, it's like the second it's not charging, it's draining to all of the bloatware Google/system apps you can't kill, updating them constantly, updating your info (to send you targeted Google Adsense results or suggestions, duh?) My Droid 4 has 1gb ram, but at any given time, the bloatware is using 60% or more of it, so it's kind of useless. Not only is this phone "lacking" in bloatware, but it has a built in battery saver mode that when the screen is off or "locked" it shuts down any unnecessary functions-no, you'll never miss a call or text or update.
7) This is FAST!! By eliminating all the bloatware built into so many mainstream phones, the 1GB ram is mainly dedicated to performance-there's no lag, stuttering or hesitation. I have a PC and a tablet to do hardcore surfing on, but I DO like to be able to download and play games beyond "Bejeweled" or "Mahjong" or check my FB status when perhaps, I'm waiting somewhere, and although I haven't tried it yet, this comes with Playstation Mobile. (hello? Playstation?) This is BUILT for playing games and performs superbly! From the bit of surfing I have done, considering it's only 3G, it performs equally to my Droid 4, although it seems to load pages more quickly, I still have to wait for some of the images to load.
8) This DOES have "VOICE" (voice recognition) capabilities built in, in that like with most Android phones now, you can simply search/say/dial or do what you speak, as in, "Call Home" and it dials it for you, or, "where's a gas station?" or "Recipe for chicken a la king" or converting what you say into text as in, to dictate a letter or message to someone.
9) This is bluetooth capable and also has "throw" function and DNLA. I don't use any of these, but apparently I should be able to pair this with any compatible tv/pc and throw the contents from my phone to said device (as in playing a game, watching a video, surfing, etc.) with a swipe. Or, in the case of DNLA, simply tap with a compatible phone to exchange information/transfer photos, etc (although, I don't really see the value in that-except for maybe when you've taken a cool photo and don't want to have to email it to the other person?)
10) Many reviews talked about the dropping wifi and weak signal. Not true. This phone keeps a very solid, strong connection (and even picks up any open connections VERY easily), keeps a solid 3g connection without dead zones whereas with my Droid 4/Verizon, I hardly had a signal in my house (in spite of everyone around me, including my roommate using another carrier having 4g, no problems within our entire side of the state) most people with Motorola phones/Verizon said they dropped them both for the same reason (and also were told, "Gee, you should have excellent coverage!").
11) Last little tidbit: One of the things that I disliked about Samsung was that they just "skipped" LED notification lights as if it was just sprinkles on top of frosting, not necessary--- unless you want a gargantuan phone to get that "feature" (most of us assume is present but isn't) or keep checking to see if you missed a call/text/email when you're in an environment where "ringing" isn't permitted, or you don't want to download a third party app that floats an icon over your screen saying "you just got a text from....". Well, it takes some adjustment to go from looking for the little notification light, but the entire bottom bar of this IS a notification LED, which changes colors depending upon the "theme" you choose for your phone-it works like Windows. If you chose a purple theme, your wallpaper, checkboxes, surrounding menus and the notification light will be purple, but you can customize and change this out as suited.
I just don't know what else I can say about this phone. I was always super pumped up to buy my Motorola Droid phones as according to the commercials and reviews, they were THE phones to get, the newest, the best, the most "powerful", but then I was almost immediately disappointed and dreaded owning them anxiously awaiting the end of my contract. It's been the complete opposite with this phone. I'd initially only wanted a semi-cheap smartphone that could do what I wanted and it's FAR surpassed my expectations, most reviews (keep in mind, most "user" reviews like mine rate this EXTREMELY highly) and I'm just super happy that I got the chance to actually USE this phone for myself to see how wrong (and how easily we've all become dependent upon what the internet, particularly Google feeds us as "facts").
This phone, through and through, is the best you can get without investing more than $500.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful.
AMAZING PHONE, ♥
By Williams Otero
I've heard and saw anaylisis over the Sony Xperia L and they definitely are under the actual quality of the phone. It is not slow, have average characteristics or any of that... the camera is AMAZING, the sound is uncomparable (come on, it's WALKMAN!), the screen is bright and the colors stand out, and the features are everything that I expected.
STRONGLY RECOMMENDED if you don't want to spend much money on a smartphone and want to have an excelent product.
THANK YOU AMAZON AND SONY!