Sony Xperia E1 Review

Back in 2012 when the original Sony Xperia E was launched, it was targeted mainly towards youth and those who were going for smartphones for the first time. Xperia E1 offered affordability, a smartphone of a good size and processing power, and decent graphics. Sony has decided to take up the spectrum for another go, and has released the E1, mainly targeted towards the school and college age groups, though Sony has definitely improved on the basic Sony Xperia E on many levels.

The design has been improved via a revamp being done by Sony for the particular price range, bringing in a sporty and rugged look, as well as the feel. The Xperia E1 again gets Sony’s very famous Walkman as another major attraction on the device, and with the enhancements in the audio, we are sure that this will be a hit. The Walkman can be launched directly from the lockscreen too, using a dedicated button present at the top, and has the capabilities of streaming music and share it both locally and online. Sony has also bundled up the xLOUD, with ClearAudio+ and the ClearBass features present on some of the other Sony smartphones as well to enhance the audio.

Sony has improved on E series with the latest release coming out with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 dual core chipset, easily capable of handling the Android 4.3, instead of the single core chipset from the predecessor. The screen size increase is also supported with an improved display resolution and a larger battery has been put on board. However, the only downside is that the camera does not receive any upgrades, still stuck at 3.15MP with fixed focus and video recording that only does SVGA.

With the upgrades, it is blatantly open that Sony is targeting to pitch the smartphone as a music-centered one, and we think Sony may just be able to pull it off, same as it was able to all those years ago with its original Walkman line of phones. The smartphone should get a decent welcome and there should not be any hiccups.

While unboxing the Sony Xperia E1, you will get everything inside the retail box that you need to get started with this phone.

• Sony Xperia E1 handset
• An A/C adapter (will use the USB cable for charging)
• MicroUSB cable connector for A/C adapter for charging
• Standard earphones

A TFT LCD, going on the WVGA for a 480 x 800, with 233ppi is on display with the Sony Xperia E1. For many, this would not be enough, but for the price tag, this display is more than sufficient, with the Snapdragon 200 chipset powering it. Sony Xperia E1 has good colors and improved brightness, though the contrast is on the lower side – also, we can understand that the display is not as sharp as a 720p display since the price tag does not go to that range. The viewing angles too are pretty average with a visible shift in color when viewed from an angle.

Sony Xperia E1 is also not too much legible in sunlight, however the brightness increase covers up this area to some extent.

Sony follows a design direction set out for the complete lineup at one point or the other. The Sony Xperia E1 has a complete plastic body, but has general aesthetics borrowed from the Sony Xperia Z1 Compact, even though the Z1 Compact is a classy glass and aluminum piece, and the E1 being a course plastic. The smartphone is pretty sturdy though, even if it doesn’t offer water proofing.

Sony Xperia E1 comes in two-shade options, which makes it look even more attractive. Of course, it is on the bulkier side when compared to the Sony Xperia Z1 Compact, still the feel when holding it is pretty pleasant, enhanced by the edges being rounded. The smartphone is also slightly on the heavier side when compared to its predecessor, not that many would notice the difference. The fitting is well done, with no squeaks, and a snug back cover.

On the top front, the status LED is on the left side, earpiece in the middle and the sensors on the right side. There is no front facer on this smartphone. Just below the screen is the breathing light, and near the bottom right is the microphone. On the right side of the smartphone reside the power / lock key alongside the volume rocker, while the MicroUSB port resides on the left side. The top of the Xperia E1 contains the Walkman button, which is the size of the volume rocker, and has the Walkman icon engraved on it, and next to it lies the 3.5mm audio jack. The bottom is bare, with only a slit to pry open the back cover.

At the back is the 3.15MP snapper, fixed focus, just below a secondary microphone. Near the bottom side is the speaker grille, massive in size, but stylishly designed. Under the back cover lies the 1,750mAh battery, alongside which is the microSD card slot. Under the battery is the miniSIM slot.

The Sony Xperia E1 has Android 4.3 Jelly Bean pre-installed, with the Xperia launcher as an added layer. Although we are now seeing a lot of 4.4 KitKat devices in the market, Sony has not shared whether it plans to upgrade to this version of Android or not, and when. Homescreen panes can be added and reduced with a max of 7. The sequencing of these home screens cannot be changed.

Adding and deleting stuff from the desktop is consistent, though now the pinch to zoom feature can be used for this as well. Sony has added custom widgets for some social services, as well as some toggles to manage connectivity and the Walkman player, among others. Widgets can be resized and re-arranged as well. Wallpapers, both static and live are present, and live wallpapers can be previewed as well. Themes impact the lockscreen and homescreen along with the colors of icons. Docked shortcuts are also present, near the bottom of the screen, on the homescreen – these can be configured.

Also, the lockscreen now contains more than one pane, and each contains a separate widget, while the rightmost pane takes the users to camera. App controls get displayed on lockscreen for certain apps like the Walkman music player. Lock and unlock can again be done via pattern, PIN or password. Notifications area contains a shortcut to settings for quicker access, and toggles are customizable. The Sony Xperia E1 contains the generic Android task manager, and the “small apps” are not part of the package.

Another very useful feature brought in by Sony is the Backup and Reset, which helps out when an app is uninstalled and reinstalled again, call logs, messages, and multimedia content too. The restoring process is easy and very helpful.

Google Now: Google Now is available with its set of features, like informing about traffic situation on regular routes, relevant sports and weather information, among other things. It also has voice integration which can assist with multiple tasks like call launch, message taking, directions, or opening up a website being some of the many features. The Google Now can be opened via swiping the screen upward after a press and hold of the Home button.

Phhonebook: The phonebook, and dialer are standard Android issue, with their regular features in place to cater to all kinds of conditions that they may have to field. The proximity and accelerometer disable the screen once the phone is picked up to receive a call, and this helps avoid any untoward taps captured unknowingly on the display.

Speakers: As far as the audio is concerned, the tests that we ran came up showing the Sony Xperia E1 as a pretty loud smartphone, which makes us confident that you will not be having too many missed calls or notifications, even in very noisy environments. The xLOUD makes the sound substantially louder, and the ClearPhase although reducing some of the loudness level, enhances the clarity considerably.

Browser: Google Chrome is the default browser for Sony Xperia E1, refined to a decent level by Google to have a minimalist UI. Tab switch, resize is all standard, though the tabs can be arranged pretty neatly on the Sony Xperia E1. The browser sync feature of Chrome allows users to be able to sync their browsing session between the device and PC, creating a more catchy experience. Settings are expanded to cover up for a wide variety of browsing experiences. Another new feature, the Reduce data usage lets chrome compress the webpage to display minimal data from the URL, while keeping the full functionality of the site. The tabs area gives a more complete control over the tabs. Incognito mode is also available.

Sony has not pre-installed any document viewer / editor, though there are quite a lot of options present on the Play Store from which selections can be made.

The calendar, calculator alarm and clock are pretty standard. Sony has added the Power Saver option to its settings, which extends battery life by falling to a predefined toggle set once battery level falls below a particular threshold. Sony also has a Backup and Restore app, which can utilize the memory card, the internal storage or attached USB devices as well to backup or restore. Backups can be made of the apps, respective data of apps as well as any other files, media or otherwise.

The Update center can be used to check for regular updates regarding phone and apps installed – the configuration can be done to only use a Wi-Fi connection for updates. Google+ and Facebook apps come pre-installed.

Google Maps: Google Maps uses the Sony Xperia E1 A-GPS which is ably supported with GLONASS – the result is an almost instant lock on a very accurate location. The app offers a consistent set of features, like the voice guided navigation, route planning, public transport routes, as well as alternate routes. The navigation now supports storage of route information, and can then update for alternate routes as well. Popular locations as well as Street View are also present in the app.

The gallery is the custom Sony gallery, labeled Album, with images sorted date wise, as groups of thumbnails. The thumbnails can also be resized via pinch zoom – this action updates the gallery very quickly, and we were happy to see the rapid response from the smartphone. The My Albums tab displays both locally stored and online albums, while the Maps and Globe display images with the help of geo-tagging. Basic image related functions like cropping and rotation can be done as well via the app, while Quick share is present for Picasa, email apps, social networks, MMS and Bluetooth. The SensMe is another additional option which groups images similar to each other and creates a slide show.

The video player, Movies, has a great UI, custom made, and fetches additional media information from Gracenote and can also download posters and metadata. Though the device cannot record videos of 720p and above, it had no issues playing 1080p and 720p videos, with the surprise being it was with the hardware mentioned above, and only 512MB of RAM. Still, the codecs support for many video categories is absent by default, and users have to install these. This seems like a nuisance for many, because even though it is a simple install procedure from Play Store, Sony should have these codecs pre-installed.

The Walkman audio player has the same great UI as earlier, with an increased number of options. The app is structured into the Playing and My Music panels. The My Music allows users to be able to edit information related to your music along with the album art. The SensMe option has the ability to set songs by mood, creating playlists, and viewing your friends’ activities, if they are also using the Walkman player. The Now Playing screen is the player, with the added button labeled "Infinity", which allows for looking up the song or YouTube or the lyrics online.

Walkman has been given a wider set of settings, with the ClearAudio+ able to determine the best audio quality settings as per the track being played, which was our favorite feature on the Walkman. Then there is the Surround sound, which has different presets like Studio, Club and others, and even these can be improved by the Clear mode settings. The Dynamic normalizer reduces the audio difference between tracks. The speaker can use Clear Phase to adjust the audio quality, while xLOUD increases speaker loudness. A 5-band equalizer is also present on-board for those who wish to further tweak them.

Play Music, the music player from Google is also present, and has the Listen Now feature, which uses the song selection and track changing as a baseline to offer a more relevant music selection.

The FM radio is available, with the ability to ID the track being played on the radio, as well as the option to post a status on Facebook, and offers multiple visualizations. The FM this time around is much more stable than with previous devices from Xperia.

The speaker for the Sony Xperia E1 performs at a pretty decent level, and worked very well when connected to an external audio system, though a bit on the decline with headphones. The audio frequency was pretty good, and there was clarity, with very little noise, though it went up a bit on plugging in the headphones.

Sony Xperia E1 is powered by a Snapdragon 200 chipset, the basic chipset from Snapdragon, dubbed by some as the entrant level. The chipset on Xperia E1 is a dual core one, of Cortex A-7, running at 1.2 GHz each.

The smartphone has very limited RAM of 512MB, and Adreno 302 GPU. Though this structured setup is less than ideal for smartphones, we feel Sony may have used the combination in a manner to get the best out of each of the components. Though the performance of both the cores is unimpressive to say the least, we found no lagging in the regular operations – the disasterous performance comes on display under demanding performance. The smartphone though, performs slightly better than the Samsung Ace 3 and Nokia X. The overall hardware, graphics and RAM utilization tests proved the utilization done by Sony is pretty decent. The browser related performance also managed to surprise us, when Sony Xperia E1 managed to perform some of its rivals from a separate price slab altogether.

The Sony Xperia E1 does not manage to even come close to the top, though with the target market in mind, it does not need to do so. The Sony Xperia E1 performs smoothly in most conditions, operating the 4.3 Jelly Bean to the best of its abilities, and we feel it has easily sufficient hardware for a machine of this nature.

The snapper on the Sony Xperia E1 is a 3.15MP one, and can go up to a maximum of 2048 x 1536. The UI has options to record or snap directly without switching modes and the mode selection, all on the right side, and a drawer for settings can be accessed from the option on the left side of the UI.

Of course, the snapper on the Sony Xperia E1 has the Sweep Panorama, face detection, HDR mode, touch capture, as well as scenes and effects. The effect displays all the effect previews directly on the screen for a more direct selection, though this does take its toll on the smartphone. The activity that is to take place on clicking the camera app can also be customized.

The image quality of the legacy camera is nothing special, as is expected, with oversharpened images and low dynamic range, slightly inaccurate white balance and washed out colors taking the images to grayer side, and though we don’t expect too much from 3MP cameras, Sony should have improved the quality to some extent at least. HDR mode helps improve dynamic range, though it captures even lesser detail, which was confusing. The overall quality is pretty decent though.

The recording capabilities of the camera are also very limited, with the device being capable of only SVGA, taking up videos at a mere 20fps and 800 x 600 resolution, a 20Mbps bitrate, and audio recording in stereo quality at 48kHz sampling rate and 96Kbps bitrate. The video, was not too bad though, or rather, not as bad as we had expected – there are choppy instances, and quite an amount of noise present as well.

The Sony Xperia E1 has 2G connectivity to quad-band, and 3G connectivity to a tri-band level, and HSPA speeds of up to 21 Mbps for downloads and 5.76 Mbps for uploads can be achieved.

Local connectivity is provided in the form of Wi-Fi dual-band, DLNA and Wi-Fi Direct, for improved content sharing. Smart Connect for DLNA can be used to share displays with other devices which support the Throw function. Additionally we have Bluetooth 4.0 with the A2DP feature, though NFC is absent.

MicroUSB is used for charging and PC connectivity purposes, and there is a USB On-the-go support present too which allows users to attach external flash drives to the smartphone.

The Sony Xperia E1 has made quite an improved battery utilization, which comes as a pleasant surprise, with more than 12 hours of talk time, as well as above 56 hours of endurance.

Also, though this battery is lesser in comparison to some of the big bad boys out there, since the display is not too demanding, the browsing also can be covered for over 11 hours, though the device is very low on video playback, coming up to just above 6 hours, however this is understandable since the video play is taxing on the display and the processor.

As is visible from the above review, the Xperia E1 does live up to many of its expectations and more. Below are some of the very few shortcomings that the device does possess:

• Video recording quality needs to be improved
• The camera has fixed focus and lacks an LED flash
• Absence of a front facer will be somewhat difficult to handle for the selfie fans
• RAM is on the low side, standing at 512MB

Sony Xperia E1 comes out as one of the most affordable smartphones, with the added advantage of being a music phone, something Sony is well known for. The Sony Xperia E1 has been designed to add class to style. The device has a rugged look, with hard plastic which does feel snug and sturdy to grip. The display, being a WVGA of 4 inch size, is not something out of this world, though it does have a class around it, and balances the processor power to not overtax it too much while putting out the best possible performance.

With the Snapdragon 200 dual core chipset containing Cortex A7 CPU, Adreno 302 and 512 MB of RAM, Sony Xperia E1 does not aim to be a processing giant, though it does cover all the Android 4.3 OS responsibilities seamlessly, and we expect the KitKat update to further improve on this.

Sony has laid the focus squarely on music, and the Sony Xperia E1 is sure to make a name for itself, especially with the xLOUD present to support an already good audio quality, supporting the cool new addition of the Walkman button play, which now is only as far as a single click.

The weakest point seems to be the camera, which seems to be in the feel of yesteryear, going for the same 3.15MP snapper as on its predecessor. The camera only has basic features, is slower than the current ones on display, and is unable to shoot 720p. An interesting boost, though, is in the shape of the battery on the Sony Xperia E1, which performs great in our testing scenarios.

For those looking for droids, and one in the affordable range, we feel Sony Xperia E1 will be on the top or close on the list. Sony Xperia E1 combines its good looks with a solid battery and decent performance overall. And the device has again pulled out its Walkman for those of us who can’t seem to get enough of it.