Is the Sony Xperia U worth it at all?

[Jared]

Hi, I've had both of them not long ago, and they really are great phones.

In terms of built quality the lumia 800 feels far better than the flimsy xperia u. In fact, i like the built quality of the lumia 800 more than iphones. perfomance can be debated because although a 1.4 Ghz single-core processor might not be as good as a 1 Ghz dual-core processor in most cases, the lumia 800 is pretty fast being a windows phone, which don't constantly have apps running in the background like androids do. In fact, perfomance-wise they are the same since the specs mention that they both run at a speed of 14.4 megabytes per second on HSPDA signal, and they also run the same speed on HSUPA signal at 5.76 Mbps. Therefore if you were to choose for perfomance, you can't go wrong with any choice.

In terms of battery life the xperia u gives a bit more because it has a slightly smaller and more power efficient display. Its display only spans at 3.5 inches, and it uses the straight-forward LCD technology. The xperia U, being android phone, would just about last you a whole day with regular use. The Lumia 800 in the other hand, would last you about the same if you were to turn the brightness half-way down (50%) and turn 3G connection into 2G, which is pretty good considering it has a more power-consuming display than the xperia u. The lumia 800 has a colourful, sunlight-resistant clearblack AMOLED display, and it spans at 3.7 inches. The xperia u is the opposite, pretty poor under sunlight.

Speaking of apps, the windows app market gives far less than android, but still, useful and quality apps. androids will offer far more apps. however, remember that both the xperia u and the lumia 800 only have internal memory. the lumia 800 offers far more at 16 GB than the Xperia U which only offers 4GB. plus the 'zune' software for the lumai 800 is absolutely amazing. To me it's near enough as good as itunes, therefore the lumia 800 is pretty good for keeping you entertained.

I remember having the xperia u for 6 weeks, and it was brilliant. however, it felt like a cheaply built toy, whereas the lumia 800 gave me the edge of having a high-end premium-built phone. I bought the lumia 800 straight after the xperia u for a reason, therefore I would personally suggest the lumia 800.