X gon’ give it to ya: Sony reveals new camera-centric Xperia X smartphone range

Sony kept its MWC conference short and sweet, but still managed to pack in three new smartphones – The Xperia X, XA, and X Performance.

All three handsets feature a 5in display and Sony’s instantly recognisable square, minimal Omnibalance design, and their main focus centres around camera performance and battery life.

The standard Xperia X packs in a 5in 1080p display, along with a 23MP camera with a dedicated shutter button and a promise of a 0.6 second startup time.

Sony is pushing the camera’s Predictive Hybrid Autofocus, which is able to detect the size of moving objects and predict their movement, increasing the chances of snapping clear spur-of-the-moment shots.

There’s also a 13MP front-facing cam for narcissistic selfie fans, along with stereo speakers for blasting out music, and a fingerprint-scanning power button.

While the integrated 2620mAh battery doesn’t sound particularly large, Sony is promising up to two days of use, along with a doubled overall battery life capacity.

The Android 6.0 Marshmallow-running Xperia X is powered by Qualcomm’s hexa-core Snapdragon 650 processor, along with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of expandable storage.

Xperia XA

The Xperia XA takes things down a notch with a 5in 720p screen, although its slightly curved, almost bezel-less design makes up for it by looking rather pretty.

Imaging-wise, it’s rocking a 13MP camera (with an 8MP selfie-snapper), with microSD support for storing photos and other media.

Its specs are more conservative too, with a MediaTek chipset and 2GB of RAM, though it’s still running Android 6.0 Marshmallow.

The XA has a smaller 2300mAh battery (though it still promises up to two days of use), and ditches the dual speaker setup and fingerprint scanner too.

MWC 2016 › All the news from Mobile World Congress

Xperia X Performance

The most interesting handset, the X Performance, won’t actually be landing in the UK, as it’s limited to an Asia-only release. Booooo.

If you want to get jealous though, then we might as well tell you that it’s rocking a blistering Snapdragon 820 processor, which is the same one powering the Samsung Galaxy S7 and LG G5. Unlike the X and XA, the X Performance is waterproof too.

There are no prices for any of the handsets, but we expect to receive them nearer their release dates, which are vaguely set for summer 2016.

Esat Dedezade Contributor

About

Esat has been a gadget fan ever since his tiny four-year-old brain was captivated by a sound-activated dancing sunflower. From there it was a natural progression to a Sega Mega Drive, a brief obsession with hedgehogs, and a love for all things tech. After 7 years as a writer and deputy editor for Stuff, Esat ventured out into the corporate world, spending three years as Editor of Microsoft's European News Centre. Now a freelance writer, his appetite for shiny gadgets has no bounds. Oh, and like all good human beings, he's very fond of cats.