Sony Xperia XA Brings Back the Charm of a Bar-Shaped Smartphone

The smartphone looks and feels much smaller and compact than it actually is.

Sony Xperia XA is really small. (Photo: The Quint)

This story was first published on 30 May 2016.

Sony’s next variant in the latest X series is the Xperia XA. The phone may be sized at 5-inch but the design and construction tends to betray its actual dimensions.

Thanks to the use of a bar-shaped design symmetric (not seen on a smartphone these days), the Xperia XA is all geared up to take on the likes of Lenovo Vibe X3 and the Motorola Moto X Play with its Rs 20,990 price tag.

Sony Xperia XA. (Photo: The Quint)

However, going by what Sony has to offer, it’s more likely that the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 or the LeEco Le 1s are set as the benchmarks for Xperia XA to rival. The octa-core Helio P10 processor doesn’t fill us with confidence but hopefully things are better this time around.

The 5-inch 720 pixels display may not be the best, but it sure is sharp enough for its size. Yes, we do agree that a 1080 pixels display is warranted at this price these days but Sony has never fallen into the spec-trap before, and seems like it doesn’t intend to now as well.

Sony Xperia X (left) and the Xperia XA (right) (Photo: The Quint)

However, you do not get a fingerprint scanner on the XA which as per Sony is not really wanted by the generic consumer. Instead the brand has focused on the looks of the phone. It’s hard not to like the way the Xperia XA looks and feels, but is that enough for hardware-hungry buyers these days?

Sony Xperia X (bottom) and the Xperia XA (top). (Photo: The Quint)

You get a 13-megapixel camera at the back but still they manage to give you an 8-megapixel on the front. The detail in the images clicked by the Xperia XA are decent but a closer look at the phone will help us give you the verdict.

The 13-megapixel camera on the Xperia XA. (Photo: The Quint)

It’s a dual-SIM phone with 16GB storage, expandable up to 200GB, ideal for the power users. You get Xperia UI running over Android 6.0 Marshmallow which is slick and a joy to use. But then again, the amount of apps pre-installed just doesn’t make for good reading.

The 2300mAh battery with Sony’s claimed battery features should suffice for a 720 pixels device that could grab some eyeballs amid intense competition.