As the A listers of the mobile industry, launch some of their high-end creations in this season, another big player ‘Sony’, is quietly tapping on a market that few, from the big league, have stepped into. The dual-SIM market has plenty of buyers. But is anyone paying attention? Well, Sony is and has thus launched its tipo Dual, that runs on Android 4.0. Here’s an interesting equation = A dual SIM + by Sony + on Android 4.0 + that if you bargain hard, it can be yours for Rs. 9500/- Read our review to know how well it performs.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-x-jzILG-c
Hardware
First impression of the phone. It’s a basic Android phone, but despite the low price, Sony has not considerably pulled down the quality of the product. But yes, we do wish the screen had a better resolution, more real estate!
There is a micro USB slot at the side similar to the tipo
The camera is also a similar 3.2MP fixed focus shooter without flash
The power button and 3.5mm audio jack are at the top
Sony also launched a sibling of tipo dual, the ‘tipo’ that we reviewed recently. Both have identical features, except the additional dual-SIM capability of tipo dual. So let’s concentrate on judging how good this phone is as a dual SIM phone.
Sony has already got brownie points during the unboxing of this phone – for including two micro SIM adapters! The adapters are easy to use.
Both SIMs are to be inserted near the slots placed one below the other, near the camera lens. The lower slot has a metallic plate, which makes inserting and removing SIM, hassle-free.
The battery in tipo dual has as much fuel, as the tipo phone. The battery can give upto 5 hrs of talktime. Wish there was more battery to support longer talk time with two SIMs in one phone.
The back cover does feels light quality, but opening and shutting it several times assured us that the cover won’t give up on its strength easily. On pressing the power button, you are greeted with the Xperia logo….followed by the very useful 11 step setup wizard. We have pictures of the most important ones. Pictures are explanatory enough to suggest how well planned the dual system of the phone is, at-least in the beginning.
Dual SIM
One can name the SIMs to make identification of SIMs simpler.
There are also ways to segregate duties of each SIM from becoming default SIM , to which one the user wants to dedicate to data gathering.
Activating the SIM is pretty simple by this toggle ‘press’ button, placed just below the volume rocker. The screenshot indicates the message that appears on the screen, when the toggle button is used. SIMs can also be customized with different ringtones and notifications.
The dual SIM phone is a single standby phone, so you cannot use the SIM 1 for calls and SIM 2 for data at the same time. If the first SIM is active for outgoing calls, SMS and data, then the SIM 2 would go on standby mode. But you can receive calls and SMS on both the SIM cards. If the user is getting a call on SIM1, then SIM 2 cannot receive a call at the same time, and vice versa.
You can keep track of data usage from each SIM separately. You can also set data warning when it reaches a particular limit.
The message inbox does not indicate which SIM the message has come for. But when you open the inbox and open the particular message, it identifies the SIM there.
The contacts, once synced are difficult to be identified, which contact belongs to SIM 1 or SIM 2 since they are imported in the phone before using.
The call logs and the missed call register identifies which SIM received the missed call!
Conclusion
It is great indeed to find an Android 4.0 phone at such low-cost from a popular mobile maker.This is Sony’s first attempt at making a dual sim phone and the company has done a pretty good job with the tipo dual. The battery life is decent, but since it is a Dual SIM phone talk time is less than the single SIM tipo phone. If you are looking for a small and powerful Dual SIM smartphone running Android 4.0, the tipo dual is a good choice.
Pros
- Dual SIM
- Android 4.0 out of the box
- Option to customize each SIM card and appoint data services separately
- Option to keep tab of data usage from each SIM
Cons
- Screen resolution can be better
- Fixed focus camera