[Sony Xperia P, U, Sola, Go] SharpnShiny:
Hi, I've owned the Sola for about 5/6 months. There were a number of things I was unhappy with so bought the Motorola RAZR i. I'm a huge Sony fan so that was not easy or fun.

If you are considering what phone to get next and like Sony phones, this may interest you.

Here is a short review of the two phones. They each have pros and cons.

The Sony Xperia Sola and the Motorola RAZR i specifications for comparison: http://www.gsmarena.com/compare.php3?idPhone1=4998&idPhone2=4408

Why did I leave the Sola?

- I wanted a better battery life

- I wanted proper software update support

- Preferably more sturdy materials to protect an expensive phone

Initial Impressions

For me visuals/looks of a phone are very important. I don't care about showing off to other people but I do like my phone to look cool and elegant. The Sola wins for me here. It's clean, two-toned coloured, more slick and pretty and that illimination bar also adds a cool difference. The RAZR is black, shows screws, unimpressive design but not ugly.

User Interface

I'm a fan of bright colours - icons should be different than usual Android and preferably colourful. I prefer the Sola here, if you have played with many other Android phones - your's, friend's, family's or in a phone shop, you see the difference in Android 'skins'. The RAZR has a very stock Android UI but some icons are colourful. The Sola creates the 'luxury' experience and feel if you like that. Sola wins.

Speed/Responsiveness

Gingerbread on the Sola was very quick to me, ICS was slow for a long time, only the newest update is OK. Again, if you test other phones, I still think the Sony phones are some of the slowest around. The RAZR i wins here, it never lags - ever. I realised that my eyes were trained with the Sola to 'blink' when I click something - but if I blink when I use the RAZR then I miss something - it moves that fast. RAZR wins.

Camera

The RAZR's camera is very, very quick at everything - but the colours look washed out if you ask me. The Sola's camera is slow to start but the colours are better. The RAZR i has 8mpx and Sola has 5mpx but the Sola's is bettery, even lighting and video light, it's only that the RAZR is so fast to do things that it gets some marks I think it's 50/50.

Screen

I researched the screen technology long before I bought the RAZR i. The Sola uses an LCD-lit screen with a TFT display. The RAZR i uses an SAMOLED screen with pentile matrix. Dark colours on the SAMOLED are more vivid but everything else looks more beautiful on the Sola. I absolutely love the Sola screen. It is so clean and beautiful. When I got the RAZR I got to see the difference - I was too familiar with the Sola screen. Sola wins.

Calls & Messaging

The volume of calls in the Sola is very low to me, quality is OK, though the message keyboard is brilliant. The call volume in the RAZR is a little higher, the quality is good and message keyboard is not great. Sola wins.

Internet

The Sola's internet (speed capability and web page loading, rendering) is good to me. The RAZR is far, far, far faster though. RAZR wins.

Software Update

The Sola came with Gingerbread when many phones were available with ICS which is not a good start. Late in 2012 it did receive ICS finally. Unfortunately, while many similar Sony 2012 phones will get Jelly Bean, the Sola will not. That's a shame and it has been fairly unexplained. Other updates have been to fix problems created by Sony in the software and these updates can be slow. The RAZR came with ICS and Jelly Bean was made available in late January/ early February 2013. Most phones do not have Jelly Bean yet. This is very good for Motorola. RAZR wins.

Battery life

The Sola has a 1320 mha battery is was poor when the phone was launched in May 2012 - many phones had 1500 or more. The RAZR i launched in October 2012 with a 2000 battery. Battery size alone does not tell you how long it will last - other things such as software optimisation matter. The Sola died for me every day, and if I used it for some apps, news and a little gaming then I would have to charge it twice per day. This made me very angry. However, it has been normal for most smartphones.The RAZR phone lasts more than one day, and if you don't use too many apps, you can get 2 days usage before the next charge. RAZR wins.

I really like the battery and fast CPU on the RAZR but otherwise I would choose the Sola.

If you would like to know anything, that I review anything, explain anything or compare benchmarks or take more screenshots just ask.