Multimedia users craving movies, photos and music on the go will appreciate Sony’s Xperia T2 Ultra Dual. It’s a 6in smartphone designed for the content-hungry, and as of this week, it’ll go on sale for less than $500.
One trait in particular will set the T2 Ultra dual apart from the plethora of smartphones available. The ‘Dual’ in its moniker refers to its ability to accommodate two SIM cards, and that opens up some cost saving opportunities for the right customer.
Otherwise the T2 Ultra’s centrepiece is a big 720x1280 resolution screen that stretches across six glorious inches. The display has a decent 248 pixels-per-inch and inherits some of the proprietary technologies developed by Sony’s television business.
Sony is quick to point out the large 6in smartphone has fine bezel edges and a thickness of 8mm. The 170 gram weight is comparatively light to Nokia’s 1320 phablet, which weighs a whole 50 grams more.
Flip the enormous smartphone over and you’ll find a 13MP rear camera. Shooting modes supported include HDR and face detection, while videos will be recorded in 1920x1080 resolution. A secondary 1.1MP camera is inconspicuously placed on the front, and it will support 1280x720 video calls.
Tap the bespoke power button on the side and the screen will present Android 4.3 Jelly Bean for your perusal. Large screen smartphones shine a light on the aesthetics of Android overlays, and in this case, with the support of the display, Sony’s looks utterly exquisite.
Inside the T2 Ultra Dual is less glamorous. Powering the smartphone is a 1.4GHz quad-core CPU, just 1GB of RAM, a large 3,000 milliamp-hour battery and 8GB of internal storage. A microSD slot enables storage to be expanded by an additional 32GB.
By no means is the T2 Ultra Dual powerful enough to go toe-to-toe with ‘phablets’ such as the Galaxy Note III, but it certainly is cheap enough. The $499 recommended price undercuts that of Samsung’s flagship by a few hundred, and aims it squarely at Nokia’s Lumia 1320.
Sony has confirmed the T2 Ultra Dual will be available from retailers including JB HI-Fi, AllPhones and The Good Guys this week. Stay tuned for Good Gear Guide’s review of the multimedia savvy smartphone.
