Sony reveals the Xperia Go for release later this year

Now that Sony Ericsson is just "Sony", they have decided to focus on making smartphones. One of those upcoming handsets is getting a super short name. It is simply called the "Xperia Go". This is a good looking smartphone that come in more than just basic black. There is no manual keyboard but the screen is the same size as an iPhone, so it should be no problem typing on the virtual keyboard. The smartphone will be called the Sony Xperia "Advance" inside the United States.

Sony makes high quality products but this particular model is not meant for those who are speed demons and power freaks. The display is host to three and a half inches of digital real estate. The problem is that it does not have the clarity of an iPhone. In fact, when compared, the Sony Xperia Go will have nearly exactly half the resolution of an iPhone 4S. For those who like to see the numbers, that is 165 pixels per inch ( PPI ) for the Go, and 326 PPI for the iPhone 4S. It is a good thing the display supports pinch to zoom, because the user is going to need it on pages that have small text. The display itself is crafted from the older LCD material, not AMOLED, so it will be a good idea to keep an eye on the battery.

Cracking the Sony Xperia Go open you will find a typical processor for a smartphone of this rank. It is dual core, but it is not in the 1.5 gigahertz of the "super" smartphones of today. It is cruising along at one gigahertz. It is accompanied by 512 megabytes of RAM which may be a bit slow for some users. The bright side of the Sony handset is in its wireless connectivity. It has just about any radio you can think of, including a stereo FM radio. The Wi-Fi goodies include DLNA for sending a signal to a multimedia screen. The handset has Wi-Fi Direct for communicating with other devices nearby ( without needing a cell tower ). It can also be used as a Wi-Fi hotspot for sharing an internet connection with other mobile gear. Bluetooth is there, but in an old version, 2.1

The camera on the Sony Xperia Go is not powerful by today's standards. The good news is that it comes with plenty of features. The auto focus, LED flash, sweep panorama, face detection and smile detection are all included. The rear camera is all there is for this smartphone, there is no front camera. Thanks to the dual core processor the Go can handle taking videos in 720p high definition format. Sony included a video light for help at night.

The mobile operating system chosen for the Sony Xperia Go is an older version of Google Android. Android Gingerbread ( 2.3 ) is going to come installed in the Go. More than likely it will have a chance at an upgrade later on. The 2.3 version was the first level from Google to be able to handle NFC ( Near Field Communication ). Google was enthralled to announce NFC, but this smartphone does not seem to have the required RFID chip inside to be able to complete the connection. The browser for the smartphone will be able to handle Adobe flash files for a rich web surfing experience. It is also one of the largest targets for malware in the world, so loading up a good security app will be required.

The Sony factory made the Go in three colors, yellow, white and basic black. The screen is special in that it can be used with wet fingers. The smartphone is designed to be water, bump and dust resistant. Look for the Go smartphone to be released in the third quarter of this year for an unspecified price.