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The Sony Xperia X handset is currently available in a choice of colours.  The user can select from models coloured White, Graphite Black, Lime, Gold and Rose Gold.  My review sample is the Graphite Black model.

The Sony Xperia X’s metallic casing is dominated by a 5-inch screen that is capable of displaying Full HD 1080p resolution with bright clearly visible content in different lighting conditions.  Taking up a central position on the right side of the handset is the unit’s power button sitting flush to the casing body.  This power button also doubles as a fingerprint reader for those users who feel the need for the extra protection such a feature provides when using this device.  (Rumour has it that are American cousins are being denied this feature for whatever reason).

Located below the power / fingerprint button are controls for the dual function volume and zoom facilities plus a dedicated camera key.  In sole residence of the handset’s left side is the removable card holder that can house a nano SIM and a micro SD card.  This latter feature allows you to increase the 32GB of internal storage.  While 32GB might initially seem to be a reasonable allocation, you do need to be aware that firmware will eat up approximately 12GB of this allocation, leaving you with around 20GB of storage for your movies, music, photos, applications and associated data.

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Situated at the base of the handset is the regulation micro USB port for charging the handset’s 2620 mAh battery which has a claimed 2-day battery life.  Running my usual continuous video play back test, I was able to enjoy movie watching for a period that lasted 10 hours 35 minutes.  Included in the box is an USB lead and 3-pin plug adapter for charging purposes.

The usual complement of a front and read-mounted cameras are provided.  In the case of the front-mounted unit, this camera is a 13MP model with a ⅓-inch Exmor RS sensor with 22mm Wide Angle F2.0 lens.  For main photographic work there is the rear-mounted camera.  This is a 23MP camera that features an updated version of the Exmor RS sensor and a 24mm Wide Angle G F2.0 lens and an Auto Mode Pulse LED flash unit.  You should not be disappointed with the results achieved by either camera when capturing still images and video clips.

The Sony Xperia X is built around a Qualcomm Snapdragon 650 processor.  This is a six-core CPU combining two high-powered Cortex-A72 cores supplemented with four-low-powered A53s and an Adreno 510GPU.  As standard there is 3GB of RAM to help drive the supplied Android Marshmallow operating system.  My review unit came with Android 6.0.1.

While a two second depress of the power button is all that is required to start the boot up process, a further 42 seconds will be taken up with the various housekeeping tasks before you arrive at the lock screen dominated by a large digital style time piece.  There is a choice of wallpaper themes available.  Many of these themes will require a fee although there are a few that are free including a comic pirate scene that was my initial frivolous choice.

Sony has seeded the usual collection of standard Android apps with a number of its own offerings.  A PlayStation app will give users access to the PlayStation Network with services that include photo storage.  Using your own photos and videos, a Movie Creator app can produce a starring role for your captured content.  Keeping you up-to-date is the task of News Suite as you switch between topics such as Main, Sport, Entertainment, Science & Technology, Business and Style to mention just some.  There is also What’s New which I tend to regard as an app to drip feed you with new offerings to temp you into making purchases.

My review unit was supplied by Vodafone who have various contracts available for this handset.

http://shop.vodafone.co.uk/shop/contracts-and-deals/sony-xperia-x/sku90428