Xperia S Review

[jonmorris]

I doubt the Xperia S will give the option to disable the capacitive buttons for on-screen (when it gets ICS), but I suppose you could do it on a custom ROM.

And also, great review!

 

[Tyseyh]

When you're wanting to put stuff on the phone do you need to use the software or does it show as a mass storage device?

 

[jonmorris]

You need to use software for the Mac, although I think it might still mount as a regular drive on a PC. You can install the PC software from the phone itself. It uses MTP and not mass-storage.

The reason for this is to allow you to continue to access data when connected to a computer, rather than dismounting on the phone and mounting on the desktop. It's also the case with the Galaxy Nexus and many (most?) smartphones that have no external memory card slot - and it does have a number advantages over a removable format, with the disadvantage being obvious - no way to expand further!

Here's the Sony Bridge for Mac software, along with the file manager you get when you click on 'Browse files on your phone'. It's not as good as a normal file manager, with no idea on how long it will take to copy files, but it does work.



Some reviews didn't mention that software exists for the Mac, but it does - and it can be downloaded from the Sony Mobile site.

 

[Tyseyh]

Thank you very much for that, could you explain what mtp is and check if you can just drag and drop.

I really don't like having to use software to add stuff.

 

[jonmorris]

Read this for a bit of background as to why the phone doesn't support mass storage mode (well, the Galaxy Nexus but it's effectively the same).

Impromptu Q&A Session With Android Engineer Dan Morrill Brings To Light Reasons Behind Galaxy Nexus' Lack Of USB Mass Storage

It seems that Windows will still mount it as a device, but a Mac won't - hence the need for the bridge software. I suppose it's feasible that someone else might write their own bridge software - indeed, there's an "Android File Transfer" app for Mac users that works with the Galaxy Nexus and a lot of Honeycomb tablets - but for some reason that won't work with the Xperia S!

I should add that while I quite like drag & drop (and so would many others), dedicated software to manage content is probably going to be more popular with the average consumer. Given that this is the norm for iOS users, I'd certainly not expect any Apple fanboys to think there's anything wrong with it. In fact, it would be quite odd to see reviewers mentioning this as a bad thing, if they are happy with doing the exact same with iTunes for their iPhone/iPad/iPod touches

 

[Tyseyh]

Thank you very much
All clear now.

 

[angelus97]

Another great review.

Sony Xperia S review | Eurodroid

Love the turquoise theme. No doubts now. Hopefully this time tomorrow I will be viewing this site from my own Xperia