the overlook iphone case

The SIM-free price-tag of the Xperia P puts it in the running with the likes of the Motorola Razr, the HTC Sensation, the HTC Rhyme or -- stepping outside the Android camp -- Apple's iPhone 3GS. The Xperia P carries the most striking design feature of all Sony's new Xperias -- a thin transparent bar near the bottom of the phone. This lights up to signify incoming calls and texts. I reckon it will polarise opinion in a Marmite-style love-it-or-hate-it way. But it does at least offer something different to the standard-issue black smart phone slab.

The plastic strip is also the phone's control bar as it houses the back, home and menu keys, Unlike the Xperia S, you do actually press right on -- rather than above -- the clear plastic to activate these touch-sensitive keys, so it feels useful and not just gimmicky, The Xperia P has a rectangular form with blunted edges giving it a clean silhouette -- softened only by the curve of its gently rounded back, Its mostly metal casing does give it a more premium look than its two similarly styled siblings the overlook iphone case (the Xperia P's bottom edge is actually coloured plastic and not metal), Overall, the phone feels very light and sturdy in the hand, It's also nice and thin, The metal is a tad slippery though so butterfingered types may find it escaping their digits..

My review model was silver but there are also black and red versions on offer -- the red looks especially striking. It remains to be seen how durable these colour-coated metal models are. While the Xperia P feels solid, I did encounter several build quality issues. The first time I touched the flap covering the micro-SIM slot, the metal cover started to peel off its rubberised plastic backing. The second time I touched it, it came off entirely. This is very poor. There's also no guidance symbol to help you insert the SIM the correct way up. Try to push it in the wrong way and it can be very hard to prise out. (For the record, the gold chip should be facing down towards the back of the phone.).

A potentially more serious problem with the Xperia P was flagged up by my CNET Asia colleague, Aloysius Low, He found it's possible to attenuate the signal by holding the phone tightly in a so-called 'death grip' -- reminiscent of the antennagate issue the overlook iphone case that dogged Apple's original iPhone 4, Instead of affecting calls, Low found that holding the Xperia P tightly caused the signal to drop off and affect data performance, slowing down web browsing, In my own tests, I was also able to get signal bars to drop off when holding it -- generally one or two bars, But I didn't notice any drop-off in browsing performance when using this death grip, Calls were also unaffected..

Another design gripe is that the physical buttons on the Xperia P are very low lying, especially the power and camera key, so pressing them can feel harder than it should -- making them seem spongy. Sony has also sited all three keys -- power, volume rocker and camera keys -- on one side of the phone, which is a slightly cramped and awkward placing, especially for getting at the power key. The right-hand edge is also home to the phone's second speaker. Yet the top of the phone is clutter-free, with only a 3.5mm headphone jack.