Sony Xperia ion

The Sony Xperia ion was first launched in the US with LTE earlier this year at CES. Sony will be making it available globally sans 4G in Q3.

Upside

The handset features Sony's NXT design, and you'll find it similar to the Xperia S, U and P. We like the styling, and it was quite comfortable to hold despite its size. The smartphone comes packing a 4.6-inch HD Reality 720p (1,280 x 720 pixels) display and also includes Sony's Mobile Bravia Engine technology.

The Xperia ion uses a dual-core 1.5Ghz processor, 1GB RAM and has 16GB of onboard storage. This can be expanded via a microSD slot. Performance seems quite snappy when we played with it. The rear 12-megapixel camera is also very fast and should be similar to the one found on the Xperia S. There's even a dedicated camera button that lets you snap a picture without unlocking your handset.

Downside

While the handset runs Android 4.0, it has been emblished with Sony's Timescape UI. We do note, however, that the menu button does almost nothing--it only calls up a shortcut button to add stuff to your home screens.

Pressing the menu should bring up the multitasking tray like how it is in stock ICS, or at least call up a Gingerbread menu like the Samsung Galaxy S III. To access the multitasking tray now, you have to hold down on the home button.

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