Sony Xperia Tipo Duo Overview

I heard you like the latest tech. I also heard you like to be up-to-date with the latest software upgrades and Apps. I heard you like Android. If I’ve grabbed your attention you’ll love what you’re going to read next!

In Nigeria, everybody has one or two stories to tell about how their mobile providers have let them down. These days most people use multiple phones which in the hustle and bustle of the major cities is very impractical. Others have tried several mobile providers but soon realised that where one mobile provider fails their competitors succeed and vice versa.

Eventually people turned to Dual SIM phones which seemed to solve the problem temporarily, but brought about a new set of issues all together. One problem which plagued early adopters of the Dual SIM phones was that these phones were low quality and were mostly Chinese brands with little or no customer support when problems arose. The battery life of these devices was poor and locating compatible accessories like chargers and earpieces was difficult. Familiar brands like Nokia and LG also tried to enter the Dual SIM market but with little avail.

Without further a due I would like to introduce the Sony Xperia Tipo Duo, a Dual SIM phone unlike any other. At this point you might be asking, what makes the phone so special?

The first thing worth noting about this device is its brand. Sony is a premium brand which delivers quality products with first class customer support. Another thing worth noting is unlike the Nokia Asha 200 Series, Nokia C2 Series, LG P525 and LGGX300 which are low-end mobile phones which only 2G (EDGE) support the Tipo Duo is a fully fledged Android Smartphone with full 3G support. It falls into the Xperia class of Sony Mobile devices as the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10, Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini and the Sony Xperia S.

Some may argue that the Samsung Galaxy Duo Series are also Android phones with Dual SIM capabilities but there are two key differences between these phones and the Tipo Duo. The first of which is those phones run an outdated version of the Android OS, version 2.3 (Gingerbread) to be exact, while the Tipo Duo runs a more recent version of Android OS, version 4.0.3 (Ice Cream Sandwich). Secondly the Samsung Duo Series are Standby Dual SIM phones, while the Tipo Duo is an Active Dual SIM phone.

Allow me to elaborate, a Standby Dual SIM phone is a phone that has two SIM cards but only one can be active at any point in time, while an Active Dual SIM phone allows both SIM to be active simultaneously.

Imagine you’re downloading a file using SIM1 and a call comes in on SIM2. On a Standby Dual SIM phone either the download on SIM1 will be stopped for the call on SIM2 to be received or the incoming call on SIM2 will be rejected. But on an Active Dual SIM phone the call on SIM2 will received with your download on SIM1 being uninterrupted.  

Since Android phones require an internet connection to get the most out of the devices, an active Dual SIM Android phone will allow both lines to always be accessible, further enriching your Dual SIM and Android experience. 

To round up let’s take a quick look at the devices specifications, the Sony Xperia Tipo Duo has a 3.2 inch TFT capacitive touchscreen  capable of displaying 256K colours. It has an 800MHz Cortex-A5 CPU, 512MB of RAM and 2.9 GB of internal storage with 2.5GB user accessible. A dedicated hardware key to switch which SIM is being used and supports 3G simultaneously on both SIMS - and to top it off a 3.15MP camera.

The Sony Xperia Tipo Duo will cost you about NGN 30,000 ( Thirty Thousand Naira ) give or take a thousand naira or two, and is available at all good mobile phone retailers. 

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