The entry-level Android space has only recently become rife with excitement as the newer models are actually something worth considering. When Android first started out, the cheaper variants were nothing but horrid and you wouldn't want to go anywhere near a handset that was priced under 10K.

The Tipo is essentially the baby smartphone in the Sony Xperia range of devices. In India, this is the first entry-level Xperia smartphone. In a price segment where smartphones clearly look, feel and perform with the "budget" aspect in mind, the Tipo isn't being held back by that.

Stable performance; Good battery life; Android ICS out of the box; UI doesn't bog down performance

Small display may not suit everyone; Camera isn't very good; Display doesn't have adequate crispness

Xperia Tipo is one of the best entry level android smartphone. It is one of the few smartphones in this price range which comes with Android Ice Cream Sandwich. The phone has good build quality and great design. The phone has decent hardware which can handle your most of the daily tasks.

Android ICS; Good build Quality; Great Battery backup; Good loudspeaker

Fixed focus camera

I was looking for Handy Branded Android Phone with decent touch and display features at affordable pricing. Tipo is perfect in those aspects but cannot be compared with other phones with slightly higher pricing which offers more value. Sound and call quality is very good.

There are other handsets like Karbonn A7 and Spice Mi-355 with the same specs (800 MHz + Adreno 200 GPU) for a much cheaper price. But for those who believe in the Sony Brand, the Tipo is here, with single or Double SIM options.

Update, 12 September 2012: CNET UK originally published this review with a score of one and a half stars because of extremely poor software stability on the handset we were sent by Sony. We've since received a second device, which doesn't suffer from those major functionality flaws, so we've updated our review and increased the score to reflect the improved performance of this more stable phone.

The Sony Xperia Tipo delivers Android Ice Cream Sandwich to people on a tight budget. It's small in the hand and under the hood so it's only going to appeal to folk with fairly modest mobile needs. But it could be worth a look if you're after ICS on a budget. Just be aware there are more powerful Android phones with larger, clearer screens at this price.

Android Ice Cream Sandwich on a budget; MicroSD card slot.

Cramped, unresponsive screen; Creaky build quality; Poor camera.

The cheapest Xperia comes with its share of problems. But it definitely has some spunk It's been raining Xperias almost ever since Sony Mobile dropped the Ericsson suffix and went solo earlier this year.

As an entry-level Android smartphone, the Sony Xperia tipo has better specs including 512MB of RAM, 2.5GB of user memory and performs better than most of the phones in the range such has HTC Explorer, LG Optimus L3 and Samsung Galaxy Y.

Performance is smooth; Android 4.0 out of the box; Good build; Good Loudspeaker

Fixed focus camera; Low resolution display

The NXT line gave Sony the strong start they needed after returning to the smartphone game on their own. The Japanese then focused on filling the lower ranks and, yet again, we see them look for inspiration in the old Sony Ericsson scrapbook.

Sony was quite slow off the mark to release smartphones running the Android 4.0 operating system, failing to get the new software on to its first range of Sony Mobile devices launched after its split with Ericsson.