Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc S Review

Design And Features:

The Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc S obliterates all of those awkward memories in a flash. It’s running the very latest Android 2.3.2 version of the OS. It’s arrived on time. It’s fast, and it’s very, very stylish indeed.

First impressions are that the Xperia Arc S is unbelievably, impossibly thin. It’s also flared slightly around the back, giving the rear of the phone a slightly fatter top and bottom. And it’s light, too – a mere 117g. The rival Google Nexus S weighs in at 129g. How it has all been squeezed in is a mystery.

The solid-feeling 4.2-inch screen fills much of the front of the phone, with only a few millimetres of bezel to the left and right.

But you only get Sony Ericsson’s standard selection of three physical buttons – Back, Home and Menu – in reverse order to how they featured in the X10. That will mess with the minds of upgraders. The buttons are solid silvery plastic, plus there’s a piercing white LED light shining through the gaps between them to help guide your thumbs in the dark.

The top of the phone features an HDMI output hidden behind a little dust stopper, plus a tiny power button.

The left edge features the 3.5mm headphone jack, while the right-hand edge houses the micro-USB, a small volume up/down rocker and a physical camera button near the bottom.

Features:

Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc S is still capable of handling a vigorous load of applications and tasks. The computing muscle comes from a 1.4GHz Scorpion processor, Adreno 205 GPU, Qualcomm MSM8255T Snapdragon processor. This second generation processor also has the ability to render demanding graphics thanks to the Adreno 205 GPU. The Xperia Arc S combines the processor with 512MB of ROM (~300MB accessible) and 512MB of RAM. The secondary memory comes from a 8GB microSD card, which is upgradable to 32GB.

Interace:

The Sony Ericsson XPERIA Arc S brings two important changes to the company smartphones’ UI. It debuts the new 2.3 version of Android, called Gingerbread, and it gets rid of the Mediascape interface.

Sony Ericsson still has Timescape to make their products distinguishable and axing Mediascape will probably reduce the future Android update delays. That probably makes the XPERIA Arc S a more balanced product than the X10 software-wise.

What we particularly like is the Overview mode that the Sony Ericsson Arc S offers. You pinch zoom out of any of the 5 homescreen panes and a new screen opens up with a cool transition effect. All your widgets gather there and you can click the one you want and go to its screen.

Standalone SMS messaging on the Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc S has been skinned a little, with texts appearing in threaded format in a simple text window. You’re able to attach images and videos, or even record them direct from the SMS window prompt. It’s a stylish little tool that glamorises text messaging like never before.

Camera:

The Arc S boasts an 8.1-megapixel camera with an LED photo light and a good selection of settings for you to tweak, including

Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc S Camera Sample

face-detection and image-stabilisation features. But the dish of the day is the Exmor R CMOS sensor, which is so oven-fresh that it’s only just arriving in compact cameras.

The Arc S managed to capture decent photos even in a very dark room, with its LED light turned off. We found that the red-eye-reduction setting didn’t have much effect, though. Although the LED light certainly improved the image in dark conditions, it’s painfully blinding to look at. We’d stick to turning on the lights instead, if you can.

The Arc S also shoots 720p high-definition video. We tested the video performance in darkness by filming a bobblehead Mountie toy trapped in a box.

Music:

The music player is the same as in the other iterations of this UI, with flashy, but minimalistic interface, ten equalizers, the song recognition service Track ID, and the option to show related YouTube videos. The loudspeaker is outstanding. Strong, with deep base sounds and very clean and pure output, even at the highest volume.

Internet:

The stock Android 2.3 browser is an excellent mobile solution for accessing the Internets, and it makes no exception in the Sony Ericsson Xperia arc S. Due to the speedy chipset, zooming, scrolling, panning around and multitouch work flawlessly. Flash content, including videos, displays very well, and the whole mobile internet experience is great.

Battery Life:

Sony Ericsson must have taken a cue from the Energizer Bunny for Arc S, as the battery just keeps going and going. On average the Arc was able to provide enough power for a couple of days with normal application, talk, email, message, and game use. The phone gets all this power from a capacious 1500mAh lithium polymer. Sony Ericsson claims that the battery should provide around 7 hours of talk and 400 hours of standby time.

The Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc S

Performance:

The Sony Ericsson XPERIA Arc S is basically the XPERIA Arc with a faster processor, slightly upgraded software and an ‘S’ tagged onto the end of its name. It remains a good phone but its plagued by the same issues as its predecessor: that being disappointing build quality.

Conclusion:

The slim phone means slim buttons. Finding the power button requires a small amount of mental focus, while the tiny camera shutter and volume rockers would benefit from being pumped up a little.

PRO:

• Thin, tall and narrow chassis makes it more comfortable to use than other big-screen Androids
• Camera with good low-light capabilities and native Panorama options
• Excellent loudspeaker

CON:

• Still no front-facing camera
• Minor upgrades compared to the Xperia arc