Sony Ericsson smartphones have always been known for their integration of functionality with style, and the latest model in the Xperia line is a perfect example of this tradition. Not only does it pack the latest hardware for the best performance, but it also manages to look so good, anyone would be envious of the owner.
The thinnest smartphone in the world that packs a lot of power
Samsung was boasting about having the thinnest smartphone with their new Infuse 4G, which is only 9 mm thick (0.4 mm less than the iPhone 4), but the Xperia Arc beats that by another 0.3 mm with its 8.7 mm. And that makes it look and feel simply amazing with the big 4.2 inch display! While it may not be a deal breaker for some, the slim case, coupled with the metal finish all around, sure makes the Xperia Arc more stylish than other smartphones.
As for the performance, you need not be worried – the Arc has the latest generation Snapdragon processor, the same one that is in the T-Mobile G2, which is as much as 50% faster than the old one at the same 1 GHz frequency (plus it’s easily overclockable). There 512 MB of RAM for any apps you want to run and a new graphics adapter, the Adreno 205 that provides enough 3D performance to let you compete on equal footing with the iPhone 4!
Beautiful display with the best digitizer in the world
The 4.2 inch display on the Xperia Arc is powered by Sony’s own Bravia engine, which makes the colors (all 16 million of them!), brightness and contrast excellent and easily comparable to the best Super AMOLED screens out there. The resolution is 854×480, which as you might know, is the same as on the Motorola Droid. It definitely gives you an advantage in viewing Web pages, for example, over the more standard 800×480 displays.
And it’s not only the display on this smartphone that is impressive: the digitizer that covers it is also the best one you can find. It is a Cypress TrueTouch – one of the first truly multitouch digitizers in the world. This means that you can use more than two fingers at once on the screen, something that wasn’t possible until now on tablets and smartphones.
This technology can be very useful, for example, in games and when you want to control your phone with gestures (launch a web browser with a three fingers tap, control the media player with one and two finger swipes, and so on).
The most sensitive HD camera on smartphones
To top everything off, Sony Ericsson has implemented their new camera technology, called Exmor R, and in the case of Xperia Arc, it has an 8 megapixels sensor and is extremely light sensitive, which lets you take great shots in complete darkness using only the LED flash on the phone. Not even dedicated point and shoot cameras can do that, so you can easily replace one with this smartphone. Of course, it also shoots 720p HD videos, if you want to.
The Xperia Arc will be powered by Android 2.3 Gingerbread when it launches in the first quarter of 2011, which is a first for Sony Ericsson – usually they choose an older and more tested version of the OS. This means that buyers will have access to the latest features and apps on the marketplace, and can use the phone without any issues for at least 1-2 years, by which time an update might be needed.
The Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc is an impressive smartphone that will surely attract a lot of buyers. The only thing everyone’s worried about is the abysmal OS support that the company provides, with a lot of their phones running the outdated 1.6 version of Android and no updates in sight, but hopefully they will fix that in the new lines of phones, as they promised.
