[RobM]

Thought this might be of interest to some, HDBlog.it have a 15ish minute preview of the new, yet-to-be-announced, Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc.

Esclusiva: Video anteprima del nuovo Xperia Arc di Sony Ericsson!

(via Engadget)

It looks superb, with awesome graphics performance and effects. Timescape has also been scaled down a bit and looks all the better for it.

If the build quality and battery life are decent, this could be a seriously impressive bit of kit.

[sven256]

It will not be impressive, as Sony Ericsson do not do updates. And that's reason enough to stay away.

Sony Ericsson updates = Make.believe

There are much better alternatives coming to the market within the next few months.

[RobM]

Time will tell if that's correct. But there are many people who have updated their X10 from 1.6 to 2.1 that would disagree with your first statement.

And you're correct that there will be better phones technically, more powerful, more this, more that, but that's not the point... this could be one of the most enjoyable around as an overall package.

I'm no SE fan, not by a long shot, but I stated some time back that if they concentrated their efforts on Android they could really be a competitor again and this, IMO, is a good sign of that.

[sven256]

I'm sorry but the x10 update was not a update it was a necessity. Yes I have a x10.

It was a joke to release it on 1.6 in the first place when 2.1 had already been out for months and known about for easily 7+ months prior, then to take 9 months to do a update to 2.1. which was promised in a few months.

And on top of that make a statement 9 months after release, there will be no more support for their flagship phone. Please don't come back saying they are still releasing update just no new version of android, as this is just Sony Ericsson marketing rubbish. Yes they will be releasing bug fixes, for bugs that should not be there in the first place.


There is no need to wait to see if time time will tell, you only need to look at Sony Ericsson past record. Once they release a new product, the old ones get zero support.

Do a search the list is a mile long, I wish I would have.

[RobM]

Have a look at the start of the X10 thread for my predictions and tell me how you think I did

But let's try and keep this thread on topic, the topic being the Arc.

[apolloa]

Here's the English version of the video,

YouTube - Xperia Arc preview Full HD by HDblog (ENG)

I'm going to get one in blue when it's sim free. Black Pegasus will look great on it and the camera looks fantastic.
And at CES the Sony reps already stated how they have made changed the some of the interface components into apps so they can update the phone more easily, they won't need to test as much etc. To me this is an acknowledgement they have made a mistake they want to rectify.

[RobM]

There were some interesting comments on Twitter last night from the Gadget Show team, who had a play and test of this yesterday. Some very positive comments including 'iPhone better watch it's back' (or words to that effect...).

[Member 501176]

Sony Ericsson used to be my favourite manufacture for so long but then I moved over to HTC, I wonder if this phone can bring me back...

[cebs_uk]

I read the review/preview of this in T3 and it looks very nice indeeed. I agree sony abandon their phones to quickly i've had a satio and never had a single update but if it works ok out the box then so be it.

[RobM]

Originally Posted by Ryan_dabs

Sony Ericsson used to be my favourite manufacture for so long but then I moved over to HTC, I wonder if this phone can bring me back...

SE are certainly innovating more than HTC at the moment. The Bravia engine, Reality Display, Exmor R for mobiles... all things that make a real difference to the device and how it feels to use.

Originally Posted by cebs_uk

I read the review/preview of this in T3 and it looks very nice indeeed. I agree sony abandon their phones to quickly i've had a satio and never had a single update but if it works ok out the box then so be it.

The Satio is a bit different, as it's a 'dumbphone' where updates are required to fix problems more than anything else. It was also a product created in some dark times for SE.

That said, SE made a rod for their own back with the X10 by making Timescape such an integrated part of the OS. Combine this with the amount of platforms their limited engineering resource had to deal with and it was only ever going to end in tears. It was also their first foray in the Android world, so there was a lot to learn.

The Arc comes out from a time where SE have all-but committed to Android for their smartphones. They have also scaled back Timescape, making firmware updates easier to re-develop for. Taking both elements into consideration, the only reason for SE to not keep up with firmware releases is a business one, rather than a technical one.

Overall I think this could be one of the most desireable Android handsets around and, comined with the Xperia Play, Neo and Pro it all indicates exciting and fresh times for Sony Ericsson

[syko67]

I've been using SE since the T610, never had a problem with any of them, always been happy with form and function, my Satio (she aint dumb :-( ) will be with me till november, hopefully the Arc will be out and well tested by then, love the look of it. I was a bit worried about some critics complaining about it not being duel core and therefore already old hat.. I cant see me needing all that processing power.. Hopefully Voda will give me a chance to upgrade early ;-)

[RobM]

If all goes according to plan, I'm getting my mitts on one of these in the next couple of days, albeit briefly. Oddly, because I'm not entirely sure why, I'm looking forward to this more than most other devices around at the moment.

[syko67]

Originally Posted by RobM

If all goes according to plan, I'm getting my mitts on one of these in the next couple of days, albeit briefly. Oddly, because I'm not entirely sure why, I'm looking forward to this more than most other devices around at the moment.

Looking forward to your report

[RobM]

If there is anything in particular you want to know, just shout. It's not 100% I'll get it, but if I can I want to get some value out of it, so just say

The nice thing is that it's announced and released to the world already, so I don't have to worry about saying things I shouldn't

[syko67]

Originally Posted by RobM

If there is anything in particular you want to know, just shout. It's not 100% I'll get it, but if I can I want to get some value out of it, so just say

The nice thing is that it's announced and released to the world already, so I don't have to worry about saying things I shouldn't

Build quality for me..does it feel solid? Or too light and thin.
Good luck ;-)

[RobM]

My date has been booked, so get your questions in and I'll do what I can

[RobM]

Well I've had a play and I've detailed my thoughts below, deliberately ignoring any Android general features and impressions and trying to focus on what this handset brings to the game (IMO, of course...).

Originally Posted by syko67

Build quality for me..does it feel solid? Or too light and thin.
Good luck ;-)

It feels solid and light. It's not much lighter in reality than other similar smartphones, but because it's thin and because of the shape it doesn't feel like you're holding much, so it feels light. Tricky to explain, but I hope you get the idea - it's size is lovely and it feels light because it's thin.

The screen is excellent too, with great colours. IMO, it's bang inbetween OLED (over saturated, fake looking colours but it's very 'wow') and normal LCD, as the colours are bright and clear, very vibrant, but look natural and well balanced. Detail and clarity are good - not iPhone 4 sharp, but the best I've seen away from that.

Performance is quick. Properly quick. The handset I had a play with was a late build (99% ready for release, I'm told...) and it dealt with my use and abuse nicely, deliberately flicking through menus, Apps, games and trying to catch it out. I lost. The beauty of this speed is, when combined with the excellent screen, you really get to enjoy the transitions and animations used in the OS and software. Running through some typical usage - opening and closing Apps, flicking through emails and text messages, that sort of thing - was very fluid.

The theme and customisation of Android that SE have applied looks great. It's not over-styled, nor is it full of individual boxes like HTC Sense, it's good to look at and doesn't get in the way.

Now, my thoughts on camera phones are well known around here, I'm not a big fan as rarely do the results get anywhere near to close to even cheap, dedicated point-and-shoot cameras. But this is better, very good in fact. I can't say too much as I didn't have the opportunity to copy any photos to a PC and view them full-size, but from what I did get to see, it looked great. A lot of effort has gone into this from SE, with the Exmoor-R enhancements, so I would expect the end result to put it at the top of the camera phone leaderboard (should such a thing exist...). Two things really impressed me though - Face detection worked a treat and Auto Focus was very, very fast.

So, now some downsides...

The downside to the slim body did mean the camera button didn't inspire trust or confidence, as I kept thinking I was going to squeeze and 'pop' it out of my fingers

I'm still not a Timescape fan. It just doesn't offer that much to the experience. Things like the social network integration is great, but the views on offer don't give you enough information on screen, so you end up in the dedicated Apps anyway. All a bit pointless. The music widget was nice and everything looks pretty, but I could see myself ignoring most of it fairly quickly.

Battery life worries me. I know I was giving it a beating, but in less than an hour I managed to take around 35% off of the indicated battery life.

And lastly, I couldn't for love nor money get a sensible location fix. It could have been the environment, it could have been the hardware or the software but it wasn't playing ball.

My final thoughts...

This phone is almost certainly a must-buy for me because as an all-round package, you need to head to Apple to beat it. In terms of design, size, 'feel', usability it's excellent and something you could truly live with every day (IF the battery life is decent!) and enjoy without frustration. Gingerbreads keyboard takes a way a big bugbear of many Android users, but that's not unique to this phone, of course. The highlights other than the design, are the fluid and natural feeling in use, the excellent, natural screen and the camera which seemed very impressive in my limited use.

Other phones will certainly look better on paper, promising dual-core goodness and other such wonderful headlines. But right now, for the most of this year in fact when little software for Android is optimised to use dual core, this phone will stand up to the competition impressively well. What others will lack though, is the style and excellent multimedia capabilities this brings.

The only way SE can screw this up, is making the price too high and the battery life too low.

This will be the next Android phone I buy*



*Unless I change my mind... I do that.

[syko67]

dam...I gotta wait till November, ah well, that means I can come in and see hows its going for a few months


oo...or I could tell voda to bog off and buy one...hmmmmm

[RobM]

Hold tight and see what happens to the prices. If the SIM-Free prices are keen, it might be an option to buy one and keep your current contract.

[syko67]

£450 on play.com..sounds reasonable ;-)

[RobM]

Hopefully that will drop a bit as stock and choice increases, but that's a mighty fine starting point

[farmergiles65]

First of all, ANdroid 2.1 on the X10 was not a necessity. It worked fine for me on 1.6 and 2.1 merely made it slightly better. Yes the update was late, but SE are learning from this and you'll notice that Timescape for e.g. has been decoupled from the Android OS making subsequent updates faster and easier to implement.

Anyway the Arc.

It does look insane and in late March I'm attending a test lab to give it and the Play / Neo / Pro i hope a good beating to test it out. Thoughts will get posted after that.

However first thoughts of the Arc reveals it's insanely nice. SE's innovation coupled with Gingerbreads smoothness make this phone a solid contender. Yes people can argue about "oh this phone has this better spec" but overall this ticks all the boxes and then some. And to be perfectly honest, if two phones run equally smoothly, who cares if one has a slightly better processor?

Trying to see what the major differences are between this and the Neo though. Spec wise they seem the same bar a screen size difference (no biggy, 3.7 is pretty big anyway) and a front camera on the Neo. So what does the Arc have, that the Neo doesn't that makes it stand out?

[RobM]

Originally Posted by farmergiles65

So what does the Arc have, that the Neo doesn't that makes it stand out?

The 'feel'

Nothing you can write on paper or explain to anybody without sounding like a nut, but it feels better, it feels like something you could love, rather than a tool.

[Tigerblade]

Originally Posted by RobM

Battery life worries me. I know I was giving it a beating, but in less than an hour I managed to take around 35% off of the indicated battery life.

I'm sure using the x-recovery trick to condition the battery will work just as well with this as it does with the x10.

Originally Posted by sven256

There is no need to wait to see if time time will tell, you only need to look at Sony Ericsson past record. Once they release a new product, the old ones get zero support.

Do a search the list is a mile long, I wish I would have.

I've been running 2.2 on my x10 for quite a bit now with no issues...if your really that bothered then I'm sure you would be too......you can even have 2.3 if you really want but you'd have to sacrifice a few features till it's all ironed out.

[RobM]

Custom ROM's aren't for everyone though, so not really a fair addition to this debate.

[Tejstar]

Originally Posted by farmergiles65

So what does the Arc have, that the Neo doesn't that makes it stand out?

You might find this article interesting on the Xperia Blog.

[RobM]

Who on earth came to the conclusion that a front facing camera was crucial?

Apple have a lot to answer for. Video-calling died roughly two days after the launch of 3G and Apple have proven it's hard to do right over a mobile network (hence WiFi only Facetime).

Crucial my backside.

That just leaves the price, which even at £80 difference SIM-Free as stated in that blog isn't a huge difference. The contract prices are likely to be the same.

[syko67]

+1 Rob.....

I've had a front facing camera on my last 2 mobiles, thats nearly 4yrs , never used it once. I do prefer the form of the Arc though, build sounds a bit better on the Neo though.
It's going to be interesting to see what else comes out between the Arc and November.... Arc staying my number 1 choice for now

[syko67]

oo..available in shocking pink in Japan ;-s ..orange get exclusive black, thats a bugga.. (according to T3)

[farmergiles65]

Still can't decide on Arc or Neo. Despite the article, I still can only really see that one is heavier and has a front camera and the other doesnt. There must be more to go on.