Though Sony Ericsson’s Xperia Arc was announced in CES, till now still it’s available only on discussion boards and sneak previews. While MWC is on full swing, first time company has officially displayed the Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc in comprehensive way ever. Certainly the main focus in MWC is on Play, Pro and Neo members of Xperia family but Upcoming SE Arc has managed to draw attention people due to its design and some of the unique functionality only available with Arc till now.
Sony Ericsson has used a similar plasticky material on the back as it does in the Neo, which doesn’t overwhelm with any sensations of reassurance or quality, but seems to do the job. Guess some corners had to inevitably be cut along with the fat on this phone’s body.
The 4.2-inch screen is bright and lucid, though we’d warn against expecting too much from the Bravia Reality Display marketing. As we’ve mentioned before, the display enhancements only kick in when you’re consuming multimedia. Still, general performance looks more than satisfactory. Hard buttons around the body are well arranged and designed, a contrast from the fiddly keys we found on the Xperia Pro. What was consistent with the rest of Sony Ericsson’s Xperia crew, however, was the Arc’s inability to execute its pinch-to-zoom widget summary screen. It’s an ambitious function — gathering all your widgets from each screen into one cohesive overview — but, basically, it’s laggy as hell. Aside from that, general UI responsiveness could also stand some improvement, but we like where Sony Ericsson is going with the whole thing. If it keeps up its promise to repent from last year’s sins with relation to Android updates, the company has a very good chance of striking it rich with the Xperia Arc. It’s a phone that can truly get by on its looks alone.
However, as company is going for SE Xperia Arc launch with great guns, the impeccable question on future scalability of Xperia X10 platform remain uncertain. Company is going through huge criticism across the globe due to the decision to stay away from latest Android upgrade for Xperia X10. We are watching this space closely and keep you posted.
Anyhow, enjoy the hands-on video on latest Xperia Arc running on Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) – thanks to Engaged.
