Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc Android smartphone Sony Ericsson’s Xperia series got off to a rocky start back in 2008 but improved greatly with last year’s X10. The Xperia Arc is the company’s latest flagship offering that runs the latest Android 2.3 Gingerbread OS and features an 8.1Mp camera with a low noise CMOS sensor and a high-end screen with a Bravia engine. Evidently, …
I really don't wanna buy Sony products and all that but this thing looks like it could be a nice replacement for my Desire.
The only let down on my desire is the rubbish pics it takes due to the awful plastic lens cover, this Arc looks prettier has a bigger screen and takes better pics. Definitely a contender when my contract is up in a couple of months..
Sony make some of the best products around? Their TV's are great (for TFT), the PS3 beats the pants of both the Xbox and Wii in terms of gameplay, features & value.
Their phones are pretty decent, the Walkman brand is better sounding than anything Apple have ever made.
By not buying Sony, you are only spiting yourself. Sure you pay a bit more, but quality comes at a price.
You're not wrong - Sony really do make some of the nicest electronics.
However, some people have been burned by various things Sony have done:
- Taking PS2 backwards support and Linux off the PS3 in a non optional software update
- Promising to update the Android OS in Several Phones and then not going through with it, or at the very most about half a year after it was promised
- Spying sofware on Sony music CD's
- etc, etc
The trouble is; they go and make a phone as nice looking as this and then people (myself included) will go and buy Sony products regardless of what they've done in the past.
You do realise for Sony Ericsson is its own company entirely independent of Sony? Most of the development for Sony Ericsson phones is done in Europe by what would have been the former Ericsson team.
Sony Ericsson have absolutely NOTHING to do with Sony's policy regarding the PlayStation, nor with Sony's policy regarding music CDs.
Also, SE delivered on it's promises regarding Android updates. The X10 is going to get a 2.3 update, and that would make it one of very few devices to support such a wide set of Android versions. I blame Google for Sony Ericsson's initial slowness - Google favoured the likes of HTC and Samsung as "hardware partners", allowing the likes of HTC and Samsung to get up to speed much faster with Android than their competitors.
You have also heard that Sony Ericsson are going to provide the option to unlock the boot-loader with these new Xperia devices, right? That alone should make you consider Sony Ericsson as one of the lead contenders for Android devices!
Sony never removed PS2 compatability in a software update, it was always hardware, and removed to make it cheaper to sell.
They never removed linux in a non-optional software update either. (it was ALWAYS optional)
I believe the Experia phones have Android 2.1, which is pretty uptodate.
Spying software? You mean copy protection software that stealthed itself? Rather different....
You should stop listening to people on the internet, they are idiots, and it's rubbing off on you. EPIC FAIL OF THE WEEK AWARD IS ON IT'S WAY.
Is that what Sony fans are calling rootkits these days? No matter how you phrase it, it was wrong. Sony was installing software that the consumer was unaware of and had the potential to really cause some nasty problems.
"You should stop listening to people on the internet, they are idiots, and it's rubbing off on you." Wow. You love you some Sony, don't you! Funny, if a fan of Apple/Google/Microsoft/Other were to make that statement, they'd rightly be torn a new one! Do me a favour though, heed the same advice when spouting your generic boilerplate nonsense about Apple/Google/Microsoft/Other.
Shouting just makes you look like a bit of mouth foamy troll.
Happy Thursday!
Not only is the internet the worlds biggest liar, it's also responsible for the worlds biggest Chinese Whispers.
The "Rootkit" was never malicious, it was merely copy protection (in the same form that many other publishing companies were toying with at the time). The only difference here, is that it hid itself, a side effect being it also opened the door for carefully coded spyware to hide itself too, courtesy of the same routines.
The code wasn't even written by Sony, it was written by First 4 Internet. Sony bought it in. It affected about 10 CD's (and a distribution of about 20,000 copies, all in the US)
Since then the story and been bigged up and twisted out of all recognition by clueless idiots like yourself.
Sony are just as 'bad' as Apple with their love of DRM and control, and in some ways worse. If *you* go with Sony products then you are a hypocrite, which after being a banker is the worst thing that anyone can be.
DISCLAIMER: I really don't care what you spend your money on, or that you have misplaced brand loyalties.
Only if I go around saying I hate DRM and control. Which I don't, because I understand why companies use it and so I don't go on a blind rage against it.
If I didn't understand it I'd have to hate most companies producing media - and thus not read or see anything recent - because almost all use DRM to some extent. You're quite deluded if you think it's only Sony and Apple...
Also wouldn't mind being a banker, btw. Since you're obviously not interested if you come across
an opening at > 60K/year let me know.
we get screen grabs in the reviews of Android apps costing nothing but not in the reviews of phones costing hundreds of pounds. It's great the keyboard is "better" and the UI looks "different", but are we supposed to use our imagination? I'd rather pictures of the UI any day than snaps of North London.
When all other manufacturers are bringing out dual-core behemoths why has Sony rolled out something of last years tech?
At best it's a facelifted X10, but it can't compete with the latest smartphone releases and will soon look silly compared to the new iPhone and its many clones.
with the comments about the headphone jack location. I wrecked the jack on two pairs of headphones when I had my Blackberry with the socket on the side. As much as I loved the phone, I'd had enough. You shouldn't have to buy an adapter just to be able to use your phone as a music player and not live in fear of breaking headphones.
So yeah, the location of the headphone socket is a deal breaker.
Firstly, I will agree with the above posters regarding the quality of Sony products - my F-series Vaio notebook was expensive, but worth every penny.
But, like the OTHER posters above, the sidemounted headphone jack just KILLS this phone for me. C'mon Sony - I know your game: you expect us all to try it with wired headphones, and then get pissed off enough to go buy a nice set of Sony-branded Bluetooth headphones. For another hundred at least.
Sorry, not going to happen - I like my armature-powered, wired headphones far too much, and I hate having to remember to charge BT headphones when I've owned three pair of them. Go shoot your product engineers...this is a classic fail.
gah, I should hand in my geek badge but after my ipod touch 3.5mm connector broke (less than 18months!!! Which is me never buying apple again) I went out and ordered a sony MW600 bluetooth headset because it was cheaper than repairing the ipod (35 quids) and I am well impressed. I paired it up with the phones I already had and its great, in fact I have binned off the ipod entirely now and just use it with my desire and SD card. Highly recommend you take a look at a review before you swear off BT headphones.
"Good though it is, it’s useful that you can turn the Bravia engine off when you’re not making full use of it (it’s wasted on text messages, really) which will help save the battery."
Are you sure about that El Reg - from what I read elsewhere this "Bravia Engine" only kicks in when viewing photos and videos. And is it even hardware??? I was under the impression that it was just software? (though maybe I'm completely wrong on that one!)
The X10 was my sixth SE phone, but has proven to be the best yet.
When It first came out (I got mine the day of release) the software was ... ... woolly to say the least. The camera was sluggish, the OS interaction could be slow and things like the keyboard could be more than a bit sleepy. The worst part was the appalling battery life, even with everything off you'd be lucky to get 8 hours.
Ditching the O2 build and the hugely improved SE PC Companion software made updating to Android 2.0 a doddle, an upgrade that brought on a massive improvement in battery life, but when 2.1 was installed I felt the X10 was finally unleashed. Battery will now do three days on standby, a day and a half with moderate use. I've yet to find an app on the Market that doesn't work on the thing. Chuck the Dragon Flext9 keyboard on it and the interface is awesome.
If I didn't have another year to run on my contract, I'd be changing the X10 for the Arc. Having played around with it SE have taken everything that was eventually great on the X10 and brought it over to the Arc, but adding really worthwhile features - HDMI out, 720p video and improvements in screen and camera tech.
Regarding the headphone jack placement - The X10 came with a bundled M600 BT Headphone set in the nordic regions (the M600 also added FM Radio capability which the X10 lacks). I bought one after my old BT set met a sticky end and I can heartily recommend this device. It has a standard 3.5mm headphone socket on the top, syncs immediately and delivers really great quality sound. I use it with the half length 'retro' headphones the X10 shipped with and they sound superb. I've also used the M600 with my beloved Sennheiser Pros and can't discern any difference between the Wired and Wireless versions.
Basically if the headphone socket placement is a deal breaker, look into an M600. Then sit back and enjoy your Arc. Me, I'm looking forward to Android 2.2 on my X10 and loving the fact that SE have finally, finally got their act together.
I have a Bluetooth dangle (wireless version of a dongle) with an ordinary headphone socket, and it didn't cost very much. Unfortunately it sounds like it too, the audio is very noisy if you're a purist. If you just want to shovel interesting noise into your ears then it does the job. Nexxus at Maplin (eww).
Disagree entirely. It is well worth removing the search button if it means having a much more ergonomic 3 hardware buttons with Back logically on the left, Home logically in the centre, and Menu logically on the right (compare to a right-click on a PC).
Apps can easily have a search option under a press of the Menu button. This is not a big deal and a worthwhile compromise IMO. The only reason search was included as a hardware button so Google could try and funnel more Google Search hits - nothing to do with usability.
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