Mobile

Sony-Ericsson Xperia Arc first impressions

Name: Sony-Ericsson Xperia Arc
Brand: Sony
Rating: 4.1 (1 reviews)

Abe Olandres April 10, 2011 · 2 min read

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When Sony-Ericsson announced the Xperia Arc, I was a little confused why they did not really improved on the specs of their flagship device considering that everyone else has gone dual-core.

Okay, it’ just the processor actually. The rest of the items in the specs sheet were bumped up with 2 most noticeable aspects.

Bigger and better display screen. The Xperia Arc now comes in a larger 4.2-inch display with a resolution of 480Ã—854 pixels. The LCD display of the Xperia X10 was really a disappointment so I’m glad Sony-Ericsson improved on that with the Reality Display. The brightness, crispness and degree of contrast is more apparent — still can’t match the Retina Display or the AMOLED but it’s right up there with the two display technologies.

Impressive Camera Quality. Being Sony-Ericsson, we always expect the high megapixel cameras on their smartphones to perform at par with the brand’s reputation. The X10 was again a disappointment in that department. SE corrected that by including an Exmor-R mobile sensor with the f/2.4 lens. Really sharp images even under low-light conditions.

Taking the honorable mention in the roster is the built-in HDMI port for projecting photos and videos on a larger screen; and the thin and sleek form factor makes it one of the sexiest smartphones around.

Sony-Ericsson Xperia Arc specs:
Qualcomm MSM8250 Snapdragon 1 GHz CPU
4.2â€³ capacitive display @ 480Ã—854 pixels
Sony Mobile Bravia Engine
Reality Display
up to 32GB via microSD (16GB included)
HSDPA, HSUPA
WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, DLNA
Bluetooth 2.1 w/ A2DP
8MP autofocus camera w/ LED flash
720p HD video recording
HDMI output
GPS w/ aGPS support
Li-Po 1500mAh battery
Android 2.3 Gingerbread

I looked at the SE Xperia Arc and thought this should have been the Xperia X10. The technology and design refresh of the Arc is something I believe Sony-Ericsson already had a year ago. Releasing it now made it seem they’re “late” again, as late as they were when they released the X10 last year.

The Arc has a lot of redeeming features and Sony-Ericsosn also rationalized its pricing scheme (the Xperia Arc comes with a suggested retail price of Php29,990) so it still has a good fighting chance (for now).

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Abe Olandres

Editor-in-chief

Abe is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of YugaTech with over 20 years of experience in the technology industry. He is one of the pioneers of blogging in the country and considered by many as the Father of Tech Blogging in the Philippines. He is also a technology consultant, a tech columnist with several national publications, resource speaker and mentor/advisor to several start-up companies.

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39 Comments

rainshadow · 15 years ago

It’s a LED-backlit TFT LCD screen. This means that, although it doesn’t offer the eye-piercing brightness of an AMOLED display, it delivers more subdued, accurate colours. The 480×854-pixel screen doesn’t match the iPhone 4’s 640×960-pixel display, but it’s still sharp and beautiful to look at.

According to CNET UK, the screen’s colours looked natural and bright. Compared to the 4-inch, 480×800-pixel Super AMOLED screen on the Google Nexus S, the Arc’s display looked noticeably sharper and clearer.

The screen uses Sony’s Bravia Engine image-processing technology. Sony Ericsson says that the Bravia system delivers optimal colour, contrast, noise reduction and sharpness on the Arc’s small screen, and that it will work on any video.

backslider · 15 years ago

They call it Reality Display.
It will give users as real to life experience as possible.

Aanhin mo daw kung maganda tignan un colors sa display pero it’s not real

Lucien Tiojanco · 15 years ago

Yuga, kindly verify if it’s running on MSM8250 (2 year old SOC used by X10) or MSM8255 (1 year old SOC used by HTC phones last year). They perform quite differently. ;-)

Paul · 15 years ago

SE makes you go HMMMM…
After their dissappointing support for their 2010 Xperia range of phones they come out with new ones. Making you think at what Android OS would they now get stuck at.

The X10 has been stuck at Android 2.1 where the rest of the great phones had 2.2 already. They are planning a 2.3 upgrade though

Its just sad that SE neglected their other products such as the X10 Mini/pro and X8 line. Leaving them to rot at Android 2.1 whereas other phones from other brands with lower specs do have 2.2 already.

Nice phone the Arc…if only they can assure their customers better support then its a good buy

gambit · 15 years ago

Anyone knows if available na po ito sa Pinas..? Haven’t seen it pa kc sa mga retail stores as of today….

x1 · 15 years ago

kakakita ko lang sa G3. nasa 27k kapag cash. astig.

Abe Olandres Editor-in-chief · 15 years ago

@calvin – saan na yung iPad2 review mo??

Calvin · 15 years ago

nakapila pa. hehehe. dami pang masimportanteng irereview… gaya ng galaxy mini. :P

Abe Olandres Editor-in-chief · 15 years ago

@calvin – no way! mas important galaxy mini than ipad2? hehehe

Calvin · 15 years ago

abe, ngayon ko lang nalaman what you can do with the dual-core proc on a mobile phone. render videos with software. i tried viewing 1080p using the default player of the arc and smooth sya, pero when i used a player from the android market, naglalag sya because it relies on the proc.

try downloading “Summer player” on the SGSII and play a 1080p movie to see if ganun din.

i also disagree that the arc should have been the design of the X10 when it was first launched. remember, the X10 was early than the other brands and kelan ba nagstart magkaroon ng 4.2-inch screen phones? late last year lang with the Desire HD diba.

finally able to write about the SGS2II and the arc comparison na pala:
http://www.pinoytechblog.com/archives/sony-ericsson-xperia-arc-vs-samsung-galaxy-s-ii

technobaboy · 15 years ago

and we thought SE has finally caught up with the rest. sigh.

Ethan Tremblay · 15 years ago

geez… as what I’ve expected in S.E -_- (sigh) nothing new and always late.. though considering the ginger bread..

teehee · 15 years ago

looks like naka samsung 9 pa yung kasama ni yuga (look at the pictures) he. he. :D
anyways, great phone !

mary · 15 years ago

Honga. :)

And naka-ipad2 naman yung isa pang kasama. Perhaps this was taken during the review of the gadgets.

f · 15 years ago

looks palang nito solve na pera ko. stand-out at may sex-appeal. I don’t mind the dual-core, I mean as long as the OS implementation is fluid. Di naman ako into gaming, or processing-intensive task.