Recently Maxis introduced the new Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc, a Google Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) smart phone officially to the local market. Maxis and Sony Ericsson demoed the phone to a bunch of media representative and bloggers alike on the recent launch event held at The Library, Midvalley. I got to play around with it, just for a short while thought.
Ever since Apple introduced the iPhone, it has forever change the landscape of the mobile phone market. Now almost every mobile phone makers has put out a touch screen phone in one form or another. Google made this easy for mobile phone makers with its Android OS for smart phone.
I had just a short time playing around with the Xperia Arc, but that was enough for me to notice the huge screen, good build quality and how super slim the phone is.
Sony Ericsson had taken what Sony knows best and packaged it in Xperia Arc. Two notable feature for the phone is the Reality Display powered by Mobile BRAVIA Engine for display enhancement and the Exmor R imaging sensor for mobile. Previous Sony Ericsson Xperia models had been a series of disappointments, however this latest Xperia Arc with Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) looks promising.
The Exmor R back-illuminated CMOS technology gives the Xperia Arc camera a huge advantage over all other Android based phones camera. Exmor R CMOS sensors enables the phone to take good quality pictures in low-light condition. This might just be the perfect phone for clubbing, rave-party goers to use. The camera performs well in low-light and the ultra slim device also looks fashionable. SoyaCincau.com has a video demoing the Exmor R feature.
‘BRAVIA’ is a Sony brand name which they use to market their High-Definition LCD television products. The word itself is an acronym for “Best Resolution Audio Visual Integrated Architecture”, for a phone to be branded with the BRAVIA name, it surely must have a really good screen quality, and the Xperia Arc really do have a superior screen quality, when the BRAVIA engine is turned on of cause. Check out this SoyaCincau.com video demoing the BRAVIA feature.
The fact that the Xperia Arc has an option to turn on and off the mobile BRAVIA feature on the phone makes me skeptical about the phone’s battery life when BRAVIA is turned on. The Reality Display mobile BRAVIA Engine really makes the screen shine, and if it does not effect the battery life why not just switch it on all the time?
If you are old enough, you might remember the old 386/486 personal computer that comes with a ‘turbo’ button. I always have wondered, why isn’t the computer run at the most fastest performance speed all the time, why do we have to press a button to make it go faster. Of course back then there is a very good reason for it, apparently there were some programs that were design for lower speed computers and it would not work as it was intended on a higher speed computer, hence the need for a ‘turbo’ button.
For the mobile BRAVIA case the only think I could think of for having the option to switch off and on the mobile BRAVIA Engine was that it would affect the battery life. Either that or they just build the off/on switch to show off.
The Xperia Arc has an HDMI output that lets you connect the phone to an HD television. You can now take the multimedia experience of the phone and into your big screen HD television set. Watch videos from the phone and play games on your HD television. Enjoy sling-shotting pissed-off birds across the screen to a bunch of green pigs hiding in a fortress made of woods, rocks and glasses.
This is a great feature that turns the phone into an awesome multimedia device, however I am not sure of how practical it is. Imagine yourself watching a movie from your phone through the HDMI cable onto your big HD television, and suddenly you received a phone call. You then have to get out of your comfy couch walked to the phone attach to an HDMI cable which is probably next to your HD television to answer it. Just imagine how fun this would be if you were to do it 6 or 7 times while watching a movie. Not fun at all.
For you to be able to play your Android games on you HD television via the Xperia Arc, in your comfy couch, you might need a really long HDMI cable. I see this whole HDMI output feature as more of a novelty than it actually being a killer feature.
Of course I got this all from the few minutes I had had with the phone and the Maxis Sony Ericsson demo showcase during the recent Xperia Arc launch. I would love to try and live with the phone for a few weeks or so and have an in-depth review. How about a ‘loaner unit’ Maxis/Sony Ericsson Malaysia?
Head on over to Maxis’ website for information on plans offers and pricing if you are interested.
