Thursday, January 20, 2011

Sony Ericsson XPERIA Arc hands-on



We’ve noted the Sony Ericsson XperiaTM Arc on a couple of occasions recently and included it in our 5 of the best upcoming Android phones from CES 2011 and also wrote about some earlier teasers of the XperiaTM Arc.

The new XperiaTM Arc phone, being debuted at CES, takes a new approach to Google's Android OS for the company: it's running the latest version of Android, 2.3 "Gingerbread," and the OS hasn't been heavily hacked, unlike with previous Android devices the company has had. Sony Ericsson is also leveraging various Sony technologies to make a very impressive smartphone. I came away quite liking this new device.
The XperiaTM Arc is a big (4.2-inch screen), slim (only 8.7mm) slab phone running Android 2.3 on a 1Ghz Qualcomm second-generation Snapdragon processor. With a metal band around the edge and an unusually rich 16.7m- color screen, it feels fancy and expensive. Performance seemed to be on par with other gigahertz - class Android phones.

I was very impressed by Sony's blending in several technologies from its TVs and digital cameras here. The 8.1- megapixel Exmor RTM camera sensor actually does take much better low-light photos than the standard camera phone; I tried it in the CES hall, and the shots looked unusually bright and sharp. The camera's face detection also kicked in quickly.

The LCD screen had terrifically rich colors, but my mind was blown a little when I plugged the phone into an HDMI out and started controlling it with the TV remote. This feature, called Bravia Link, actually works with any HDMI TV, Sony Ericsson reps told me. The XperiaTM Arc can pump any video through its HDMI out—even games and streaming media - and by using the TV remote, you can actually lean back and watch it.

Sony Ericsson's previous Android phones were heavily altered, with the custom "TimescapeTM " and "MediascapeTM " social networking and media interfaces really dragging down performance. The company has replaced TimescapeTM and MediascapeTM with apps and widgets that you can choose to add or remove—if you don't like them, poof, they're gone. That will also make the phone much easier to update when new versions of Android come out, Farmer said.

Now, that doesn't mean Sony Ericsson kept its hands off Gingerbread entirely. There are some minor, useful hacks here—an "overview" mode so you can see all the widgets on all of your home screens, and different options for sorting your apps, for instance. But hopefully Sony Ericsson had enough of a light touch that when Ice Cream comes along, the XperiaTM Arc will get a taste.

First, though, the lesson: after having trouble upgrading previous phones, Sony Ericsson is conscious that they need to keep up with the latest version of Android at all times, the company's North American head of marketing, Peter Farmer said. All of the company's 2011 Android phones will run Android 2.3, he said. The XperiaTM Arc is first, but more phones will come out on Sunday, February 13th at Mobile World Congress.
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As in the initial post and have been using the XperiaTM arc for a week, and now would share some of the design in a video. It also included some of what the Home Screen look like with the changes done to the media interface etc.
There will post more videos with more details as we go along so feel free to request what you want to see more of it  http://blogs.sonyericsson.com/products/ in the comments section.
Please also remember that the software have in the samples is still at a very early stage so there will be changes made before launch.
It also take the opportunity to clear out some questions on XperiaTM arc from the comments section of the earlier post.
  • The CPU and GPU specs are: MSM8255 at 1 GHz with Adreno 205.
  • The music player does have an equalizer, the current software has 10 different genre based presets.
  • It does not have a front facing camera.
  • MediascapeTM is removed in its earlier form and has changed into a customizable widget based “media pane” (as shown briefly in the video)
  • It’s too early to officially give detailed comments around specific later Android versions for XperiaTM arc during its lifecycle but the changes we have made to our way of working with Android puts us in a good position to make sure that XperiaTM arc will get later versions in a timely manner.
  • I’ve seen articles around higher numbers than 2.3 being seen in the display of XperiaTM arc phones – As I have been informed that is due to a misconfiguration in some samples and nothing to get too excited about really, sorry.
  • It does have two microphones which will be used for noise suppression during phone calls.
  • The camera LED flash is possible to put in four different modes; Auto, Fill-flash, Red-eye Reduction & Off.
  • It does have full multi touch support, just tried a similar multi touch test app as in the video on the X10 and at least in that app it accepts 4 simultaneous touch points without any issues with X- and Y-axis or such things. Later will try to get confirmation on final specs in regards to multi touch.
  • It does support wi-fi up to the 802.11n mode.
http://blogs.sonyericsson.com/products/


The new XperiaTM arc really is something when it comes to the imaging capabilities.

From a user interface perspective parts of the camera UI is new and brings new settings and even further refined ease-of-use.

It’s also already now a lot faster compared to our earlier products, especially when comparing the time needed in between shots when trying to shoot action scenes. We have set very aggressive targets for that time between shots and it will be optimized even further in the work ongoing up until launch.

The main addition compared to earlier models though are the improvements in light sensitivity in the sensor itself. The camera sensor is a new type of sensor from Sony called Exmor RTM for mobile which relies on back-illuminated sensor technology. What’s new is that the actual light sensors are moved to the front, in front of the “wiring” connecting the individual photo diodes together which makes it a lot more sensitive for light. More information can be found here

Another thing when it comes to light sensitivity is that the lens of the XperiaTM arc has an aperture value of f/2.4. In short what this means is that the opening letting the light in is bigger than before which also makes more light hit the sensor.

These two things together makes the XperiaTM arc shoot pictures in low-light situations such as indoors or at night in a completely new way for a mobile phone. At least I who also use a lot of cameras have always been very aware of this limitation with mobile cameras where indoor pics often come out blurry due to subject or hand movement. With increased sensitivity in both the lens and the sensor the shutter time can be decreased and therefore minimize blur.

The main improvements in the reworked user interface are quicker access to lots of settings and also more control over e.g. the flash which is something I personally have been asking for in our products for a while. I recorded this short video to show the user interface a bit.

This video was also recorded with another XperiaTM arc to give you an idea of the result of its HD video recording capabilities.

Please remember also that this is pre-release software on prototype hardware so there will most likely be some minor changes made and performance will be further optimized before launch.

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