The Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc is Sony’s latest Android smartphone in their Xperia range, it comes with Android 2.3 Gingerbread, and it features a 4.2 inch touchscreen LED backlit LCD display.
Processing is provided by a 1GHz processor and there is also an 8 megapixel camera and 512MB of RAM, it quite light for a smartphone of this sizes, weighing in at 117g, making it just 1 gram heavier than the new Samsung Galaxy S II.
Hardware Specifications
The Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc comes with Android 2.3.2 Gingerbread out of the box, not the latest version which is 2.3.3, although we are expecting Sony Ericsson to release an update in the not too distant future, the handsets measure 125mm by 63mm by 8.7 mm.
Processing is provided by a single core 1Ghz Qualcomm processor, and there is also 512MB of RAM, and it has 320MB of built in storage, plus a microSD card slot that can take up to 32GB cards, although the one we tested had an 8GB microSD card included.
The Xperia Arc features a 4.2 inch LED backlit LCD display, with a resolution of 480 x 850 pixels, you also get an 8 megapixel camera that can record HD video in 720p and it features Sony’s Exmor R Sensor.
Design, Display, UI
The Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc features a slim design, and it definitely feels like a quality smartphone, the back of the case is made from plastic, and it also features a curved design which makes it easy to hold.
The display on the Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc seems pretty good, the colors look good and everything looks sharp and clear, although it doesn’t compare to other devices with say an AMOLED display, it does look decent and capable of doing the job, exactly what you would expect from an LCD display.
The Xperia Arc uses Sony Ericsson’s custom Timescape UI, which we have seen on previous Xperia devices that we have tested, its not the best UI we have seen on an Android phone, but it is more than capable of doing the job.
Processor and Camera
The Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc features a single core 1GHz Qulacomm MSM8225 processor, which works very well at everything we threw at it, it had no problem launching any of the applications we tested, and also running videos and it worked well with a number of tasks.
The camera on the Xperia Arc is an 8.1 megapixel one, and it features Sony’s Exmor R sensor, it certainly does do a good job at taking photos, it produces nice clear and sharp photos with great colors.
The Xperia Arc is capable of recording High Definition video in 720p at a rate of 30 frames per second, and it does as good a job with videos as it does with the photos.
Have a look at the sample photo below, which was taken on maximum resolution with standard settings.
Battery Life
The Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc features 1500mAh battery, and it works well under normal usage, after a full days usage of the Xperia Arc, running normal tasks like email, watching the odd YouTube video and browsing the web, the Xperia Arc still had plenty of juice left in it.
The battery life compares to the majority of similar devices available, unless you are a heavy user you should get through the day on a single charge and still have some power left over.
Conclusion
The Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc seems like a decent Android smartphone, the camera is very good and it does a great job of taking still photos and shooting HD video.
The design of the Xperia Arc is pretty good, and the 4.2 inch display is quite good, although not as good as some of the other smartphones which are currently available.
The Xperia Arc costs about £430 here in the UK SIM free, which when compared to other devices with better specifications it does seem a little on the expensive side.
If you are in the market for a new Android smartphone, and are a fan of Sony Ericsson handsets we would reccomend you check out the new Xperia Arc, although there are better devices available for a similar price with higher specifications.
Have a look at our Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc gallery below.
The Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc is available in the UK from a range of mobile operators, the model we tested in this review was from mobile network Three, you can find out more details over at the Three website.