SE Xperia Arc

[Sarath]

I have been using a Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc for a while now and I want to share my experience with you.

The link to the official website is here:
Xperiaâ„¢ arc | Android Touch Phone - Sony Ericsson



Price: Rs.31000/- at launch [Rs.27500 as of now 14,5,11]Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc: Full Phone Specifications, Price, Reviews (Silver)

For someone who doesnt want to read much i will give the pros and cons of the phone below:


The Good:
> Super slim super sexy just awesome [Its just pawns every other phone I have seen]
> Huge screen 4.2" LED lit
> Android 2.3.3 version. You have got the latest and an update to 2.4 has been confirmed by Sony (when it comes fingers crossed)
> UI is slick and good
> Good camera
> Ability to transfer data through wifi using Sony companion software (not sync)
> Ability to unlock bootloader (officially from Sony) for custom roms
> Good developer support on XDA

The Bad:
>Screen flicker- annoying screen flicker faced by some users including me. update on the way. NOT SEEN ANYMORE FOR UNKNOWN BUT GOOD REASON (reason=update)
>Lag- yes sometimes! there is despite ample config [bearable] EDIT: No lag
>Video recording have out of sync audio [annoying] FIXED WITH LATEST UPDATE
>WiFi reception is very weak FIXED WITH LATEST UPDATE
>battery life sucks [not surprisingly though have to charge everyday] (Oct update: By now I realised this is an con of all androids)
>No front camera (this didn't affect my buying decision at all but its your call)

P.S. DO NOT USE THE POUCH THAT COMES BUNDLED WITH THE PHONE.[edit: the phone easily slips out of it; mine fell out twice while pulling out of the pocket] Stupid point. Had gotten used to the BB sleeve with a flush fit. The pouch is fine.

BATTERY LIFE: After using this for 2 months the battery life is found to be around 24hrs +/-4

Would like to add another point that I got the phone from Abu Dhabi, UAE (Middle East). I have seen that some people have not received the update here. It may be attributed to the region in which the device was sold or purchased.

REVIEW:

First impressions were filled with awe and amazement at holding such a piece of beauty. I knew it was prohibitively thin which came with its share of compromises but i was fine with it. It clearly trumps any other phone (i have seen) in the looks department. I prefer form over function back from the Moto razr days so if you are looking for a good looking phone then this definitely should be at the top of your list.

Day 1: After waiting for a while to boot the 4.2" screen looked amazing. I right away went to the camera and clicked a few photos and they were relatively better than most I have seen. A 8.1MP sensor does the job. There is a Bravia screen option [Mobile BRAVIA Engine] which incidently displays pictures much better than they are but I have not validated this due to laziness.
I connected the phone to my TV with the bundled HDMI cable and sat on the couch and browsed through the collection.

[You can use the Sony Bravia TV's remote to control your phone and flip through pictures]

Day 2: I created a google account & synced contacts. Other options are from facebook and yahoo. I checked the phones call quality which was fine and the speaker was also good. The other features of the phone were all good and nothing much to specifically dwell into.

Timescape is a neat feature mostly for aesthetic purposes. Serves more to show off your phone than for general usage.

Day 3: The phones battery life started bothering me. 14hours on charge on full blown usage. Maybe my initial excitement killed the phone. Played angry birds on the phone for a while. I must add angry birds was much better in the ipod/iphone. Noticeable lag in gameplay, especially for such a simple game. Also the adds for most free games are annoying. I would much rather pay for them to avoid those ads.
My phone fell down today

Day 4: Connected my Nokia bluetooth headset and it worked well. I did not install many apps so it runs free. However the phone is laggy and takes time to open the messages sometimes.
PROBLEM: The screen flicker was an annoying development and refused to go. gets triggered in low lighting conditions and irritates during normal browsing. Hope this gets fixed.

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Day 13: The media server is a nice app to connect to the PS3. If you have one you can use it to listen/ watch the songs/vids in your phone wirelessly streamed to the TV via the PS3. A neat feature with limited use though.

Day 14: Just recorded a lenghty 45min video in my phone. The picture quality is good (720p) but there is problem in audio synchronization. Also reported by many others this is annoying and needs to be fixed too.
I am particularly annoyed buy this and the flicker, the rest is passable.

"I have reported the screen flicker and audio sync problems to SE. Hope they fix it soon."

Day 40: I updated my phone 2 days back to Android 2.3.3. It has added many new features and fixed the issues I mentioned above. Thankfully the flickering has vanished. It seems smooth sailing now. This phone has been a worthy companion all along. I have outlived the initial excitement but I still love this piece of beauty. I feel I have made a good choice in choosing the Xperia Arc. I have used most of the features by now and everything works well. The only niggle I still have is the lag that is becoming omnipresent now, especially when opening the Message Inbox which is annoying. I love my phone though.

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~~~Get this phone only for the looks. I like the work sony has done with it. But as usual they have screwed up the hardware side (not much)(not dual core). That is my share of compromise. However I love this phone and despite the glitches I would still vouch for it.

~~~If you want a powerful smartphone the dual cores coming up should be your calling. I was personally interested in the HTC Thunderbird before this happened to me. So if you are someone who likes to do a a lot of tweaking, modding, installs lots of apps etc etc please dont take this phone.

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P.S. I will add pics soon if i can. For now i got one from the website.

P.P.S: I hated SE phones and this coming from me is a genuine review.

UPDATED WITH PICS:







Amazingly thin. Watch for reference. Did'nt find anything else its 2:16am now

[mohityadavx]

Great Review Pal

It sure has looks that kill!!!

[NainO]

Great review!!!
Dropped my phone while reading

[sujoyp]

Good Review...I am one of the SE fan ...and just love their design

[himadri_sm]

why shouldn't we use the bundled pouch?

[Sam]

^^ mobile slips out. read loose.

@Sarath, come on, post some pics. without pics, review looks dull. awaiting pic.

[Sarath]

Thanks guys for appreciation.

I have edited the post to answer your ques ^^^

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I just now edited it. Your post came in while i was doing exactly that.

Yeah i will post pics soon. Taking another camera and shooting a phone is on a lazy man's end of the To-Do list but coming soon

Originally Posted by Sam

^^ mobile slips out. read loose.

@Sarath, come on, post some pics. without pics, review looks dull. awaiting pic.

[Krow]

I like the Diary format used for this review. Nice. Pics please.

[Sarath]

This is great. An update finally. Hope the issues plaguing the device are ironed out.

Sony Ericsson Xperia Play, Arc getting Android 2.3.3 update next week, Facebook integration in tow -- Engadget

[desiibond]

@OP nice review.

Looks like SE is doing the perfect job with their phones now. It seems they are lining up 2.3.4 too for Arc and Play. i do hope they upgrade Neo too.

[ithehappy]

Originally Posted by desiibond

Looks like SE is doing the perfect job with their phones now. It seems they are lining up 2.3.4 too for Arc and Play. i do hope they upgrade Neo too.

I don't think so. They have to update their hardware section now, only design won't do. I was a SE user for the period 2004-2008 and used almost every phone starting from P910i upto W990i. But lately especially after the introduction of OLED screens and now Dual Core CPU's with high RAM's, SE can't attract me anymore. It's sad, I still love them but they don't love me

@OP- Cool review.

[sujoyp]

@itthehappy ....exactly my words...I love their UI and external design...but they should be compititive with pricing and timing

[Sarath]

Well this was a gift so timing and pricing are just the two things out of my hands.
But even now give me a dual core and i would refuse.
This time i am really in for the design. I know they always screw up. Getting everything right would be so not Sony-ish.

Sony also said they would bring out Android 2.4 when it releases to the devices released this year (read play, arc, neo etc)

[sujoyp]

I too bought 2 sony T series mobiles which were for style only

I really loved the looks and style of Arc...umm my hands are already itching

[ithehappy]

Yes, gotta fall in love for the super sexy design of ARC, hats off to SE for that lovely art, but that thing for 27k? Nah, I am out for sure...anyway we are going off topic..

[Sarath]

Updated with pics this time

[tkin]

Nice review.

BTW: Read the thread title out loud without stopping

[Sarath]

^^^lol I never even looked at it that way.

Kudos to your watchful eyes and observation

[sujoyp]

Any New updates sarath....any big crashes/issue/update..

Did SE solved the Video issue and the blinking screen issue

[Sarath]

Yeah I just downloaded and updated my phone to Android 2.3.3.
I never initially had any complaints except the audio sync in video recording. But this update fixes that. Here's what has changed/improved:

Battery performance
General software stability
Wi-Fi stability
HD Video recording performance (Xperia arc)
Touch responsiveness

Its nice for now. The notifications has improved further, not that I had any problems with it earlier.

Also now there is even more integration with facebook. Its just a little less than a facebook phone now; due to the lack of dedicated button that is.

The screen shots are already in this thread SE Xperia Arc.
Its right up there. Just scroll up.

[KDroid]

Nice Review!

The format of review is quite interesting!! The phone is quite interesting as well.

[Sarath]

Thanks

Would like to add another point that I got the phone from Abu Dhabi, UAE (Middle East). I have seen that some people have not received the update here. It may be attributed to the region in which the device was sold or purchased.

Editing the main post to convey the same.

[gameranand]

Real nice review.

[Sarath]

Update: The lag associated with opening Messages and Contacts is getting too annoying. Its unbearable now. A 1Ghz proc cant handle such basic tasks. Such a pity.

Anyone else facing similar problems on their Xperia Arc?

[sujoyp]

Originally Posted by Sarath

Update: The lag associated with opening Messages and Contacts is getting too annoying. Its unbearable now. A 1Ghz proc cant handle such basic tasks. Such a pity.

Anyone else facing similar problems on their Xperia Arc?

Thats sad...I was waiting for Arc price to come down...

[Sarath]

Every phone has its share of problems. Let me see if I need to fix something before making it a standard problem plaguing this device.

[thetechfreak]

Great review Sarath. Well done.
Rep++

[azzu]

Great review Sarath anna...
Drooling at ARC

[Sarath]

I would do well to accept my stupidity here.

Just checked my internal memory and it showed 10MB free of the 320MB available. I transferred all the rouge apps into my SD card( wallpapers, games, etc) and that freed up almost 180MB. Now its a breeze and there is no lag at all. Infact its as fast and fluidic as it can get.

[sujoyp]

@sarath...Thank god u liked it ultimately