Sony injects premium multimedia DNA into new Xperia Arc

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Tuesday, 08 March 2011 16:56

Your IT - Mobility

Sony Ericsson is blessed by having access to some of the considerable digital multimedia assets and technologies that Sony has created and updates on a yearly basis, with the new Xperia Arc containing features from Sony's Bravia TVs and Cybershot cameras. Launching 'soon' on Vodafone and Optus, there's also new Bravia TV remote control software for Android and iPhone available to download in the respective app markets!

Although Sony Ericsson has leveraged Sony's Cybershot assets several times before during Sony Ericsson's pre-Android era, the company clearly wanted to produce kick-ass Android handsets that would stand out among the ever growing and rapidly improving droid army, with the first of the new guard being the 'Xperia arc'.

The design is almost the reverse of the Samsung Nexus S, with its back in a slightly more curved 'arc' than the front of the Nexus S, with Samsung claiming a better fit to your face and Sony claiming a better fit to your hand. Perhaps future models from both companies will have slight arcs on either side!

Apart from the design and the casing made from 'premium materials', Sony Ericsson says it has placed the 'best of Sony technology' within the arc, blending the latest Android smartphone OS 2.3, and injected premium Sony DNA for as stunning a multi-touch screen and as excellent a still and HD video camera as possible.

Engineering and luck has also created a smartphone that is, in its thinnest part, 8.7mm, which thinner than the iPad 2's 8.8mm, although the arc shape means it grows thicker at the edges.

Promising 'exceptional visual brilliance' and a 'crystal clear image', the screen needs to deliver, and it certainly was impressive during the relatively brief hands-on time I had with it today during Sony's 2011 consumer electronics launch (separate article on the way).

To back up the claims, which your own eyes will judge when you see one for yourself, there are always plenty of specs, and even a familiar sounding catchy name.

It's called the 'Reality Display', with 16.7m colours, a real but non-retinal 854x480 (FWVGA) resolution, and is powered by Sony's digital video processing 'Mobile Bravia Engine' technology derived from the Bravia range of TVs - with screen made from a shatter proof sheet on scratch-resistant mineral glass.

On the back is a still and HD 8.1 megapixel camera using Sony's 'Exmor R' technology to create a mobile sensor that captures 'high quality, bright pictures and HD videos even in low light', with a built-in HDMI for easy sharing on HDTVs.

Examples of photos in low-light conditions such as at dusk or in nightclubs were given as examples where the Exmor R mobile sensor would excel where other mobile cameras struggle, with the technology working for both photos and HD video.

Due for release through Optus and Vodafone in April, the Xperia Arc will be followed up by another two Xperia models, the Xperia Neo which will be launched on Telstra, and the upcoming Playstation-approved Xperia Play.

Specs, where to download the iPhone and Android versions of the Sony Media Remote app, the temporary lack of pricing details and more on page two, please read on!