Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc

The inward-curving silhouette (hence the name Arc ...) contributes to the elegant, designer styling on t Xperia X.  Careful design allows it to be both long and wide, but still thin and light at just 117 g.  It's a treat to hold, and won't weigh your pockets down.  Ultimately, though, we were disappointed by the choice of all an all-plastic finish—especially the cheap-looking metallic painted trim around the outside—which is an unusual decision for a high-end smartphone.  At least the build quality and manufacturing are up to scratch.
 

 

The 4.2'', 845 x 480 pixel Sony Mobile Bravia display enjoys boasts contrast (with very deep blacks) and very good brightness (because there's no way of adjusting the ambient light sensor, the screen is always on its maximum setting ... great news for your battery).  We found it to be accurate.  For colour reproduction, it does a reasonable job—better than the Samsung Galaxy S, for instance—even if there is something of a red tinge, apart from for greys, which take on a blue tone.

The very ample screen is slightly smaller than the one on the HTC Desire HD but bigger than the 4'' provided on the LG Optimus 2X.  It's surrounded by physical buttons that open the main menu and skip back through the interface.  The Xperia Arc doesn't have a front-facing camera, which might put you off if you like video calling.  In its place there's an LED that flashes when you receive a new message.

Given how ridiculously small the internal memory is for such a high-end phone, you'll want to change the microSD card at some point.  Frustratingly, you need to take the battery out first, switch your phone back on again, and, more annoyingly still, wait while it loads up, not the fastest of processes.
 

The blue software layer and extra apps that Sony Ericsson has developed are fun to use and have five separate homescreens.

The software has been tweaked slightly, so you can now store apps in folders, like you can on an iPhone, or enjoy new eye candy that isn't available in Android.  The Contacts app has been thoroughly reworked and is much more logical and intuitive.

Sony Ericsson also has an Office Suite for opening Word and Excel files, although you can't edit them.

Although there are definitely a few good ideas, this extra customisation from Sony Ericsson can't hope rival the Sense interface from HTC, or, for that matter, Samsung TouchWiz, even if it does come closer to the latter.
 

The main app menu

TimeScape, which brings together content from social networks, is back.  It's a useful way of bringing together status updates from your online friends and regular text messages into a single app.  But that's as far as it goes: if you want to respond with a Facebook message or a tweet, you're redirected to the site in question.  Sony Ericsson hasn't quite gone all way to customising these apps.

TimeScape
 

Like the HTC Incredible S (and others), the Xperia Arc has a 1 GHz Qualcomm Snapgdragon processor.  Combined with a stable OS and well-integrated customisation from SonyEricsson, that makes for a very responsive handset; it's certainly faster than the Xperia X10.

The Xperia Arc has nothing to be ashamed of next to a HTC Desire HD, even if we did find a little bit of lag in some places.  There was nothing too troubling, with apps opening quickly and reacting smoothly.

 

Decent interface in the media player
 

For a phone like this, recorded video is generally sharp and the stabilisation means that it doesn't suffer from too much jerkiness.  The HDMI output means you can watch the videos you record on a HD TV.

When it comes to playing video, the Xperia Arc is only capable of the strict minimum, with support for just 3GP and H.264.  There's no native support for DivX, unlike on some other Android phones from Samsung and LG.  If you want access to more file formats, you'll have to download an app from the Android Market.

 

The Xperia Arc has fairly decent speakers for a mobile, producing a clear output and a powerful line out for the headphones.  Overall, the audio quality is better than on the Xperia Play.

The camera on the Xperia Arc isn't too bad at all, and did a particular good job of picking out details and reproducing colours.  Even if it doesn't have a macro mode, photos that you take up close don't end up looking blurry and retain plenty of sharpness.  You can always fall back on the flash, but you're better off trying photos in a well-lit environment.