Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc S deals & review

The Arc was Sony Ericsson´s previous flagship Android phone and was highly notable for a couple of reasons. Firstly, at just 8.7mm thickness it was one of the thinnest smartphones on the planet, thinner even than the iPhone 4 although beaten by the Galaxy S2. Secondly, it came with an unusual curved battery casing which was the source of its name. The Arc S is a slightly tweaked device, which offers a very similar physical design but some interesting upgrades to make it an even more powerful performer.

The physical dimensions of the Arc S remain the same as the previous Arc, and it retains the convex battery casing of the original. In terms of its display the Arc S remains the same as well, with a 4.2 inch LED-backlit LCD screen employing WVGA graphics and using Sony´s Mobile BRAVIA Engine. This is one of the more vibrant screens on offer with a smartphone and it performs surprisingly well in sunlight.

The main difference that makes the Xperia Arc S different to the original Arc is its processor. This has been increased from a standard 1GHz Snapdragon to a more powerful 1.4GHz snapdragon chip. Sony Ericsson has not included a dual core CPU here, which will probably make an appearance on a fully upgraded Xperia Arc 2, and the GPU and RAM (512MB) remain the same as the original.

The Xperia Arc is also comes with a newer version of Android Gingerbread under its wing. Like the original Arc the Arc S comes with Android Market so you can get hold of a great wealth of apps and games to enjoy on the phone. It already comes with plenty such features already included, with YouTube, Facebook and various other services preinstalled. Entertainment wise the Arc S is an excellent phone, with good music and video playback support. Of course it includes the little Sony Ericsson twists such as TrackID and the ability to load related YouTube videos from the phone´s media player.

The Arc S supports 32GB microSD cards and comes with an 8GB card already included. This is a good amount of room to get you started with loading you personal media such as videos and music. The Arc S also includes an HDMI port so that it can be connected to a TV to watch movies and do other things. DLNA Wi-Fi support is on offer as well, so that the Arc S can be connected to other wireless devices to share or retrieve music, video and pictures.

Wi-Fi and 3G are both excellently implemented providing a great range of online features to play around with. With web browsing is an enjoyable experience on the phone as it comes with a spacious screen and a responsive interface and the Arc S includes good email and instant messaging support too. For social networks Facebook, Twitter and others are supported and different social networks and messaging options can be pooled together into Timescape, with a handy widget conveniently placed on the homescreen.

On the face of it the new Arc´s 8 megapixel camera doesn´t seem a whole lot different from that of the original. There is one noticeable difference though, which is that the Arc S now supports 3D sweep panorama. Like many Xperia camera features the 3D panorama feature is something that had been developed for Sony´s top of the range digital cameras and has now been expertly implemented into a smartphone. With this you can take pseudo-3D images and panoramic shots by sweeping the camera across in front of you. This camera also includes an LED flash, 720p video recording and a host of software features to play around with.

The Arc S should not be thought of as the Arc 2, as it is not a complete upgrade or a phone in itself. What it is however, is an excellent phone with some much welcomed improvements made. The only real differences compared to the original Arc are an increased processor, slightly updated operating system (which will become available to the original anyway) and a couple of new features for the camera. If you already own the Xperia Arc it is probably not worthwhile rushing out to replace it with the Arc S, but if the Arc was a phone you were considering as your next handset you may be well advised to pick up an Xperia Arc S instead.