Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc

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SE seem to be stepping up their game. If i was in the market for an Android device i would definately consider this :
http://www.gsmarena.com/sony_ericsson_xperia_arc-3619.php
Looks stunning, decent specs.
However, SE are not famous for supporting thier devices (Satio comes to mind)
Only negative for me is the plastic body, prefer some steel, just feels more solid(sorry to all the GalaxyS owners :))
GSMA preview of this beast : http://www.gsmarena.com/sony_ericsson_xperia_arc-review-553.php

Wonder when its gonna be available here.

ps : its the first phone in the last 3 or 4 months to topple the Nokia N8 as the 'most popular phone' spot on GSM Arena
 
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Looks like an awesome phone, but I'd watch the update situation with the Xperia X10 before I touch that. If they're happy to abandon the Xperia X10 customers that have had an outdated version of Android from the start then I wouldn't feel comfortable with an SE phone. No excuse for them not to give the X10 phones Gingerbread within the next few months of they can have Android 2.3/2.4 on the Arc.
 
Let's see...Same processor as the Desire HD, less RAM, less storage, a terrible UI skin and crappy support. I'll take the HTC any day of the week, thanks.
 
Lag ... lag ... lag ... lots of it. There's no way I'd use that phone without updating to some kind of custom ROM.
It is a great looking phone though, I just LOVE the way that thing looks when you plug it in to HDMI. Definitely the phone I'll use if I needed to watch movies from my phone on a large LCD screen.
The problem is I've worked on an Xperia X10, and it would take a lot to convince be to use SE after that experience. The X10 was absolutely rubbish. Slowest Android experience ever. Crap looking screen etc.
This new one seems to be just an upgraded X10 with some extra features.

A colleague of mine got his just before I got my Galaxy S. The X10 looked archaic next to it.
 
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RaptorSA said:
Lag ... lag ... lag ... lots of it. There's no way I'd use that phone without updating to some kind of custom ROM.
It is a great looking phone though, I just LOVE the way that thing looks when you plug it in to HDMI. Definitely the phone I'll use if I needed to watch movies from my phone on a large LCD screen.
The problem is I've worked on an Xperia X10, and it would take a lot to convince be to use SE after that experience. The X10 was absolutely rubbish. Slowest Android experience ever. Crap looking screen etc.
This new one seems to be just an upgraded X10 with some extra features.

A colleague of mine got his just before I got my Galaxy S. The X10 looked archaic next to it.
Click to expand...

It is still running pre-production software.
 
Most Androids lag, atleast that's what ive discovered, but none comes close to how badly a Galaxy-S can lag, a friend of mine is going mad with it he cant even get Kies to work to try update it,he's not a 'geek' so the custom ROM idea was a no go, and i'm not prepared to risk killing his new phone.

The X10 does lag in Mediascape i must say but other than that ive been happy especialy after the recent update with-in 2.1, ive also rooted and installed JIT Compiler in it, getting Quadrant scores of between 789-805 on 2.1 ,this phone just aint as bad as some try make it out to be, i'm not impressed with SE's attittude and treatment of us X10 users at all, and was tempted to sell my X10 ao get a Galaxy-S but the lag and amount of effort to get it to run poperly just put me off. IMO Android is still maturing and the manufacturers are still warming up to it, and these phones will continue to struggle with this lag issue for a while.

The Arc is still in beta, you cant judge its performance based on early units, anyway im done with SE, the Arc looks great but i'm unsure of whether it will recieve OS updates after GB, i wish Moto would ship more of their droids here,
 
Tsepz_011 said:
Most Androids lag, atleast that's what ive discovered, but none comes close to how badly a Galaxy-S can lag, a friend of mine is going mad with it he cant even get Kies to work to try update it,he's not a 'geek' so the custom ROM idea was a no go, and i'm not prepared to risk killing his new phone.

The X10 does lag in Mediascape i must say but other than that ive been happy especialy after the recent update with-in 2.1, ive also rooted and installed JIT Compiler in it, getting Quadrant scores of between 789-805 on 2.1 ,this phone just aint as bad as some try make it out to be, i'm not impressed with SE's attittude and treatment of us X10 users at all, and was tempted to sell my X10 ao get a Galaxy-S but the lag and amount of effort to get it to run poperly just put me off. IMO Android is still maturing and the manufacturers are still warming up to it, and these phones will continue to struggle with this lag issue for a while.

The Arc is still in beta, you cant judge its performance based on early units, anyway im done with SE, the Arc looks great but i'm unsure of whether it will recieve OS updates after GB, i wish Moto would ship more of their droids here,
Click to expand...

I'm not judging performance here, I'm judging it solely on the hardware specs and the manufacturer. The Arc has specs that are comparable to the Desire HD and from that I rate that it (the Arc) has worse specs and SE has a worse track record when compared to a manufacturer like HTC (don't even get me started on Samsung). SE also has one of the worst UI skins for Android that I've seen, right next to Motorola's.

The evidence points to the idea that SE does not (yet) compete in the Android space, but maybe other people like second-rate phones.
 
RaptorSA said:
Lag ... lag ... lag ... lots of it. There's no way I'd use that phone without updating to some kind of custom ROM.
It is a great looking phone though, I just LOVE the way that thing looks when you plug it in to HDMI. Definitely the phone I'll use if I needed to watch movies from my phone on a large LCD screen.
The problem is I've worked on an Xperia X10, and it would take a lot to convince be to use SE after that experience. The X10 was absolutely rubbish. Slowest Android experience ever. Crap looking screen etc.
This new one seems to be just an upgraded X10 with some extra features.

A colleague of mine got his just before I got my Galaxy S. The X10 looked archaic next to it.
Click to expand...

? which phone are we still talking about here, the X10 or the ARC ?
does your collegue have a ARC?
GSM Arena had this to say about lag :
But it’s not so much synthetic benchmarks that should concern you – it’s the real life performance that matter here and the XPERIA Arc feels as smooth as butter. Even at these early stages of its development the handset didn’t treat us to any irritating lags or nasty holdups, which is really promising to say the least
Click to expand...
 
HawkiesZA
My post wasn't even at you, you are talking about a phone that isn't even out yet as if you've used it, that right there made me skip your post halfway through reading it.

SE's UI skin has been revamped by the way, it's more stock Android than the X10.
You are aware that many Qualcomm based phones will use the same CPU as the DesireHD as Qualcomm arent yet done with their dual-core CPUs right? Even the Htc's announced at CES were based on that CPU or the CDMA version of it or the MSM7230 as in the Desire Z.

Err...no, the SEs arent "second rate phones", i'd actualy say HTC are closer to that with their pathetic batteries, awful/weak build quality, avarage RF and weak cameras, but hey they run the latest Android version :D so they're forgiven.
 
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Tsepz_011 said:
HawkiesZA
My post wasn't even at you, you are talking about a phone that isn't even out yet as if you've used it, that right there made me skip your post halfway through reading it.
Click to expand...

How so? I made it clear that I was talking about the specs as they are on paper. I'm not all that concerned with performance stats of an unfinished product - they still have some tweaking to do on the software, but the hardware is finalised and the hardware is not any type of advancement IMO.

Tsepz_011 said:
SE's UI skin has been revamped by the way, it's more stock Android than the X10.
Click to expand...

It might be more "stock" on the homescreen, but they have their customisations in the various apps and those still suck. Again, it's my opinion and I get that other people might actuall like it. I don't think it gives any extra value to the phone or to the usability of the device.

Tsepz_011 said:
You are aware that many Qualcomm based phones will use the same CPU as the DesireHD as Qualcomm arent yet done with their dual-core CPUs right? Even the Htc's announced at CES were based on that CPU or the CDMA version of it or the MSM7230 as in the Desire Z.
Click to expand...

HTC was basically just releasing CDMA versions of phones at CES that have already been available to Europe (and oddly enough, us) for a few months already. The only really new thing they put on there was the "4G" lie. They have devices that are already competitive with everything currently on the market and they usually have their own press events for new releases anyway.

Qualcomm has an article on their website from last year where they announce dual-core chips that are ready for consumption. It just takes a bit for these chips to make it into devices that consumers can buy.

Tsepz_011 said:
Err...no, the SEs arent "second rate phones", i'd actualy say HTC are closer to that with their pathetic batteries, awful/weak build quality, avarage RF and weak cameras, but hey they run the latest Android version :D so they're forgiven.
Click to expand...

Fine, that's your opinion which I respect. I've used SE devices (Android and non-Android) and they aren't all that good in my experience when compared to the HTCs I've used.
 
The Xperia X10 wont get a Froyo update, saw it on SE UK twitter site. Might be cause the X10 only has 384 MB RAM, or SE's history of abandoning older phones.

The Arc does look like a worthy contender, running Android 2.3 out of the box, but it looks like the Motorola Atrix will be a 'world phone' and right now it's the one to get.

HTC is very close partners with Qualcomm, so dont expect any Tegra 2 HTC phones anytime soon.
 
HawkiesZA
The dual-core Snapdragons are delayed til late this year: http://www.thinkpads.com/2010/09/10/dual-core-qualcomm-snapdragon-delayed-to-late-2011/
Nothing has changed since then, so as i said, expect more Qualcomm based devices to use the same chipset as the DesireHD (Snapdragon MSM8255) or the MSM7230.
It's your opinion yes, but you go on as if you have used the phone.

Kingrob
It's most definetly not due to RAM, the Legend has 384mb and manages Froyo fine, the original Droid (US Milestone) has 256mb RAM and again manages Froyo just fine, it's due to both SE's lazyness and the fact that they never worked with Froyo, after Eclaire they jumped straight to Gingerbread hence why the Arc and all other SE droids that come out this year will have Gingerbread out the box.
 
kingrob said:
The Xperia X10 wont get a Froyo update, saw it on SE UK twitter site. Might be cause the X10 only has 384 MB RAM, or SE's history of abandoning older phones.
Click to expand...

Froyo does not have higher requirements than 2.1. SE just doesn't want to invest in updating it because they don't care.
 
kingrob said:
The people are angry....just have a look at the abuse SE is getting on Twitter.

http://twitter.com/#!/SonyEricssonUK
Click to expand...

Shame man, SE UK are probably the most helpful of them all. We should abuse SE SA on Twitter. They're pathetic at everything besides copying and pasting tweets about their products from the other SE Twitter accounts :/

Back on topic, I like the Arc, ergonomic design, Bravia engine thing-a-magig screen and Gingerbread.. but.. This here is my last SE phone sadly. Love the camera, you mist admit, it kills most other Android phones when it comes to picture quality and clarity but at the end of the day, ain't nothing more refreshing AND clean than a Nexus S, Google style ;-)

Sent from my X10i using MyBroadband Android App
 
Tsepz_011 said:
HawkiesZA
The dual-core Snapdragons are delayed til late this year: http://www.thinkpads.com/2010/09/10/dual-core-qualcomm-snapdragon-delayed-to-late-2011/
Nothing has changed since then, so as i said, expect more Qualcomm based devices to use the same chipset as the DesireHD (Snapdragon MSM8255) or the MSM7230.
It's your opinion yes, but you go on as if you have used the phone.

Kingrob
It's most definetly not due to RAM, the Legend has 384mb and manages Froyo fine, the original Droid (US Milestone) has 256mb RAM and again manages Froyo just fine, it's due to both SE's lazyness and the fact that they never worked with Froyo, after Eclaire they jumped straight to Gingerbread hence why the Arc and all other SE droids that come out this year will have Gingerbread out the box.
Click to expand...
Looks like i was spot-on in this post, all Qualcomm based devices announced at MWC are based on the DesireHD's SoC (MSM8255) or lower, we should see the dual-core Qualcomm based devices later this year.
 
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