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With the Xperia arc now officially out of the bag let's take a look at exactly what the handset offers and dispel some of the conflicting rumours and reports over its specifications.
The design of the handset is one of its most prominent features and with its thinnest part measuring just 8.7mm thick it could lay claim to being the thinnest smartphone in the world. The screen is a rather massive 4.2 inch affair, which means it's a tall handset even if it is thin.
In terms of the actual hardware I've presented the full spec sheet at the end, but we'll go over some of the more interesting points in detail.
The screen, as mentioned above, measures 4.2 inches, and it's packing in what Sony Ericsson are calling a 'reality Display'. This seems to be the way forward these days, you're display is no good unless it has a catchy title. More importantly though the arc features a Mobile Bravia Engine to help power the whole thing and make multimedia flow smoothly.
The screen itself is an LCD, no Super LCD or AMOLED I'm afraid, but on the bright side it supports 16 million colours, up from the X10's 65k and it will support multi-touch out of the box! That's a huge improvement over the X10 as multi-touch really is a basic feature in smartphones these days.
Camera wise it's an 8.1 MP effort, in contrast to earlier reports that suggested it would be 12 MP. 8 MP is more than sufficient and compares well with the likes of the Nexus S and iPhone 4, which muster up 5 MP cameras. Of course the megapixel count isn't the be and end all, but Sony Ericsson does still do well on the camera side of things and its interface for the X10 was roundly praised as a step up from the stock Android interface so we can expect similar results here.
The camera supports HD video recording, 720p in this case. 1080p is obviously better, but that's probably a bridge too far for Sony Ericsson at the moment. To be fair it's probably a bridge too far for most manufacturers at the moment and in any case 720p is more than adequate for most people. It's again another step up from the X10, which received HD recording support through an update, but here we have it straight from the start.
The handset will be shipping with Gingerbread, which is not only great in terms of being able to use the latest version of Google's OS, but a huge relief for those worried that Sony Ericsson would repeat the huge mistake they made with the X10 and use an outdated version of Android. In fact not only will the arc ship with Gingerbread it has already been spotted running an uprated version of Gingerbread, version 2.4 instead of version 2.3. The handset will ship with version 2.3m, but it's a promising sign for future updates that a newer version is already being tested on the hardware.
You can check out the full spec list below and the official press release here.
Camera
8.1 megapixel camera
Up to 2.46x smart zoom
Aperture f/2.4
Auto focus
Face detection
Flash/LED
Geo tagging
Image stabilizer
Noise suppression
Send to web
Smile detection
Sony Exmor R™ for mobile CMOS sensor
Touch Focus
Touch capture
Video light
Video recording, HD 720p
Music
Album art
Bluetooth™ stereo (A2DP)
Media player
Music tones (MP3/AAC)
PlayNow™ service*
TrackID™ music recognition application
* This service may not be available in every market
Web
Bookmarks
Google™ search
NeoReader™ barcode scanner
Pan & zoom
Web browser (WebKit)
Communication
Call list
Conference calls
Facebook™ application*
Sony Ericsson Timescape™
Speakerphone
Vibrating alert
* This service may not be available in every market
Messaging
Conversations
Microsoft® Exchange ActiveSync®
Instant messaging
Picture messaging (MMS)
Predictive text input
Sound recorder
Text messaging (SMS)
Design
Auto rotate
Keyboards (onscreen, QWERTY)
Picture wallpaper
Reality display
Sony Mobile BRAVIA® Engine
Touchscreen
Wallpaper animation
Entertainment
* This service may not be available in every market
3D games
Media browser
Motion gaming
Radio (FM)
Video streaming
Video viewing
YouTube™ *
Organiser
Android™ OS
Alarm clock
Calculator
Calendar
Document readers
Flight mode
Infinite button
Phone book
Connectivity
3.5 mm audio jack
aGPS
Bluetooth™ technology
Google Maps™
HDMI
Modem
DLNA
USB mass storage
USB support
Wi-Fi™
Wisepilot™ turn-by-turn navigation *
* This service may not be available in every market
Google™ services*
* These services may not be available in every market
Android Market™ Client
Gmail™
Google Calendar™
Google Gallery 3D™
Google Latitude™
Google Maps™ with Street View
Google Media Uploader
Google Music Player™
Google Phone-top Search
Google Search widget
Google Sync™
Google Talk™
Google Voice Search
Set-up Wizard
YouTube™
Screen
Sony Mobile Bravia Engine
16,777,216 colour TFT
Capacitive multi-touch
4.2 inches
854 x 480 pixels (FWVGA)
Shatter proof sheet on scratch-resistant mineral glass
Accessories
In-Box:
- Sony Ericsson Xperia™ arc
- Battery (1500mAh)
- Stereo portable handsfree
- Micro USB cable for charging, synchronisation and file transfer
- User documentation
Facts 1)2)
Size: 125 x 63 x 8.7 mm
Weight: 117 grams
Phone memory: Up to 512 MB
Memory card support: up to 32 GB
Memory card included: microSD™ 8 GB
Operating system: Google™ Android 2.3
Processor: 1 GHz Qualcomm
Availability and versions
Networks
UMTS HSPA 900, 2100
GSM GPRS/EDGE 850, 900, 1800, 1900
UMTS HSPA 800, 850, 1900, 2100
GSM GPRS/EDGE 850, 900, 1800, 1900
Colour
Midnight Blue
Misty Silver
