The Sony Ericsson XPERIA Arc Android smartphone
Sony Ericsson today announced that its XPERIA Arc Android smartphone will launch in Australia in ‘early April’ on the Optus and Vodafone networks.
Read our detailed preview of the Sony Ericsson XPERIA Arc, and check out our Sony Ericsson XPERIA Arc vs. Apple iPhone 4 smartphone showdown.
The Sony Ericsson XPERIA Arc is the first of many XPERIA-branded Android phones that will debut in Australia in 2011. Aside from the much publicised Sony Ericsson XPERIA Play, dubbed the 'PlayStation phone', the XPERIA Arc is the company's flagship smartphone for the first half of the year.
The Sony Ericsson XPERIA Arc has a big emphasis on design — it is just 8.7mm thin at the thinnest part of its body. The XPERIA Arc also sports a new display technology dubbed the Mobile Bravia Engine, which is claimed to offer better video performance and image quality.
The XPERIA Arc has a 4.2in ‘Reality display’ which makes it almost a full inch larger than Apple's iPhone 4. Sony Ericsson claims the Reality display is brighter and clearer than competing displays.
The Sony Ericsson XPERIA Arc runs the latest 2.3 Gingerbread version of Google's Android operating system which offers a revamped keyboard, better copy and paste, improved power management, and a slicker user interface compared to previous versions of Google's mobile platform.
The XPERIA Arc also includes Sony Ericsson's Timescape application, which first appeared on the XPERIA X10 Android phone. Timescape groups social networking and phone communications into a single, graphically intense interface; each communication event on the phone forms a 3D box that you simply flick your finger up and down the "spine" to scroll through. However, Sony Ericsson has included Timescape as a regular app rather than integrate it into the XPERIA Arc's UI, and it has also dumped its Mediascape integration. Sony Ericsson says this means the XPERIA Arc will not suffer the same Android software update delays as the XPERIA X10 did.
"The XPERIA Arc is a premium smartphone that will appeal to users who want an exceptional entertainment experience, visual brilliance and the latest version of Android,” said Brendan Johnston, managing director, Sony Ericsson Oceania. “Our 2011 XPERIA devices are the only smartphones that gives customers access to the worlds of Android and Sony in one stylish device and we’re proud to be bringing that to Optus and Vodafone customers in XPERIA Arc."
Pricing on both Optus and Vodafone networks for the Sony Ericsson XPERIA Arc has yet to be announced.
