Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc s | Amazing!

We road test the Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc s mobile phone.

For a few weeks now we’ve been road testing the Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc s mobile handset and believe me, we’ve put it through it’s paces. Taking it from club nights, to parties to gigs the verdict is in… iWhatnow? This little baby is by far one of the best handsets on the market, and a perfect choice for gifting this Christmas.

Firstly, let’s look at the aesthetics. It’s slim and incredibly light and fits really comfortably in the hand, plus the ultra styled white livery definitely makes it stand out. Aside from it’s overall prettiness, it’s got a dazzlingly bright high resolution screen that includes the Bravia Engine found in Sony TVs and because the display sits right at the surface and not recessed underneath as with other phones it’s super sharp and bright.

Not being a techy I can’t share too much detail on the inner workings of the Arc s except to say that it runs on Android 2.3.4 and has a nifty hard working 1.4 gHz processor, what this translates to in my world is an interface that’s so responsive to touch it would make you giddy.

There’s plenty of little touches that weren’t there in previous Xperia models like the ‘Take Screenshot’ function, easy touch copy & paste options, the extended ‘loud’ speaker for playing music and they’ve put back the FM radio which had been dropped. It also has a HDMI option so can be connected to your TV.

The most attractive quality the Arc s has to offer has to be it’s camera and video capabilities. Again I’ll leave the technology to the experts to explain however, the 8MP camera produces stunning pictures in all conditions, the processor means instant image capturing, great for catching those perfect moments.

The camera has Sony’s Exmor R sensor so when lighting conditions are poor or you’re out at night, you still get fantastic shots. Great for gigs when a flash isn’t appropriate but you still want a great picture. The HD video camera is, simply put, the best quality I’ve ever come across in a phone, it’s stunning, you can see this from the clip I filmed at the recent Clock Opera gig in the Academy taken in very low lighting, the microphone may be a bit sensitive for loud sound systems but you can deal with that when the picture is so clear.

All in all I’ve been so impressed with the Arc s I could gush on for ages, it has everything that I’d look for in a phone and more and the fact that it’s just so damn pretty will make it the perfect gift for any stylesiren out there looking for a new phone this Christmas.

Images taken in low lighting with no flash at Foster the People, Olympia Theatre and Clock Opera, Academy 2.