Sony Ericsson Xperia arc review

We expected the Xperia arc to be about the same as the Xperia Play but without the gaming controls, and yet its slimness and lightness still came as a surprise. It may be thicker than Samsung’s Galaxy S (Sony Ericsson’s claimed 8.7mm thickness only measures the thinnest part of the phone) but its arced shape feels more comfortable to hold. The curvy design has chrome highlights and the rear of the case transitions from dark blue to a sparkly grey, while the handset feels well made.

The phone is packed with features. You get an 8.1-megapixel camera with an LED flash that can capture 720p video, and it comes with anti-shake and face recognition. Pictures taken with the camera had much less noise than in most other phone cameras, and video was also crisp and colourful. The arc also has a GPS chip, plus Bluetooth and 802.11n Wi-Fi. The battery lasted almost 33 hours in our light usage test, but with moderate use of 3G data, Wi-Fi and GPS you’ll probably need to charge it every night, as with most smartphones.

One of Android’s main problems is a lack of storage; not all apps support installation on an SD card, so it’s wise to opt for a phone with extra internal storage if you like trying out lots of apps. While many Android phones have only around 150MB free for apps, the arc has 380MB left of its 1GB total internal storage, so you won’t be too limited in your use of the Market.