If you’ve kept up with my Android device buying endeavours since the early days on Ausdroid, or earlier still on WhirlPool, you’ll know that I’ve always had a soft spot for Sony Ericsson devices. I mean, how could you not? They look far more premium than most other devices out on the market and they have a premium feel; a premium name.
The downside to earlier (and some current) Sony Ericsson devices is that they were slow, terrible, failures, crap and useless; put simply, the Xperia X10. The X10 sucked from top to bottom, which was annoying for early adopters like my. Before the X10 came out, it was leaked everywhere — a theme with Sony Ericsson phones — and built up massive hype. When it came out, it sucked. No multi-touch, slow response, clunky software and it was running Android 1.6.
The upside to the Xperia X10 is that Sony Ericsson saw it as a massive learning experience; they stuffed up and they wanted to make things right again. Enter the Xperia Arc, Xperia Neo and Xperia Play.
If you’ve not used either one of the aforementioned devices, I can tell you they’re top-notch pieces of hardware and software. Sony Ericsson have kept the Xperia X10-ish design — that premium look and feel I mentioned earlier — which is perfect and actually made devices that people like the look of, the feel of and the performance of. They’re the anti Xperia X10.
I feel deeply in love with the Xperia Arc as soon as I laid eyes on it, like the tech tragic I am. It’s thin, light-weight, looks good and performs exceptionally well. Even though it’s a single-core device, it’s on par if not better than the dual-cores when it comes to touch responsiveness, which is what engages the user more than anything. If your UI enables 1:1 movement, it feels like the user is actually moving the on-screen content themselves, anything less than 1:1 — nearly all Android devices — and it’s less engaging and makes the phone feel cheap and clunky.
It was not just the software that blew me away on the Arc, it was also the hardware, and Sony Ericsson know how to do hardware. The 8MP camera, the 4.2-inch Bravia display, the excellent quality speakers — it did it all.
The Xperia Play has also created a whole new realm of possibilities within the smartphone market. It’s a fantastic idea, that could possibly be a little bit better, but there’s nothing stopping Sony Ericsson from refining the Xperia Play when or if they launch a successor. But that’s enough of the Arc and Play, however, it sets you up for what I expect of Sony Ericsson next.
There have been rumours — and only rumours — of Sony Ericsson working on a killer of a device that’s expected to launch later this year, perhaps September: Sony Ericsson Xperia Duo
It’s not just the name that gets me excited, it’s the rumoured specifications of the device also..
- 1.4GHz Dual-Core CPU
- 1.5GB RAM
- 4.5-inch qHD (960×540) Capacitive Display
- 12MP Exmor R Camera
- Android 2.3
If Sony Ericsson can manage to pull of anything close to that, and in a reasonable time span — that is, before other dual-core and quad-core devices launch, then I can easily see myself selling up the Samsung Galaxy S II and moving on.
Sony Ericsson certainly isn’t a company that I see can do no wrong, they can, they have and they will doubt continue to, that’s how this industry works. But having played with their current generation of handsets, their next generation should be something worth saving up for.
If not, I guess it’s back to the Sony Ericsson hate club for a little while, where I can cower over their missed opportunities whilst I play with the bleeding edge of technology such as the Samsung Galaxy S II. My question to you is: what device or manufacturer do you think your next Android will be?
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