It has been only a few months since Sony Ericsson launched the Xperia Arc, which garnered praises in reviews, and the company already has a successor ready for it — the Xperia Arc S.
There are two ways of looking at the Arc S; the first being an upgrade to the original Arc, and the second being a standalone purchase.
The Arc S starts right where the Arc left off and takes it a little bit further, emphasis on the little.
The design of the phone still results in a slim and long form factor that looks gorgeous on the front. The back is again plastic and continues to feel brittle. But that is soon forgotten when the screen is turned on. For those who don't remember, the Arc had the Bravia engine technology — featured on Sony TVs — which improves the quality of images and video on the screen. The Arc S has carried that forward with its 4.2-inch screen and image quality remains to be stunning.
The eyes on the Arc S remain unchanged too — stills are shot at 8.1MP and videos at 720p. The lack of full HD video is a little disappointing here, especially since all the new phones have this feature. Thankfully, its camera sensor is nothing short of stellar and this is reflected in the picture quality.
The only real upgrade on the Arc S is its processor which is now clocked at 1.4GHz, as opposed to 1GHz earlier which does make it speedier. I imagine pitting its predecessor against it would result in visible difference too, but the original Arc was an excellent performer too.
The other upgrade is the inclusion of the latest version of Android operating system on this (Gingerbread) so you won't have to wait very long for an upgrade.
Barring these two differences, the Arc S is pretty similar to the original Arc. With the two ways of looking at this — if you're considering the Arc S to be an upgrade to the original Arc, then you're better off saving your money for next year because you already have a solid device on you. If you're looking at this phone as a purchase from a different phone, then the Arc S — with its speedy processor, great screen and brilliant optics — makes for an excellent purchase.
Bhavishya Kanjhan is a digital marketing professional and an early adopter of all things digital. Follow his tweets on @bhavishya
