Arc, a gift to Androids?

It seems like just yesterday when the Sony Ericsson Xperia arc was released — a few months ago, to be precise. And lo and behold, we now have the Xperia arc S. At first glance, one would think that the arc is a precious gift to Androids. If we have to compare the body and finishing to the iPhone or the Nokia N9, the Xperia Arc S wouldn't even come third.

Its plastic body disappoints when compared to what's inside. With all due respect to the Sony's Mobile Bravia equipped 4.2-inch display, the AMOLED's steal the show.

Under the hood, the arc S sports a 1.4Ghz processor an unimpressive upgrade from its predecessor the arc and its 1Ghz processor. On the imaging front, besides an inferior 8.1-megapixel camera, the arc S is rather average and lacks clarity in low-light settings. Compared to the arc, the S can deliver a 25 per cent faster camera start up for those times when we just can't afford to wait a few extra micro seconds as well as a 20 per cent quicker web page rendering.

The arc S includes an extremely impressive 3D sweep panorama mode that enables images to be captured in 3D and then viewed by connecting the phone using the HDMI output to a 3D TV. A pointless feature, we have to admit, however it is pretty cool.

At Dh1,999 the Sony Ericsson Xperia arc S costs less than the majority of smartphones out there and gains massive brownie points on the price factor.