A lot of phone makers add an S to their smart phones to make a new phone of a flagship release plus some minor tweaks. This happens much today barely a few months after releasing a new smartphone. The Xperia Arc by Sony Ericsson is another phone which gets facelifted.

The recently released Xperia Arc S looks like its older sibling when you look at it with the same curvatures which wowed everyone when the Arc was unveiled. Inside, the parts are basically the same except that the Arc S gets a better CUPU with a 1.4GHz Qualcomm brain. Aside from the minor tweak, the Xperia is also the first handset which gets the 3D sweep panorama by Sony which can take 3D pictures for you and view them when you have a compatible TV at home.

Hardware

The Arc S takes the form of a convex profile just like the original Experia Arc. The backing of the phone also seems to be more rigid compared to the older version but it still retains that hmm-whats-that-creeking-i-hear battery cover. Sony Ericsson could have given this smartphone a bigger power button located near the port for the micro-HDMI. The phone still does not come with a camera that faces the front. The three buttons below the 4.2 inch screen might as well serve better with a backlight.

The 4.2 inch screen that runs on a Mobile Bravia technology by Sony is there to impress anyone as it gives you clear and crisp images at 854×480. It also provides a good space for your fingers if you do a lot of browsing or gaming. The 8 megapixel camera using the Exmor R camera sensor works wonders with the updated software that allows more customization choices.

Software

The Xperia Arc S runs on Android Gingerbread. You get the usual feel of Google or Facebook, and there’s also a screen grab feature. The web browser performs well even when you scroll the screen up or down fast. Sony Ericsson also improved the native keyboard for this version making it Swype-ishly responsive.

Performance

According to benchmark tests against the older Xperia Arc, the Arc S scores better primarily due to its improved CPU. The phone works well even when you view a good amount of graphics or browse the web a lot. On normal use involving phone calls, browsing, multimedia playing, the battery of the Ar S can last a day.

Conclusion

The Xperia Arc S is a single-core device which is very reliable. The difference is not much compared to the original Xperia Arc. The 3D Panorama feature is a bonus but it will not be a feature that you will be using much.

The Vivaz is the latest smart phone offering from Sony Ericsson. The Vivaz uses the Symbian operating system which some people like and others really don’t so your opinion on this phone will be largely influenced by your opinion on that issue. If you are a fan of the Symbian operating system than this is a phone that you may want to consider.

Sony Ericsson Vivaz

The first thing that you will notice about the Sony Ericsson Vivaz is how light it is, this is a very light weight phone. In order to do this the phone had to be made mostly of plastic which gives the feel that the Vivaz isn’t really that solidly built, but that is the trade off of keeping the weight down.

Typing messages on the Vivaz is fairly easy, at least it is if you use the right keyboard. There is a traditional alphanumeric keyboard which works fine. There is also a full QWERTY keyboard that if fairly easy to type with. The mini QWERTY is the one that is a hassle to use, it is way too small to be of any real use. It pretty much requires a stylus to be of any use, there really is little use for it. The stylus itself is a little bit irritating since it dangles off the phone.

The camera on the Sony Ericsson Vivaz is a bit of a disappointment, it works fine if there is a lot of light but it isn’t all that effective in low lighting conditions. There is a flash, sort of, it doesn’t actually flash, you turn it on or off. Even with the flash on the picture quality isn’t that great in low lighting conditions. The same is true of the video camera, it works fine if there is a lot of light but not so well in low lighting conditions.

Over all the Sony Ericsson Vivaz a decent phone but a little bit of a disappointment. There are all the apps you would expect on a modern smart phone on the Vivaz but nothing that really stands out. There are other, better phones that use the Symbian operating system that are better than this phone. The biggest issue is it camera, so if you aren’t too concerned about taking pictures this phone is probably fine for your needs, otherwise you may want to consider a different phone.

Oh Sony Ericsson – what are you doing?  Why do you feel the need to pollute more and more Hello Kitty! bullshit into the world?  If you are have not heard, Sony Ericsson have actually come up with a new way to put Hello Kitty on a cell phone; the Sony Ericsson W395 Hello Kitty phone is just that … a Hello Kitty pink, cell phone.  The multimedia contents are all about Hello Kitty and to be quite frank … anyone who is obsessed with this chicky is going to love this phone.

Now, onto the specs for this particular phone:  it features a 2-inch TFT display with 176 x 220 resolution, a 2-megapixel camera, a 10MB of internal memory, a memory card slot, an FM tuner and Bluetooth connectivity.  While all of this is good – it is pink and has the Kit-Kat’s face on it!

Only in Hong Kong folks, for this is where it was released and you can get it for about $178.00 – which is cheap, but really?

If you are on the lookout for a touchscreen mobile phone boasting the highest resolution, check out the Sony Ericsson X1 Xperia mobile. Running on the Windows Mobile platform, this cellphone with a slide-out qwerty keyboard makes emailing and web browsing easy. Check out the handy features that are available on this mobile phone. At 158 grams this mobile that is 111 x 53 x 17 mm is a tad to heavy. It supports both Triband and Quadband and boasts of vibration alert and flight mode. The battery supports talktime up to 6 hours (3G), 10 hours (2G) & battery standby up to 500 hours (3G) – 640 hours (2G). Connectivity is via Bluetooth, USB mass storage, Wi-Fi and modem.

Internet users will love the EDGE, 3G HSDPA, web browser and RSS feeds capabilities of this mobile. Standard memory is 400 Mbytes plus support for microSD memory card. The organizer has features like alarm clock, calculator, calendar, document editor, notes, tasks and phone book. This cellphone runs on the Windows Mobile OS and has Microsoft Outlook Mobile, Exchange ActiveSync and Office Mobile. Taking pictures in dim light is no big deal with the 3.2 megapixel camera with LED flash, autofocus and 3x digital zoom. This phone boasts of a touchscreen TFT display of 65,536 colors at 800 x 480 pixels (3 inches). There is a video camera along with video calling.

I just think it’s a beauty. This is like technological jewelry!