Gadget Tech Info

The Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc has been grabbing the attention of the public even before its official announcement was made, thanks to a set of cheeky posters placed at the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show.

As far as new mobile phones go, the Xperia Arc is very clearly aimed at the more fashion conscious users out there; it is incredibly sleek and stylish, with a unorthodox concave rear and impossibly slim design (coming in a mere 8.7mm thin!). Despite the supermodel good looks of the Xperia Arc, it is by no means ‘all beauty and no brains’; it comes with an impressive horde of hardware, including a 1GHz processor, 512 MB of RAM, 8GB of MicroSD storage capacity, an 8 megapixel Exmor R image sensor, an HDMI output and a 1500mAh batter – not to mention its Reality Display, housed a 4.2-inch screen, which is able to accommodate 854×480 pixels. All of these goodies are powered by the latest Android Gingerbread operating system, which (fashion conscious or not) makes for a very formidable smartphone indeed.

The Sony Xperia Arc tackles all of the demands that are thrown at a modern day smartphone with the greatest of ease; it is easy and intuitive to navigate through, and every action that is performed on it looks jaw-dropping (and easily as good as anything that has ever passed through the iPhone 4′s Retina display). The display is easily big enough to make watching films and browsing photos into an enjoyable task, however, if the screen is still too small for you, you are able to go larger with the HDMI output.

Overall, the Sony Xperia Arc is a superb offering; it has more than enough to help it compete with the iPhone 4, while the longevity of its battery life could even sway many people over to Sony’s way of thinking…

Just a few years ago HTC was an unknown brand but now it is the manufacturer of some of the most popular smartphones around.

The HTC sensation is the latest phone to be launched by the firm and sports high-tech features alongside and updated version of the companies Sense user interface.

At first look the Sensation looks a lot like the HTC Desire S thanks to its rounded aluminium casing. It is a little bit larger than its rivals and at 11.3 mm thick it is thicker than the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S2. However, despite this it is still comfortable to hold.

The screen is a qHD (540×960) resolution so while it doesn’t quite have the sharpness of the iPhone 4′s 640×960 pixels it is much sharper than many of its rivals meaning that the display is bright and text clear even when you zoom in. However, it does share the problems of other HTC phones in that in bright sunlight screen visibility can be an issue.

The Sensation features the latest Google OS the Android 2.3.3 and also has an updated Sense interface as well as a 1.2GHz, dual-core processor.

One thing that is new for HTC fans is the new 3D scrolling – so if you scroll through the home screens you will see them rotating on a virtual cylinder rather than going from left to right in a linear fashion. Even the widgets expand inwards and outwards showing off just what the dual processor can do.

The touchscreen is also very responsive as it responds easily to the touch that makes it very easy to use.

The lock screen has also been overhauled instead of dragging a bar upwards to open the phone there is a ring instead. However, this system doesn’t always work so it can sometimes take several attempts to get into the phone.

It also pack an 8mp camera with dual-LED flash and autofocus which apart from a Xenon flash has everything you would want from a camera phone.

Overall, the Sensation is a good phone full of high specs however, there are lighter and thinner phones.