Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc S

Available now
31st August 2011

The Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc S takes the Xperia Arc announced earlier this year and gives it a faster processor and a software upgrade.

The Xperia Arc is one of the more elegant Android smartphones on the market, and with a large 4.2" 480 x 852 pixel display panel, it has one of the best screens as well. The weak point in the original Xperia Arc was the processor - it launched with a 1GHz single-core CPU just at the point that high-end competitors were switching to dual-core, so this useful update makes the Xperia Arc S much more competitive.

Other improvements seem to be mostly software based with access to content from "Music Unlimited" and "Video Unlimited" in certain markets, plus enhancements to the camera and video output and numerous other software tweaks. The operating system is Android 2.3.4.

The rest of the hardware features seem to be relatively unchanged with an 8.1 megapixel camera on the back and all the usual Android features you'd expect. At just 8.7mm thick and 117 grams, the Xperia Arc S is an unusually slim and lightweight device given the size of the display.

The Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc S should be available by the end of the year. No guidance was given on price, but we would expect this handset to retail for somewhere in the €400 region.