Sony Ericsson Xperia Ray

Available now
22nd June 2011

Sony Ericsson's Android line continues to expand with the Sony Ericsson Xperia Ray. Effectively a cut-down version of the Xperia Arc, the Xperia Ray is a more compact device that still retains many of the features of its larger sibling.

The most obvious difference between the Ray and the Arc is the size of the screen. On the Ray, the display is just 3.3" compared to 4.2" on the Arc, but the resolution is an identical 480 x 852 pixels.

On the back is an 8.1 megapixel camera with 720p HD video recording and a photo light, and on the front is a secondary VGA resolution camera for video calling. The camera supports all the usual features such as geo-tagging and autofocus plus several other additions.

Inside is a 1GHz processor coupled with 512MB of RAM, which should be plenty for the Android 2.3 operating system. There's also a microSD slot (with a 4GB card in the standard sales package), Bluetooth, GPS, WiFi, 3.5G support and a 3.5mm audio socket and all the usual stuff you'd find on an Android phone.

The Xperia Ray also has an FM radio, it has Sony Ericsson's enhanced media player, comes with Wisepilot turn-by-turn navigation and it has access to thousands of applications from the Android Market.

The size is the unique selling proposition, placing the Xperia Ray somewhere in the large gap between the Xperia Arc and Xperia Mini. Despite the relatively compact size, you can be sure that the Xperia Ray is a fully-featured and very capable Android device.

There's a 1500 mAh battery which is quoted as giving up to 7 hours talktime and 18 days standby time on 3G, and the entire package weighs exactly 100 grams which is pretty lightweight for a handset such as this.

Sony Ericsson say that the Xperia Ray should be available during Q3 2011 but gave no guidance on pricing.