Could this be the year that Sony Ericsson (SE) finally get’s it right! Only time will tell, but they are certainly heading in the right direction. During the SE press breakfast at CES in Las Vegas I had the chance to chat with Steve Walker, the head of global marketing for SE. He certainly indicated that the Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc was just the first in a line of high end super phones that they feel target the market much better than the previous devices have done.
The previous SE range of Android phones had excellent design characteristics but may have failed somewhat on the software front. SE were criticized for being slow on the distribution of updates and the delays were blamed on the software. Those phones tightly integrated the software with the operating system which meant releasing updates was very complex and time consuming.
Enter the next generation of Android super phones from SE; the Xperia Arc is the first SE Android super phone that treats the software additions as separate applications.  What does this mean to the end user?  It means that the underlying operating system and the applications themselves can be updated independently and should allow SE to distribute updates in a more timely manner.
Will the Xperia Arc change the user’s perception of SE and make U.S. adoption of their devices more widespread?  Only time will tell.  There are missing components that may hinder the popularity of the soon to be released Xperia Arc.  The radio inside the Xperia Arc only supports HSDPA and not the high bandwidth 4G being released by the major carriers this year.  It also fails to include a Front Facing Camera and I personally see this year a big year for video chat. As the bandwidth increases through the carriers, the video chat experience should be much cleaner for the end users.  Also missing in the unit we played with was an ambient light sensor and Near Field Communications  (NFC) compatibility.  None of these exclusions are show stoppers, but you would have expected Sony Ericsson to pull out the big guns for the first device of the year in it’s super phone category.
Sony Ericsson Arc
According to Steve Walker, Sony Ericsson wanted to focus on the form factor of the device by making something that is slim, light and incredibly comfortable to use.  We certainly can’t criticize them for that and they have succeeded extremely well with the Xperia Arc.
We also know about the other ‘minor’ device they sprang on the world at the end of last year and is set to be released early this year, the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play. The first Android phone designed as a game machine with a slide out game controller and we are assuming, PlayStation game compatibility similar to the Sony PSP.
Sony Ericsson Xperia Play with Sony PSP
This year is sure to be an interesting year for Sony Ericsson. They are very popular in other countries around the world, but have so far failed to impress it’s U.S. audience. I for one am eager to try out the range of devices they plan to develop and release throughout the year.
