Hasta La Gadget!

Sony Ericsson’s MWC presser today may have been all about its new Play, Pro and Neo members of the Xperia family, but the CES debutant we know and love as the Arc was out in force as well. So, we thought, why not throw together our thoughts on this phone and splice them with a gallery of delicious new images plus some video action to boot? The first thing to note is that the Xperia Arc will be shipping globally in March and Sony Ericsson is aiming for the broadest possible operator coverage. Focusing on the handset itself, we’ve been wildly impressed by its design since first laying eyes on it, there’s something fundamentally attractive about the Arc’s look, something less tangible than its ridiculously slim profile. Sony Ericsson has used a similar plasticky material on the back as it does in the Neo, which doesn’t overwhelm us with any sensations of reassurance or quality, but seems to do the job. Guess some corners had to inevitably be cut along with the fat on this phone’s body.

The 4.2-inch screen is bright and lucid, though we’d warn against expecting too much from the Bravia Reality Display marketing. As we’ve mentioned before, the display enhancements only kick in when you’re consuming multimedia. Still, general performance looks more than satisfactory. Hard buttons around the body are well arranged and designed, a contrast from the fiddly keys we found on the Xperia Pro. What was consistent with the rest of Sony Ericsson’s Xperia crew, however, was the Arc’s inability to execute its pinch-to-zoom widget summary screen. It’s an ambitious function — gathering all your widgets from each screen into one cohesive overview — but, basically, it’s laggy as hell. Aside from that, general UI responsiveness could also stand some improvement, but we like where Sony Ericsson is going with the whole thing. If it keeps up its promise to repent from last year’s sins with relation to Android updates, the company has a very good chance of striking it rich with the Xperia Arc. It’s a phone that can truly get by on its looks alone. Video after the break!

Continue reading Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc video preview (video)

Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc video preview (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 13 Feb 2011 17:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Uh oh, looks like someone got the wrong date for Samsung’s MWC keynote. The above screenshot is captured by the eagle-eyed folks at Moveplayer, who spotted what appears to be an embargoed article about the Galaxy S 2 (or Galaxy S II) over at Korean news site Paran. While the offending press shot has since been removed, the text remains intact with the following specs: Android 2.3 Gingerbread, 4.3-inch display, 1GHz dual-core processor, HSPA+, Bluetooth 3.0, and 802.11 a/b/g/n WiFi. Additionally, Paran says that this new handset weighs 116g (4.09 ounces) and is 8.49mm thick — which is close to, if not the, thinnest smartphone device we’ve heard of yet. (For the record, the Xperia Arc is 8.7mm at its thinnest point.)

The article also mentions that 10.1-inch Honeycomb tablet that we heard of yesterday, confirming it will pack a 1GHz dual-core processor, 8 megapixel camera with “full HD” video recording, and dual surround sound speakers. Sounds promising, but only time will tell whether all this is true or simply a matter of lost in translation.

Update: OK, so we’ve done some spying and can confirm that both devices are very real, and their specs look legit.

Update 2: Oh snap! Samsung Hub managed to get hold of a high res press shot of the Galaxy S 2 before it got pulled off the Korean sites. It sure resembles the Infuse 4G with an extra home button. We’ve posted the pic after the break for your viewing pleasure. [Thanks, Tran Quoc Hop]

Continue reading Samsung Galaxy S 2 and 10.1-inch Honeycomb tablet leaked on Korean website (Update: high-res shot!)

Samsung Galaxy S 2 and 10.1-inch Honeycomb tablet leaked on Korean website (Update: high-res shot!) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 12 Feb 2011 05:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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So far it seems like everyone but HTC has made an official tablet announcement in these early days of 2011. As such, we’re reliant upon the rumor mills for every scrap of information we can get. So lean in close because the Chinese language Economic Daily has something to share. In a piece largely written about Pegatron, Economic Daily claims that HTC’s 7-inch Android 2.3 tablet will ship in late Q1 (read: March, as we’ve heard earlier) with a new version of the HTC Sense UI. Our guess, is that HTC wants to get a tablet on the market now, rather than wait to customize Android 3.0 and have the Motorola Xoom and friends gobble up all the market share. The paper does mention two Android 3.0 tablets from HTC scheduled for 2011. Unfortunately, there’s no word of the rumored “Flyer” brand name or whether those Honeycomb tablets will get the Sense treatment or not (we’re guessing they will). Nevertheless, the Mobile World Congress event kicking off next week would be the perfect opportunity to make it all official, don’t you think?

HTC’s 7-inch Android 2.3 tablet with new Sense UI still rumored for March originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 09 Feb 2011 04:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Android is our future, the stat mavens all agree, but for all its rapid growth, Google’s OS still suffers from a shortage of top tier differentiation. This has in part been down to LG and Sony — two of the world’s biggest phone makers — spending the majority of 2010 watching the battle for Android supremacy from the sidelines (the X10 disqualified itself when it announced it neither knew nor cared what Froyo was). 2011 might just be the year of redemption for both, however, as LG will soon assault the European market with a pair of truly desirable and powerful Android smartphones in the Optimus 2X and Black, while Sony Ericsson’s well leaked portfolio of new Xperias includes the Arc, Neo and Play, each one of them coming with Gingerbread preloaded. We’ve wrapped our mitts around a pair of these high-hope devices, one from each manufacturer, and photographed the living daylights out of them sat side by side.

We humbly submit that the Xperia Arc looks and feels far more refined than LG’s admittedly well designed Optimus 2X. The Arc’s curvature seriously makes it feel like the thinnest phone we’ve ever handled and its weight is also dramatically, unreasonably minimal. Another note of import is that the 2X comes with a 4-inch screen whereas the Arc offers a more generous 4.2-inch display, yet their overall dimensions are nearly identical. All in all, we’d hardly object to having either one in our pockets, but the Arc wins it for us in terms of aesthetic appeal. Of course, the Optimus 2X has a dual-core Tegra 2 heart beating within, it’s not all about looks, though in the case of this hands-on comparison, it kind of was. We’ll have a full review of LG’s handset in the coming days, while Sony Ericsson promises the Xperia Arc will land in Europe by the end of March. You can see more of the prototype unit we got to handle in the gallery below and there’s a video comparison of the two Android newcomers after the break as well.

Continue reading Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc vs. LG Optimus 2X… fight!

Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc vs. LG Optimus 2X… fight! originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 04 Feb 2011 13:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Today Google announced that Android in-app purchases are coming to the platform and we were able to get a demo by Paul Sebastien of Disney. He showed us how to buy a track pack (Far East Movement, for those who care) in Tap Tap Revenge 4 over 3G on a Nexus S, and using a fake credit card! It’s interesting to note that the in-app purchase UI matches the look and feel of the new Android Market and developers can implement the functionality in a few simple steps. In-app purchases should start rolling out in various Android apps this spring. In the meantime, take a look at our video after the break.

Continue reading Android in-app purchases hands-on (video)

Android in-app purchases hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Feb 2011 15:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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