Sony Ericsson Xperia Ray Android smartphone Smartphones seem to be getting bigger and bigger, but among the recent models from Sony Ericsson is the Xperia Ray, a slim and stylish Android 2.3 device with a sharp 3.3in widescreen. It also sports a well-featured 8Mp camera with 720p HD video recording and a host of other handy functions at a mid-range price. Sony Ericsson …
The slim dimensions of the phone are one of the reasons I went for it, I don't want a huge slab of gadgetry in my pocket.
You also didn't mention the headphones, which are a very nice pair, far superior to any I've seen bundled with phones. Maybe you didn't get the offer?
The standard keyboard isn't great, but, took 5 minutes to install Swype, so not a problem at all.
The only really irritating thing about the phone is that all the software that SE have dumped on there is installed in the system area, making it impossible to uninstall without rooting the phone... which you can't do with sim locked phones! This means you're stuck with useless trial versions of software you don't want or need.
If anyone can tell me how to root it, that would be most welcome! And no, the instructions on the SE site don't work.
Well, they have a big screen, big powered phone. It's called the Arc S and it recently picked up a 90% score on here.
As has been pointed out elsewhere, Android 2.3.4 is optimised for single-core cpus, so having a dual-core makes little sense - in most cases it'll have little benefit on performance and it definitely kicks battery life down a notch or two.
So, given Sony have met this year's apparent "needs" with the Arc, maybe the Ray isn't aimed at people for whom bigger is always better - perhaps it's for people who don't want to fill their pockets with gigantic slabs of glass?
I still have yet to be convinced a dual-core processor in a phone is actually useful. My Desire HD @ 1.2GHz cuts through every task like butter.
Also, small screens? This model is deliberately designed that way. Are you being obtuse? Because the Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc S has a 4.2" screen and was reviewed right here on El Reg, to huge acclaim, despite a single core 1.4GHz CPU.
Why? Because the specs aren't as important as sheer usability and feel.
and so do I. Which is why the little screen isn't a problem. I like having a phone small enough that I often don't even notice it's in my pocket. Some of my bigger-pawed friends have found it a bit fiddly to use. But that's OK, it's not their phone.
As for video playback, if you have a DLNA-compliant device plugged in to your TV, simply select "Play on Device" on the phone and the video appears. No messy wires needed. I always thought that having a whole port just for HDMI was somewhat overkill on a phone.
The biggest draw though is the fact that this handset is half the price of the Arc S. Combine that with a sim card from giffgaff and I've just more-than-halved my phone running costs for the next 18 months. Also screw you Vodafone with your stupid price hikes.
Very true, but a software update to enable this will breath new life into a current dual-core phone - extending it's useful life to well beyond the point the user is offered an upgrade.
With this single core, thats it. Not to mention it's priced at the same level as faster handsets.
and if your going to get all shirty with someone, don't hide behind 'AC' :-p
My Xperia Play has the same core hardware and so far I've only seen it struggle with excessively Flash heavy web pages. Spending more cash on a better CPU and draining the battery faster really isn't worth it just to speed up Adobes piss poor software. Software that might (ho ho) get faster with a free software upgrade ;)
I've even lowered my Play's min clock to 122Mhz and had no obvious speed or responsiveness problems. Noticeable battery life boost though.
Faster is always nice but most of us are a long way from *needing* that much power in our phones and it's hard to imagine that changing before our phone's get replaced anyway.
... but it IS a proper-sized FWVGA screen.
"The capacitive screen’s a bit of an odd one. Diagonally, it measures 3.3in, but that actually translates to 480 x 854 pixels, offering an unusually widescreen resolution, like a dinky little cinema screen. It promises over 16m colours and looks as sharp as a tack, but there’s really no getting round the fact that for a smartphone, it’s rather on the small side."
Umm guess what? This is is the standard resolution of all Sony Ericsson, Motorola etc Android phones - you know, smartphones you regularly review here...
"Not to mention it's priced at the same level as faster handsets."
really? It's easily available for £290 unlocked and I can't think of any faster phones that you can pick up for that price. The more I think about that it's actually pretty cheap for a Snapdragon handset with a very good camera. As others have pointed out putting a dual-core chip into a phone like this would be pointless. A bit more RAM would be a much better and cheaper idea.
Satan get thee hence!
I had the misfortune of having an LG foisted on me last year by my employer. A total pile of poo. Buttons all down the side so it was impossible to pick it up without performing some unwanted action. The crazy auto locking behavior while you're in the middle of a call that could NOT be disabled. A manual lock that seemingly could be undone by pressing almost any button.
The only gadget I have ever lost my temper with.
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