Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc. Photo / Supplied
Imitation, they say, is the sincerest form of flattery. Apple head honcho Steve Jobs must feel well and truly flattered, given the number of mobiles that seem to be designed primarily to look indistinguishable from an iPhone.
But Sony Ericsson's Xperia Arc is not one of those imitators. In fact, it seems clear the engineers charged with building this baby were given quite the opposite brief: make something stylish that won't be mistaken for an iPhone. Oh, and make it perform better too. They succeeded on both counts.
First impressions
The Xperia Arc is tall and thin. 125mm tall and 8.7mm thin, to be exact. It has an unusual, and not particularly practical, concave shape (hence the Arc name) with attractive black and silver stylings.
The phone's extra length - a result of its larger-than-most 4.2-inch screen - combined with the curved back, means it feels a bit large and unwieldy when held in the palm. But who cares, it looks good and this is a statement-making phone. One of the statements it makes is: "My screen's bigger than yours, Steve."
Hardware
The Arc has similar tech-specs to its stable mate, the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play which, as a PlayStation gaming device, has been souped up to handle the demands of mobile game playing. In the case of the Arc, that reasonably grunting processing power is earmarked for heavyweight content generation and playback.
The Arc has a very nice 8.1 megapixel camera, reasonable video recording capability and a pleasingly hi-res 854 x 480 pixel touchscreen for fulsome mobile media consumption.
As well as all the expected connectivity options, the phone also has HDMI output, so you can throw your visual creations directly onto the TV in the lounge.
Software
The Xperia Arc runs the well-liked version 2.3.2 of Android's operating system, combined with some special software tweaks from Sony Ericsson designed to improve the device's on-screen aesthetics and take full advantage of its large display.
The most in-your-face software addition lumped on top of the Android OS is what Sony Ericsson calls Timescape, its home-screen-based social network aggregation platform for Xperia devices.
People seem to either love or hate the Timescape concept, which can compile all a users Twitter and Facebook notifications, along with missed calls, emails and texts, presenting them in a highly graphical, flowing, format.
Verdict
With this device, Sony Ericsson's aim was to produce a phone that stood out from its competitors. They have achieved that, building a handset that looks stylish, performs well and offers good value for money given its impressive feature set.
Its uniqueness will also be a turnoff for some smartphone shoppers. Its large screen makes the Arc bulky in the pocket meaning its likely fan base will be those users with a penchant for a super-sized mobile viewing experience. Others who are happy with a slightly smaller screen will be able to have their needs met by cheaper devices.
Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc
$999 (Vodafone, handset-only)
SPECS
Screen: 4.2-inch, 854 x 480 pixel touchscreen
Operating system: Android 2.3.2
Camera: 8.1 megapixel
Connectivity: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth
Processor: 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8255
Memory: 512Mb RAM, 8Gb microSD card included
Other features: GPS, HDMI output (phone comes with HDMI cable)