Buyer's Guide: Sony Ericsson's Xperia Range

When Sony Ericsson’s Xperia range hit the market, with the X1 back in 2008, the world really began to take notice. Far from the Walkman or camera-centric devices we’d seen in the past, the Xperia phones seemed to encompass everything the public wanted from their phones, and more.

From the X8, the first Xperia device to run an Android operating system, to the hugely popular X10, a device perfect for business or pleasure, and the X10 mini, which managed to conceal a full QWERTY keyboard within its tiny form! The Xperia range has become synonymous with Google’s OS, Android, a perfect complement to the hardware and now there’s a whole new generation of Xperia phones for us to choose from and enjoy.

We thought we’d give you a rundown of the newest delights from Sony Ericsson, so you know which device is the one for you.

Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc -The Arc was released only a month ago, and is jam-packed with impressive features. The 4.2-inch screen incorporates Sony Mobile Bravia technology, for crystal clear viewing of your videos and other media, as well as having a scratch-resistant surface to protect your display. It also has an impressive 8-megapixel camera with autofocus and LED flash, which records video in 720P Hi-Def. It’s all powered by a 1GHz Scorpion processor with dedicated Adreno 205 GPU, and runs Google’s OS, Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) with their Timescape UI overlay, for a truly personal experience.

Sony Ericsson Xperia Play - The Play was the device which created the most buzz at the conferences at the beginning of the year, as it is more than just a phone. This device actually slides open to reveal a gaming pad, and is a fully functional Sony PSP! This means that you can take full advantage of the 4-inch screen, Android 2.3 OS, with access to the Market for downloading games and other content, 512 MB RAM and up to 32GB of expandable memory, for playing your games on the go. There’s also the added bonus of a 5-megapixel camera to ensure that with an Xperia Play, you’ll never be bored.

Sony Ericsson Xperia Neo - The Neo has a 3.7-inch LED-backlit LCD, capacitive touchscreen, with a scratch resistant surface, and is another of their devices to boast the Sony Mobile Bravia technology. It also has an 8-megapixel primary camera, which records 720P hi-def video, plus a secondary camera for video-calling. Running Android 2.3, you can enjoy all of the benefits of the Android Market, and with a 1GHz Scorpion processor and Adreno 205 GPU, it’ll all run smoothly.

Sony Ericsson Xperia Pro – The Pro has all of the standard features of the other devices in the range – the Sony Mobile BRAVIA Engine, 3.7-inch capacitive touchscreen, 8-megapixel still camera and video camera capable of recording 720P HD video, 1GHz processor and Android 2.3 OS – but it also has a full QWERTY keyboard, which slides out in landscape mode, giving you a real treat if you tend to type long emails or texts on the go.

As you can tell from this list, Sony Ericsson has got the market covered, with an option for just about every breed of mobile user. The marriage of Android software and Sony Ericsson hardware is clearly one made in heaven, and we suspect this relationship will be continuing for many years to come, especially if the Xperia range proves as popular as we think it will.