Home
Sony Ericsson has been a big brand name in the world of smartphones for the past ten years. Originally separate businesses, Sony and Ericsson joined forces in 2001 after both companies were struggling for a significant share of the industry. The partnership managed to make itself a dominant brand at the start of the century, and introduced many phone features we now take for granted – like digital cameras, video and music playback.
But with the launch of the iPhone in 2007 and the industry wide switch to touchscreen phones, Sony Ericsson started to lag behind. Their Xperia range of phones were initially very popular, but in the last few years started to feel stale with a lack of new designs and an inability to keep up with the fast pace of development within the industry.
Sony had decided that the joint nature of their smartphone business was a hindrance when it came to producing new phones, and so decided to purchase Ericsson’s share of the business. The Xperia S, which has just been unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, is the first phone that will be released since Sony decided to go it alone and the device that should see Sony phone contracts selling in large volumes again.
So does it solve the problems that Sony Ericsson has been having for the last couple of years? One of the biggest problems has probably been that its Xperia range of phones have all been too similar in appearance and features, with little distinguishing features to tell them apart. Hold an Xperia X10, Xperia Arc and Xperia Arc S side by side and you won’t be able to spot much of a difference.
While having a definite Sony feel to it, the Xperia S has a refreshing design that departs from the aesthetics of earlier Xperia phones and feels closer to the current industry leaders like the Galaxy S2. It further sets itself apart by its unique transparent band on its lower half, which gives the phone a distinctive appearance.
Another problem that Sony Ericsson has had in recent years is the failure to keep up with technological changes. LG introduced dual core smartphones at the start of 2011, and this feature has appeared in all the big handsets of the last 12 months including the Galaxy S2 and iPhone 4S. But Sony Ericsson’s biggest releases of the year, the Arc and Arc S, didn’t manage to bring in dual core power even though many people had expected and hoped them to.
With a 1.5GHz processor the Xperia S is one of the most highly powered phones currently around, although it may very soon be overshadowed by the launch of quad core phones from Samsung and HTC. Even so, it shows that Sony is starting to pick up the pace in terms of technology.
The Xperia S runs on Android Gingerbread and Sony has revamped its Android interface and Timescape feature, which was one of the main niggles people had with Xperia phones because of its occasional sluggishness. The phone has a 4.3 inch LED backlit LCD screen like the Arc, but a much sharper 720p resolution, Mobile BRAVIA Engine support and support for 10 finger multitouch.
The Xperia S may not be the most cutting edge phone, and it is likely that what will be released at February’s Mobile World Congress will overshadow it – but it does show that Sony is starting to pick up the pace with its designs. The decision to buy out Ericsson should give Sony a lot more freedom to push new phone designs and innovate in this industry – although no news just yet and what is happening with Ericsson.