List Price: $549.99
Sale Price: $240.00
Today's Bonus: 56% Off
Good quality phone for a good price.
Pros: Unlocked for use around the world except on Verizon and Sprint in the US. Good call quality and data speed. Adequate storage with expansion. Processor is as fast as Motorola Droid3 dual cores. I can simultaneously listen to music, play Angry Birds and be downloading a book with no lag in any of them. Implementation of Folders allows a compact presentation of most of your apps on a single screen for quick access. Good quality screen of good size. Slim and light. Battery life is adequate for heavy usage. RAM memory size is adequate for what I do and is plenty fast. The internal storage and the removable microSD card are used as a single storage system. Some downloaded apps can be moved to the microSD card using an included feature to extend the small native app storage. I replaced the included 8Gb microSD card with a 32Gb one. I just used my laptop to copy the included data on the 8Gb card to the 32Gb and everything works fine. I have over 3,000 songs, 2,900 pictures, and more than 60 apps on the combined cards with 7Gb free (but with just 65Mb free in the dedicated app space). The phone is light in weight. On screen keyboard is much better than my Droid3 with bigger keys in landscape orientation. Good Android Gingerbread implementation with ICS coming.
Cons: Can't add an extended life battery without ruining the slim style case with a big bulging alternate cover in the back. The screen is the biggest battery draw. 10-12 hours of continuous screen usage can drain the battery. But that's far better than my LG Quantum Windows 7 phone and a bit better than my Droid 3 was with the OEM battery before replacement with an 1800mA hour one. Under normal usage of the Experia it's about 2 and a half days before I have to recharge the battery.
Other: I bought this phone as a world travel replacement for my Motorola Droid 3 which only roams data if you pay Verizon's high charges. The unlocked SE Experia Arc S is not tied to any particular carrier. It works anywhere in the world for both cell and data. I'm using 3G for Internet and email on MTN and Airtel in Ghana. The cell quality is good for calls within country as well as to other countries in Africa and to the US. Data access is just as fast as what I'm getting on my laptop using an MTN cell modem. Often the Experia is faster than the laptop since it has to transfer less data to fill the screen. Wireless performance is good with good signal sensitivity. The Droid3 camera is junk. So the Experia camera is a welcome relief. The software implementation gives adequate camera control for a phone. I haven't used the 3D feature and never will. Audio quality is very good for playing music using the Poweramp app while reading library books on the phone great for the plane. This phone is a bargain for world travel.
Update 11/18/12
I've used it for six months and the Experia Arc S continues to be my favorite phone. It's upgraded to Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich and I've now had a chance to use a couple of other features.
Bluetooth: Works great. I use it to transfer pictures to my tablet using the Bluetooth File Transfer app. It's handy to be able to both make backup copies of my photos while away from my home computer and to copy pictures over to my Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus for showing to family and friends.
Wireless Hotspot (cell modem): I used this in Bangladesh where I didn't have wireless available at my guest house. I had in my phone a BanglaLink SIM card with data plan which I had picked up at the airport. I just started up the Hotspot in the Xperia Connectivity Settings. Then I was able to use the phone as a wireless router. I connected my laptop for sending long emails home and downloading documents from the Web. The hotspot actually was a little faster than using a USB cell modem in my laptop. The data usage was quite spare. I'll use it again when I return to Bangladesh early next year.
I use this phone everyday. I hope it lasts a long time. I don't want to give it up.
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