![]() ![]() The rear of the handset is home to the 8.1 megapixel camera, which also support video recording at resolutions of up to 720p (HD). There are plenty of other apps, including a uPnP media server that allows you to share content from the phone over Wi-Fi with other devices like Sony TVs and the PS3, as well as apps for Sony’s Qriocity Music and Movie subscription services. In fact, Facebook integration is tightly woven into the phone, as friends’ birthdays and other events are automatically added to your calendar. ![]() This is essentially a graphical, unified inbox that shows Facebook updates, missed calls and text messages as a 3D picture stack with text superimposed over the top.Īnother neat feature is the way the phone’s media gallery pulls in pictures and videos from Facebook and displays them alongside content that’s stored locally. You’ll also find Sony Ericsson’s Timescape application in the App Drawer. For example, in this app the Now Playing screen has a Like button that lets you post music recommendations to your Facebook page or you can hit the infinity icon to search for lyrics or call up the artist’s Wikipedia page. These include a much better music player than the standard Android version. Sony Ericsssn has added a number of its own apps into the mix. A button on the bottom left also lets you automatically sort them by alphabetical order, most used or most recently installed. Apps are arranged across a series of sliding panels, and if you press the a button in the bottom right hand corner they start to jiggle, indicating that you can now move them around to re-arrange them as you like. Tap the menu button and you’re taken to the app drawer, which has had a bit of a make over. As with the vanilla version of Android, there are a number of homescreen panels that you move between by swiping let or right, and these can be populated with a range of different widgets. Like the other models in the Xperia stable, this phone runs on version 2.3 of Android, and Sony Ericsson has added its own custom user interface over the top.įor example, you unlock the home screen by swiping a slide switch from left to right, in much the same way as you do on the iPhone. However, Sony Ericsson does include a 4GB microSD memory card as part of the pack, which provides enough room for storing music and video files. There’s 1GB of storage built-in, although only around 300MB of this is free for you to use, as the rest is taken up by the pre-installed apps and other gubbins. Speed certainly isn’t an issue as it zips through most tasks with ease. The ray runs on a 1Ghz Snapdragon processor and has 512MB of RAM. You can easily change this in the Settings page, but the full portrait Qwerty keyboard is tricky to type on due to the limited space available. The onscreen keyboard is also very cramped in portrait mode – so cramped in fact, that by default Sony Ericsson has set it to a numerical-style keypad. ![]() The ray has a 3.3inch capacitive display, but while its resolution of 854×480 pixels ensures text and graphics do look very sharp and crisp, on a display this ‘small’, its narrowness makes using the web browser feel quite awkward, and in portrait mode columns of text look just a little bit too thin. The narrower form factor does help the phone look and feel quite small and slim, but it’s a bit of a problem when it comes to the screen. On the plus side, though, there is a standard headphone jack at the top, while charging and syncing are via a normal micro USB port. Sadly there’s no dedicated camera button, which is a bit of a shame. On the right hand side you’ll find a volume rocker switch, while the front houses the home button as well as touch buttons for the back and menu controls. Naturally, the phone is driven primarily by its touchscreen, but there are a few physical controls dotted around the edge including the power button at the top, which also double up as a lock switch. As a result it feels very much like a traditional candybar handset when you hold it in your hand, which is a positive in our book. The handset is quite narrow by smartphone standards, measuring just 53mm wide. The gold colour is used on the battery cover as well as the two vertical edges, while the rest of the phone is finished in glossy black. We had the gold version in for review and while it definitely looked quite bling, it managed to not overstep the mark too much. The handset is available in four colours: Gold, Black, Pink and White. It’s also smaller than many of its rivals, so is it worth splashing your hard earned cash on? The Sony Ericsson Xperia ray is the company’s latest mid-range Android Smartphone, but it boasts some impressive specs including an 8.1 megapixel camera that allows you to shoot videos in high definition. ![]()
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