sufy1000

I'm thinking of buying this phone, any body else buying it?

Can someones post the pros and cons as this is just a upgraded version of the Arc. Should I spend £350 for a upgraded phone?

Thanks!

Last edited by sufy1000; September 24th, 2011 at 07:17 AM.

The-Stig

I think the big pro is the improved processor, always a good thing, no? Apart form this and a few added bits of software the specs look the same.

robham18753

well my mrs took delivery of her Arc S yesterday and so far so good, have to say its much better than the previous Arc, i myself have the Lg Optimus 3D, And i bloody love it lol, the 3D games are ace lol

kopkiwi

So anyone else got this phone? Impressions? Seems like a bloody well spec'd single core phone. Why not much interest?

wastedagen

Hi,
I've just bought a midnight blue sim free arc s and love it. Only had it 3 days but no regrets. I came from a HTC Desire HD so not much off a change Android wise but a good improvement phone wise.
My main reason for changing was because the htc HD camera was on the poor side. This is a big improvement there.
Processor speed wise, again not much of an improvement but then again I didn't have an issue with a 1ghz CPU.
I chose this over the Samsung Galaxy s2 because read people were having problems with over heating.

Long story short, definitely worth buying..

Longman240

Ordered it last night should be arriving tomorrow morning! Can't wait

sobieski

First of all I have to say that this is my first ever smartfone and....I dont get it! There is no speed dialling, you cannot delete a txt msg without deleting the entire thread (received/sent), you cannot set the phone not to store your sent msgs, you cannot delete a missed call so its on your desktop all the time, so every time you look at it it looks like you have a new missed call, you cannot do any settings to your bluetooth headsets (eg. to set it to automatically answer the phone), you cannot manage the phone from your laptop (eq no txt sending) and bunch of other smaller but shocking nono's! The most standard NOKIA phone has all those essential settings available. Am I missing something or looking in the wrong places to find the settings???
This is not a phone its just a Multimedia gadget. Maybe thats just the way it is now?
Anyone could advise on any apps to be able to send and manage the txt on computer via bluetooth?
Good camera.

gqguan

Cons:
1 - its battery seems not stand long enough. I need to charge it twice in one day;
2 - the 1.4G processor feels hot in HD games.

kopkiwi

Anything more to add to this phone?

Can the HTC Sensation for about $60 more, worth it?

peterb23

Got mine this morning and I'm really impressed. The screen quality is fantastic.

Haven't had much time to play around with yet but first impressions are very good.

I'm upgrading from a 2 year old HTC Hero and chose the Arc S over the Samsung S2 mainly for it's looks.

The best deal I found was with Dial-a-phone on a 12 month contract. With the cashback (if I get it!) it works out at just under £20 a month (Vodafone).

peterb23

You may have worked out some of these already but here goes anyway:

You can add shortcut to any contact on any home page (press the menu button for options).

You can long press on any message and the delete option will come up.

Not sure on this one...

If you access the call log in the phone system or just click on the missed call notification in the drag down box at the top - the missed call alert will go away.

Yeah when I moved from my Nokia to my first smartphone I felt like there was a lot missing (Voice Dialling was what I missed the most). These smart phones are not aimed at business users IMO but the extra features more than make up for that with me and they just keep getting better with every release.

teddymild

I just got arc s today, im unable to sign in google pop up state no internet connection but i can use browser. Also while charging screen become unresposive. Any one else experience this? Any solution for this? Thanks in advance.

sobieski

Hey Thanks for that.
I managed to work most of the stuff out.
Unfortunately no speed dialling. The phone also keeps connecting to the computer all the time, so I get about 10 opened windows. Dont know if its the laptop or the phone.
Still miss txting from computer, but getting used to it...

sobieski

Check if you can sign in to your google account through a computer. Try also sign in through web browser rather than the gmail widget. If that doesn't work - i do not know.
The screen shut-down is a bit worrying, so if you do not have some strange settings on (power save), or (forgive me) if the phone is not switched off, then I would contact the seller. Remember that it also takes some time for the phone to come back to life if the battery was completely dead.

peterb23

try downloading a new dialer from the market. I'm using "Go Dialer" which has t9 input and speed dialling.

sobieski

There is quite a lot of seed dial apps, but they are all not speed dials. You cannot use the old way of speed dialling - just press and hold the button from the phones keypad. For some strange reason all apps Ive looked at are working around that simple solution. The only quick dial is the voice mail. Really, really do not understand why does Android not allow speed dialling...

peterb23

Go Contacts EX does this. I've just tested it. Added a number to speed dial 2 and just long press "2" on the dial to call it.

Empath

ill be buying one. was going to go for samsung s2 but i love sony too much besides the specs on the phone are not bad at all, just worried about compatibility issues, will keep checking this forum

Madsham

Got My Arc S last thurs 24th, upgraded (well tel a lie bought simfree) from SE X10, brill fone crisp clear and loud, major probs with X10 not loud enough when watchin movies, Arc S flies tru web pages and plays games with no lag, highly recommended,

hkt

Speed Dials on any home screen

1 long press on home screen
2 a menu will pop-up, select "shortcut"
3 select "Direct Dial"
4 your phone book will pop-up
5 select the number you want to place on Home Screen
6 now you can direct dial from that number icon on home screen

josephniet

When plugged into my computer i also experience an unresponsive screen. This happened to me with a Wildfire S and Galaxy W too. I'm pretty sure it's just a grounding issue with your laptop, i know it is with mine.

brit9

I have had mine 4 days and I am really pleased with it.
£199.95 and £25 cash back - at £174.95 an absolute bargain
Cheers
Brit9

mzabota

all android-smartphones are like this one... you just need to learn to use andorid and then you will see, almoust everything is possible on this phone..


instead of speed dialing, I prefer "favorite contacts" app. its very simple, works fast - very usable

VincentAnoid

Where did you get that from :P?

VincentAnoid

A general bad point I can say about the phone that no one has mentioned so far is the camera shutter key. It's very fidgety to use because its so small and the phone is so thin. It would have been better if they put it further away from the side

brit9

Hi Vincentanoid
Bought the phone from Phones 4U. They had a deal just after Christmas, I was lucky because I got the last one. I paid £199.95, and downloaded a SonyEricsson cash back form for purchases before end of December for £25.

Camera. Try using the touch screen rather than the shutter button.
Cheers

VincentAnoid

Thanks for the information I wouldn't have known about the cashback offer. I did a search on phones4u and the Xperia Arc S, its selling for £230 now on PAYG offers. It doesn't show sim free, did you buy that? Being its £199.95 what you paid.

Also when using the touchscreen to take photos, it doesn't auto focus does it?

brit9

Hi VincentAnoid
Yes that is the phone that I bought and it was SIM free. It was £230 but they did some qualification check by checking my old phone and entering the phone number into their computer. I seemingly qualified for a price of £199.95. When I got home I transfered my SIM Card from my old phone to the ARC S and that was that. I still have a PAYG balance so I will see how that goes, if it is too costly I may then get a free SIMard from GIFFGAFF.
I assume you downloaded the cash back form but here is the link anyway

Sony Ericsson

Old guys like me are always up for a bargain (72 year old)
Cheers

Last edited by brit9; January 11th, 2012 at 04:41 AM.

brit9

Hi VincentAndroid

Yes it does autofocus, if autofocus is set of course. Keep your finger on the touch screen until the picture is captured.
Cheers

VincentAnoid

Oh right, I think that sim card thing was an upgrade check and because you was with the network for so long you as able to. I'm not fond of giving them my details so I might just use a different unregistered simcard. Thanks for the link to the form I will have to make a purchase quick because it ends soon.

Thanks for the answer and it has a stunning design in my opinion.

17 Year olds are up for bargains too

leahno1auntie

ive just got a xperia arc s i love it

VincentAnoid

I've seen the Xperia Arc S and when I tried taking a photo with it, the camera is terrible even set at 8mp. Zooming in just slightly shows a very pixelated image, not what the 8mp spec suggested.

leahno1auntie

mines fine no probs at all

Thongsy

No problems here either. It's so so much better than the x10 camera so it might be a problem with your unit then. It's the same camera that the Apple uses in the iPhone too if I'm not mistaken.

Also using zoom on any smartphone camera will make it pixelated because it's digital and not optical.

VincentAnoid

No I don't think its the camera, it might be the compression, I've researched and its only inbetween 1-2megabytes? That is so long for a 8mp camera so I guess they used that compression to keep the shutter lagg down?

lsr1981

Hi,

I recently got my Arc S, was looking at HTC Sensation and Samsung Galaxy S2 but decided on this handset in the end.

I read a lot of reviews of all three handsets as well as looking at all three. Main main reasons for my decision were:

Design - think the Arc looks fantastic both in physical appearance but the OS overlay as well. Seems to offer the best layout for how I want my phone to work.

Price - was cheaper than the Galaxy S2 and the Sensation


So far I am loving the phone, my first Android after moving from BlackBerry and and iPhone before that. It is easy to use and despite the large size of the screen it fits in the hand very well and is easy to use.

The notification light is really useful for seeing if I have a message with my phone sitting on my desk.

My only real grip is the battery life, it doesn't last a particularly long time (although I am playing with it a lot at the moment) so see if that improves. Also coming from a BlackBerry which lasted for ages I may be expecting a lot.

Saying that though I do not regret my decision, the keyboard is fantastic, works really well and the auto coerect seems to be very good and working out what I actually wanted to type, the addition of the sywpe style function is also very good for singlehanded input.

Would highly recommend this phone and am looking forward to seeing what the ICS update brings to the handset.

Lee

skymotor

Hi,i just get the phone today,please help me how to close all the apps. after i using it?

OwainGlyndwr

My son told me to download 'Advanced Task Killer' from the Market app. You can set it kill apps when screen closes or at certain time intervals. Not sure exactly how effective it is yet though...

OwainGlyndwr

A handy 5minute video on how to preserve battery life with the Xperia Arc S
Xperia arc? S - Battery life - YouTube

funkylogik

@Skymotor. no need to close any apps m8 they just stay dormant in background..
if u realy want to then use Appkik app. it uses far less resources than the scheduled apps killers

kach310

really!!
My HTC EVO 3D has speed dial that came with It's stock OS gingerbread. Are you sure you are looking at the right place?

Last edited by El Presidente; April 18th, 2012 at 10:46 PM. Reason: Fixed the quote

i4droid

i bought it and think that's better than SGS 1 because have 8mpx camera and can make full hd movies

1,4ghz one core is good if you don't play new games, good phone for business, bravia better than retina