The Sony Ericsson Xperia Ray has a Bravia Mobile Engine LED-backlit LCD 3.3-inch screen and weighs 100 g, but cannot be counted as a big phone by any means. It looks sleek with the matte finish on the sides and back and the embossed Xperia logo.
The all-glass screen with two arcs on top and the bottom add to the stylish look as well. The tactile feedback of the buttons is good, but the volume rocker could have been bigger. The SIM card slot and microSD card slot are housed under the battery, so there’s no hot-swap feature.
The phone is powered by a 1 GHz Scorpion processor with an Adreno 205 GPU, an MSM8255 Snapdragon chipset and runs on Android 2.3.3. Running on top is SE’s stock Timescape UI that displays Facebook, Twitter and other extensions as tiles you can scroll through on the home screen. It looks good, but its pretty average as far as functionality goes. Screen response is fast, but it’s quite small to type on in portrait mode. The interface is simple, but swift, and navigation is effortless.
The Ray’s music player doesn’t disappoint. The speakers are based on Sony’s xLOUD audio filter tech and the sound from them is crisp and clear.
However, the bundled headphones aren’t the best and have a lot of sound leakage. The device is 3G capable, and other connectivity features include Wi-Fi with hotspot capability, Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP and EDR, DLNA, microUSB 2.0 and GPRS/EDGE. NFC, USB on-the-go and Bluetooth 3.0 support are all missing. The 8 megapixel rear camera features Sony’s Exmor R CMOS sensor with autofocus and an LED flash. There’s no dedicated camera button and at times, the camera doesn’t recognize your touch and doesn’t click.
The front VGA camera is decent and performs well during video chats sessions or during self portraits. Video shooting at 720p is impressive, the flash is quite powerful and images in lowlight conditions are captured pretty well. The Sony Ericsson Xperia Ray is priced at Rs 20,000. At that price, it competes with the likes of the Google Nexus S and the LG Optimus Black.
The 8 megapixel camera is brilliant, but having a smaller 3.3-inch screen may not appeal to everyone. And as mentioned earlier, the smaller keyboard will take some time to get used to. Full HD 1080p recording isn’t present and the internal memory is a mere 1 GB out of which only 300 MB can be used.
Yes, the smartphone performs pretty well with whatever features it has and has the Bravia Mobile Engine as well, but choosing this phone over the other ones currently in the market will be more due to personal taste and choice than the features it offers.
Specifications:-
Cost :- Rs 20,000www.sonyericsson.com
Dimensions: 53 x 9.4 x 110 mm; Weight: 100g; Display:
3.3-in, 854x480; Processor: 1GHz; Storage: 1 GB,
expandable to 32 GB; Camera: 8 megapixels, 720p
(primary), VGA (front); Connectivity: 3G, Wi-Fi, EDGE,
Bluetooth 2.1, USB, GPS; OS: Android 2.3; Battery Type:
Li-Ion 1500mAH
Contact Sony Ericsson
Phone 0124-4625055
EMAI L palash.ranjan@sonyericsson.com
