Before Apple waded into the market, phones came in all shapes and sizes. From candy-bar icons like the Nokia 3210 to svelte flip models like the Motorola V50, it was easy to find a phone that was unique. You could even opt for a garish clip-on case if you were lucky enough to have a Nokia 3310/30 (complete with Snake…II!).
However, that all changed with the advent of the touchscreen. By way of neccessity, all modern smartphones seem to adopt the same boring design. HTC recently announced a new line of phones which were virtually identical to the last. Whilst Apple may have released a design classic with the iPhone 4, it has no doubt spawned a plethora of black, uniform bricks. It’s almost as if we’ve gone backwards to the 80s, when all phones literally were black bricks. So it’s refreshing to see one of the industry stalwarts bring something a little different to the table.
Amid the sea of iPhone clones, Sony Ericsson releases the Xperia Arc this year. Whilst recognising the need for a touchscreen (a 4.2 inch, 854×480 beast in this case), they’ve decided to bring the thickness down to just 8.7mm at it’s smallest point. Despite it’s diminutive proportions, it still packs in the usual smartphone neccesities such as a 1GHz Qualcomm proccessor, 8.1 MP camera and a HDMI-out. The Arc will be running on Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) upon release; here’s hoping that Sony Ericsson avoid the software headaches that plagued the X10.
BETAMETRIC 