Sony Ericsson Xperia ray Preview

Introduction and Design:

Three new Sony Ericsson handsets, among which was the Sony Ericsson Xperia ray, were announced pretty hush-hush at CommunicAsia 2011 just a few weeks ago. Looking at the preview unit in our hands, we feel the handset actually deserved more attention to be brought to it.

As small touchscreen smartphones go, it is almost the perfect size, not getting lost in your palm if you have big hands, and fitting admirably if you are regular. The Xperia ray is one of the thinnest smartphones at 0.37” (9.4 mm), and feathery at just 3.53oz (100 g), plus we noticed that the handset is extremely comfortable for one handed operation due to its dimensions.

A big part amidst the phone's positives plays the screen, which is 3.3” LCD, a breath of fresh air after the huge 4”+ Android phones of late, since Sony Ericsson didn't skimp on the level of image detail, gracing the Xperia ray with 480x854 pixels - one of the highest resolutions we've encountered on a screen of this size. Plugging the numbers in a pixel density calculator returned 299ppi, which is just shy of the 300ppi “Retina” threshold. Moreover, it features Sony's Mobile Bravia Engine, for enhanced color intensity and contrast while watching pictures or video.



You can compare the Sony Ericsson Xperia ray with many other phones using our Size Visualization Tool.

This alone makes it a pretty enticing handset, running the latest version of Android 2.3 Gingerbread, but when you add the 8MP Exmor R camera sensor on the back with LED video light (yep, you can't use it as a flash), which proved its virtues in the Sony Ericsson Xperia arc, we might have a formidable category contender.

Moreover, the Sony Ericsson Xperia ray might turn out the first to hit retail with the new Xperia line design, with a huge semi-circle in the middle for a physical home button, and two capacitive keys on its flanks. We dare to say it's better than the previous design, which had overly thin buttons arranged in an arch under the display, which took getting used to. Unlike the Sony Ericsson Xperia arc, the Xperia ray sports a front-facing VGA camera for video chat, but it skips on the HDMI port – something's gotta give. There are also only 300MB of ROM, but a 4GB microSD card will be included in the package.


The resulting design looks very stylish – a thin handset with shiny black front, but lighthearted at the same time, with the choice of pink, black, white and gold colors. It is actually one of the few handsets that look even better in person to us than the press shots, which don't do the glossy front justice. It has every chance to grab the hearts of the design-conscious and/or female smartphone lovers, plus it delivers on the functionality front as well. The only thing we disliked is the placement of the microUSB port on the upper left side, which makes using the phone with the cable plugged in a bit  uncomfortable.

Interface and Functionality:

The new Facebook inside Xperia integration comes woven into Android 2.3 Gingerbread on the Sony Ericsson Xperia ray. It goes as deep as warning you that the friend who's calling has a birthday today. You can "like", share and comment on songs and pictures right from the music player or gallery on the Sony Ericsson Xperia ray, and notifications even appear on your lock screen.

Other than the deep social networking integration, the Timescape portion of the UI is very fluid on the Xperia ray, even in this prototype form. The 1GHz second generation Qualcomm Snapdragon and 512MB RAM have been proven already in the other phones of the Xperia stable this year, and don't disappoint here too.



Internet and Connectivity:

This chipset powers very decent Adobe Flash display in the browser, which is a joy to use not only because of the smooth performance, but also since the 480x854 resolution on the 3.3” display makes for a great reading experience. Text doesn't reflow automatically like on the HTC Sensation 4G, when you enter an article to read, you have to double-tap the screen for it to fit the screen's width, but that's a minor quibble.


Typing on a fairly small touchscreen isn't, though, but there is not much you can do about it. Both the portrait and landscape keyboards have well-spaced keys and act with responsiveness, but the screen is just too small for correctly typing on the portrait keyboard in a quick manner - we mainly used the landscape orientation, of course.


The Sony Ericsson Xperia ray comes with 3G connectivity, plus the usual set of radios – Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, aGPS, and FM radio. It also features DLNA for wireless streaming of multimedia, and the Media Server app is used to manage your DLNA sessions.

Camera and Multimedia:

The Timescape camera interface of the Sony Ericsson Xperia ray is the newest version, so we can now zoom with the volume buttons while taking images of above 2MP of resolution, which we couldn't on the Xperia arc, for example. You take a picture by directly tapping on the screen, same with video mode for start and stop. The most used presets like Sports, Night shot or Snow and Beach are present, but we were looking for a Macro mode in the settings and couldn't find it. Turns out it is automatic, with the little flower icon appearing on the screen when you approach the closest distance from which the Xperia ray can take a clear macro shot, which seems to be about 6-10 inches.


The pictures and video are characterized with high contrast and warm colors, while the amount of detail and sharpness were very good from our non-final unit. Indoors the pics and video come a bit noisy when it's dark, which is typical for each and every phone camera. Bear in mind that this is still a prototype, so additional tweaks in the camera software might occur when we get the retail version for a review.




Sony Ericsson Xperia ray Sample Video:



Sony Ericsson Xperia ray Indoor Sample Video:



The handset doesn't support DivX/Xvid video files by default, but plays MPEG-4s up to 720p definition with no issues. Music playback through the loudspeaker is exceptional for such a thin handset, which is a trademark for the Xperia line of Sony Ericsson.

Expectations:

To recap our impressions from the prototype – it is easy to say that the Sony Ericsson Xperia ray is a less-capable version of the Xperia arc, but what you actually get is a more compact version without sacrificing much but an HDMI port and a flash. Actually, the fact that the light emitting diode on the back can only be used as a light instead of a flash, is the only letdown we encountered with the Xperia ray. Let's not forget that we had a prototype unit, so hopefully Sony Ericsson will remedy that for the final version. If it chooses to leave it as it is only to differentiate further from the Xperia arc, this wouldn't be a very smart move – the screen size is enough, we reckon.

Most everything else worked like a charm even in this non-final unit we had. Props for the best-in-class resolution on the 3.3” screen, it really made a difference while reading, and also for the 8MP Exmor R camera. The loudspeaker is very strong and clear, as with all handsets in the Xperia line, and we have dual mics for noise cancellation. Sony Ericsson also supplied the Xperia ray with a generous 1500mAh battery, which supports 7 hours of talk time in 3G mode, and that is another plus we don't see often is smallish Android handsets. All of this is wrapped up in a slim and stylish chassis that you wouldn't be hesitant to whip out even in the VIP section of your favorite club, unlike some smartphone clunkers we've met.

In a nutshell, the attractiveness of our Sony Ericsson Xperia ray turned out to be not only the design, but also the fact that it doesn't cripple functionality compared to the bigger sibling Xperia arc, and makes for a very enticing compact Android handset. We can't wait to snag the retail version for a final verdict, but the Xperia ray is shaping to be an agile contender in the crowded Android space, depending on the price tag Sony Ericsson decides to slap on it.

Sony Ericsson Xperia ray Video Preview: