New 2011 Xperia Phones

Today saw the announcement of an additional two new phones to hit the 2011 Xperia portfolio, during the CommunicAsia conference held in Singapore. I have to admit, upon the announcement of the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1 (and the long wait that followed) I had high hopes for the device, but not much hope for the series itself, but I seem to have been extremely wrong on my judgement, in that each revision of the series so far has taken the Xperia range leaps and bounds.

The two new phones, both featuring the Gingerbread flavour of Android, come packed with additional enhancements which in 2011 have become standard for an Xperia device. These include Facebook Inside Xperia, the mobile BRAVIA engine, Exmor-R reality display, along side everything you could expect to see on an Android device such as the Android Market, and synchronisation with google services.

From a personal perspective, the Xperia Ray focuses on desirability whilst maintaining the full Xperia experience. With just 3.3" of screen, the interface used here is the same as the interface we've seen in the larger Xperia devices of this year, but maintains the same resolution as the Xperia arc. This sounds impressive to some degree - I'd like to see exactly how the phone looks, particularly with video playback, but the drawback here is that I really don't know how my fingers would cope with all that's going on in such a small space.



Xperia Ray



The Xperia Active, whilst less appealing visually, will be a highly impressive device for the more active user, and in particular those who endulge in water dwelling activities. The Active promotes itself as a device you can take anywhere, under any circumstances. It claims to be water resistant for up to 30 minutes in fresh water up to 1 meter deep, but also bosts a scratch resistant screen that works seemlessly with 'wet fingers'. Whilst nothing was officially mentioned, the device also looks to be surrounded with rugged protection. The Xperia Active uses the same 4 corner interface as the Xperia mini.

Xperia Active

Other announcements include the Sony Ericsson txt, LiveDock, an official docking station for the Xperia arc (and presumably other Xperia devices) and LiveSound headphones, said to be tangle free, with LiveKey control.

It is also worth noting that no announcement was made for the rumoured Sony Ericsson Xperia duo.

via. Sony Ericsson Product Blog