Test Lab - Chapter 2

Back in February this year I was offered a proposition that would change my position within the mobile phone industry, and that was to be part of a brand new test lab for Sony Ericsson Products. In march we launched with a bang, a successful get together where we all enjoyed our initial meet and greet session before being handed our brand new Xperia devices and heading off the to Xperia play launch party with special guest, Tinchy Stryder.

Yesterday it was time to return to london to meet my fellow test labbers for a second time, and to speak to some of the important people within Sony Ericsson UK about how we have been getting along with our new devices. It was the perfect opportunity to get a few things off my chest, but also to praise Sony Ericsson for the year they have had so far, something which could save them from what was their impending doom. Now - I personally think they have a great chance of coming out the other end, fresh and on top.

The session began at Iris Towers in London, Whilst the weather wasn't completely up to a day out, the primary focus of this visit was to speak to Sony Ericsson. After introductions, we were introduced to the Workshop with a very generic question, but a good way to start off, and that was asking us, "what do you think of your phones?" This question was presented by Dave Hilton, Marketing Director of Sony Ericsson UK. There were a mixture of positive and negative comments, but the one thing I wanted to get off my chest immediately was the lag which the arc suffers from time to time. My main focus within a mobile phone has always been convenience, but balanced with security, so these were my two primary focus points during the session. Being that waiting or the phone to respond significantly reduces the convenience of the device, this to me was an important issue, and having raised the issue I do not feel my comments went amis. This was met with comments from other test labbers on their Xperiences with lag, and I hope that, following on from our discussion, this will be met with additional focus on stability and performance in future products. I did ask also on what Sony Ericsson's opinion was on meeting supply for the demands of a vanilla instance of Android for the Xperia range, as well as how Sony Ericsson will be approaching the developer community following Samsung's recent love affair with CM7, something that I believe has truly contributed to the success of the Samsung Galaxy S II. Both of these questions received pretty much the same response, which was that Sony Ericsson have unlocked the bootloader in the newer devices. Whilst this is true, I still believe Sony Ericsson to be playing catch up to Samsung here. Whilst Sony Ericsson are currently one of those who are satisfying the developer community, I don't think unlocking the bootloader is enough. If Samsung are supporting the developer community by sending out new devices, then Sony Ericsson need to go one better, and right now, I think Samsung win here. In terms of releasing a vanilla version of Android, I was advised along side the bootloader being unlocked, that releasing a vanilla Android would still require aditional Sony Ericsson customisation if the consumer wanted to see features such as the camera and google products working. This I feel is fair enough, particularly as SE have recently won back the hearts of some of it's consumers by promising faster updates, something that would only be hindered with two versions of every firmware.

Next were given a demonstration of the product lifeline for a mobile phone. This was an eye-opener, as it was the first time I've ever had the oportunity to see both sides of the story, from the moment an Idea is thought up to the moment the consumer purchases the device, and from the moment of purchase to the moment the consumer ends their affair with the said Sony Ericsson product. It was interesting to realise that, from the moment an idea is born, this then goes through several stages in the beginning of it's life (Design, consumer research, tech-research - which I will mention again further on, etc.) before rearching it's initial prototype. Post the birth of the prototype, the product is then thoroughly tested through a period that extends over 9-12 months. This consists of 6-9 months of internal testing, and then a period of testing between Sony Ericsson and the operators that will be carrying the devices. This interested me a lot, as it went to show why sometimes the decisions which manufacturers make don't always seem a good step up to the competition. Nokia sprung to mind; a mobile phone manufacture that conquered the dumb phone generation and held it's head high when feature phones were at the helm, but failed to master the smart phone market. The manufacturer that we all at one stage thought invincible, currently dying a very painful death - a sore subject. In terms of technology research, the "technology office" in responsible for finding out where we are going to be in up to 10 years from now, and the technology involved to make these things happen.

Next, I got to take a look at the Xperia Ray and Xperia Mini Pro, two handsets that are expected to arrive within the coming months. I recently ran a blog post on the Xperia Ray, when first announced by Sony Ericsson and couldn't wait to get my hands on the device to see for myself how well it performed. I was not dissapointed in terms of what a wonderful device it is, however felt a little empty when it was time to put the devices down and to proceed onto the next step. The back casing of the ray is of a material similar to that of the X10, therefore not only looked smart, but felt smart to hold aswell. Size wize I was concious of the high resolution on a small screen, and unsure on how my fingers would cope with this. Generally when people complain of "fat fingers", I feel privilaged of my tiny hands. Finding watches and jewelry for my hands whilst avoiding the childrens sections is something that doesn't come easily, but this benefits with touch screen phones. The Ray however, had even I wondering how well I would be able to perform with the high resolution on the small screen. I was pleasantly suprised - The screen recognised absolutely everything I wanted to do without error - whilst had I spent a whole day with the phone I imagine I would have been saying something else, within the moments I was able to get a grasp for the phone, it felt intuitive and slick to use. The one downside to the phone, and really a necessary evil with the screen size, was the sacrifice of the qwerty keyboard for a 9 key input, however the qwerty keyboard would return when tilting the device to a landscape angle.

Following this, I had the opportunity to play the up and coming Xperia PLAY game, Desert Winds. I hadn't actually used the Xperia PLAY up until yesterday, so as a heavy gamer, felt it necessary to give this a spin to once and for all decide where I sit in terms of whether or not I was a fan of the device. Unfortunately I just didn't feel the love for the PLAY, however for fans of the device, the few minutes I had with Desert Winds played well, and the graphics are superb for, what is primarily, a mobile phone. This was a quick session, before moving onto the next topic, what we'd like to see in the future.

There were several hints as to what we could expect from the future of Sony Ericsson, however all of this was down to interpretation. The biggest thing of interest was the keen interest on seeing how we would fare with more space on a phone, if a phone were able to have more estate in terms of screen space, without increasing the size of phones from their current position. With this in mind, I had thoughts of a dual screen phone, so whether this is what's next for Sony Ericsson is again, open to interpretation. I commented on my own experiances that, whilst productivity was something that tablets could handle well, advanced productivity is something that certain consumer markets crave to be capable of whilst on the go. My examples were Image Editing and Music Production. Music Production is something that is close to my heart, a keen hobby of mine, for going on 15 years. Whilst tablets contain the screen space to have something such as Photoshop working well (I've never used photoshop express on tablets, but on Android mobiles, it's not a pleasant experiance) mobile phones struggle a little bit here, however it's not impossible to make something that works, especially when considering the interface used on the arc's camera. The one downside, as I mentioned, was processing power. Both Image Editing and Music Production are very intense on processing power, however I was quickly assured this this is not an issue. Again, open to interpretation.

There was one more thing left to do, and that was to meet the creators of, and watch the trailor for Sony Ericsson's new social online mini-series. To add a little light humour to end the event, we met Gary, a character that has been created based on the Sony Ericcson Xperia PLAY. One thing that Sony Ericsson does well is to engage it's fans not only in what devices they release, but also in providing fun, social media based entertainment. Meeting Gary was pleasant few minutes. The character (Gary) in one who has played pretty much every game in existence, and has moved onto the Xperia PLAY as the next logical step. He has again, managed to finish every game and along the way has picked up many skills. He'll kick yor ass at call of duty, and wipe the pool table clean before you have a chance to say "Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini Pro". He has however been challenged to "get a life" and so takes up on the callenge, and gets himself a job - as a superhero! It looks like a fun project that, in time will become the audiences own creation. Using facebook and other social services across the internet, members of the audience will be able to challenge gary to a duel at something they find they are good at. Whether it's Tae Kwon Do, Snooker trick-shots, or a hurdles race. Members of the audience will be able to submit their challenges, and based on the response from other members of the audience, gary will be sent to challenge the audience member. It's all a little vague right now, however the advert really managed to engage. It's very well done, and I look forward to finding out more about Gary when he makes his debut on the Sony Ericsson UK Facebook page on Monday. I did have a look around for the video on Youtube (I noticed during the presentation that the video was hosted on youtube) however failed to find it. If I manage to locate it I will embed it here for your own viewing pleasure, however look out for Gary, coming soon, if your into the whole additional entertainment thing that Sony Ericsson does.

Well, this was pretty much it for the Sony Ericsson workshop. The rest of the evening involved eating Chinese and getting very drunk around London - Very drunk indeed. So now I'm going to tackle my headache with the hair of the dog. It's friday night, after all!