Review: The Xperia Neo, Shiny Like a Chinese Stereo
18.05.12
Now that the high end of the smartphone market is pretty much locked in a Galaxy vs iPhone vs Motorola neck-and-neck, the ding-dong battle is to crack the midrange smartphone racket. And it’s all Android, here. This has given Sony Ericsson a last gasp attempt to get back in the game after its disastrous Windows Mobile strategy and a string of lacklustre midrange phones. The new Android-based Xperias are pretty nice – affordable (US$500-odd) and good looking, and with all the Androidy goodness you’d expect.
Sony Ericsson is unfortunately dropping the ball by model proliferation (there is an Xperia pro, a neo, neo V (exactly the same as the neo, but with a 5MP camera), arc, arc S, ray, mini, mini pro, Play, X8, active, X10, X10 mini, X10 mini pro. So many models, so little between them, so much time and energy wasted that could be better spent making better phones. Fixing little things. Usability things.
We liked the Xperia arc . Super-compact, small enough to lose in your pocket, big enough to be sorta useful as a smartphone (i.e. browser-able screen and typeable onscreen keyboard). Not a powerhouse, but good to go to get you going with the growing smartphone tone. The Xperia neo is bigger, more expensive, higher profile – and small flaws acceptable in the lower end models become a compromise too far.
Source: gearburn