Sony Ericsson Xperia Ray is its looks. The narrow design makes it stand out from the considerably wider touchscreen phones in the market. Although it is all-plastic , the matte metal finish gives it a premium look. Plus, at just 9.4mm thick and 100 grams, the Xperia Ray is one of the sleekest and best looking smartphones you'll see for the price.
Because of the narrow design, the 3.3-inch display has an aspect ratio of 16:9. The screen resolution is 480 x 854 pixels, which delivers superb details. Add Sony's Mobile Bravia display engine into the mix, and you get one of the best LCDs on a smartphone at this price. The display is very responsive — even though its narrow , it did not pose a problem while using the onscreen QWERTY keyboard. Much to our disappointment though, Sony Ericsson did not include an ambient light sensor on the phone — which means that screen brightness will have to be adjusted manually using the settings menu.
Running a 1Ghz processor with 512MB RAM, the Ray comes with 300MB of internal storage and supports up to 32GB microSD cards. It runs Android 2.3 with SE's latest Timescape user interface. Navigation is zippy and switching between multiple apps showed no slowdown on the phone. However, with the Timescape widget (which compiles updates from all contacts into flickable panes) running on the homescreen, the performance dipped with sluggish navigation and apps taking a bit more time to open. Hopefully this will be fixed in the next software update.
The audio output from the phone's loudspeaker is strictly for personal listening in a closed room as the volume level was nothing to write home about. Although quality while using headphones or the earpiece was great. The phone does not support Divx/xvid videos out of the box, but we played a few videos via MoboPlayer and there was no visible distortion or lag. The output was fantastic thanks to the Mobile Bravia display engine and the display resolution. The music player on the phone is also well executed — it offers plenty of equalizer settings and a silent mode that mutes all notifications sounds (except alarms) while listening to music.
The camera is another strong point and perhaps justifies the steep price. It has an 8MP camera with LEDflash and Sony Exmor R backlit sensor – similar to the one found on the high-end Xperia Arc. The camera does not disappoint for stills – sharp details, natural colors and good contrast under all conditions. The backlit sensor has higher sensitivity and helps to capture good photos even in low light conditions , although noise is clearly visible in darker areas. It shoots videos in 720p and also offers continuous autofocus but the video quality is just average.
Battery life on the phone turned out to be better than similar priced droids – over a day and half with moderate usage. Mainly due to the fact that even in the slim form factor, it carries a 1500mAh battery. In terms of competition, the LG Optimus Black P970 and the Samsung Galaxy S i9000 are priced under 20,000 and sport 4-inch displays, 1Ghz processor, native DivX playback and 5MP cameras that shoot videos in 720p — more lucrative options. If only the Xperia Ray was priced around 16,000, it would be the outright winner in that price range.
Price: Rs 20,000 (est.)
Features: 3.3-inch capacitive touchscreen, 1Ghz processor, 512MB RAM, 300MB storage + microSD slot, 5MP rear/VGA front camera, 3G, Wi-Fi , Bluetooth , Android 2.3, 1500mAh, 100g
PROS: Good looks, beautiful display, still camera, battery backup
CONS: Expensive, average sound from speaker, average video recording
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