For the last ten years Sony and Ericsson have been joined together in the mobile phone industry, but this long industrious partnership has just come to an end after Sony purchased Ericsson’s 50% share of the partnership at the end of last year. This is the end of Sony Ericsson, and the new Xperia S, just unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, is the beginning of a new chapter for Sony’s smartphone division.

 

Sony Xperia S Android Phone

This phone still keeps the Xperia branding of earlier Sony Ericsson phones, and possibly even the Sony Ericsson branding by the looks of the demo model on show at CES, but it looks markedly different to Xperia phones launched in the last few years. Since the Xperia X10 Sony Ericsson’s smartphones have been uninspiring – they have all looked very similar with no unique style to separate them from other mobile phone contracts available.

The New Xperia S

The Xperia S is a different story. It seems to have adopted many design principles from competitors like Samsung and HTC, with a more simplistic casing design. What will truly set this phone out in the aesthetic stakes though is the rather unique transparent band at the bottom, which contains the phone’s Android keys (Home, Back and Menu), which gives the Xperia S its own unique identity.

Dual Core at Last

This is the first dual core phone from Sony – Sony Ericsson had received a lot of criticism for not introducing dual core on earlier phones like the Arc and Arc S. The 1.5GHz chip is combined with 1GB RAM making this one of the most powerful smartphones around. But dual core isn’t new, and quad core phones will probably be on sale within the next couple of months making this phone perhaps a little old before its time.

No Ice Cream Sandwich

It will be the fastest phone running Android Gingerbread though. The phone has not been given Ice Cream Sandwich, although Sony has revamped its Android interface and Timescape feature. Timescape was a big source of sluggishness on phones like the Arc, so it will be interesting to see if the new developments are more than just cosmetic.

As the Sony press release states:

“The user Interface has been redesigned to match the minimalistic design of the hardware. The home screen has a new colorful flow background making full usage of HD Reality Display and dual-core processing power.”

Smart Features

Sony is introducing three new features with the Xperia S that should become regular attractions on its future line-up. Using NFC the Xperia S will introduce SmartTags – small round tokens that you can tap your phone against to load different profiles. Smart Wireless Headset Pro improves on standard Bluetooth features, allowing users to listen to music and read messages, and SmartWatch can be strapped to your wrist like a wristwatch, giving you access to your phone from a distance via Bluetooth.

Camera

The Xperia S has a 12 megapixel camera with 1080p video and LED flash, making it better than cameras on phones like the Galaxy S2. It also has one of the best front facing cameras around with 1.3mp. What is really great about the Xperia S though is that it has an HD screen, so videos recorded on the camera can be watched back from the phone in far superior quality than on other leading Android devices of the moment.

HD Screen

The 4.3 inch screen is an LED-backlit LCD display, similar to that of the Arc, but with a much sharper 720p resolution. The Xperia includes Sony’s Mobile BRAVIA Engine, so images and videos are improved dramatically on the fly. This screen supports multitouch input from up to ten separate fingers at once, which should make it possible for some rather interesting apps and games to be developed, but in all likelihood will not amount to any significant.

Sony was probably the main partner behind the production of Sony Ericsson phones, and having complete control over the enterprise may allow them to start producing some much more intuitive and ground-breaking devices. Sony has a lot of knowledge when it comes to electronics and entertainment and they have been responsible for a lot of the big changes in the phone industry. The Xperia S may not be ground breaking, but it does show that Sony is catching up with the competition fast.