It’s taken a while to emerge, but the Sony Ericsson Neo is finally with us. Shipments of this Xperia-branded Android device were delayed by the recent natural disaster in Japan, but now that it’s here we’re pleased to report that it’s been worth the wait.
Looking at the Xperia Neo for the first time calls to mind one of its recently-launched brothers, the PlayStation-certified Xperia Play. Front the front, the two phones look very much alike, with only the missing ‘search’ button and enlarged front-facing camera standing out as key differences. The Neo shares the Play’s metal-effect plastic sides, too – although around the back, it’s a different story.
The Neo boasts a cool gradient effect on its battery cover, and the unit we looked at featured a black and metallic blue combination. We wouldn’t begin to suggest that it will be to everyone’s tastes, but it certainly tickled our fancy.
Which is just as well, because the photos and video captured by the Neo’s 8-megapixel camera need a good display to do them justice. The Exmor-R CMOS back-lit sensor is nothing short of breathtaking, and snaps astonishingly detailed photos. Even at this preview stage, we’re quite happy to say that it’s one of the best mobile phone cameras we’ve ever witnessed. Here are three photo samples taken with the XPERIA Neo.
Beating at the heart of this multimedia powerhouse is a fairly humble 1Ghz processor, which could leave some of you feeling disappointed. However, it’s important to remember that Sony Ericsson is positioning this as a mid-range Android handset, so it’s unrealistic to expect it to contain the latest dual-core CPU tech – especially when you consider that you’re getting such a great screen and camera for the price.
The Sony Ericsson-skinned Android 2.3 interface is very much the same as it was on the Play and Arc; the changes that have been made are subtle, and aside from a few annoying ‘bloatware’ applications installed by the manufacturer, it runs swiftly and reasonably crash-free.
