Sony Ericsson Xperia ray review: Ray of light

28 September 2011
Honey, I shrunk the Xperia arc. No, that's a different story. And yes, we like the Sony Ericsson minis. But that's not how the real story of the Sony Ericsson Xperia ray goes. They did things to the Xperia arc...

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  • K
  • Keltz
  • v%7
  • 22 Nov 2011

AnonD-25993, 28 Oct 2011neo or ray??? and what is all about this photo light/flash ... moreThe photo light means u have to turn on the LED light before taking photos in low light situation, as opposed to flash light where the camera automatically flashes the LED light when a photo is taken. :)

    • D
    • DarkHorse
    • myW
    • 12 Nov 2011

    Excellent smart phone if you can compromise. Great size for practical daily use, no need to by bigger carry cases, light weight 100g and relatively cheap/free on monthly deals. Great clear screen resolution nearly 300dpi. Turn of all the wasteful stuff and the standby would be 3-6 days but I can’t stop playing with it long enough to find out. A big plus for me is the amount of great free apps/games on Android Market to fill in most shortfalls on the phone (keyboard apps, speak in text etc.) but you should dig around on a full sized PC browser first.

    A bit fiddly to use, surprisingly so when used as a basic phone (smart phones generally I think). Avoid setting to preferred 3G(WCDMA) network connection in a low signal area, gets hot in calls and drain battery (same for all phones), for my area 2G(GSM) works best. The 8MP camera should have a lower 4 or 5 MP setting to save space and the images shot indoors are too noisy but blur slightly less than some. Front facing VGA camera, video chat calls not supported in MSN WLM apps yet, only Skype and Yahoo etc.

    > Screen viewing angles
    Not noticed any issue in daily use.

    > No smart dialling
    Add single click 'Direct Dial' shortcuts anywhere on the desktop. Hard to figure out how to setup so Google for it.

    > Loudspeaker has below average performance
    Not too bad for music but speaker phone is a bit quite and the mic makes you distant, something previous Sony phones did quite well???

    > No DivX/XviD support
    Android apps, not tried though.

    > Non hot-swappable memory card
    File mangers apps can easy web/FTP share across Wifi or setup PC file shares for in/out auto file transfers to/from PC. Really quick and handy, no need to remove SD cards anymore. Brilliant!

    > No HDMI port (the arc and the Neo have one)
    The Ray is a smaller phone package. Do you really need a HDMI port on a device like this, probably not?

      • ?
      • Anonymous
      • bC9
      • 10 Nov 2011

      Can anybody confirm whether it has got a default screen protector out of box. An extra screen guard came with the box. But is there any protector already attached to the screen???

        • x
        • xpose
        • RKv
        • 08 Nov 2011

        Vino, 26 Oct 2011Signal reception is very poor compared to nokia phones....R... moreI am having poor reception problem. I thought my handset was faulty and about to send back. Is this a problem with all Ray handsets? Is it a waste of time to send back and they find no fault. I cannot use my phone reliably in my work building.

          • E
          • Eduardo
          • LeP
          • 07 Nov 2011

          I bought the Ray in replacement of my excelent SE C901 and I am very pleased with the phone. However, the ray can't beat C901 in ca mera performance. The display is really good but is the biggest battery consumer (I have already lowered the brigthness and at the minimum and disabled the Bravia Engine. A part of this, Sony Ericsson has made an excelent mobile!

            • m
            • matalwan
            • IVx
            • 01 Nov 2011

            why can't connect to data network when change sim card even same network provider huh?

              • D
              • AnonD-25993
              • ttc
              • 28 Oct 2011

              neo or ray??? and what is all about this photo light/flash thing...

                • V
                • Vino
                • t}g
                • 26 Oct 2011

                Signal reception is very poor compared to nokia phones....Rest every thing is fine

                  • R
                  • RG
                  • 3Sw
                  • 23 Oct 2011

                  kunal, 30 Sep 2011i am planning to buy this phone,,,but really confused about... moreActually I find screen responsiveness very high... at first it didn`t react occasionally, but I find this occurs when I pressed it harder. You have to be really gentle with the pressing on this screen and its smooth like butter. ;)

                    • R
                    • RG
                    • 3Sw
                    • 23 Oct 2011

                    Anonymous, 06 Oct 2011Hey guys, or anyone who is an owner of the xperia ray pleas... moreFor CRT screen turn-off animation you just have to activate the animation transitions, cause they are probably off.

                    Go to SETTINGS>DISPLAY>ANIMATIONS and turn them ON.

                      • ?
                      • Anonymous
                      • ub6
                      • 21 Oct 2011

                      Superb phone for handy usage.Small but powerful

                        • D
                        • AnonD-22477
                        • ut3
                        • 20 Oct 2011

                        Nice Phone..

                          • N
                          • Nook
                          • MWY
                          • 18 Oct 2011

                          Sorry, should have added this to my OP:

                          How about signal reception? Some reviews (including some with a test lab) said reception was pretty poor...

                          N

                            • N
                            • Nook
                            • MWY
                            • 18 Oct 2011

                            Can anyone tell me more about the LED notification strip around the home key:

                            - Which events does it signal? (calls, SMS, email, ...?)
                            - How about visibility in daylight? I'm looking for a phone where I can tell just by a glance whethere any new messages have arrived, and some notification LEDs are just too dark for daylight use.

                            Many thanks!

                            N.

                              • D
                              • AnonD-26369
                              • 3LT
                              • 15 Oct 2011

                              Derf, 13 Oct 2011Been using it for a week now. Great phone!how is the camera? do you have problems with display (Scratch-resistant display)? have you maybe tried that? tnx

                                • D
                                • Derf
                                • v0q
                                • 13 Oct 2011

                                Been using it for a week now. Great phone!

                                  • ?
                                  • Anonymous
                                  • wg4
                                  • 13 Oct 2011

                                  Sonyericsson got some nice looking phones, what lets them down is the specs. Beef up the specs sony and you will surely sell more...

                                    • S
                                    • Swaroop
                                    • FY4
                                    • 12 Oct 2011

                                    I brought this phone and i love it... the only thing i didn't like is that the rear camera is very close to the edge of the phone.. my finger comes in way while taking a picture.

                                      • ?
                                      • Anonymous
                                      • Ygg
                                      • 12 Oct 2011

                                      My is Jhalyn im a a super fan .. but i love u the most ... c u at the next show but i want guys to come to Edwardsville


                                      love you ray ray

                                        • p
                                        • prats
                                        • veF
                                        • 11 Oct 2011

                                        guys please tel me
                                        wch fone to buy amongst these?

                                        1.Xperia RAY
                                        2.Xperia ARC
                                        3>Xperia NEO