[Xperia Arc General] keyz86:
Hi all,

Now im generally not a fan of people posting 'hate' threads, but this phone has dissapointed me so much that i feel it necessary to point out why i turned to hate it and why im selling it and getting the Galaxy SII in order to help people that are thinking of buying this phone to make an advised decision.

1. It constantly lags, and almost every app force closes (and YES i have reset the phone and used both .181 and .145 versions of the firmware.

2. When the phone starts syncing accounts in the background it renders it unusable. The phone takes up to 5 minutes to load the Facebook app and longer for anything else.

3. Sony Ericsson's stupid decision to reverse the ground and mic wires so you cant use any other wired headphones with an inline control but the ones it came with. As discussed in this thread http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1045973&page=1

4. The camera takes too long to open.

5. The USB socket is on the side at the top so you have to have a landscape dock which takes up more room (obviously only applies to people that use a dock with their phones).

6. The USB/Power lead that comes with it is angled up instead of down which i find just gets in the way.

7. The headphone jack is on the side (ok this is not a major issue but is annoying when getting it in and out of your pocket when you have headphones in.

8. The headphones that come with it only have a play/pause button and no volume or any way to change tracks. (i hear theres an app that can change what the button does but it really should be there to start with!)

9. I bought a sim locked version which at the moment means i cant root or install custom roms.

10. The Sony Ericsson UI is awful and downright ugly (again you can always install a different launcher, but thats money for an app that you shouldnt need in my opinion and it just covers the home screens, as soon as you enter the Settings, Dialler or Contacts your right back in the SEUI).

11. Recording in 720p is super laggy and jolts all the time making it useless.

I will go on to say though that the camera is the best phone camera i have ever used by far! Stunning photos everytime. And the same goes for the built in speaker.

UPDATE!!

Ok so i thought i should update this post in case anyone was still undecided on which device to buy. I have since sold my Arc and bought an S2 and WOW WHAT A DIFFERENCE!.

The S2 solves all the little problems i had with the Arc (the headset wiring is the right way round, the headphone jack is on the top of the device, the micro USB is at the bottom PERFECT)

PLUS it solves the big problems i had. The S2 is lightning fast, fast like you wouldnt believe! Everything opens instantaneously including the camera which literately takes just a second to open and be ready to shoot.

Speaking of the camera the built in features are better (panorama up to 8 pictures, cartoon mode and beauty shot, as well as all the stuff the Arc has) and it films in 1080p!!! The quality is superb you just would not believe it was recorded on a phone!!! Oh AND you can use digital zoom at the highest quality setting by pinching the screen! Cool feature the Arc doesnt have at all let alone with a cool multi touch gesture!

I have had the phone running for about 3 days now and used it heavily (games, video, intensive browsing with heavy flash sites usually for 2 hours at a time) and not once have i needed to force close stuff with a task killer or restart the phone, the S2 just keeps on going with whatever you do to it. I have never known a phone capable of such use!

With my Arc i would of had to have run a task killer after EVERY task in order for it to be responsive enough to do something else at a reasonable speed. For example with the Arc if i watched a few flash videos in the browser and then pressed the home button, the Home Screen would be unresponsive for a couple of seconds and all the app shortcuts would have missing 'transparent' icons. After a few seconds the icons would come back and i would need to run a task killer to be able to do anything else or it would take up to 5mins even to load the FB app!

With the S2 i can just keep using it, task after task and it never slows down even a tiny bit, everything continues to be buttery smooth and instantaneous even after using several intensive apps!

The S2 never laggs at any time even when using a live wallpaper, its always buttery smooth and just as responsive. The Arc used to lag a bit when using a live wallpaper.

The S2 boots up in less than 15-20 seconds!!! The Arc took nearly a whole minute! Nothing so far has force closed and everything has opened almost instantaneously! The build quality is so much better, much sturdier and no wobbly buttons made of cheep plastic. Everything on the S2 is rock solid and built to a really high standard!

There are little bonus's with the phone too, the ROM and UI is much better designed. Theres a CM7 style settings widget in the notification tray, the music player looks and works brilliantly and includes a widget in the notification tray when its in use for album art and music controlls. Theres a 2MP front facing camera the Arc didnt have one at all and the battery seems to last longer. Theres loads of built in gestures, like pinching the screen in the browser when zoomed out brings up the tabbed windows screen, holding 2 fingers on the screen and then tilting the phone forward or back zooms in or out on photos and in the browser, holding an icon or a widget then tilting the phone left or right moves across the home screens and turning the phone upside down when you get a call silences the ring! Watch them here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxCW7U2m8dk

Theres also a wealth of handy built in apps from Samsung including a photo and video editor!, unlike the usual useless rubbish manufacturers put on phones plus even more handy stuff like built in screen capture by pressing 'home' and 'power' buttons together and it has that nice 'bump' effect the same as the iphone when you get to the top or bottom of a page or menu. Personally i find Touch Whiz 4.0 much better than the Arc launcher however i am using Launcher Pro (i had to buy i to replace the Arc's homescreen so i might as well get my moneys worth haha, plus i really like it)

All in all, reading peoples comments, i might agree that i had a faulty unit but even so, the S2 is miles ahead in my opinion. It just eats any task you give it with no hassel. Its never rebooted itself. It never laggs and has so many more built in features. The Super AmoLED screen is just breathtaking, the picture quality and colour depth must be seen to be believed!

Each is to their own, and im sure all the owners here love the Arc, but in my own opinion, especially if your a heavy user... GET THE S2! :)

P.S. For LiveView owners, disconnections are far and few between with the S2! With the Arc i would have to reconnect the LiveView every 1 or 2 hours whereas with the S2 i can sometimes go a whole day without needing to reconnect!