AFTER A FEW SHORT WEEKS of use, I can honestly say that the Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc has reset my expectations of what a mobile phone should be able to do with video.
I'm personally impressed at the HD recording effortlessly performed by the phone. On my first weekend using the phone, it recorded a ten-minute review of the Sunday newspapers, complete with auto-focus when I took the phone within three inches of the newsprint.
Today, the phone let me attend a spontaneous hangout inside Online Meeting Rooms while viewing the hangout over wifi. This is the equivalent of watching a six-seat video conference on a retina screen while walking around campus.
I got my Xperia Arc for EUR 90 on contract with O2 Ireland. It's the best money I've spent with O2. Regular readers may remember me saying the Mifi was the best value I've had with O2 but I bought the Huawei dongle separately and got the data SIM only from O2. I can strongly recommend both the Arc and the O2 Hotshot.
Watch the comparison at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5I0dG3ayu9U and know I'm not paid to review or demonstrate technology. (Added: The Arc is the camera footage on the right.)
