Xperia & 2012

Judging by the stories that have been leaking out from SE the past few weeks, about the forthcoming 2012 range of Xperia phones, the coming year looks to be Sony Ericsson/Sony's biggest year yet. I shan't wade through everything that's been written, but the best of the handsets currently mooted really has the potential to be something extra special; The Nozomi, possibly to be named the Duo or Cloud on it's release, sports a veritable slew of features:

1.5GHz dual-core processor
1GB RAM
12MP camera
1280x720 HD screen
32GB of onboard memory.

I'm sure there will be other features that are just as amazing, but even if the above list is *all* we get, that's pretty amazing. Dual core has been asked about a lot on the SEUK wall really since the Arc was released and there are members of the Test Lab who have been pushing for this feature. The Arc S introduced the fastest Xperia handset ever to the market, but those of us who've rooted and booted our phones have been overclocking to 1.78GHz and beyond for months - although at a detriment to the life of the 1GHz processor. At least it shows SE are listening to their fanbase AND following market trends etc, so top marks then for the 1.5GHz.

12MP cameras were first introduced with the Satio, but sadly thanks to a shoddy operating system this phone was something of a damp squib; it should've been a lot better. A real pity; one suspects if the Symbian operating system was able to be replaced with Android we would have seen a really good phone. Though it's now faded into obscurity, it appears it's getting something of a resurrection - the 12MP camera at least - with the new phone(s).

I'm far more interested in the 32GB of onboard memory, however. My trusty 2007 1st Gen 16GB iPod Touch is really starting to show it's age this last couple months, so I've been utilising the phone music player a lot more. To this extent I've also purchased a 16GB MicroSD card so I can carry more of my library with me. Added to this I'm using the excellent Sony Ericsson LiveSound headphones and things are looking and sounding (pun intended) pretty good on the music front.

So, back to the memory; the 32GB, although probably closer to 29GB after the filing system is set up, should really give the Nozomi a chance to compete with the iPhone, allowing users to carry far more of their music with them, while still leaving room for 12MP pictures and a few other bits and pieces. It's a very, very generous allocation of memory which neatly trumps at least two of the current iPhones available.

For me it still would've been useful to have the Micro SD slot on the phone, either to utilise the extra memory as an expansion slot or to use it as a backup for pictures and things like that. Let's not forget; people don't religiously clear their phones out and if anything goes wrong with the memory, it's not like it can be removed (not that we know of) and replaced with another card - it's integrated into the phone, so the whole lot would have to go off to be repaired/replaced. Still with cloud technology getting better and better, and the likes of Box currently offering 50GB of online storage for free, there's no reason why we couldn't be backing up our photos and personal bits and pieces pretty much anytime, anywhere.

So the Nozomi should prove to be a game changer for Sony - if all goes to plan it should piddle quite handsomely all over the iPhone 4S -  and hopefully lightly tinkle on the feet of at least a couple other phone makers as well! Throw into the mix at least one other phone with similar specs, a couple more handsets at least on a par with this years' Arc...AND an upgrade for 2011/2012 handsets to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich...it's shaping up to be a bumper year and a busy one at that for Test Lab. Roll on spring 2012!