Gadgets – Sony Ericsson Xperia Ray

I have been fed up with my iPhone 3G for a while, slow, unresponsive and heavy, rubbish photos and no video. I know I liked it when I had it first but Apple kept updating it until it sort of stopped. On the other hand I am also a little security worried about using a smart phone more and more on an OS with no updates. So what to get. To be honest I’ve had enough of Apple, they are getting a little like Microsoft did in the early noughties, control freaks. I also dont like the amount they are now charging…

So what phone to get.

My stable of standard portable gadgets whilst travelling was:

Personal Netbook (I type a lot so don’t want a tablet), Work Laptop, iPhone, Garmin 500, old ipod gen4 in the car for music, cheap digital camera (use an SLR at other times), old digital video camera. Could I replace a load of these with functionality on a phone ?

Fellow MTBO rider Ifor Powell mentioned that the Sony Ericsson Xperia (soon to be just Sony) phones had ANT+ compatibility so the possibility of ditching the Garmin was real..

Result – I now have a Xperia Ray and I am very impressed. I thought about buying outright the Active,a waterproof version, but decided on a standard contract freebie one instead.

So the review: Android – just brilliant, a bit more complicated than  IOS but you can set it up to almost replicate it if you want. Typing so much easier. The camera and screen are excellent, so too is the HD video. Its small, light and reasonably robust. (I wanted a small phone). The battery life is not brilliant requiring a daily charge if I use it a lot.

And no more itunes, just grab the folder of music and bung it on the phone, simples.

So thats the phone, camera, video camera and Mp3 options ticked.

Ifor has written an excellent App to monitor ANT+ compatable sensors (ie HR, Cadence Power etc) for the Android market which I will review in my next blog item but it is excellent. Coupled with an Xperia Active it could be a good way of getting the same functionality as a Garmin 800 (ie maps too)but with a smart phone aswell.

I’ve only tried it on the turbo at the moment but it works a treat. It even it is the ability to scan for other ANT+ devices – spy on your competitors ? No idea where that sits legally!

Oh and ive sold my old iPhone for £60 too!