MWC 2011 Live: Sony Ericsson Xperia Neo Hands-on Preview

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The Sony Ericsson Xperia Neo was launched yesterday evening, together with the other three new Xperia handsets we’ve already seen, at the special pre-MWC Sony Ericsson event and we were there for a quick hands-on preview for you.

But while the Play, has its gaming features, the Arc impresses with its slimness and overall experience and the Pro comes with a full QWERTY keyboard. What does the Neo have to really impress the crowds? I asked myself that question a bunch of times and I can’t say I found an answer. The Neo seems like a neat smartphone, but isn’t the flagship device that Sony Ericsson will send in the first line to fight the iPhone 5, the HTC Thunderbolt and the likes.

However it will be a dependable Android Gingerbread-running phone, which will probably be available for a more than accessible price once in stores.

What I did like about the phone was its Bravia Mobile experience. The phone seems to be capable to offer the same quality entertainment the other handsets will also get you, even if you’re standing in a bar/club with really poor lighting conditions.

You’ll notice in the gallery below that the display suddenly comes to live while playing video (trust me on that one). We’ll also note the Neo comes with a 1GHz processor, 512MB of RAM and an 8.1-megapixel camera. So this beast has the insides to make all your Android dreams happen for you.

I caught the Neo right in the middle of the club while I was actually looking for a way to get to the Neo demo tables. Unlike the other hands-ons we’ve shown you from MWC thus far, the lighting was really poor this time around but we still managed to get a demo of that new widget management solution and the folders features. I’ll say, at least for now, that the widgets are pretty laggy for now. You can pinch to get them all on the screen but they won’t appear immediately, not that this is a must-have feature, is it folks?

The Neo will most likely be out in the following months although we don’t have any clear details about price tags and launch dates for you right now.

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