Our curiosity got the better of us when Sony Ericsson invited us to Amsterdam to “test drive” their new Xperia arc S. With a slight pang of guilt for our beloved iPhones, we dropped everything and forty minutes later landed in the heart of the legendary city. Loyalties eh?
Hotel Notting Hill’s travel case reception
Staying at Hotel Notting Hill, we were super impressed with its mix of technology and charm; including touch screen lighting systems, amazingly comfortable beds and one of the quaintest reception areas we’ve seen, made entirely out of old leather travel cases.
Meeting team Sony Ericsson, and equipped with the brand new super-slim Xperia arc S, we avidly started geek-testing its many design features. Glued to the full touchscreen, the handset sat comfortable in our palms. Snap happy we couldn’t put the phone down, exploring its easy to navigate interface and classic features.
Curious about the collaboration with prolific industrial designer Karim Rashid, we started to wonder how and why the partnership came about. The award winning, international ‘creator’ – with his 3,000 strong portfolio of designs – was invited to create a special limited edition back to accompany the signature arc of the Xperia arc S.
After a day of scooting around Amsterdam in hybrid tuk-tuks, exploring the city’s eateries and sights, we landed at Rashid’s brand new pink, white and green Amsterdam studio to talk about his inspirations.
“My inspiration came from the urban fabric of Chelsea, New York. I find all the new architecture very inspiring and in a sense I wanted to juxtapose it to the curvature of the Xperia arc S. So I started drawing abstractions of the urban fabric and I think it turned out to be a very nice marriage with the sensual curvature of the smartphone.”
The Human Curvature™ shape of the smartphone is one if its key design features, adding a human aspect that creates a near seamless connection between the individual and their personal communication device. With some of the classic components of the earlier Sony Ericsson feature phones, teamed with a sleek exterior and matched with latest technology, the Xperia arc S boasts: “an extra-fast 1.4 GHz processor, Latest Android™ platform Gingerbread 2.3, 8.1 HD megapixel camera with Exmor R-Sensor ensuring ultra-sharp images, even in weak light and music fiends will find over millions of songs on Music Unlimited.”
It’s super-stylish and super-advanced, and we do hate to say this… but the Xperia arc S, even to a hardcore iPhone fan, is an exceptionally smart phone.
Currently only a prototype design, getting hold of one of Karim Rashid’s Xperia arc S collaboration pieces is about as easy as laying your hands on the proverbial rocking horse poop. That is, of course, unless you enter our exclusive competition and the good folks at We Heart make the implausible plausible for you.
All you need do is tell us about your favourite collaboration of all time (design, music, film… it’s up to you) by Tweeting us on @we_heart with the hashtag #weheartcollabs.
The winner will be picked from random at 12pm, next Friday…
