When the Xperia Ray was unveiled at CommunicAsia in June, we wondered why Sony Ericsson had gone the opposite direction where everyone seems to be heading. The new phone had only a 3.3-inch screen when others were more than 4-inches wide, and it only sported a 1GHz processor, when rivals were upping the ante with dual-core chips.

Yet, the mid-range Xperia Ray did catch the eye with some features.

The f2.8-capable, 8-meg camera, for one, reminded everyone of the Cybershot Sony Ericsson phones of old, which made for excellent phone cameras before the smartphone era. Then, there was the really sharp screen – it’s small, alright, but it packs lots of detail with that 854 x 480 pixels resolution.

These features, we feel now after testing the phone out for a couple of weeks, are what make the Xperia Ray a good fit for those switching over from a so-called feature phone to a smartphone.  …

At a time when smartphone makers are rolling out bigger screens, faster processors and 3D capabilities, Sony Ericsson bucked the trend when it unveiled the Xperia Ray in June 2011.

A smaller screen than most high-end rivals and a lack of a dual-core CPU, for example, surprised many phone buffs looking for a more souped up model to contest Samsung’s Galaxy SII or HTC’s Sensation.

The reason, Sony Ericsson executives told reporters from the region yesterday, was to reach out to large groups of users not served by the latest and greatest – feature phone users who desire a small, familiar device, ladies who want a more compact phone and commuters with one hand on the train’s handle bar and another on the phone. …

After Huawei released its MediaPad and Nokia unveiled the N9 in the past two days, there was quite a bit of anticipation when the media turned up this afternoon at Sony Ericsson’s global launch, held on the sidelines of the CommunicAsia show.

Unfortunately, the high-end gizmos some of us had hoped for were not there – we had to contend with the mid-range Xperia ray and the ruggedised Xperia active, along with a low-end messaging-centric model called the txt. …