Orange gets the exclusive black Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc, plus Neo and Play

MOBILE OPERATOR Orange has excitedly announced that it will be selling an exclusive black edition Sony Ericsson Experia Arc, as well as the firm's Neo and Play handsets.

The phones will not hit shelves until the second quarter, a time that normal people refer to as late Spring or perhaps early Summer.

Given the length of most mobile phone contracts these days this means that you'll still be using the phone come the Olympics, so choose wisely.

The Neo might come into its own by the time the athletic games roll around, as it has a 8.1MP camera and HD video recording. Orange added that its Exmor R CMOS mobile sensor and f2.4 lens mean that users can take snaps in low light, which might come in handy given London's weather.

If you aren't at the Olympics taking photos the Neo will also let you watch them at home, or on the bus and at the laundrette, as it also has a decent 3.7-inch display, and like so many modern phones has an HDMI port for viewing on your telly.

The Xperia Play can be otherwise referred to as the Playstation phone. This model has a 4-inch screen and a slide-out game controller that apes the Sony PSP games console.

The Xperia Arc is the exclusive model that will tip up on Orange's shelves. Well, its colour is exclusive at least. Perhaps disappointingly the exclusive colour is black, which on other handsets would be described as standard.

The Arc has a 4.2-inch multi-touch screen, the Mobile Bravia engine for media viewing and a Reality display, for, um, displaying things. Like the Neo, the Arc has an 8.1MP camera, HD video, HDMI out, and the beguiling f/2.4 lens and Exmor R mobile sensor.

All three of these Sony Ericsson smartphones will be preloaded with Android 2.3 Gingerbread. µ