Sony Ericsson Xperia Ray lights up fans of smaller smart phones

The Sony Ericsson Xperia Ray offers a glimmer of light for smart phone fans looking for a smaller handset. It's got a 3.3-inch screen packed into a 9.4mm-thick case that offers a spot of bling in black, gold, white or pink.

Android 2.3 Gingerbread software ensures you're up to date with the latest apps and games from the Android Market. With a slightly smaller than average screen, there could be a handful of games or apps that look a little hard to handle, but the 480x854-pixel resolution should be enough to keep everything looking fairly sharp.

A 1GHz processor should also help keep things snappy when running apps and games. 

The Ray uses the Exmor R sensor in its camera, which impressed us with its ability to shoot in low light when we tested it on the Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc. Hopefully the same 8.1-megapixel sensor will perform equally well on the Ray.

Another feature that debuted on the Arc was the Bravia engine that cleans up video so it looks sharper, and is also found on the Ray.

Son Eric has done a good job of shrinking smart phones down to ridiculous levels with the barely visible Xperia Mini. The Mini is fairly chubby for its tiny size though. The Ray looks like a good-sized alternative to a slab of touchscreen if you're looking for a smaller phone that's still pleasingly thin.

Its price is still shrouded in darkness, but expect to see the Ray bursting through the clouds in autumn this year.