Sony Ericsson Xperia Play vs Apple iPhone 4

Processor:

Both phones are single core devices, which was a disappointment for some fans of each manufacturer as spec snippets wriggled their way out in the run up to release.

However, both are very well optimised and use quality kit, so performance is pretty good all round even if it’s not surfing the crest of the dual core wave.

The Sony Ericsson runs a 1GHz Qualcomm Scorpion processor on the MSM8255 Snapdragon chipset, while those flashy gaming visuals are handled by an Adreno 205 graphics processing unit (GPU).

The iPhone’s hardware is also clocked at 1GHz, this one’s an ARM Cortex-A8 processor, naturally it runs the Apple A4 chipset and graphical punch comes from a PowerVR SGX535 GPU.

We reckon on this one Apple’s processor line-up makes it over the finishing line just a little bit quicker than Sony Ericsson’s, but ultimately if you found yourself in possession of an Xperia Play, it’s hardly likely you’d be lamenting the performance and wishing for an iPhone 4 instead.

Wishing for dual core in either case, perhaps, but that’s a whole different subject.

Winner – Apple iPhone 4

Camera:

The Xperia Play’s 5-megapixel primary camera has a resolution of 2592х1944 pixels and features autofocus, LED flash, geo-tagging and image stabilisation, video quality is WVGA and there’s also a secondary camera.

Apple’s iPhone 4 also has a 5-megapixel primary at the same resolution. Camera features include autofocus, LED flash, touch focus and geo-tagging.

Video capture is 720p and features an LED video light, geo-tagging and there’s support for video calling over Wi-Fi. A secondary camera is also included.

While the Xperia play arguably has a better camera features list with image stabilisation, the video quality and additional video features of the iPhone make it a more attractive prospect to us.

Better video capture at 720p plus a video light and video calling mean the iPhone 4 wins this round.

Winner – Apple iPhone 4

Operating System:

The iPhone 4 uses the latest version of Apple’s iOS 4.3 and in terms of updates over previous versions there isn’t anything particularly drastic going on.

Over the years Apple has developed a very complete operating system so there hasn’t been a need for significant changes in this version.

Most of the updates are cosmetic interface and icon revamps, plus a few new menu choices and menu placement variations.

The real substance of the update is in a few changes to the networking options which now include a Mobile Hotspots feature for shared connectivity with other devices.

On top of this there’s the new Apple Airplay suite, which grants users the ability to stream photos and videos straight from the handset to an Apple enabled television.

Probably the most obvious and significant change for most users will be the improved web browser speed on Safari which is noticeably quicker than.

Android Gingerbread 2.3 is the operating system of choice for the Xperia Play, it’s the latest smartphone build of Android and has some substantial improvements over its predecessors.

The most obvious enhancements are the overall speed and performance together with an improved and more intuitive UI, between these two factors you’ll find yourself happily zipping around Gingerbread with ease.

There’s more to it than that though, despite how good Android’s multi-tasking has been for some time Google still found room for improvement here with even better performance when running multiple apps.

Not only that but Android now actively monitors app resource consumption and shuts down any apps which get too greedy.

In addition, there’s a new set of tools for keeping an eye on how much room your apps take up, how much memory they use and how much battery and processing power they consume when in use, and of course it offers you complete control to activate or shut down any apps with the push of a button.

Speaking of buttons, or rather the lack of them, the touch keyboard has been significantly improved in this version, it’s now very smooth meaning you’ll no longer have to put up with texting or browsing as if your fingers were dipped in molasses.

Browsing though is the one area where Android Gingerbread falls down, particularly in relation to how fast Apple’s browsing is on iOS.

We know Android is capable of delivering a great browsing experience because we’ve seen it in Honeycomb 3.0 for tablets, but it hasn’t reached smartphones yet and until it does other systems such as Apple’s will be better for navigating the web on the go.

The lacklustre browsing isn’t enough to completely sour the deal for Gingerbread though and we really think it comes down to personal choice between these two operating systems.

Winner – Draw

Final Thoughts:

Our choice in this battle has to be the Apple iPhone 4, it may have its shortcomings, most notably the lack of dual core and no card support, but at the end of the day it feels like a more complete package than the Xperia Play.

While we wouldn’t go so far as to say there’s no place for a handheld gaming console and phone hybrid (quite the opposite, in fact) we think maybe the Xperia Play hasn’t got the balance quite right and leaves it with something of an identity crisis.

If it was powered by dual core with a better screen and a whopping great hard drive maybe we’d be more convinced of its intentions but it feels underpowered for a ‘gaming phone’.

The iPhone 4’s internal storage space really pushes it to the front here along with a very well rounded and well optimised operating system and a fantastic screen.

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