Sony Xperia S vs Sony Xperia P

We check out how Sony's mid-range Xperia P stands up to its higher-tier brother, the Xperia S in a dual core Android showdown.

Form

Sony Xperia S - 128x64x10.6mm, 144g
Sony Xperia P - 122x59.5x10.5mm, 120g

Being part of the same range both devices have a lot in common on visual design. The Xperia P is a little smaller all round and about 20g lighter than the larger Xperia S, but both handsets are the same thickness at 10.5mm.

Having bought out partners Ericsson, Sony is now taking the Xperia range in a slightly different direction from how things were under the Sony Ericsson. Much of the curvature of the earlier Sony Ericsson Xperia models is now gone and instead we have a much squarer form factor on both devices.

They still have a D-shape cross-section and a curved back, but all the edges are flat and quite broad. It makes the phones look less svelte, but the trade-off is something which feels more solid in the hand.

On top of this, the build quality is extremely good compared with earlier models and the materials Sony has used are nice too.

Both handsets share a distinctive feature of the new Xperia models, a transparent bar of clear plastic around the bottom section of the phone, below the touchscreen.

Above this are the capacitive touch controls, while the touch display is well-positioned on the front panel to give a thin bezel and a contemporary look to the whole thing.

Between these two there is very little difference as they both follow the same aesthetic very closely and Sony has  lavished the same attention in terms of build quality across the board. This is a draw.

Winner - Draw

Display

Sony has really gone all out with the Xperia capacitive displays an they're some of the best we've seen on current smartphones. The Xperia P has the smaller of the two, it's a 4-inch LED-backlit LCD with a 960x540 pixel resolution and a pixel density of 275 pixels-per-inch (ppi). It's incredibly sharp and colourful and easily rivals similar offerings from HTC's One range.

The Xperia S's screen is slightly larger at 4.3-inches and has a higher resolution of 1280x720 pixels, like the Xperia P it's an LED-backlit LCD. The pixel density is seriously impressive topping most other devices on the market at 342ppi.

This is yet another scenario where technically one device is better than another but the difference is very difficult to discern. We haven't been fortunate enough to see both handsets side-by-side and perhaps if we did we could see the Xperia S as sharper but from what we have seen they both look equally fantastic.

We're going to say the Xperia S has the better screen here, it's still crisp and colourful and is bigger to boot. But we do want to clarify that the Xperia P's screen is still great and well worth your attention if you're looking to spend less than the Xperia S's premium price.

Winner - Sony Xperia S

Storage

Sony has opted for single storage options on each handset, the Xperia P has 16GB onboard while the Xperia S has 32GB. Both phones have 1GB of RAM and neither has a micro SD slot.

The Xperia S has the advantage here with more onboard space.

Winner - Sony Xperia S