India Gadget Reviews

The Sony Xperia S is one of the most advanced Android smartphones out there. It has a powerful dual-core processor, advanced touchscreen and a camera with a whopping 12 megapixel resolution. Samsung meanwhile, has just released its latest flagship handset, the Galaxy S3. In this article I will compare a few of the key features of these two handsets so you can decide which one comes out on top.

Both handsets are their respective manufacturers' most advanced releases to date. To begin I will see what features the phone have in common...

The Android OS id the platform of choice, with the Samsung Galaxy S3 of course sporting the latest version called Ice Cream Sandwich. The Sony Xperia S has the previous Android version known as Gingerbread installed as standard, but it has been confirmed that it will support an update to Ice Cream Sandwich. Both handsets run their manufacturer-specific UI over the top. The Samsung Galaxy S3 has the TouchWiz UI, but this is also an updated version to that found on its popular predecessor, the Galaxy S2. The Sony Xperia S has the TimeScape UI, so both offer aesthetic and practical differences to the default Android interface. Aside from the software, the phones actually have very little in common when it comes to their main specifications.

In terms of their cameras, they are both very impressive. The Samsung Galaxy S3 has an 8 megapixel camera and this comes packed with nifty features like the ability to capture simultaneous photos and videos, the ingenious burst shot feature, and the ability to recognise your friends in photos through face recognition software. What the Sony Xperia S lacks in features like those mentioned on the Galaxy S2, it makes up for with its picture quality. At 12 megapixels this is one of the highest pixels resolutions of any camera phone and like the new Samsung, can capture video footage in up to 108p which is full high definition.

The processor is another major difference between these phones. The Sony Xperia S, at the time of its release shared the title (with the HTC Sensation XE) as the most powerful smartphone available in terms of its processing power, thanks to a 1.5 GHz dual-core processor. At the MWC event in Barcelona in February though, several quad-core handsets were unveiled from the likes of HTC, LG and Huawei. The Samsung Galaxy S3 joins these as one of the few phones with a quad-core processor with a clock speed of 1.4 GHz. This provides almost unrivalled performance from several aspects of the phone ranging from the quality of on screen graphics, the speed at which the camera operates, web browsing speeds and the responsiveness of the touchscreen to name but a few benefits. The Sony Xperia S is still a very powerful phone though, and unless you are well versed in the intricacies of this technology, you are unlikely to notice a difference during day to day use.

The Samsung Galaxy S3 goes to show how quickly smartphone technology is advancing. The Sony Xperia S is a great phone, but on paper some of its features have almost been rendered obsolete in a matter of months. If you want the latest and greatest smartphone technology currently available, look no further than the Samsung Galaxy S3.