In typical Apple fashion, details of its next product are very thin on the ground. But the iPhone 5, or whatever it will be called, could be here as early as August so we decided to see how it might stack up against the Sony Xperia S, one of the better Android devices on the market and a bit of an entertainment powerhouse.
Form
Sony ditched the Ericsson part of its name with the new Xperia range, and in the process the company has made a lot of other changes. For one thing, the slightly ugly casing seen on the likes of the Xperia Arc S has been replaced by a rounder, matt backplate and a clear section of plastic below the touch-sensitive buttons.
The result is a much more attractive phone that's comfortable to hold and a little bit different from all the supermodel thin tablet-like devices on the market.
We've not seen the iPhone 5 but there are two avenues of possibility, technically three. One is it will look the same now, or it will be the same but a bit bigger to house a larger display. Lastly, but no doubt the preferred choice for eager Apple fans out there, is a completely new design.
Assuming this is what we get, the iPhone 5 will probably be a bit larger to accomodate a bit more screen real estate, but it is unlikely to be a drastic change. Apple wouldn't want to upset its customerbase by being hasty and the company isn't known for rapid change once a product has been established. For instance, SSDs in Apple computers happened way after they became available for PCs.
Knowing Sir Jonathan Ive is at the helm of design, the iPhone 5 should be a looker. And so long as it's a bit thinner to compensate for what is likely to be a 4-inch display, there will be little protest from its loyal fans. With this in mind, we have to give this to the iPhone 5 as a lot is riding on the device. If it doesn't look better than the Xperia S something has gone very wrong - and we mean that without any disrespect to the Sony flagship phone.
Winner - iPhone 5
Display
You may think this will be a walk in the park for what is likely to be an improved Retina Display found in the iPhone 5, but the Xperia S currently holds the pixels-per-inch record for its 4.3-inch Sony Bravia display. At 342ppi, it's even more detailed than the 3.5-inch display of the iPhone 4S, which has 430ppi.
Suffice to say, the Bravia display is incredibly detailed, bright and packs a lot of clarity. Colours are also incredibly vivid without being too brash like the Samsung AMOLED equivalents. For a first attempt, Sony did incredibly well and we look forward to what they can come up with next in future devices.
Naturally, the iPhone 5 has the benefit of time so we expect it to raise the stakes yet again - or at least match the Xperia S. But it doesn't have the benefit of numbers because the human eye can only see so much. This means it will be a battle of size preference and colour reproduction, with the former coming down to personal preference and the latter probably ending up very close.
As things stand, the Xperia S performs remarkably well.
Winner - Draw
Storage
Sony opted for 32GB of storage on the Xperia S, which is plenty of room for all but the biggest digital entertainment collections. Honestly, unless you feel the need to make your terrabyte of films portable, 32GB is plenty.
But if you do manage to burn through it over the period of your contract, there's no option to increase the amount via a microSD card slot. So it will always remain at 32GB.
In terms of memory, the Xperia S has 1GB of RAM, which partly explains why it powers along with relative ease.
While storage options haven't been announced, expect the usual 16, 32 and 64GB options with a hefy price tag applied to the latter. It's the Apple way, after all.
Expandable memory would make sense, especially if Apple decides to try and take on budget markets but we can't see that happening. It love to control its products, particularly performance and the experience, and slow memory cards could affect that.
Plus it's not very Apple-like in the sense that it love 'everything to just work'. Putting a memory card into a slot involves effort, and we can't see the mainstream wanting the hassle.
In terms of RAM, 1GB for the iPhone 5 seems logical but we may see 2GB thrown in for the sake of wow-factor.
Winner - Draw
Camera
Once again, the Xperia S comes to the fight with a hefty weapon - and this time it's a 12-megapixel camera. 4000x3000 pixels is a whole lot of detail, and it compliments useful features such as face and smile detection (which works very well), an LED flash, 3D sweep panoroma and image stabilisation.
In terms of quality, images are detailed, clear and not ruined by some sort of coloured hue you tend to find with low-quality smartphone cameras. In a fight between the iPhone 4S and the Xperia S, it's very close, it has to be said.
So what can the iPhone 5 do? Well, now Apple is using an actually good camera within its products, we can only see the company building on that with more megapixels but most likely some new feature that compliments how photos are taken or shared. Just increasing the number isn't how Apple rolls so we expect something cunning from the camera to set it apart from the competition.
Seeing as both devices will probably feature 1080p video recording, it's a close call here.
Form
Sony ditched the Ericsson part of its name with the new Xperia range, and in the process the company has made a lot of other changes. For one thing, the slightly ugly casing seen on the likes of the Xperia Arc S has been replaced by a rounder, matt backplate and a clear section of plastic below the touch-sensitive buttons.
The result is a much more attractive phone that's comfortable to hold and a little bit different from all the supermodel thin tablet-like devices on the market.
We've not seen the iPhone 5 but there are two avenues of possibility, technically three. One is it will look the same now, or it will be the same but a bit bigger to house a larger display. Lastly, but no doubt the preferred choice for eager Apple fans out there, is a completely new design.
Assuming this is what we get, the iPhone 5 will probably be a bit larger to accomodate a bit more screen real estate, but it is unlikely to be a drastic change. Apple wouldn't want to upset its customerbase by being hasty and the company isn't known for rapid change once a product has been established. For instance, SSDs in Apple computers happened way after they became available for PCs.
Knowing Sir Jonathan Ive is at the helm of design, the iPhone 5 should be a looker. And so long as it's a bit thinner to compensate for what is likely to be a 4-inch display, there will be little protest from its loyal fans. With this in mind, we have to give this to the iPhone 5 as a lot is riding on the device. If it doesn't look better than the Xperia S something has gone very wrong - and we mean that without any disrespect to the Sony flagship phone.
Winner - iPhone 5
Display
You may think this will be a walk in the park for what is likely to be an improved Retina Display found in the iPhone 5, but the Xperia S currently holds the pixels-per-inch record for its 4.3-inch Sony Bravia display. At 342ppi, it's even more detailed than the 3.5-inch display of the iPhone 4S, which has 430ppi.
Suffice to say, the Bravia display is incredibly detailed, bright and packs a lot of clarity. Colours are also incredibly vivid without being too brash like the Samsung AMOLED equivalents. For a first attempt, Sony did incredibly well and we look forward to what they can come up with next in future devices.
Naturally, the iPhone 5 has the benefit of time so we expect it to raise the stakes yet again - or at least match the Xperia S. But it doesn't have the benefit of numbers because the human eye can only see so much. This means it will be a battle of size preference and colour reproduction, with the former coming down to personal preference and the latter probably ending up very close.
As things stand, the Xperia S performs remarkably well.
Winner - Draw
Storage
Sony opted for 32GB of storage on the Xperia S, which is plenty of room for all but the biggest digital entertainment collections. Honestly, unless you feel the need to make your terrabyte of films portable, 32GB is plenty.
But if you do manage to burn through it over the period of your contract, there's no option to increase the amount via a microSD card slot. So it will always remain at 32GB.
In terms of memory, the Xperia S has 1GB of RAM, which partly explains why it powers along with relative ease.
While storage options haven't been announced, expect the usual 16, 32 and 64GB options with a hefy price tag applied to the latter. It's the Apple way, after all.
Expandable memory would make sense, especially if Apple decides to try and take on budget markets but we can't see that happening. It love to control its products, particularly performance and the experience, and slow memory cards could affect that.
Plus it's not very Apple-like in the sense that it love 'everything to just work'. Putting a memory card into a slot involves effort, and we can't see the mainstream wanting the hassle.
In terms of RAM, 1GB for the iPhone 5 seems logical but we may see 2GB thrown in for the sake of wow-factor.
Winner - Draw
Camera
Once again, the Xperia S comes to the fight with a hefty weapon - and this time it's a 12-megapixel camera. 4000x3000 pixels is a whole lot of detail, and it compliments useful features such as face and smile detection (which works very well), an LED flash, 3D sweep panoroma and image stabilisation.
In terms of quality, images are detailed, clear and not ruined by some sort of coloured hue you tend to find with low-quality smartphone cameras. In a fight between the iPhone 4S and the Xperia S, it's very close, it has to be said.
So what can the iPhone 5 do? Well, now Apple is using an actually good camera within its products, we can only see the company building on that with more megapixels but most likely some new feature that compliments how photos are taken or shared. Just increasing the number isn't how Apple rolls so we expect something cunning from the camera to set it apart from the competition.
Seeing as both devices will probably feature 1080p video recording, it's a close call here.
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