Sony Ericsson XPERIA Play vs Apple iPhone 4

Which is the better phone – Sony Ericsson's XPERIA Play or Apple's iPhone 4?

The "PlayStation" phone has been all over the blogosphere for months now, but Sony Ericsson has finally confirmed the handset as the Xperia Play at MWC 2011 in Barcelona. The Play will be the world's first PlayStation-certified smartphone, but will it be able to compete with the iPhone 4 and its gaming capabilities? We took at look at the spec list for each to see which one looks like the best bet for gamers. Read on to find out more...

Sony Ericsson XPERIA Play vs. Apple iPhone 4: Specifications

Feature	Apple iPhone 4	Sony Ericsson XPERIA Play	Verdict?
Operating system (OS)	Apple iOS	Google Android 2.3 Gingerbread	Draw
Display technology	Capacitive retina IPS	LED-backlit LCD	iPhone 4
Display size	3.5in	4in	XPERIA Play
Display resolution	640x960 pixels	480x854 pixels	iPhone 4
Multitouch	Yes	Yes	Draw
Camera	5 megapixels, LED flash, autofocus, geotagging	5 megapixels, LED flash, autofocus, geotagging, image stabilisation	XPERIA Play
FM radio	No	No	Draw
GPS	Yes	Yes	Draw
Internal memory	16GB or 32GB	380MB	iPhone 4
Expandable memory	No	microSD card slot	XPERIA Play
Dimensions	115.2 x 58.6 x 9.3mm	119 x 62 x 16mm	iPhone 4
Weight	137g	175g	iPhone 4
Application store	Apple App Store	Google Android Market	iPhone 4
Processor	Apple A4	Qualcomm MSM8255 Snapdragon (1GHz)	Unknown
3G networks	HSDPA 850/900/1900/2100	HSDPA 900/1900/2100	iPhone 4
Wi-Fi	802.11b/g/n	802.11b/g/n	Draw
Bluetooth	2.1 with A2DP	2.1 with A2DP	Draw
HDMI-out	No	No	Draw
Quoted talk time	Up to 7 hours	Up to 6 hours 25 minutes	iPhone 4
Quoted standby time	Up to 300 hours	Up to 413 hours	XPERIA Play
Adobe Flash support	No	Yes	XPERIA Play
Dedicated gaming controls	No	Yes	XPERIA Play

Form Factor

iPhone 4

115.2 x 58.7 x 9.3mm, 137g

Xperia Play

119 x 62 x 16 mm, 175 g

Size is one of the most important, and most obvious factors when looking at new smartphones, as you don't want to be carrying an 80s-style brick-sized handset around in your pocket. The iPhone 4 immediately asserts itself as the victor in this particular category as it's smaller than the Play, as well as being a fair bit slimmer at just 9.3mm deep, compared to the 16mm profile of the Sony Ericsson. At 137g, the iPhone is considerably lighter than the Play whose 175g bulk (and chunkier chassis) mean that it loses out to the Apple handset in the first round.

Display

Xperia Play

4-inch, 854x480px, TFT LCD

iPhone 4

3.5-inch, 960x640px, LCD with IPS

Along with the size of the device itself, screen size is also a major factor for a new smartphone. The iPhone sports a decent-sized 3.5in screen, but the new Play beats it to the punch with its whopping 4-inch display. However, what the Play gains in size, it loses in definition. While its 4-inch screen can only muster an 854x480-pixel resolution, the iPhone's slightly smaller Retina display offers a 960x640 pixel count. This discrepancy in resolution could make all the difference when it comes to the image sharpness, which is why the iPhone gets away with a tie, despite the smaller display.

Engine Room

 Xperia Play

1 GHz Scorpion ARMv7, 512MB

 iPhone 4

Apple A4, 512MB

Looking under the chassis of most modern smartphones reveals a lot of evenly matched chipsets, with the exception of the new wave of dual-core processor-wielding handsets. Both the Play and the iPhone sport 1GHz processors in the the form of the Apple A4 and the Scorpion. Both are based on an ARMv7 instruction set, while the Play uses an embedded Adreno 205 graphics processor, which is said to be better than the iPhone's PowerVR SGX535 GPU. With both handsets featuring a standard RAM count of 512MB, there's not much between them at all in that respect, but we think that the Play's superior GPU gives it the edge.

Imaging

iPhone 4

5MP rear, VGA front, 720p video capture

Xperia Play

5.2MP rear, VGA front, 720p video capture

A mobile phone isn't a mobile phone these days unless it has a camera, with even most budget models being equipped with some sort of snapper. The iPhone is well known for its decent 5-megapixel camera, which also adds a flash into the mix - something that was noticeably absent on the 3GS. Sony Ericsson's new handset also has a flash-equipped camera which sports a very slightly higher megapixel count of 5.2. That 0.2 is not going to make any real difference - in practical terms, it means that the two phones are pretty much even when it comes to taking stills - they both feature geotagging as well. The Play and the iPhone 4 are also identically matched in terms of video capture, with both capable of taking video in 720p high-def. Both handsets also include front-facing cameras with VGA resolutions.

Connectivity

Xperia Play

Wi-Fi, BT, 3G, DLNA, Micro USB

iPhone 4

Wi-Fi, BT 2.1, 3G

If you're in the market for a smartphone then you're going to want one with both 3G and Wi-Fi - that's a given. Naturally, both these handsets offer the standard connections along with Bluetooth, with the iPhone offering version 2.1. Sony Ericsson hasn't confirmed which version of Bluetooth will feature on the Play, but we'd be a bit disappointed if it wasn't the latest version (3.0). The Play ups the ante considerably by including DLNA. This useful little feature means that you can stream content between compatible devices. If this isn't a feature that you're likely to use then the two handsets are fairly evenly matched, but if you do make use of the DLNA capability then this offers a big advantage over the Apple device. What's more, the Play also functions as a Wi-Fi hotspot.

Battery Life

Xperia Play

Up to 8 hours and 25 min talk time

iPhone 4

Up to 7 hours talk time

With so many different functions on board, smartphones really need some serious battery power to cope. The iPhone has been widely criticised for the less-than-perfect charge times offered by its 1420mAh rechargeable Li-ion battery. According to Apple, the iPhone 4 offers up to 7 hours of talk time on 3G (14 on 2G) or up to 10 hours video playback or Wi-Fi internet browsing and up to 300 hours on standby time. With a slightly more powerful battery (1500mAh) the Play is said to offer a few improvements when it comes to charge time, including up to 8 hours and 25 minutes of talk time and 5 hours and 35 minutes of game play. Video playback time isn't quoted, but looking at the other specs given it looks as though it will be similar to the iPhone, perhaps a little longer. The Play also reportedly offers 405 hours on standby compared to the iPhone's 300 hours. On paper, the Play looks like the winner in this respect.

Software

iPhone 4

iOS 4.2

Xperia Play

Android 2.3

Comparing Apple's iOS with Android always ruffles a few feathers, and saying that one is better than the other often sends many gadget lovers into an apoplectic rage. Oh well, here goes. The main difference between the two is the fact that you can customise Android, but not iOS. That's great if you want to spend time setting up your mobile interface so that it's easy to use. However, if you think that spending a couple of hundred quid should earn you the right to receive a phone that has already been made easy to use by the people that designed and made it, then iOS has the advantage. And while it's true that Apple's web browsing still doesn't offer support for Flash-based sites, unlike Android, the selection and quality of the apps available is still something that Apple beats Android on (although Google's OS is catching up fast).

The Play is fully tooled up from launch with Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) which brings with it several advantages. The most important of these for Sony Ericsson's new handsets is the new gaming capabilities. Gingerbread brings with it gyroscope support so that developers will be able to create games with the same level of interactive gameplay that's found on the iPhone. The latest version of Google's OS will also offer plenty of other small but significant improvements, including an enhanced copy and paste function. The new gaming functionality offered by Gingerbread brings it into line with Apple's offering and for that reason, we declare this round a tie.

Storage

iphone 4

16/32GB

xperia play

 400MB, expandable to 32GB

When you're talking about using apps, games and videos, then memory becomes a pretty important consideration for a smartphone. The iPhone often gets a lot of jibes about its lack of an expandable memory, although in practice, we haven't heard that many people switching to other phones because of a lack of memory (no doubt this is the cue for several hundreds of commenters to appear and tell us they've changed their phones for this very reason). Apple's handset is currently offered in 16 or 32GB configurations, while the Play has a built-in memory of just 400MB, but is also supplied with an 8GB microSD card, while the memory is expandable to 32GB (using a microSD).

However, although the latest version of Android theoretically enables you to store your apps on the SD card, not all of the developers have updated their apps yet. As a result, many apps still need to be stored on your phone's memory, and that 400MB offered by the Play will be full up in no time. As time moves on and the app developers catch up, this shouldn't be a problem, but at the moment, the iPhone offers the best memory options.

Gaming

Xperia Play

PlayStation Gaming Suite

iPhone 4

Game Center

Along with the thousands of games that are available to download via iTunes (including lots of free ones) the iPhone 4 also benefits from Apple's Game Center. This lets you take part in multiplayer games with opponents from all over the globe, introducing a social networking element, like that of Xbox Live. With its Retina display, the iPhone offers very sharp graphics, which means that it's well geared up for gaming and the gyroscope and accelorometer mean that motion-based gaming is possible.

Perhaps the largest downside is that there are no separate controls so you're limited to using touch controls on the screen, which means that for a lot of the time your gaming thumbs will be obscuring some of the view. The Play, on the other hand, sports a slide-out game pad which includes a digital D-pad, two analogue touch pads, two shoulder buttons and the four PlayStation icons: circle, cross, square and triangle, while on-board sensors will also make motion-based gaming a possibility.

The Play is the first handset to receive PlayStation certification which means that you'll be able to play modified PlayStation games. The confirmed software lineup so far consists of Need for Speed, The Sims 3, Assassin’s Creed, Guitar Hero and Splinter Cell, while a multiplayer version of FIFA 10 is also on the way. The iPhone puts up a good fight, but we think that the hard controls just about win this round for Sony Ericsson, as long as the games lineup grows quickly.

Source: Pocket-lint.com and goodgearguide.com