Everybody is curious to see the fifth generation of the iPhone. Part of Apple’s strategy, details about the upcoming handset are still sketchy, with no official picture rolling out yet. Rumored to come out this June at the annual conference, the iPhone 5 was delayed for this Fall, with a more exact release date for this October. Have you considered the future iPhone as a great option or you wanna give a chance to the Xperia Arc? Let’s see what’s inside these two phones.
In comparison with Sony Ericsson’s previous phones, the Xperia Arc features an innovative, stylish yet fashionable design. Introduced this year at CES, the Android phone has managed to impress a lot of people with its atypical and sleek form factor, a curved look, completely different from other devices manufactured by the company. Super slim and lightweight, it measures only 8.7mm thick and weighs 117 grams. Regarding the upcoming iPhone 5, it seems that it will feature a more durable metal back and will look bigger than the actual iPhone 4. Infos lack because there is no official photo out there.
Xperia Arc comes equipped with a brilliant 4.2-inch reality touchscreen and a resolution set at 480 x 854 pixels. The screen is covered with a scratch-resistant surface to keep the handset apart from unwanted scratches, scuffs and more dirts. It will also include an accelerometer sensor for auto-rotate, multi-touch input method or a proximity sensor for auto turn-off. As for the iPhone 5, it is rumored to include a larger 4-inch display with the same Gorilla Glass technology plus a higher resolution of 640X900 pixels, that special glass that keep the touchscreen clean and untouched by undesirable damages. One reason to choose the Xperia Arc is the bigger screen size.
Each of these two important devices will have a good camera on the back. The Arc includes a performant 8 MP camera with autofocus and LED flash that captures videos at 720p. Unfortunately, there is no front facing camera added. If you are tempting to go for the iPhone 5, you’ll be able to enjoy video calls with all your frinds via the frontal camera included. Still confirmed, the iPhone 5 is expected to have a better 8Mp camera with flash and dual LEDs, a considerably better video recording quality at 1080p plus a back-illuminated sensor. In comparison with the innovative Xperia Arc, the iPhone 5 will feature a more performant cam.
Another hardware component to be considered, it is the processor part. To be in line with the current smartphones, the iPhone 5 could bring a dual-core processor, as new reports point out. The Xperia Arc will include 1GHz Scorpion processor, a Qualcomm MSM8255 from the Snapdragon family. 512 MB of RAm is included with a merely 320 MB storage which can be expanded up to 32GB via a microSD card slot featuring an initial 8GB built-in memory. The iPhone 5 will most probably include the new and recently launched A5 chipset already included on the iPad 2, offering a faster and more pleasant web experience. 768MB of RAM is expected plus a bigger 64GB internal storage.
Mentioning about the software part, we see two of the most known and competitive platforms; Android and iOS. Xperia Arc will run the current Android 2.3 Gingerbread OS with access to thousands of apps that can be downloaded from the Android Market. Unlike the iPhone 5, the Arc will play Adobe’s Flash with video and sound. Google’s platform has the advantage of being a free software with free map data and updates included. On the other hand, the fragmentation issue is still unpleasant, because you’ll have to wait for the manufacturer or network provider to release an update. In comparison with the Android, iOS still has more apps available.
In terms of connectivity, iPhone 5 and Xperia Arc will be compatible with Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Wi-Fi hotspot plus Bluetooth. The iPhone 5 will come with NFC support to allow users online transactions plus a gyroscope, which is useful in games. On the other side, the Xperia Arc will come with DLNA, streaming videos and to other devices via the OTA, a microSD to extend the internal memory or USB support to transfer files from one device to another, with no additional software to install.
Wrap-up
Apple’s upcoming iPhone 5 promisses to feature better internal specifications in comparison with the current iPhone 4. Still, for most of users the lack of the Flash, once again, or their own “closed system” are annoying issues, which determine them to choose an Android handset. SE’s Xperia Arc is a good handset with high specs and innovative form factor. Despite its larger display, the iPhone 5 touchscreen will offer better quality with a higher resolution. We are still waiting for more confirmed news regarding the iPhone 5. Maybe an official release date also.
Xperia Arc images credit for GsmARENA.com