Both smartphones comes with an S. Is it from smarter, speedier or superior? Xperia Arc S and iPhone Arc S are two upgraded versions of their current models Xperia Arc, respectively iPhone 4. Today is the official release date for iPhone 4S. Would you buy it? Don’t be disspaointed about the same design as the iPhone 4, because inside it’s a complete new device with better internal specifications. Let’s take a closer look at both handsets to see what they have to offer.
If you prefer a sophisticated design, the Xperia Arc S beats the iPhone 4 S by being incredibly thin with its 8.7mm in comparison with 9.3mm. iPhone 4S has the same classic, simple and nice form factor as the popular iPhone 4. On the other side, the Xperia Arc S features a more stylish and fancy design with a rather curved form. Once you put in hands, you’ll feel it very light, weighing only 117 grams, while the iPhone 4S comes with 140 grams. Sony Ericsson’s device is taller than the iPhone 4S with 125mm vs. 115.2mm and also wider.
In the display category, the iPhone 4S doest an excellent job. Apple has been using the same 3.5-inch LED-backlit IPS TFT retina display with a great resolution of 640 x 960 pixels that offers super clear and vivid images. Indeed, the Xperia Arc S has a larger 4.2-inch LED-backlit LCD capacitive touchscreen with a lower resolution of 480 x 854 pixels. Both devices include a scratch-resistant surface to keep the screen in maximum conditions and more useful features such as accelerometer sensor for auto-rotate or multi-touch input method.
Interested about the camera? Well, finally, Apple has improved this section, entering in the smartphones’ category with a good 8 megapixel camera on the back with autofocus and LED flash plus the touch focus, geo-tagging and face detection features. It is capable of capturing videos at 1080p with a secondary VGA frontal camera included. The Xperia Arc S is also delighting us with a performant rear 8 MP camera and more interesting features such as a 3D sweep panorama and capable of 720p. No frontal camera for video calls is included. Basically, the iPhone 4S beats the Xperia Arc S with its capability of recording videos in full HD at 1080p.
The processor segment has also been modified by Apple with its newly arrived iPhone 4S which includes a faster 1GHz dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 processor with A5 chipset. Sadly, the Xperia Arc S doesn’t include a dual core CPU, but a single one, a Scorpion processor clocked at 1.4 GHz plus a Qualcomm MSM8255T Snapdragon chipset. No doubt that the iPhone 4S is faster than the Xperia Arc S, which means it wins this category.
Regarding the RAM memory, both devices include a decent 512MB. As far as the storage space is concerned, the new iPhone 4S will be available in three models: 16GB, 32GB and 64GB, with no posibility to expand them, because there is no card slot included. On the other side, the Xperia Arc S has 1GB of built-in memory which can be expanded up to 32 GB via a microSD card slot that has an initial 8GB.
What about the software part? Well, as expected, the upgraded version of the iPhone 4 runs the iOS5, a platform that includes 200 new features such as notification center, a new messaging center plus the iCloud. Obviously no Flash included and it is using Safari as web browser. The Xperia Arc S, on the other hand, comes with Android 2.3.4 Gingerbread plus access to the Android Market, the place where you can find games and a bunch of interesting apps to download for free or paid.
Regarding the connectivity section, both devices are compatible with Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Wi-Fi hotspot, 3G and Bluetooth. The HSDPA data speed is 14.4 Mbps for both devices.
Conclusion
One big issue for the Xperia Arc S is the lack of a dual core processor, which doens’t make it a real competitor for the crowded smartphones’ market. Compared to the original Xperia Arc, it is practically the same handset, so, if you already have an Xperia Arc, that’s no need to go for the S model. On the other side, the iPhone 4S is substantially improved compared with the actual iPhone 4. Despite the identical design, inside there is a new phone. Taking into consideration all specs, the iPhone 4S is a better handset than the Xperia Arc S, unless you’re into its sophisticated form factor.
Images credit for GSM Arena.