We take a look at HTC's One X flagship and compare it against Sony's Xperia S.
Form
HTC One X - 134.4x69.9x8.9mm, 130g
Sony Xperia S -128x64x10.6mm, 144g
Sony's Xperia S is almost symbolic of the company's absorption of its Ericsson partner, who's name its own sat beside on the front of all previous Xperia models.
There's enough signature Xperia styling in there to connect the device to its predecessors but it is at the same time quite distinctly of a new generation and one with more than a nod to the aesthetic designs of Sony's other electronic goods.
The result is a slightly chunkier and more angular device than its immediate predecessor, the Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc S. It's got broader, flatter edges which make it look more substantial, but overall it retains the interesting and elegant Xperia shape fans will be familiar with. It also feels more solid in terms of build quality thanks to the use of nicer plastics.
The HTC One X is a significant step away from the company's repeatedly bland styling in its previous handsets. Like Sony, HTC has gone with some nicer and better quality plastics which lend a premium feel and the curved bodywork has slightly contoured edges which look neat.
There's a black panel housing the screen which means that only a thin strip of the main bodywork is visible round the edge giving a very modern appearance.
We think both phones look equally good with their very different design styles.
Winner - Draw
Display
The One X is fitted with a 4.7-inch Super IPS LCD2 capacitive multi-touch display with a 1280x720 pixel resolution and a pixel density of 312 pixels-per-inch (ppi). This results in some fantastic picture quality and it's one of the best displays on any current Android phone.
The One X's display may be one of the best, but it's not necessarily the best. The Xperia S has a slightly smaller 4.3-inch LED-backlit LCD capacitive touchscreen but at the same resolution as its rival it's sporting an incredibly high pixel density of 342ppi.
This not only beats the One X but also Apple's iPhone and pretty much any other handset you care to mention.
Winner - Sony Xperia S
Storage
Both devices are in the same boat on storage, each has 32GB of internal storage and 1GB of RAM for the processor to use, neither has a micro SD slot to expand useable storage space.
Winner - Draw
ProcessorSony's Xperia S uses a 1.5GHz dual core ARM Cortex-A9 processor on Qualcomm's MSM8260 S3 Snapdragon chipset with an Adreno 220 graphics processing unit (GPU). Not only is this quite an efficient powerhouse but as with previous Xperia phones Sony has optimised things quite well and the result is a rewardingly speedy experience.
The HTC One X uses Nvidia's quad core Tegra 3 architecture clocked at 1.5GHz with four ARM Cortex-A9 cores and an Nvidia GeForce ULP GPU. It's an astonishingly quick setup which needs to be seen to be believed. It's sure to have no trouble with the latest intensive apps and games for some time to come.
However, it should be noted that for general use of multi-tasking, navigating homescreens and running regular, low-key apps you probably won't notice a huge difference between these two handsets.
It's when running the most intensive tasks such as very graphically demanding games or streaming HD films along with multi-tasking other processes that the HTC One's Tegra 3 will really come into its own.
Currently there's not much around on Google Play that's really going to push either setup, but on paper the HTC One X is better and should be more future proof.
Winner - HTC One X
Operating SystemThe Xperia S currently runs Android Gingerbread 2.3 with Sony's Timescape interface on top, but it is due to get an upgrade to the latest build, Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0 very shortly.
HTC's One X has Ice Cream Sandwich already, so it's at an immediate advantage as there's a performance gain to be had with the new build along with some very useful added functionality and an overall better layout and presentation.
For now, HTC's One X wins this round by having a more up-to-date platform, but in time the Xperia S will catch up.
Winner - HTC One X
CameraThe One X comes with an 8-megapixel back-illuminated sensor (BSI) primary camera with a 3264x2448 pixel resolution.
HTC's camera overhaul with its new Sense 4.0 interface and a dedicated chip means it can capture HD 1080p video and still images at the same time. Another neat trick is you can hold the shutter down and capture up to 20 still images in quick succession. The phone can then tell you which picture is best.
Other features include autofocus, touch focus, geo-tagging, face and smile detection, panoramic capture, HDR, white balance, digital zoom, LED flash, video stabilisation and video stereo sound recording. There's also a front-facing 1.3-megapixel secondary with 720p video capture and video calling capability.
This is all well and good, but the Sony Xperia S has a 12-megapixel BSI primary with a 4000x3000 pixel resolution. Now we know it's not all about megpixel counting but having seen both cameras in action we can say the Sony produces better quality snaps.
On the features front it has an LED flash and video light, autofocus, touch focus, image and video stabilisation, geo-tagging, face and smile detection and panoramic capture and continuous video autofocus.
Video capture is 1080p and a secondary 1.3-megapixel camera captures in 720p.
Sony's setup wins this round.
Winner - Sony Xperia S
Final ThoughtsSony's Xperia S is a fantastic handset and there are some areas where it comes out ahead of HTC's One X, Sony's screen and camera are both superior, though the One X's equivalents are still excellent. The Xperia S is a very well rounded device.
However, while Sony's processor is competent and will tick along at much the same level as the One X's with normal use, the One X has that currently dormant top-end capability which will mean it can handle genuinely console-quality games and other complex tasks in the not-too-distant future of mobile tech.
Both these devices are on a similar footing in terms of the end user experience and we think each is a perfectly valid choice.
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9:23 PM
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