Xperia X10 versus iPhone 3GS: The battle of the smartphones

According to previews, it does.

The quadband GSM-based smartphone is powered by Qualcomm 1GHz Snapdragon processor, runs on Google Android 1.6 OS, boasts of a 4-inch WVGA capacitive scratch-resistant touchscreen with 480x854 pixel resolution, and is loaded with a whopping 8.1-megapixel camera that takes breath-taking shots and amazing features such as 16x digital zoom, autofocus, face and smile recognition technology, image and video stabiliser, flash and video recording (@30fps).

On the other hand, iPhone, which is also quadband and GSM-based, is powered by the slower ARM Cortex A8 600 MHz processor, runs on proprietary iPhone 3.0 OS, has a 3.5-inch widescreen multitouch display with a 480x320 pixel resolution and fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coating (i.e. anti-smudge and anti-scratch coating), and comes loaded with a 3.15-megapixel camera with autofocus (but no flash and no digital zoom) and video recording (@30fps).

A quick comparison of the two phones based on the above-mentioned specs easily reveals that Xperia X10 is the winner – by a mile. It not only has a faster processor, but also it boasts of a bigger touchscreen (bigger display and better resolution means less pixilation and distortion and hence watching videos on Xperia X10 are more enjoyable), a better camera and a better OS, which can handle multitasking like a pro.

The only letdown is that Xperia X10 comes with Android 1.6 and not the latest 2.0. Had it been the latter, Xperia X10 could have blown away iPhone blindfolded. Thankfully, though, we can upgrade the OS to the latest version for free, starting sometime later this month.

But wait. The comparison's still not over.

Xperia X10 packs 1GB internal flash memory, has a microSD card slot (expandable up to 16GB) and ships with 8GB microSD card. On the other hand, though iPhone has 256MB onboard flash memory and comes in two variants - 16GB and 32GB internal storage - it lacks a microSD card slot.

Till now, iPhone has always held sway as most iPhone challengers came with very little onboard memory (usually 128MB or 256MB), which means that except for very little data, you are forced to store majority of your media content and apps in the microSD card using the slot. Of course, with the high capacity SD card for the SD card slot, you can store virtually limitless amount of data but you will still want some files, apps and map data to be stored internally on the device. But this was not possible…till now. Now Xperia X10 changes all that by packing in a whopping 1GB onboard memory. It means you can store your favourite apps, video, music or data in Xperia X10 without having to worry about using a microSD card very quickly even as the card slot helps you to expand your phone's storage space to match your growing needs.

As for apps, well, iPhone users have access to a hot App Store with over 90,000 apps unlike Android Market, which looks a bit bare at the moment (it has around 20,000). Yes folks, on paper, it sounds much less, but I feel that Android Market is good enough for anybody as it has more apps than one would ever use in one's lifetime.

And, add to that Sony Ericsson's very own PlayNow arena, from where you can download movies, video podcasts, TV shows and music tracks, and, voila, you have an entertainment-cum-multimedia-rich smartphone.

Of course, the iPhone, thanks to the OS 3.0 software update, has many cool features too, including a landscape keyboard for all core apps; an innovative and useful implementation of cut, copy, and paste; A2DP stereo Bluetooth; push notifications, an improved call log that shows details like the time and length of a call; a spotlight search for searching apps, e-mail (subjects and to/from lines), music, and more; shake to shuffle; voice memos; Nike+ support, Digital Compass, proximity sensor, ambient light sensor, accelerometer and support for MMS and tethering.