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Winter has fully thawed away and we’re now bouncing into spring. As a smartphone fan, this time of year always blossoms great arrivals as many manufacturers come out of hibernation to show off their latest premium offering to eager tech lovers. With LG and HTC officially releasing their latest and greatest flagship handsets to date, we compare the LG Optimus 4X HD against the HTC One X. Dazzling size and power like nothing before, our handset review pits the super heavyweights of the smartphone market against each other for battle.

Display and Exterior

Both the HTC One X and LG Optimus 4X HD mobile phone prize a gleaming 4.7 inch display; perfect for you to lose yourself in whilst watching that streamed movie online. A screen display 1.2 inches larger than the iPhone range and 0.4 inch above the Galaxy S2, these latest phones were made to give you more. The large screen doesn’t hinder either as the image quality on both displays is fantastic with the LG Optimus 4X HD cramming in 720p High Definition action on its HD-IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen. The HTC One X packs in just as many pixels on the display (720×1280) as the LG Optimus 4X HD, meaning that it’s a dead heat between both handsets for display. For exterior and casing, the LG Optimus appears very similar to the rest of the smartphone market with its safe black rectangle case design. It’s a design that’s effective and has worked for well for the Samsung Galaxy series. LG have made it their own using a dual banding around the edges of the handset. The HTC One X however dares to be different. Its curved design looks fresh, intuitive and well constructed.

Processing Power and Software

Both of our titans also house the same Tegra 3 chip 1.5GHz quad core chip. With so much superpower I’m surprised one of these handsets isn’t coined “Quadzilla” as it makes the big Apple iPhone 4S appear insignificant with its 1.2GHz dual core processor. Both with 1GB RAM, they’re primed ready to take on your extensive multi-tasking demands. As you would expect with both flagship handsets, the LG Optimus 4X HD and HTC One X are served with the supercool Android Ice Cream Sandwich. This combination of power with Android means there are great games to download from Google Play. With HTC Sense 4.0, the HTC One X has the added bonus of HTC Car; an intuitive driving companion that can navigate you to a geo-tagged photo. With no current physical release of the LG Optimus 4X HD, we’re currently awaiting to see how LG will tweak the Android Ice Cream Sandwich user interface with their own features.

Entertainment and Storage

With built in Beats audio software the HTC One X enhances your audio experience. If you’re a bit of a music mogul, you’ll struggle to not be immersed by the powerful sound, as every texture and layer is clearly defined. The HTC One X also comes with one year 25GB dropbox account storage, so you don’t have to worry about having your favourite song on the wrong device. The LG Optimus 4X HD, hosts plenty of space for your favourite tracks, with an internal 16GB memory, expandable by up to 32GB via microSD.

Camera

As both handsets come with 8 megapixel camera’s capable of full HD video record, the kit is there for you take high quality photos on either device. The HTC One X goes a step beyond hardware specs to bring you HTC ImageSense; intelligent software that helps you capture great photos in any condition. The flash will automatically adjust between 8 presets based on the natural light availability already present in the room. With instant capture features, and the ability to take photos whilst video recording, the HTC One X offers that little bit extra of inbuilt software to optimise your photos. The LG Optimus 4X HD picture quality will still give you great photos and these can be easily enhanced using the vast amount of Android apps available on Google Play.

UK Release Date

Fans of HTC will be pleased to know the HTC One X deals are already available on mobiles.co.uk. With an April release, you can pick up the HTC One X as a free handset from £26 per month. The LG Optimus 4X HD has no official release date announced as yet, though with the full specifications announced at the Mobile World Congress back in February, expect to have the handset available for purchase before the end of May.

Our Verdict

The differences between the two handsets are slim. For hardware specifications, it’s a photo finish tie. For those who crave the very best handset, we would recommend the HTC One X mobile phone. The LG Optimus 4X HD, offers impressive specs but just lacks the HTC Sense features that give the edge. With Beats Audio integration and the HTC ImageSense photo capture software, the HTC One X just offers slightly more. This is no fault of the LG Optimus 4X HD, rather that the HTC One X beats anything currently on the market. If you are keen enough to find your own photo and music apps from the Android Market Google Play, then the LG Optimus 4X HD, may be a great way to get your hands on some top technology without the HTC One X price tag. Overall, both fantastic phones available from mobiles.co.uk. Will they stand the test of time and how will they compete against the likes of May 3rd’s Next Samsung Galaxy announcement?

With the new HTC One series of mobile phones sweeping smartphone users off their feet, HTC is certainly turning out to be a tough competitor in the smartphone market. The One series includes several mobile phones that are designed to offer unmatched excellence for even the people still addicted to their iPhones. Cutting edge features such as the inclusion of Beats audio on the whole range, impressive cameras, cloud storage, and other state of the art features make these phones a great catch in the market. The best mobile phones in the One series are the One X and One XL. Let’s take a closer look at what separates the two phones from each other and do battle with the HTC One X Vs HTC One XL.

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Operating System

Both, the One X and the One XL run on the Android v4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich operating system (check out our Android beginners guide). With Android as one of the big daddy’s of operating systems, it is no surprise that HTC has used the latest version to power the new One series . With an abundance of apps and games available from Google’s newly branded Play Store, the HTC One series will be at the forefront to run the latest and best apps… no matter how big or small.

Processor

With both phones running on Ice Cream Sandwich, is there really a difference between these two phones? Under the hood both phones are packing a different processor. Both are powered by fantastic processors to enable users to make the most of them. The HTC One XL is powered by a dual core 1.5 GHz Snapdragon processor while the One X features a powerful Quad Core 1.5 GHz Tegra 3 processor. This gives the One X a slight advantage over the XL and could be enough to swing the choice of the techies’ out there.

Design

With a large touch display stretching from the top to bottom, the design of both the One X and the One XL are identical. Both phones feature a large 4.7 inch touch screen that offers smartphone enthusiasts a fantastic user experience. They’re both quite sleek without being too bulky and have that quality HTC brand feel that has been ever presnt in HTC for the last few years. If it’s quality you seek, the One Series will not let you done.

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Camera

Both, the One X and the One XL feature a clear cut 8.0 mega pixel camera with autofocus, LED flash, BSI sensor, smile detection and more. Users can take quality pictures on the go and record videos in full HD and share it with their friends and family instantly. The picture quality is pretty impressive on both phones, and with a 1.3 mega pixel secondary camera fitted on both smart phones, you can be sure to make all the video calls you want with complete convenience.

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Connectivity

Connectivity is one area where the One XL proudly owns the One X. While both phones support GPRS, EDGE, and Bluetooth v4.0, the One X does not support 4G while the One XL does support it. So if you’re looking to use your phone for 4G services, the One XL would obviously be your preferred choice. One concern is that 4G is not available widely yet, so this extra feature seems like it’s more for show than practical use.

Both these phones offer superior quality for every smartphone user in the world. While the HTC One X features a better processor, the One XL triumphs in terms of 4G connectivity. The HTC One X is available in the UK now, while the HTC One XL release in the UK is still to be confirmed.

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We’re back with more info on Sony Mobile’s latest handsets for 2012. In part 1, we covered the design, power and entertainment features across the Sony Xperia range. This week we explore the differences in camera functionality, social sharing and NFC capabilities of the Sony Xperia P, Sony Xperia U and Sony Xperia S. Let’s go!

Camera Features

A great feature across all the Sony Xperia range is the sleep to snap function. Rather than trawling through tedious menu options to load up the camera, the Xperia smartphones have a dedicated photo button primed and ready for action. Holding this button when locked will give you quick fire photo snaps in just over a second. It’s a great feature to ensure you never miss that perfect photo opportunity. If you’re concerned about the camera taking photos of your jeans pocket, then this sleep to snap functionality can be disabled with ease.

For basic snaps and video, the Sony Xperia U with its 5 megapixel camera and 720p video capture will please the opportunist photographer. The Xperia P and S with their 8 and 12.1 megapixel respective resolutions and 1080p video capture, will tick the right boxes if you wish to focus your smartphone usage on owning a great camera. The Exmore R lens inside the Sony Xperia P and S, helps to capture more light, so you can have great shots even in low lit settings. All three smartphones across the Xperia range come equipped with the image stabilisers, face and smile detection, red-eye reduction and autofocus to aid you in taking super snaps.

Interesting Extra: Though the Sony Xperia P and S both have front facing camera’s the Sony Xperia S presents your video calls in glorious 720p High Definition. This means your loved ones can see you with greater clarity.

Social Sharing

The Timescape application, built across the Sony Xperia range, lets you manage and view all of your communications with one person in one place. With everything in chronological order you can effortlessly browse Facebook, Twitter, email, text communications and photos with your favourite contacts in a single feed. Using the Infinite button, you can filter categories to view specific feeds only, giving you great control over your interaction and communication with friends.

NFC capabilities

New to the Sony Xperia range is the NFC accessibility via Xperia Smart tags. Available to purchase in a range of colours, Xperia smart tags let you change the settings of your Sony Xperia S and P. Near Field Communications (NFC) technology is only just emerging and the full benefits are yet to be rolled out across the UK. The Sony Xperia P and S use NFC technology to improve the convenience of your smartphone experience.

Leave an Xperia Smart tag in your car, tap it on the back of your smartphone and in a second your GPS and Hands-free settings could be activated. When returning from work, leave a smart tag near your front door to instantly send your music playlist wirelessly across to your DLNA registered Hi-Fi. The use of NFC Smart Tags helps to remove time wasting sequences and lets you focus on living life.

Verdict on the Sony Xperia Range

The three new smartphones released across Sony Mobile’s Xperia range, cater for a broad mix of smartphone user. If you seek a fashionable device that’s small, cute and bursting with colour, the Sony Xperia U delivers a stylish handset. The Xperia U is all about design and looks. With its colour changing LED illuminated strip and changeable base caps the Sony Xperia U is vibrant and exciting. With a dual core 1 GHz processor, HD video capture and Android Ice Cream Sandwich it’s more than just a pretty handset too.

For those who want the best specifications, the Sony Xperia S is the one to choose. With the largest screen, a mighty 1.5GHz dual core processor and 12.1 megapixel camera, the Sony Xperia S is heavily focused around multimedia and sharing content. PlayStation Certified, this smartphone is built for those who want fun and games in a future proof, next generation device.

Finally the Sony Xperia P smartphone is ideal for those who want the happy go between; a great sized screen without being too big, or a dual core processor that’s powerful but at the same time affordable. The aluminium casing offers an alternative style that’s more subtle than the Sony Xperia U but still whispers fashion. The unique WhiteMagic technology is fantastic for improving screen brightness whilst conserving battery life and will surely play a role in future Sony Xperia handsets. With the Sony Xperia P, you get to access the advantages of NFC technology, without the price tag of a Sony Xperia S mobile phone.

Whether the Sony Xperia U, Sony Xperia P or the Sony Xperia S are the right smartphone for you will ultimately depend on your preferences and smartphone usage. With improved social networking and multimedia sharing, the Sony Xperia range for 2012 offers exciting handsets that make life more convenient so you focus on the fun!

Let us know what you think of the Sony Xperia range on our Facebook Page. You can pre-register your interest on the Sony Xperia range as well as view the latest Sony Xperia S deals on our website.

As Sony Mobile chops the Ericsson from their name, the Xperia revolution begins. For 2012, the Japanese based company have three alphabetically named releases planned for the UK. Due for summer release, the Sony Xperia P and Xperia U join forces with CES announced Sony Xperia S, to become the ultimate triple team to take on the mass smartphone market. Here’s our verdict of the Sony Xperia range and why there’s an Xperia for every type of smartphone user.

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Sony Xperia Display

The Sony Xperia range caters for across the board for size. If you love you’re media blown up and supersized, the Sony Xperia S towers above with its 4.3 inch screen. The Sony Xperia U offers a comfortable pocket sized smartphone with 3.5 inches; the same sized display as an Apple iPhone 4S. For those sat on the fence, the Sony Xperia P caters for the happy medium of 4.0 inches.

Interesting Extra: The Sony Xperia P display uses Magic White technology. This newly developed technology, adds a fourth White pixel to the conventional red, green and blue pixels seen on most screens. The difference? Instead of using three colour pixels to generate a white dot, the Sony Xperia P needs a single Magic White 4th pixel. This means efficient picture brightness without a drain on battery life. When outdoors, White Magic technology doubles the brightness of your display without the use of additional power.

Sony Xperia Exterior

Sleek and attractive, the Sony Xperia range shows off a minimalistic design which helps place emphasis upon the stylish buttons and navigation. Though all carry an eye-catching and transparent LED illuminated strip which lights up for incoming calls and texts, each Xperia is unique within the range. The Sony Xperia P presents itself within an aluminium unibody case; perfect for a lightweight yet sturdy design.

Interesting Extra: The Sony Xperia U is by far the most eye-catching of the trio. Its transparent LED strip lights up to match the most dominant colour on the display. With an included colour cap for the base of the phone, you can shout out your mood for the day. The black Sony Xperia P comes with an additional pink cap, the white version offers yellow as its alternative tone.

Sony Xperia OS and power

All three Sony Xperia’s are built and buckled up for Android. Though the Sony Xperia S runs off the warmly baked Android Gingerbread OS, Sony have full intentions to serve up the supercool Ice Cream Sandwich before summer. Given the Sony Xperia P and U aren’t to be released until this phase, they may come preloaded with Android ICS or will be upgradeable out of the box.

With muscled up dual core processors under the bonnet all the Sony Xperia handsets are great for multitasking and running the latest version of Android. The Sony Xperia S wins outsprints last year’s Apple iPhone 4S, Samsung Galaxy S2 and HTC Sensation with an explosive 1.5 GHz dual core processor; some 25% faster over its rivals. Even the middle tiered Sony Xperia P and U have 1.2 and 1.0 GHz dual core processors have more than enough juice to juggle your everyday tasks with ease whilst streaming a movie.

Entertainment on the Sony Xperia

As if the extensive resources available from Android’s Google Play weren’t enough (450,000 apps, 3 million books, millions of songs and thousands of movies), Sony Xperia handsets come with access to the Sony Entertainment Network. With a six month free trial to Music Unlimited and Video Unlimited, enjoy access to over 15 million music tracks, and 80,000 movies; it’s a truly phenomenal amount which should satisfy any audio addict or film buff. Sony Xperia devices are also crammed with DLNA connectivity, so you can wirelessly hook up your smartphone with multimedia devices such as TV’s, laptops and audio systems for that true home entertainment experience.

Interesting Extra: The Sony Xperia S smartphone is PlayStation Certified, giving you access to one of the greatest games console franchises of all time. With a whole host of PS1 titles available such as Crash Bandicoot, the Sony Xperia S is a thumbs up for gaming addicts who’ll enjoy the fast paced action load with smoothness and grace thanks to the dual core 1.5GHz dual core processor.

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UK release dates

Released in the UK early March, Sony Xperia S deals are already available. Though no official dates are announced, we expect the Sony Xperia P and Xperia U to be available in May/June 2012.

Next time: We compare camera features, social sharing and NFC capabilities in the Sony Xperia range.

The classic Xperia styling is present and correct on the Sony Ericsson Neo, with gentle curves and a number of different colour options helping it stand out from the crowd of bland, black oblong rivals. Its a 3.7 inch display uses Sony’s Bravia Mobile technology to produce impressive results, giving you a broad colour pallet and good contrast ratios. Whilst it may not be quite as vivid as the AMOLED displays which are creeping onto the market it is more than able to meet the needs of most users.

The Sony Ericsson Neo puts a lot of emphasis on its camera capabilities, with its 8.1 megapixel primary snapper found on the rear next to a large HD logo which identifies its 720p video capture setting. The camera’s sensor is not just a bog-standard piece of kit either, providing you with top notch low light performance which cannot be matched by a vast number of smartphones. If you have a need to capture life’s little moments in impressive quality when on the move then this might be the mobile for you. Sharing your pictures and videos is easy thanks to the mini HDMI output which will let you view them on your TV at home.

Android 2.3 is preinstalled along with Sony Ericsson’s own TimeScape and MediaScape interfaces. These are designed to make social networking and media playback much easier to access from the Sony Neo’s homescreen so that you can stay up to date with the activities and opinions of your mates whilst keeping yourself entertained. As with all Android phones the Sony Ericsson Neo has access to the Android Market where hundreds of thousands of apps and games can be found to increase the potential features of the handset.

Humming along inside the Xperia Neo is a 1GHz single core processor that is accompanied by a dedicated chip for handling graphics. This means that whilst the phone is not quite as competitive as the dual core models which are gradually entering the market it is more than capable when it comes to handling the operating system and providing impressive visuals in apps and media playback. This is really a phone designed for people who want to get all of their on-the-go entertainment in one place and although it is described as a mid-range model it is not going to become obsolete in the near future.

Connectivity is another important aspect of any modern smartphone and the Sony Neo comes with Wi-Fi, 3G and the latest Bluetooth all built in to ensure that you can get online quickly wherever you roam and hook up peripherals wirelessly in an instant. Because this runs Android 2.3 you can enjoy full Flash 10.1 support in the web browser, opening up access to loads of online videos and games embedded in sites. These would not be accessible on other smartphones which do not offer Flash support, such as the iPhone 4.

With a 1500mAh battery juiced up to capacity the Sony Neo will do an admirable job of staying powered on even after relatively intensive usage. Battery life is something many fail to consider when buying a phone and with mobiles that have larger screens or faster processors you might find yourself searching for a power outlet after less than a day. This is not a concern with the Sony Ericsson xperia Neo, making it a great all-rounder priced to be an affordable option.

The HTC Salsa has been launched as the best phone for social networking Facebook fans with the unique selling point of letting you quickly and constantly update your status on the move. Like its sibling, the HTC ChaCha, The Salsa carries a physical dedicated Facebook button to quickly post to your profile.

On board physical buttons are limited to a power button, volume rocker a camera switch and the all important Facebook button which sets the phone apart from the rest. This button allows you to quickly post your status to Facebook in seconds! As soon as you take a photo with the inbuilt camera, the button starts to glow to remind you that you can upload that picture right away. Sending the picture to your profile is achieved immediately by taping the button.

The HTC Salsa is perfect for people who like to share most (if not every) aspect of their daily life with friends on Facebook. You have got to be a fan of the social networking site to appreciate the full extent the device can help in making your posts easier. For a fuller interaction with your Facebook account, just keep holding down the dedicated button to open up Facebook places. This lets you check in to various geographical places of interest similar to foursquare and let your friends know your location or where you have been.

It is just as easy to make other Facebook posts such as sharing videos posting links or share music you’re currently listening to on your music player. So with the HTC Salsa you will be able to keep your friends informed of your whereabouts with pictures, videos and what music you are listening to.

Besides the social networking, HTC Salsa kicks in features between HTC Wldfire S and and HTC Desire S. It has a 800Hz CPU which is sufficient for most of its dedicated uses but can seem to lag a bit compared to higher end Smartphones in the HTC stable if you do a lot of processor intensive tasks. It boasts support for Google services such as search, Maps and the Android Market app store but the low end CPU also rules out support for browser based flash support.

The phone comes with a good sized 3.4 inch HVGA resolution screen has 480×320 pixel which gives good overall contrast though not quite as vibrant as the super AMOLED display of Samsung phones.

The Salsa also has notifications bar that gives you information about availability of wifi and blue tooth in one place. The phone features a reasonable 5 mega pixel camera and front facing lens to enable video calls. The battery is an impressive 1,520 mAh that gives the Salsa an impressive running time between charges – much longer than most current Android devices.

As the name suggests (think nachos and dance floor moves) the Salsa embraces socializing and is definitely one for people who like to share their social life with their friends, family and loved ones. So if you are a person who likes sharing most aspects of your day with your Facebook friends then then check our HTC Salsa deals.

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