CES 2011 revealed a raft of new Android devices. Most were tablets, but the Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc and LG Optimus 2X put up a good fight with their smartphone skills. Which should you look forward to the most in 2011?
Body and build
The Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc takes slim-line mobile phones to a whole new level. It’s much slimmer than the iPhone 4 at 8.7mm thick, and parts of its bod are even thinner than that too.
The LG Optimus 2X is less absurdly thin, its 10.9mm thickness in-line with today’s top large-screen smartphones. We do like the simplicity of the Optimus 2X’s design though. The Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc uses the serious look we’ve already seen in the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10, while the Optimus 2X’s more neutral black and silver bod is less likely to put off the fun-loving crowd.
Software
Both running Android, we only have to ask whether these phones use a custom UI, and whether they’re both going to rock up to the starting gates with the latest version of the Android OS.
First off, the Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc uses the Timescape UI, while the LG Optimus 2X uses the Optimus UI. Both give you a static launcher dock that sits at the bottom of your home screens, but the Timescape UI goes the extra mile with its added functionality. It offers a social networking app plus a cutom media player, known as Mediascape. It’s very swish, but once again may be a little too stark and elegant for those that want their phone to be breezy and fun.
In Android version numbers terms, the Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc and LG Optimus 2X are stuck in the same boat. Both have been guaranteed Android 2.3 Gingerbread, but may launch with Android 2.2 FroYo if there’s not enough time ahead of the phones’ launch dates.
Screen
3.7 inches is no longer enough to keep the smartphone elite happy — blame the brill HTC Desire HD if you miss the days of sub 4-inch phones. The LG Optimus 2X sits on the border with four inches of screen space, while the Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc trumps it with a 4.2-inch display.
Just as important as pure inches is the screen tech behind those pixels. The LG Optimus 2X uses a standard LCD display, while the Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc gets a little ambitious with an LED-backlit display. A little like an AMOLED display, this lets the Arc light up just small areas of the screen when required, improving constrast and colour.
Camera
With an 8-megapixel camera a piece, the Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc and LG Optimus 2x are two of the most powerful Android camera phones yet, but megapixels never tell the whole story.
We’ll be back with an in-depth road test of both cameras in time, but the f/2.4 and new low-light tech packed into the Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc suggest it’ll produce the most detailed images. That’s not the only consideration though.
The Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc only features one camera, while the LG Optimus 2X also offers a user-facing 1.3-megapixel snapper for video call and chat. Oh, and thanks to its processor it can capture jaw-dropping 1080p video too. It looks like there is a price for having an 8.7mm-thick bod after alll…
Power
If you’ve already heard about the LG Optimus 2X, it’s probably as the “first dual-core” smartphone. It’s powered by the 1GHz Tegra 2 dual-core chip, and is very, very quick. And it looks like it’ll still be the first dual-core mobile on the market.
The Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc is less ambitious, but still packs a meaty punch with the same core core processors as the HTC Desire HD — a second-gen single-core 1GHz Snapdragon CPU matched with the Andreno 205 graphical processor unit.
What’s the difference in real-life terms? The LG Optimus 2X will be able to play back 1080p video, while the Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc is stuck with “measly” 720p HD.
Media skills
Media is where tge LG Optimus 2X’s extra processing power comes in handy, although both these phones are slightly limited in the codecs they can play, unlike the fab Samsung Galaxy S. Get those videos converted to WMV or MP4 though and you’ll be flying — with DLNA and an HDMI output on both phones, piping videos over to your HDTV is a doddle.
Using HDMI, you just need to grab yourself a mini-HDMI to HDMI cable, while with wireless DLNA, you only need to make sure your TV/games console is DLNA-compliant then link them up to the same Wi-Fi network.
