A Comparison Of The Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini And The HTC Wildfire S

As the size and specification of the modern mobile handset increases the costs of the phone inevitably spiral. Some of the top end smartphones will now cost the consumer around £500 without a contract and if you are signing up with a network provider it is easy to spend upward of £40 a month. There are alternatives however, phones that do not cost the earth yet still offer the day to day smartphone functionality that you require. An added bonus is that they also look great and you could be forgiven for thinking the models we are about to discuss were in fact top end phones. The HTC Wildfire S and the Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini are both compact phones that will not break the bank but how do they compare to one another?

Nowadays a lower priced phone does not mean you have to compromise too much in terms of the hardware you are getting for your money. Internally these two handset are both impressive. The Xperia Mini features a powerful 1Ghz processor together with 512MB of RAM. Add to this an Adreno 205 graphics processing unit and you have a chipset that ensures that this little phone operates at quite a speed. The HTC Wildfire S cannot quite live up to the high early standards laid down by Sony. The phone sports a 600Mhz processor and matches the Xperia Mini for RAM making it no slouch but also not in the same league as the Xperia for speed. A feature that more and more consumers are utilising on their mobile handset is the camera. This increase in popularity is partly do to the improved quality on modern camera resulting in crystal clear images rather than the dull and blurred shots we expected a few years ago. Add to this the ability to capture video and the modern phone really is a truly multimedia device. Sony Ericsson also come out on top in this department thanks to a combination of a great 5 mega pixel camera as well as HD video capture. The Wildfire S matches this in the terms of photographs but unfortunately its VGA video capture is no rival for HD.

Things are a little bit more evenly matched when we take a look at the screens on the two phones. The Sony Ericsson Xpera Mini and the HTC Wildfire S both offer the same resolution displays at 320 x 480 but the Sony screen is slightly smaller at just 3 inches resulting in a slightly sharper image. Another contributing factor to this extra clarity is the incorporation of Sonys "Bravia Mobile" engine which boosts the picture quality. At 3.2 inches the HTC screen is only slightly larger and in fairness does offer a great image for a budget phone but the extra technology on the Xperia Mini means that once again it comes out on top. Where HTC may claw back some ground is when it comes to the physical design of the phone. Size will not be a problem with either model as they both weigh in at roughly 100 grammes and are incredibly compact. The Wildfire S is just like a mini version of the brands more premium offerings in that it feels well made and is very pleasing on the eye. This is in contrast to the Xperia Mini which although is not a bad looking model does suffer slightly from the over use of plastic which does make the handset feel a little on the cheap side.

The Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini and the Wildfire S from HTC go a long way to prove you do not need to spend a fortune to get a high quality smartphone. Both of these models impress but overall the Xperia edges it thanks to a great screen and brilliant multimedia features.

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An Introduction To The New Nokia N9 Phone

Nokia have recently released details of a forthcoming handset that is likely to grab the attention of both industry experts and consumers thanks to its eye catching looks together with its innovative new operating system. This new OS does not signify the end of the renowned Symbian platform that is present on many of the brands models but it does show a change in direction in a bid to appeal to a broader spectrum of consumers. So what can we expect from the exciting new Nokia N9?

Nokia have opted to fit a 3.9 inch display in this model which is quite an unusual size given that many current phones offer either a 3.7 inch or a 4 inch variety. The sizing is just about right giving a large enough screen to make the device perfect for video playback and gaming whilst remaining small enough to appeal to the person looking for a relatively compact handset. The overall resolution of the screen measures 480 x 854 which is just above the industry standard and enables the N9 to give remarkable clarity on all types of material. Some of this quality can be attributed to the technology used on the display which is the very latest AMOLED variety. This screen gives great viewing angles even in sunlight and colours maintain a natural sense of depth. There is a remarkably thin border surrounding the screen which means that the phones overall measurements are a sleek 116.5 x 61.2 x 12.1mm coupled with the weight which is fairly average at 135 grammes. The phone totally lacks buttons on the front meaning the screen totally dominates. Around the sides of the phone there are a few buttons which include a lock key, a camera and a volume button.

The Nokia N9 really does excel in the multimedia department just like many of the more recent releases by the brand. One of the key factors behind their excellence in the phone camera performance is not only the high resolution on offer but also the excellent optics that are used which are what many experts say is the main reason behind the great quality. The variety that are used here are manufactured by Carl Zeiss and are generally regarded as some of the best available. Nokia have reigned back the resolution from the 12 mega pixels that were present on the N8 model to 8 million on this model. This still gives enough quality to produce a superb quality of image. Video capture facilities are also present and this impresses equally as much thanks to the 720P quality together with an ability to capture 30 frames per second.

The Nokia N9 looks destined to prove a hugely successful handset. The MeeGo OS is a refreshing change whilst the phone itself is packed with specification of the very highest quality.

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