Key difference: Some of the latest new smartphones are the Sony Xperia SP and Sony Xperia L, both belonging to the Sony’s Xperia flagship. The Sony Xperia L is a mid-range smartphone. It features a 4.3-inch screen with a resolution of 854x480px and a scratch-resistant cover glass. It runs on Android 4.1 with a Dual-Core 1GHz Qualcomm MSM8230 chipset and 1 GB of RAM. The Samsung Galaxy S4 is the much awaited successor to the very popular Samsung Galaxy S3. The company boasts new features into a slightly smaller and sleeker design. The phone’s screen has been increased to a stunning almost 5 inches with only slight decrease in size of the phone.

Technology is a dynamic sector that often changes when new technology replaces the old outdated technology. This is most commonly seen in smartphones and tablets. Smartphones have taken over the world! It has become a trend, a necessity and a way of life. They have made it easier to do everything on the go, from e-mailing, video conferencing, to writing up a report or a project. There isn’t anything you cannot do these days with a smartphone.

Hence, it is understandable that people constantly keep changing and upgrading their smartphones. Specially in order to keep up with new technologies and the companies see great opportunities in this. They are constantly releasing new smartphones to keep up with the latest demands and are always trying to outdo the competition.

Some of the latest new smartphones are the Sony Xperia SP and Sony Xperia L, both belonging to the Sony’s Xperia flagship. The Sony Xperia L is a mid-range smartphone. It features a 4.3-inch screen with a resolution of 854x480px and a scratch-resistant cover glass. It runs on Android 4.1 with a Dual-Core 1GHz Qualcomm MSM8230 chipset and 1 GB of RAM. It also has all the bells and whistles, including Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and 3G HSPA connectivity, as well as NFC support. The NFC is integrated with a one-touch connection to external displays in order to allow for big screen playback of videos or photos. The phone does not however have LTE capability.

Still, its saving grace has to be its 8 MP camera, which uses Sony's latest mobile Exmor RS sensor and offers a built-in HDR mode for both stills and video. The Exmor RS sensor is supposed to improved clarity and color reproduction, while the HDR mode will allow for better pictures in various different kinds of lights.

The phone is powered by a 1900mAh battery and has a battery STAMINA Mode for optimizing power consumption. The phone is available in three colors: white, black and red. It also has an LED light on the bottom of the phone that can be customized to blink different colors to indicate an incoming phone call, a missed call or text message. The light can also be programmed to blink in correspondence with the rhythm of the song played on the built in Sony Walkman music player.

The phone also comes with pre-installed Sony apps called Walkman, Album, and Movies. These are part of a pre-loaded software suite that allows for consuming and sharing a vast library of multimedia content.

The Samsung Galaxy S4 is the much awaited successor to the very popular Samsung Galaxy S3. The company boasts new features into a slightly smaller and sleeker design. The phone’s screen has been increased to a stunning almost 5 inches with only slight decrease in size of the phone. The screen is a full HD Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen that provides a greater resolution of 1080 pixels, almost 441ppi density. The weight of the phone has also been reduced to 130 g and the width of the phone has been reduced by 1mm. The phone has sharper and straighter lines with just curved edges. In terms of design it is quite similar to the S3. The chassis is made up of polycarbonate plastic and the display is highly sensitive that accepts touch through gloves. The phone is available with either the 1.6 GHz octa-core Samsung Exynos 5 processor or the 1.9 GHz Snapdragon Fusion Pro quad-core processor, depending on the market. It is available with 16/32/64 GB internal capacity options and if that is not enough it can be upgraded by another 64 GB using the SD slot. The S4 comes with 2 GB RAM, which has become a norm for smartphones these days.

The phone comes with a stunning 13 MP primary camera, a 2 MP secondary camera and HD video recording capability. The S4 runs Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean, but it has yet to be seen if it will offer an upgrade to the new Key Lime Pie version when it is available in mid-2013. The phone is available in two colors Black Mist and White Frost, though there may be chances for other colors once the phone is available for purchasing. Now for the fun part! The phone offers brand new features that are sure to pull in some big spenders. The S4 offers hovering capabilities known as Air Wave, which allows users to swipe between screens, videos, photos without actually touching the screen. Another fun feature is the Smart Scroll and Smart Pause; Smart Scroll uses a sensor and the front camera to automatically scroll when a person is done reading a certain paragraph. The scrolling can also be controlled using tilt. Smart Pause uses the sensor to pause videos automatically when the phone senses that the person is no longer looking at the screen and then resumes when the person looks back at the screen.

Group Play is a feature that allows users to use NFC or Bluetooth to tap and transfer videos, photos, music and even engage in multiplayer games with other S4 users. There are many new camera features as well including dual camera, sound & shot, drama shot, story album, cinema photo and eraser mode. Dual camera allows users to use both the cameras at the same time including when trying to take a photo. The person taking the photo can place their face to the photo taken using the secondary camera or vice-versa. Sound & Shot feature takes 9 seconds of audio when capturing a photo. Drama Shot combines all the actions from a Burst shot into one screen. Story album enables the users to create an album using their shots and audio. Cinema photo feature allows the users to animate one portion of an image, while keeping the rest simple. Eraser Mode allows users to erase objects from the image that they do not wish to include. Other features also include S Health (users can track their diet, steps, exercises, etc.), S Translator, S Voice assistant, Galaxy S Voice Drive and Integrated Optical Reader. Samsung has yet to announce the release date and the price of the S4.

The information for the detailed table about the two phones has been taken from the Samsung website, Sony Mobile website, knowyourmobile.com, expertreviews.co.uk, and GSMArena.com.

Image Courtesy: sonymobile.com, samsung.com