Key Difference: The Xperia SP is a 4.6-inch TFT capacitive touchscreen phone that has been encased in an all-aluminum body. It is less then 10mm thick and weights approximately 155 grams. The screen offers HD reality display and is supported by the Mobile BRAVIA Engine 2. The SP works on 2G, 3G and LTE network (depending on market availability and sports a 1.7 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon Dual Core processor. Samsung Galaxy S4 is the 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.

Smartphones have taken over the world! They have become a trend and a lifestyle. Smartphones are what we hear day in and day out. What phone does what? Which company is launching which phone? And so on. Sony Xperia SP and Samsung Galaxy S4 are two different phones that have yet to arrive in the market. They are both by popular cell phone makers that have made a mark in cell phone technology.

Sony announced the launch of its most anticipated smart phone the Xperia Z in January. In March, it also announced its revamped cell phone line up. In addition to the high and mighty Z, the company has also announced the launch of the mid-range cell phone Xperia SP. The SP model combines features from the Sony’s 2012 models S and P as well retains some features from flagship.

The Xperia SP is a 4.6-inch TFT capacitive touchscreen phone that has been encased in an all-aluminum body. It is less then 10mm thick and weights approximately 155 grams. The screen offers HD reality display and is supported by the Mobile BRAVIA Engine 2. The SP works on 2G, 3G and LTE network (depending on market availability and sports a 1.7 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon Dual Core processor. The phone is available with Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) with no word on if it is upgradeable to the 4.2 version. The phone has 8 GB worth of internal space, of which only 5.8 GB is available to the users; however, fret not Sony also offers a SD card slot that is expandable up to 32 GB.

For all the camera shutterbugs, the SP houses the 8MP Exmor RS camera that gives brilliant and sharp images in low-lighting, back-lighting and snaps shots with low noise. The camera also has features such as Superior Auto that uses Scene Recognition to automatically adjust the photo setting. Additionally, it also offers 16x digital zoom, autofocus and pulsed LED flash. One of the old features that have been revamped is the notification light from the Xperia P. The notification light has been added as a see through strip on the bottom of the handset. The notification light is customizable and the user can add different lights to different callers. The lights also changes pulse rate during songs. The notification light is visible on the both sides of the phone, making it easier to determine the caller through the light when the phone is placed faced down. The phone also offers aluminum power button the right panel and has also brought back the physical camera button. However, the phone isn’t able to record HDR video. Sony has not yet announced the prices and the launch dates for the phone.

After building anticipation for almost three months, Samsung has officially released the newest variant of its flagship phone. To many the time spend waiting has not been wasted, while others seem to believe that the phone is not that intriguing to make them upgrade from their current S3s and iPhones to the S4.

Samsung Galaxy S4 is the 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 Sony Mobile website, knowyourmobile.com, expertreviews.co.uk, and GSMArena.com.

Image Courtesy: sonymobile.com, samsung.com