Sunday 10 January 2010

Guide for Picking The Best Android Phone for You

Sony Xperia X10 vs Nexus One vs Motorola Droid vs Acer Liquid vs Archos


Xperia X10


Nexus One


Motorola Droid


Acer Liquid



(Updated: 21st Jan 2010) The Android handset landscape has changed drastically over the past year, from a literal handful of options to – the fingers on both your hands, the toes on both your feet and all the mistresses Tiger Woods has had in the past 24 hours (OK, maybe 4 hours). You get the point though, there are quite a few options and through the course of 2010 these options will only increase.


The only other mainstream handset smartphone option that rivals the Android handset options available in 2010 will be the Windows mobile platform – and we're all rushing for it – not!


So what are the handsets to consider in 2010? The ones currently released on the market that we will look at are the Acer Liquid and Motorola Droid and an additional three to be released early 2010, the Sony Xperia X10, Google Nexus One (Passion, HTC Bravo) and Archos Phone Tablet – though we only have a handful of details on the phone.



Archos Phone


We will look at hardware and software sub-categories, and compare the phones based based on the information we have.


HARDWARE


Processor


The Nexus One and Sony Xperia X10 have the snappier Qualcomm Snapdragon 1Ghz processor onboard. The Acer Liquid has a downclocked version of the Snapdragon running at 728Mhz – perhaps to conserve battery. This would probably put the Acer Liquids performance more on par with the Motorola Droids. The Archos Phone promises to be a really fast phone with an upgraded ARM Cortex processor running at 1Ghz and also with improved GPU over Droid and iPhone.


Nexus One

Motorola Droid

Sony Xperia X10

Acer Liquid

Archos Phone

Qualcomm Snapdragon QSD 8250, 1.0 GHz

Texas Instruments OMAP 3430 550 Mhz

Qualcomm Snapdragon QSD 8250, 1.0 GHz

Qualcomm Snapdragon QSD 8250, 768 MHz

ARM Cortex 1Ghz


Graphics


The Snapdragon's Adreno 200 Graphics core is phenomenal on the triangle render benchmark, coming in with a score of approximately 22 million triangles per/sec compared to approximately 7 million triangles/sec on the Motorola's SGX530. This is an important element for 3D graphics. Interestingly, the iPhone 3GS has a similar CPU to Motorola Droid but an upgraded faster SGX535 GPU which is capable of 28 million triangles/sec and 400 M Pixels/sec. Archos may get better SGX GPU.


Xperia X-10 Graphics Demo


Nexus One

Motorola Droid

Sony Xperia X10

Acer Liquid

Archos Phone

Adreno 200 Graphics Core with OpenGLES 2.0

PowerVR SGX530 Graphics Core with OpenGLES 2.0

Adreno 200 Graphics Core with OpenGLES 2.0

Adreno 200 Graphics Core with OpenGLES 2.0

PowerVR SGX540?

22 M Triangles/sec

7 M Triangles/sec

22 M Triangles/sec

22 M Triangles/sec

35 M Triangles/sec

133 M Pixels/sec

250 M Pixels/sec

133 M Pixels/sec

133 M Pixels/sec

1000 M Pixels/sec

HD Decode (720p)

HD Decode (720p)

HD Decode (720p)

HD Decode (720p)



3-D Graphics Benchmark









Motorola Droid 20.7 FPS (Android 2.0).

Nexus One 27.6 FPS. (Android 2.1)

Acer Liquid 34 FPS. (Android 1.6)

Xperia X10 34FPS+ est. (Android 1.6)



Note: All phones tested running WVGA resolution 480 x 800 or 480 X 854. Different versions of Android will be a factor e.g. Android 2.0 + reproduces 16 million colors vs 56K for 1.6. Older phones such as G1, iPhone 3GS may score 25-30 FPS but they use lower 480 X 320 resolution.



Memory/Storage


The Nexus One comes in with an impeccable 512MB of RAM. This provides an element of future proofing for the hardware and puts it in a league of its own. The Xperia X10 comes with 1GB of ROM and 384 MB of RAM. The 1GB means you'll be able to have twice as many apps on your phone until Google lets you save on your removable memory. The Acer Liquid and Droid are more or less the same.




Nexus One

Motorola Droid

Sony Xperia X10

Acer Liquid

Archos Phone

RAM

512 MB

256 MB

384 MB

256 MB


Flash

512 MB

512 MB

1024 MB

512 MB



Display


The Nexus One uses an AMOLED screen which provides crispy images and more saturated colors than a TFT-LCD. It's also more energy efficient. Xperia X10 packs a 4.0 inch TFT screen with 854 x 480 resolution. Expect similar picture quality to the Motorola Droid for the Sony Ericson phone. The Archos Phone promises to deliver an interesting experience that could potentially make it the King of Androids.



Spot the difference: Top TFT-LCD screen and bottom OLED



Nexus One

Motorola Droid

Sony Xperia X10

Acer Liquid

Archos Phone

800 x 480 px, 3.7 in (94 mm), WVGA,

AMOLED

854 x 480 px, 3.7 in (94 mm), WVGA,

TFT-LCD

854 x 480 px, 4.0 in (102 mm), WVGA,

TFT-LCD

800 x 480 px, 3.5 in (89 mm), WVGA,

TFT-LCD

854x 480px, 4.3 in (109mm), WVGA, AMOLED



Display Input


All standard stuff here. All are pretty much Capacitative with multi-Touch depending on the continent you buy your phone from.



Nexus One

Motorola Droid

Sony Xperia X10

Acer Liquid

Archos Phone

Capacitative, Multi-Touch

Capacitative, Multi-Touch

Capacitative, Multi-Touch

Capacitative, Multi-Touch

Capacitative, Multi-Touch



Battery


The Xperia X10 has the largest battery – and might I add likely the best quality battery from the lot. It's the same battery used in the Xperia X1 and it performed admirable. Talk time for the Nexus One is very good and we expect the Xperia X10 to match this or be marginally better. Of concern is Nexus Ones 3G stand-by time of 250 hours. It's worse than the other phones but not bad at a little over 10 days! Updated 21st Jan 2010 - confirmed Xperia battery times. Xperia more or less performs at the same level as the other Android phones, delivering 5 hours talk time.


Sony 1500 mAh Battery




Nexus One

Motorola Droid

Sony Xperia X10

Acer Liquid

Archos Phone

mAh

1400 Li-Po

1400 Li-Po

1500 Li-Po

1350 Li-Po


Talk/Standby 3G

hrs/hrs

7/250

5/380

5/300

5/400




Communication


The phones are all capable of 3.5G (HSDPA 7.2 Mbit/s) data transfer. The Motorola Droid and Sony Xperia X10 can give you a little bit extra supporting 10.2 Mbit/s data transfer. Obviously the network must exist to support these speeds. Motorola is the only one with Class 12 EDGE, but this is not too important in this day and age of 3G.




Nexus One, Bravo

Motorola Droid

Sony Xperia X10

Acer Liquid

Archos Phone

HSDPA (Mbit/s)

7.2 (1700 band)

10.2

10.2

7.2


HSUPA

2.0 - 5.76

2.0-5.76

2.0-5.76

2.0-5.76


GSM

(850, 900,1800,1900)

Y

Y

Y

Y


EDGE

Class 10

Class 12

Class 10

Class 10


UMTS band 1/4/8

(2100/AWS/900)

Y

Y

Y

Y


GPS

Y

Y

Y

Y


Network

3-3.5G

3-3.5G

3-3.5G

3-3.5G




Connectivity:Bluetooth/Wifi


Nexus One is the only Android phone that currently offers 802.11n connectivity. In fact, I can't think of any other phone out there that also has 802.11n. This might be the Google Talk phone we all thought was heading our way after all! All phones have either bluetooth 2.0 or 2.1. These will essentially be the same as far as data transfer (3 Mbit/s) is concerned. Version 2.1 offers better power efficiency though and a few other enhancements.


Nexus One - Broadcom 802.11n



Nexus One

Motorola Droid

Sony Xperia X10

Acer Liquid

Archos Phone

Bluetooth

2.1 + EDR

2.1 + EDR

2.1 + EDR

2.0 + EDR

Y

802.11 b

Y

Y

Y

N

Y

802.11 g

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

802.11 n

Y

N

N

N

Y


Ports/Connectors/Sensors


The 2GB shipped micro-SD card with the Acer Liquid is unrealistic by todays standards. The Motorola Droid offers the best deal with a 16GB micro-SD. The Sony Xperia X10 is shipped with an 8GB micro-SD card, but remember the Xperia X10 also has that slightly bigger 1GB flash memory on-board as well for and impressive total of 9GB expandable to a total of 33GB. Google decided to save on costs by only offering a 4GB micro-SD card with the Nexus One, but if the idea is to compete against the iPhone then 8GB should be the minimum. Clearly the Motorola is on the right track with 16GB shipped, and you can't ignore the impressive 1GB ROM on the Xperia X10.


SanDisk working on 128GB Micro-SD




Nexus One

Motorola Droid

Sony Xperia X10

Acer Liquid

Archos Phone

Sim Card

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

3.5 mm jack

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Micro USB

Y

Y

Y

Y


Shipped Micro SD/Supported (GB)

4/32

Class 2

16/32

Class 6

8/32

Unknown

2/32

Class 2


Unknown

Light Sensor

Y

Y

Y

Y


Proximity Sensor

Y

Y

Y

Y


Compass

Y

Y

Y

Y


Accelerometer

Y

Y

Y

Y


Cell/Wifi Positioning

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y



Case Material


The Motorola metal case is the sturdiest. Build quality for the Nexus One and Xperia X10 is very good. The Xperia X10 has a refelective plastic whilst the Nexus one is more industrial with teflon and metal on the bottom. Acer Liquid has average build quality, but that was always the intention with the Liquid in order to keep manufacturing costs low.



Nexus One

Motorola Droid

Sony Xperia X10

Acer Liquid

Archos Phone

Rubber/Plastic

Metal

Plastic

Plastic



Keyboard


If you want a physical keyboard then the Droid is your only choice in the list. The keys on the Droid keyboard are basically flush so you don't get the comfortable key separation feel on a Blackberry keyboard. The others (Droid as well) have virtual keyboards which work in portrait or landscape mode.



Droid Slide-out keyboard



Nexus One

Motorola Droid

Sony Xperia X10

Acer Liquid

Archos Phone

Virtual

Physical

Virtual

Virtual

Virtual


Camera


The Xperia X10 is one of the best camera phones. Sony used it's camera know how for their new smartphone lineup and it will be hard to match-up against Sony unless the other guys partner up with someone like Canon. The X10 comes with an 8.1 mp camera with X 16 digital zoom. The software has also been changed from standard Android to include typical camera options. Also included are a four face detection feature that recognizes faces in a photo and appropriately tags/files the photo. Motorola Droid comes in with a 5 mp camera with X4 digital zoom compared to the 5mp and x2 digital zoom on the Nexus One.



Xperia X10 sample photo

***Additional Photos***



Motorola Droid sample photo



Nexus One sample photo



Acer Liquid sample photo




Nexus One

Motorola Droid

Sony Xperia X10

Acer Liquid

Archos Phone

Megapixel

5

5

8.1

5


Zoom

X 2

X 4

x16

1


Flash

Y

Y (dual)

Y

Y



Video


Video wise, the Nexus One, Motorola Droid and Xperia will perform roughly the same.














Nexus One

Motorola Droid

Sony Xperia X10

Acer Liquid

Archos Phone

Video Res.

720x480

720x480

800x480

320x240


Flash

Y

Y

Y

N




Size/Height/Weight



Lightest and thinest is the Nexus one. Motorola is weighed down by the metal used. They all are roughly the same size as the iPhone 3Gs which comes in at 115.5 x 62.1 x 12.3 mm and weighs 135g.



Nexus One

Motorola Droid

Sony Xperia X10

Acer Liquid

Archos Phone

Height (mm)

119

115.8

119

115


Width (mm)

59.8

60

63

62.5


Depth (mm)

11.5

13.7

13

12.5

10

Weight (g)

130

169

135

135




SOFTWARE


OS Level


Nexus One has the most current OS level at 2.1. Motorola Droid is expected to upgrade soon as well as the Acer Liquid. The heavily customized Xperia X10 will be more of a challenge to upgrade to 2.1 because of the heavy customization.



Nexus One

Motorola Droid

Sony Xperia X10

Acer Liquid

Archos Phone

2.1

2

1.6

1.6




Customization


Xperia X10 shines as far as demonstrating how customizable Android really is. The other 3 phones have very few changes to the standard Android OS.


Sony TimeScape/MediaScape



Nexus One

Motorola Droid

Sony Xperia X10

Acer Liquid

Archos Phone

None

None

Rachael UI

Acer UI 3.0



Application Market


We are likely to see more App market emerge. Sony currently leads the way and Motorola and HTC (Nexus One) will follow suit as well.



Nexus One

Motorola Droid

Sony Xperia X10

Acer Liquid

Archos Phone

Android Market

Android Market

PlayNow, Android Market

Android Market



Media


Mediascape is an ambitious effort to add decent media functionality to Android. Sony succeeds and also introduces a fun way to organize your media. Acer has Spinlet which is not as complex as Mediascape.



Nexus One

Motorola Droid

Sony Xperia X10

Acer Liquid

Archos Phone

Android

Android

MediaScape

Spinlet



Social Networking


Sony again leds the customization way with Timescape. This is another good job by Sony to add extra functionality to Android. Timescape helps manage your contacts better and brings social networking and contacts onto one application.



Nexus One

Motorola Droid

Sony Xperia X10

Acer Liquid

Archos Phone

Android

Android

TimeScape

Android




14 comments:

  1. excellent review!. Just what was needed.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Very informative!

    One minor glitch, the Droid comes with a 16GB SD card (rather than 8 as listed).

    ReplyDelete
  3. good quality of review and comparison.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Nice review. According the SE, the max supported SD size is 16 GB for the X10.

    http://www.sonyericsson.com/cws/products/mobilephones/overview/xperiax10#view=specifications

    Also, NTT Docomo has released specifications for the X10, which is scheduled to be release in Japan this April. It lists "External Memory Devices" as:

    microSD memory card (2 GB)
    microSDHC memory card (16 GB)

    But does not clarify if it will ship to Japanese customers with 2 SD cards, or if these are the maximums. I am guessing the latter.

    More on NTT Docomo's release at my blog:
    http://softbanksucks.blogspot.com/2010/01/docomo-announces-april-launch-of-sony.html

    ReplyDelete
  5. "According to SE"

    Just referenced your post as I was getting questions about the x10 v the liquid.

    ReplyDelete
  6. nice reveiw /preview since the xperia is already annouced in the netherlands(where i live) and the nexus one i wanted to know the differences and now i know i dont have to wait till the nexus one comes out...

    ReplyDelete
  7. Very good review. Why are manufacturers so biased towards non-physical keyboards? And does anyone do virtual-keyboard on a 2nd slide-out screen?

    ReplyDelete
  8. Everyone's trying to get the phones as small as possible, so they just leave the physical keyboards out.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Did you reach a conclusion on which one was best?

    ReplyDelete
  10. @ Chris - I ended up getting an Xperia X10. It was always between the X10 and the Nexus One.

    I liked the camera and the bigger screen on the Xperia.

    ReplyDelete
  11. There is no multi-touch for X10..
    but from the other specs, seems like X10 is a really good phone!

    ReplyDelete
  12. VERY INFORMATIVE, ALL INFORMATION I NEED IN ONE PLACE. tHATS MY DUE DILIGENCE DONE, TIME TO PURCHASE X10, PRICE DIFF IS ONLY ABOUT AU$40 WITH THE DROID MILESTONE

    ReplyDelete