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sony xperia mint vs sony xperia s |
djgydo
Joined: Nov 17, 2012
Posts: 11
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Form
Sony Xperia S - 128x64x10.6mm, 144g
Sony Xperia Mint - TBA
In an interesting move, Sony has had a couple of very rapid redesigns of the Xperia line since it took over partner company Ericsson and started churning out Android devices under its own name.
With the Xperia S it was quite apparent that Sony wanted to keep the first wave of Sony-branded Xperia phones at least partly in-line with existing Xperia models under Sony-Ericsson, while at the same time putting its own distinctive stamp on things.
The result was a much more angular design format than earlier Xperia models with straight, broad and flat edges, but it retained the curved backplate and D-shaped cross-section.
An idiosyncratic design choice is the addition of a transparent band around the bottom of the device, which houses the icons for the capacitive controls situated a short distance above it.
The changes have created a much more striking silhouette and a phone that is easier to grip than previous models, although it must be said some of the svelte elegance has been lost in the process.
Another notable change is the build quality as the Xperia S feels much more solidly built and with higher-grade materials than earlier designs. It uses a unibody construction which is beneficial both in terms of appearance and sturdiness.
The Xperia Mint forms part of Sony’s second wave of re-designs following on from recently released budget models such as the Xperia Go. This means an even more angular and virtually slab-like aesthetic.
It appears to be a good deal thinner than the Xperia S and has a chiselled shape to the bottom edge. The bezel around the screen’s top and sides is also as thin as we’ve seen on any device and certainly lends a sleek, modern appearance to things.
While it looks good we can’t get away from the fact that, by this point, the Xperia line has completely lost its characteristic shape and now pretty much blends in with the rest of the market.
From the leaked pictures we’ve seen it appears that as well as following the Xperia Go in terms of shape, the Xperia Mint will retain the excellent build quality from the Xperia S in terms of how robust it feels.
Sadly though, this also means it has the Xperia Go’s peculiar textured material for the outer shell and although this provides good grip it feels unpleasantly like sandpaper.
Another design difference worth noting is that the while Xperia S features capacitive button controls the Xperia Mint will ship with Android Ice Cream Sandwich and therefore is a button-less device, relying entirely on the touch controls embedded into the operating system.
While the more svelte and compact form factor of the Xperia Mint is a step forward from the Xperia S the choice of uncomfortably textured material and a character-less shape means it also takes two steps back. We have to say that in this case we’d still go with the Xperia S.
Winner – Sony Xperia S
Display
Display technology is a Sony speciality and these two devices are no exception when it comes to dazzling us with their screens. The Xperia S has been perched happily at the top of the smartphone pile since its release with a 4.3-inch LCD sporting a 1280x720 pixel resolution, scratch-resistant glass, 10-finger multi-touch and the Sony Mobile Bravia engine.
The pixel density clocks in at an as yet unsurpassed 342 pixels-per-inch (ppi) which, combined with the powerful Bravia engine, gives you some of the sharpest and clearest visuals with excellent brightness and rich colours.
Although Sony is prepping other handsets which will likely beat this, the Xperia Mint features pretty much exactly the same setup, so these phones are on a par.
It’s important to note, however, that with the arrival of the iPhone 5 and other rivals that 342ppi barrier will likely be broken.
Winner – Draw
Storage
The Xperia S is fitted with 32GB of internal storage space while the Xperia Mint has 16GB. Both use 1GB of RAM to fuel their respective processors, but while the Xperia S has no provision for external storage the Xperia Mint supports micro SD up to 32GB for a bit of a boost.
Overall the Xperia Mint offers more storage space between its internal capacity and the addition of micro SD, which also grants some welcome flexibility.
Winner – Sony Xperia Mint
Processor
The hardware powering these two devices is one of the most significant areas in which they differ.
Both run on Qualcomm dual core technology, the Xperia S has a Series 3 (S3) MSM8260 Snapdragon processor on 45 nanometre semiconductors, clocked at 1.5GHz with an Adreno 220 graphics processor (GPU) and single channel RAM at 333MHz.
The Xperia Mint instead uses the more recent S4 ‘Krait’ based MSM8960 Snapdragon Plus, again clocked at 1.5GHz but on 28 nanometre architecture with an Adreno 225 GPU and dual-channel 500MHz RAM.
This latter setup is currently one of the fastest processors on the market and what’s more it runs cooler and more efficiently than some competing quad core configurations.
An easy win for the Xperia Mint, then.
Winner – Sony Xperia Mint
Operating System
The Xperia S ships with Android Gingerbread 2.3 and Sony’s Timescape interface overlay, which fundamentally changes the appearance of Android quite extensively even if the functionality is more or less standard.
An update to bring the phone up to version 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) is currently in the works and due to arrive fairly soon, but the Xperia Mint is set to have ICS from the outset and with a completely new version of Timescape over the top.
While the Xperia S doesn’t have ICS currently it’s likely it will by the time the Xperia Mint arrives. As a result these phone’s will be on an even footing.
Winner - Draw
Camera
Cameras are another Sony speciality, what with the company owning the fantastic Exmor R back-illuminated sensor (BSI) technology.
The Xperia S sports a 12-megapixel primary with an LED flash, 1080p video capture and all the usual features such as geo-tagging and autofocus, as well as some fancier stuff like continuous video autofocus, panoramic mode, face and smile detection, a video light, video and image stabilisation and touch focus.
This delivers excellent pictures and video.
So far we only know that the Xperia Mint will feature a 13-megpixel rating but we expect the core technology and features to remain quite similar to its predecessor, which is of course no bad thing with image quality being this good.
Winner - Draw
Final Thoughts
Overall the Xperia Mint isn’t a massive improvement over the Xperia S except in one element – the processor, which is quite simply leagues ahead.
Of course, that is an important factor, but it is a shame that stylistically the Xperia Mint is nothing special and in terms of other features it’s merely on a par with the company’s existing flagship.
Another thing to bear in mind is that quad core S4 chips from Qualcomm are on the way, so potentially the Xperia Mint could become outdated very quickly.
That’s not to say it isn’t going to be a valid product, however, as that issue depends tremendously on pricing – if it’s offered at an affordable cost compared to contemporary premium devices at time of release, the Xperia Mint may fit into the market quite well.
sony xperia s wins :1
sony xperia mint wins:2
draws :3
Id say the sony xperia still wins with its nice and sleek design and its nice operating system the specs are in some places better but of the tests and the specs the sony xperia mint wins its a bit of a bummer i just bought a xperia s.
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jcwhite_uk
Joined: Feb 18, 2004
Posts: > 500
From: Dorset, UK Phone:Xperia Z1
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Xperia Mint? Dont you mean Xperia T?
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djgydo
Joined: Nov 17, 2012
Posts: 11
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yes its the T but also called the mint.
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Tsepz_GP
Joined: Dec 27, 2006
Posts: > 500
From: Johannesburg, South Africa
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Why didnt you just say Xperia T then? That is its official name and how most people know it. 
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djgydo
Joined: Nov 17, 2012
Posts: 11
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because xperia t is not its official name its sony xperia mint. |
Tsepz_GP
Joined: Dec 27, 2006
Posts: > 500
From: Johannesburg, South Africa
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But Sony themselves call it Xperia T: http://www.sonymobile.com/global-en/products/phones/xperia-t/ so that is the official name, Mint was just a codename.
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Posted: 2012-11-17 03:18
