Sony Xperia S vs. Sony Xperia Ion: Specs Comparison

According to reports, Google has activated 250 million Android devices so far, which is a stunning, great achievement for Google and it is an especially noteworthy report. Now, if you’ve convinced yourself to abandon your current Android (or whatever) phone and looking to make a big switch, you have two great smartphones to go for either Sony Xperia Ion or Sony Xperia S. AT&T is set to release the new 4G LTE capable Sony Xperia Ion handset in the coming months. Another high-end spec’d Sony Xperia S handset is also set to release, though the carrier details haven’t been revealed out yet. Both phones’ hardware specifications are closely matched and are sharing some great features, bringing an HD display, a huge 12MP camera and most importantly Android 4.0 ICS OS to the table. I’ve already examined the Nokia Lumia 900 and the Sony Xperia Ion’s specs comparison part. Now take a look at the comparison part of the Sony Xperia Ion and Xperia S handsets.

Design

The Sony Xperia Ion is noticeably nigger than the Sony Xperia S. The Sony Xperia S handset has the same width as the Sony Xperia Ion, but is slightly shorter and somewhat thinner.

OS

Unfortunately, both the Sony Xperia Ion and the Sony Xperia S handsets will be shipped with Android 2.3.7 Gingerbread OS. But the manufacturer has promised to roll out the Android 4.0.x ICS update for both phones in the 2nd quarter of this year. Both visually and functionally, Ice Cream Sandwich (v4.0) is clearly the best version of the Android operating system and it is much more customizable.

The combination of the dual-core chipset and Android ICS results in a pretty speedy performer. Android ICS brings the much-hyped “face unlock” feature, which is a great feature introduced in the latest version and it lets you unlock the handset just by looking into the front-facing camera.

Display

Both phones are having 720p HD resolution displays, employing the same technology – Sony Bravia Mobile Engine. Sony Xperia Ion is housing a 4.55-inch Reality Display with 1280 X 720 pix resolution, while the Sony Xperia S is sporting a 4.3-inch Reality display with the same resolution.

It’s a real treat to watch HD videos and playing games on the bigger 4.5-inch display of the Xperia Ion handset, which will let you to see more on the large screen and you don’t need to keep scrolling to see the contents.

Processor

Both the Sony Xperia Ion and Xperia S are the first edition of the dual-core processor equipped phones from the manufacturer. Both phones will be powered by 1.5 GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8260 processor with Adreno 220 GPU.

Some actions such as reorientation of the screen, pinch-to-zoom and transition between apps would be smoother on both the Xperia Ion and Xperia S handsets.

Camera

Both the Sony Xperia S and Xperia Ion phone probably have the best camera, equipped with 12 megapixel Exmor R sensor to record 1080p HD videos. You guys all just got used to having an 8MP camera in high-end smartphones, but Sony is trying to a make a difference in the camera part.

12MP camera is considerably better than just about every 8MP shooter out there on other smartphones. Other feature are including LED flash, 3D sweep panorama, 16x digital zoom.

Both phones have got 1.3MP front-facing cameras to make 720p HD video calls.

Memory

Both the Sony Xperia Ion and Xperia S handsets are rocking with the same RAM capacity. They each have one full gigabyte.

Sony Xperia Ion comes with 1GB internal storage, 16GB eMMC flash memory storage with memory expansion support up to 32GB via microSD cards, while the Sony Xperia S handset has got 1 to 1.5GB internal phone storage and 32GB eMMC flash memory storage. The Xperia S lags a bit as it doesn’t have any microSD card slot for further memory expansion. But 32GB is plenty for most of the people.

4G LTE

The Sony Xperia Ion handset on AT&T comes complete with 4G LTE connectivity supporting the super fast download an upload speeds, up to 10 times faster than 3G on the Sony Xperia S.

Xperia Ion is the world’s first 4G LTE capable Sony handset and it can produce an average download speed of 16.68 Mbps and an average upload speed of 6.42 Mbps. The 4G LTE connectivity lets you to play the online games with out any breakups, download huge apps in an instant, stream Netflix and Hulu Plus services. You will surely be impressed by the data speeds of the Sony Xperia Ion handset.

Sony Xperia S Full Specifications.
Sony Xperia Ion Full Specifications.

Specs comparison chart after the break.

Sony Xperia S Vs. Sony Xperia Ion: Specs Comparison

Verdict

The bottom line seems to be both the Sony Xperia Ion and Sony Xperia S are great handsets. But, if you want a bigger screen (4.55inches), 4G LTE capability. go with the the AT&T branded Sony Xperia Ion handset.