Sony has startled a lot of people by releasing a trio of Xperia handsets that look much like each other. However, if you closely look, these handsets were released for different purposes. Some were high-end flagship smartphones while some of them were budget phones. Sony hasn’t exactly declared how budget friendly is their budget smartphones though. However, we figured that the pricing scheme would be rather competitive.
All of the budget smartphones released at IFA 2012, we thought of giving Sony Xperia J a try too. Sony is actually proud about this device stating that it has very stylish looks. To this, we wholeheartedly agree because Sony Xperia J is one of Sony’s fine products. However, the hardware specs don’t make it reach the top of the budget smartphone line. Hence we thought of comparing it with a similar handset. Looking at the same company, we found an ideal match which was announced sometime back but not released yet. Sony Xperia Miro and Sony Xperia J have much in common although they look different in the outside. Let us check out what they are made up of and then compare them against each other to choose the best candidate worthy of our consideration.
Sony Xperia J Review
Being a budget phone, we have to admit the fact that we shouldn’t expect a powerhouse inside. Sony Xperia J is powered by a 1GHz Cortex A5 processor on top of Qualcomm MSM7227A Snapdragon chipset with Adreno 200 GPU and 512MB of RAM. This is not exactly a pleasure to explore; however, the Android OS v4.0 ICS has managed to take the best of what Xperia J has and gave us a smooth operation with certain glitches in browsing and multitasking. We reckon you can’t have the chicken and the soup at the same time, so we’ll look past that until we hear the price tag stuck to Xperia J.
Following the usual lead for budget smartphones, Xperia J comes with 4.0 inches TFT capacitive touchscreen featuring a resolution of 854 x 480 pixels at a pixel density of 245ppi. It has the generic Timescape UI that is featured with the Xperia series along with Sony Mobile BRAVIA engine, which is a relief. The internal storage is stuck at 4GB, but fortunately you can expand it using a microSD card up to 32GB. Sony has included a 5MP camera with autofocus and geo-tagging, but there are rumors that the sensor used is not the same Exmor R sensor used in other Xperia smartphones. The VGA camera in the front can be used for video conferencing. The handset comes in Black, White, Gold and Pink giving you a chance to pick your flavor. It has a slight bezel below the capacitive touch button at the bottom which gives it a pleasant look.
Sony Xperia J has HSDPA connectivity that allows a speed up to 7.2Mbps along with Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n and DLNA. Fortunately, Xperia J also lets you host a Wi-Fi hotspot to share your internet connection, so perhaps one can use the handset instead of a HSDPA dongle in an emergency. The 1750mAh standard battery promises 6 hours of talk time, which is somewhat disappointing compared to the screen size and the form factor.
Sony Xperia Miro Review
Sony Xperia Miro was announced in June and hasn’t been released yet. Frankly speaking, if this smartphone isn’t released anytime sooner, it would be heavily outdated to release altogether. In any case, let us take a look at Miro. This handset is powered by 800MHz Cortex A5 processor on top of Qualcomm MSM7225A chipset with Adreno 200 GPU and 512MB of RAM. Android OS v4.0 ICS has taken control of handset although we feel this may be a controversial decision. When ICS was released, the minimum recommended processor was 1GHz processor. Miro been clocked at 800MHz doesn’t exactly fit the profile although Sony might be able to tweak the UI heavily and keep the performance up. We can only explore that when we get our hands on this smartphone. There was a time when 800MHz processor was a sensation, but nowadays, even a dual core clocked at 1.5GHz might not be considered as a sensation hence our concern about this being outdated soon.
Doubts aside, rest of the hardware has fallen in line quite nicely. Sony Xperia Miro has an elegant outlook with a slightly expensive look. What differentiates Xperia Miro from Xperia J is the lack of slight bezel available in Xperia J. The 3.5 inches LED backlit LCD capacitive touchscreen hosts a display panel with a resolution of 480 x 320 pixels at a pixel density of 165ppi. Favors aside, this is a very mediocre setup for a display panel and Sony may have some problems in marketing this. Miro hosts a 5MP camera that has autofocus and LED flash with geo-tagging and 3D sweep panorama. The VGA camera at the front can be used for video conferencing. Sony has given the same connectivity options for Miro as well including the HSDPA connectivity along with Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n for continuous connectivity. It also has DLNA and the ability to host a Wi-Fi hotspot.
Sony Xperia Miro has 1500mAh battery that promises a talk time of 6 hours. Given the small display panel, I was actually hoping for a better rating in the battery usage. However, Sony has offered this handset for under $155, which may sound like a sweet deal right now.
A Brief Comparison Between Sony Xperia J and Miro
• Sony Xperia J is powered by 1GHz Cortex A5 processor on top of Qualcomm MSM7227A Snapdragon chipset with Adreno 200 GPU and 512MB of RAM while Sony Xperia Miro is powered by 800MHz Cortex A5 processor on top of Qualcomm MSM7225A chipset with Adreno 200 GPU and 512MB of RAM.
• Sony Xperia J and Sony Xperia Miro both run on Android OS v4.0.4 ICS.
• Sony Xperia J has 4 inches TFT capacitive touchscreen featuring a resolution of 854 x 480 pixels at a pixel density of 245ppi while Sony Xperia Miro has 3.5 inches LED backlit LCD capacitive touchscreen featuring a resolution of 480 x 320 pixels at a pixel density of 165ppi.
• Sony Xperia J is slightly bigger, thinner yet heftier (124.3 x 61.2mm / 9.2mm / 124g) than Sony Xperia Miro (113 x 59.4mm / 9.9mm / 110g).
• Sony Xperia J has 1750mAh battery while Sony Xperia Miro has 1500mAh battery.
Conclusion
The decision here isn’t a difficult one. My verdict goes to Sony Xperia J over Xperia Miro under any circumstance. It is eminent that Xperia J would be priced more than Xperia Miro, but they would be in the same price range. We are really not quite sure about rocking Android OS v.0 ICS in a 800MHz handset at the first place. Moreover, Sony Xperia Miro offers a display panel with a mediocre resolution that makes it impossible to use most of the trending applications in the Google Play Store. Another interesting observation I’d like to test is to see whether the screen pixelates at close angles due to the low pixel density of the display panel used in Xperia Miro. In short, I really can’t fathom any reason to buy Sony Xperia Miro over Sony Xperia J except the prices. Hence let’s wait until these handsets are released and see how they are offered at the market.