Everyone wants a mobile phone that looks good, whether it’s the simplicity of an iPhone, or the razor sharp design of a Samsung Galaxy. As such, it can be very tempting to choose a phone based on looks alone. You want something that looks good on your desk, after all. But you also need something that functions well, and looks and functionality don’t always go hand in hand. A good example of this is the Sony Xperia Tipo. It’s a truly beautiful design, midnight blue with smooth curved edges, it looks the way a phone should look. The HTC One XL, on the other hand, looks a little old fashioned and blocky when it’s placed next to the Xperia. Based on looks, we’d go for the Sony Xperia every time. However, we decided to put these two devices head to head, just to see how they compared outside of their appearance, and we got a nasty shock. Here’s a lesson on why you should never choose a phone based solely on its appearance…
What the HTC One XL Does So Well…
The One XL is fast, very fast. It comes with a 1500 MHz processor, rather than the flimsy 800 MHz one on the Xperia, making it more powerful, snappier and more responsive. It also has double the RAM, which helps that responsiveness but also make the phone better at multi-tasking and running more than one process simultaneously. The screen is a massive 4.7 inches, compared to a tiny 3.2 inches on the Xperia, which makes for a truly different reading experience. The display also has six times higher screen resolution and seventy per cent more PPI (pixels per inch), making an extremely noticeable difference in brightness, clarity and sharpness. The in-built camera also has higher resolution, coming with 8 MP rather that 3.2 MP, meaning your pictures are more detailed and of much better quality. Finally, there’s an awful lot more storage on the HTC, which comes with 32 GB of memory as opposed to the 2.9 GB on the Xperia. That’s more than eleven times more music, photos, videos and games on your phone. It looks like the unattractive exterior of the One XL is compensated for by what’s inside…
The Sony Xperia Tipo: Beautiful but Empty…
After all that, there’s really not much to be said about the Xperia. It is around ten per cent smaller and about twenty per cent lighter than the One XL, but given the difference in screen sizes that’s pretty understandable. And of course, it looks beautiful, which is nice…
Don’t Be Fooled by Looks!
Choosing a phone by appearance, or even from a photo, might be tempting, but you really should try to restrain yourself. Looking at a phone’s specs and how different models compare is a much better way of making your decision. We would easily have chosen the Xperia over the One XL from the outside. But looking at what’s on the inside, it’s pretty clear that the HTC One XL is a vastly superior device. We recommend the One XL without hesitation.
Phil Turner thinks Tesco mobile phones have great service and products at great prices.
