War of the Phones : SE Xperia Mini Pro Vs. Samsung Galaxy Ace

Once you have convinced your Dad for a new Smartphone, the next big question that pops up is – which one? It can be a little difficult to select the Smartphone that would suit your requirements.

Today I am going to compare two Smartphones – Xperia Mini Pro from Sony Ericsson and Galaxy Ace from Samsung so as to give you pros and cons of the phones when rated against each other.

I have personally used mobile phones (not the ones compared today) from both brands for more than an year and I am very much satisfied with service from the brand.

Looks, Build & the Feel Good Factor

Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini Smartphone is small in size, 92 x 53 x 18 mm in dimensions, compact, and comes in black, white, turquoise and pink color. It has beautifully designed body, the curvaceous outlook feels very nice in hand, it weights 136g (since it is quite small to have a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, it looks a bit fat), it fits perfect in palm.

On the other hand, Samsung Galaxy Ace Smartphone has thinner body design because it doesn’t have a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, it is a full touchscreen phone. It comes only in black and white color, it is flat corner, the design is somewhat similar to iPhone 4, it is 112.4 x 59.9 x 11.5 mm in dimensions and weighs 116g. Since it is bigger than Xperia Mini Pro, it won’t fit nicely in small hands.

Overall, the looks of Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini Smartphone are better than Samsung Galaxy Ace Smartphone.

“Looks, Build & the Feel Good Factor” goes to Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini Smartphone.

The Power Components Inside

Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini Smartphone is powered by a Qualcomm MSM8255 Snapdragon 1GHz Scorpion processor which is the processor used in Xperia Arc and Xperia Play. For enhanced graphics and gaming it has a dedicated Adreno 205 GPU. The phone runs the latest version of Android OS – v2.3.3 Gingerbread.

On the other hand, Samsung Galaxy Ace Smartphone is powered by a Qualcomm MSM7227 chipset 800 MHz ARM 11 processor. For graphics and gaming it has Adreno 200 GPU and currently comes with an outdated Android v2.2 Froyo, although Samsung claims that it can be upgraded to Gingerbread.

“The Power Components Inside,” without a doubt goes to Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini Smartphone. Since it has a smaller display resolution than Xperia Arc and Xperia Play, multi-tasking and gaming is a lot smoother.

Display Screen & Visual Impact

Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini Smartphone has 3.0 inch LED-backlit LCD capacitive touchscreen and 320 x 480 pixel resolution. The display screen is scratch resistant, it has Accelerometer sensor, multi-touch input, Sony Mobile BRAVIA Engine, TimeScape UI and Proximity sensor for auto turn-off.

On the other hand, Samsung Galaxy Ace Smartphone has a larger TFT capacitive touchscreen display of size 3.5 inches. It’s display resolution is same as SE Xperia Mini Pro – 320 x 480 pixels. Other features include Gorilla Glass display, multi-touch support, Accelerometer sensor for UI auto-rotate, TouchWiz UI 3.0 and Touch-sensitive controls.

“Display Screen & Visual Impact” goes to no one, it is a draw. The display quality of LED-backlit LCD capacitive touchscreen is brighter and more vibrant as compared to a normal TFT capacitive touchscreen display, that’s an advantage for SE Xperia Mini Pro while Galaxy Ace has a larger display screen, with TouchWiz UI 3.0.

Memory & Connectivity

Although Connectivity is important, memory is somewhat lesser important factor in choosing a Smartphone.

Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini Smartphone has 512MB RAM, 400MB internal storage upgradable up to 32GB with a microSD card whereas Galaxy Ace has 192MB RAM, 158MB internal storage upgradable up to 32GB with a microSD card. Both the Smartphones can connect to Internet using GPRS, EDGE, 3G and Wi-Fi networks. Also, they both support Bluetooth v2.1 and microUSB v2.0 for data transfer.

“Memory & Connectivity,” also goes to no one, it is again a draw. Both Smartphones have good connectivity and memory, although SE Xperia Mini Pro has slightly better RAM and internal storage.

Camera Quality for Photography and Video Recording

This is a  major factor. You would need a good camera Smartphone, because you never know when you would stumble across a brilliant frame.

Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini Smartphone has a brilliant 5-megapixel camera with autofocus, LED flash, image stabilization, smile and face detection, touch focus and clicks pictures at 2592 x 1944 pixel resolution.

On the other hand, Samsung Galaxy Ace Smartphone also has a 5-megapixel camera, with autofocus, LED flash and smile and fact detection, clicks pictures at 2592 x 1944 pixel resolution, although it lacks image stabilization which very important for a point and shoot digital camera.

SE Xperia Mini Pro records 720p HD videos, although the video quality on SE Xperia Mini Pro is not even comparable to that on Xperia Arc but it is still a lot better than 15fps QVGA video recording offered by Galaxy Ace.

“Camera Quality, Photography and Video Recording,” without a single doubt, goes to Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini Smartphone, if you think that you are going to click a few pictures every week for your blog or Facebook, SE Xperia Mini Pro would serve well. When I said, “Camera Megapixels are not that important,” I meant this.

Necessary Talktime, Standby Time and Music Play

If you rank features over battery life then I would say you are going to have a frustrating experience with your Smartphone in near future. Battery Life is one of the prime concerns of Smartphone manufacturers, it doesn’t matter how good your Smartphone is, if it doesn’t have a great battery life, it would just be another phone – not a Smartphone.

Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini Smartphone has 331hr standby time, 5hr 40min talktime on 2G network and 340hr standby time, 5hr 25m talktime on 3G network whereas Samsung Galaxy Ace beats SE Xperia Mini Smartphone by leagues in this category with 640hr standby time, 11hr talktime on 2G network and 420hr standby time, 6hr 30m talktime on 3G network.

Finally, Samsung Galaxy Ace bags, “Necessary Talktime, Standby Time and Music Play” category.

Pricing & Availability

Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini Smartphone is priced around Rs. 15,000/- ($325.8) while Samsung Galaxy Ace Smartphone is priced around Rs. 13,750/- ($298.65). Both Smartphone are available at offline and online stores all over India.

The Verdict

We have seen both Smartphones getting judged on various key, important features and it seems that Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini Smartphone has an upper edge over Samsung Galaxy Ace Smartphone. Both Smartphone are good but SE Xperia Mini has that little advantage (for which you would have to pay Rs. 1,250/- extra).

I hope you liked this comparison of two of the most talked about Smartphones under Rs. 15,000/- category. By the way, let me remind you again, this blog post was just for you help, I am not saying that Galaxy Ace is a bad Smartphone. Before buying, I would suggest you to check out the user experience of both these Smartphones and then choose the one which you like.

I hope you liked this small comparison covered by GizJets.

Source: Sony Ericsson Mini Pro | Samsung Galaxy Ace