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Let’s face it, everyone has a smartphone these days, both on the consumer side and the manufacturer side. If you are in the market for a new phone, the pool of devices to choose from has grown exponentially in the past year or 2, where now we are facing an excess of phones across every price range. It gets tricky when my friends ask me “What phone is good ah?” because let’s be honest, that is a tough question. We often face these problems when reviewing a phone because one man’s meat is another man’s poison, subjective points can’t always be a basis of a review.

Lowyat.NET has been lucky (or unlucky) enough to be flooded with phones at once and we decided it would be a PERFECT time to do a shootout! What better way to judge the features of each phone, than to compare it with phones around the same price point!

So for the first time in a very long time, we present the Lowyat.NET Great Big Android Phone Shootout (LYNGBAPS)! We are pitting 10 phones (That are current in the eyes of the industry) against our “rigorous” testing to see which phone performs “best” in several criteria that we have set. Over the next 5 days, we will have a different test, culminating with a wrap-up by the esteemed editorial team on Friday.

Hit the jump to find out what phones we are testing and how we are testing them

The “Low-Budget-Entry-Level-Bordering-Dumbphone” Group (Under RM600)

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Admittedly, this category exists for only one of the phones that we have in the HQ at the moment. The only phone that fits the bill is the Samsung Galaxy Mini 2. The Mini 2 costs just RM599 and has an 800MHz processor, 512MB RAM, 4GB storage space and a 3.15MP camera. This phone is just there to see how it actually stacks up against phones of a higher tier. Will it be the little engine that could, or will the specs difference be way too much?

The “Value-For-Money-Entry-Level-Smartphone” Group (RM600 – RM1,000)

This category is for the people who want a decently fully featured phone, but are unwilling to part with more than a grand for one. The phones in this category are decently featured and are often baby siblings of a larger flagship model.

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The first phone we have in this group is the HTC One V (RM999). The smaller sibling of the One X, the One V costs RM999 and has a 1GHz Snapdragon processor, 512MB RAM, 4GB of storage space 5MP Camera and a 3.7Inch Screen.

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Next we have the Sony Xperia U (RM899). A rather unique phone in the sense that it features the dynamic color shifting band which is a novelty, but a cute one at that. The Xperia U has a 1GHz Dual Core processor, 512MB RAM, 8GB Storage space, 5MP camera and a 3.5Inch screen.

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Next, the 2nd phone from Sony Mobile, we have the Sony Xperia Sola (RM999). Another unique phone with a rather silly floating touch function, it is NOT part of the NXT series like the other 2 phones in the shootout. The Xperia Sola has a 1GHz Dual Core processor, 512MB RAM, 8GB storage, 5MP camera and a 3.7Inch screen.

Last up in this category, we have the LG Optimus L7 (RM999). The L7 has a 1GHz Processor, 512MB RAM, 4GB of storage space, 5MP camera and a Large 4.3Inch IPS LCD screen.

The “Mid-Range-Got-Money-But-Not-Much-To-Spend” Group (RM1,000 – RM1,999)

This next group is one of the more popular tiers of Smartphones right now. The phones in this group will be fully featured, good performance and even come with some features that flagship models don’t have.

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The first phone on the list is the Sony Xperia P (RM1,499). Sporting a 1GHz Dual Core processor, 1GB of RAM, 16GB of Storage Space, 8MP camera as well as being the only Sony phone to have a 4Inch Sony White Magic display.

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Next we have the highly controversial Yes 4G Eclipse (RM1,699), the only phone on the list that can connect to both the Yes4G network as well as your phone network. The Eclipse features a 1GHz Qualcomm processor, 512MB RAM, 2GB storage space, 5MP Camera as well as a 4.1Inch TFT LCD.

Lastly we have the Huawei Honor (RM1,099), featuring a 1.4GHz Snapdragon processor, 512MB RAM, 4GB storage, 8MP camera as well as a 4.0inch TFT LCD.


The “Flagship-High-End-Premium-Sexy-Phones” Group (Over RM2,000)

So we come to the top of the hill! Probably the most anticipated and most asked about group of phones. At the moment we only have 2 phones in for this group but you won’t be disappointed on which ones they are.

Firstly the HTC One X (RM2,099). Released a month or 2 ago, this is HTC’s flagship phone in the One series and is one heck of a phone. Featuring a 1.4GHz quad core processor, 1GB RAM, 32GB Storage space, 8MP camera as well as a 4.7Inch HD 720p screen, the One X is the favorite phone of many people I have talked to and is a popular one for people looking at a new, top of the range phone.

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And to go head to head with the HTC One X, we have the Samsung Galaxy S3 (RM2,199). The latest phone from Samsung, and one of the most talked about phones right now. The SGS3 has a Quad Core 1.4GHz Exynos processor, 1GB of RAM, 16GB storage space, 8MP camera and a 4.8inch Super AMOLED pentile display.

Testing methodology

We will be testing all the phones within each of the groups in the following main categories: User Interface and Experience (Dependent on Brand too), Camera Performance and Overall Benchmarks.

For the camera test, we tested the phones in a series of lighting conditions: Low Light Indoor, Daylight Outdoor as well as a indoor, flash assisted portrait. We set all of the cameras to the same settings and shot to get the same end result on the picture. We shot each shot 3 times and took the best of the shots.

Benchmark results were obtained using AnTuTu and Quadrant On each of the phones. Again we ran the test 3 times each and used default tests on each of them.

Lastly the user interface and experience section was done by our resident mobile phone guru Huei who has used more phones than any of us.

So that’s about it for our first part of the shootout. Look out for how the phones fared in the user interface and experience side tomorrow!