If you’re looking for a reasonably priced mobile phone, you may think that your options are pretty limited. Most phone manufacturers seem to want you to pay tons of cash for sleek, feature laden models that do absolutely everything. However, some of us don’t want this, we just want a phone that will text, call and connect to the internet. There are options out there though; you just have to know where to look. We tested the Sony Xperia Tipo against the Motorola Motosmart, to see how they compared. They’re both 3.5G Android devices, and they’re both very reasonably priced with most mobile service providers. But which one turns out to be the better deal? Keep reading to see how they hold up against each other…
Why the Sony Xperia Tipo is a Great Buy?
One of the biggest advantages of the Xperia Tipo is that it runs Android’s 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich operating system, rather than the older 2.3 Gingerbread system on the Motorola. In general, a newer operating system version means more speed and more stability, with less chance of your device freezing or crashing. Its other big advantage is that you get more internal storage on the Xperia, which comes with 2.9 GB of memory as opposed to a mere 168 MB on the Motosmart. That means a lot more stored music, photos, games and data on your device. The Tipo also has faster maximum data speeds, meaning quicker downloading and faster opening of web pages. The screen is slightly better, coming with around ten per cent more PPI (pixels per inch), making for a display that’s a little crisper and better defined than that of the Motorola. Plus, the Xperia comes in ten per cent lighter and ten per cent smaller generally than the Motosmart, making it a tad more portable.

Why the Motorola Motosmart is a Great Buy?
The Motorola has its own benefits though. The first is that despite having slightly worse screen quality, it does come with a larger screen, measuring in at 3.5 inches rather than the 3.2 inches of the Xperia. When browsing the internet or reading emails, a bigger screen is a definite advantage. It also has better battery life. You get around twenty per cent more talk time and ten per cent more stand by time per battery charge cycle on the Motosmart, which means you need to charge your battery less often. Finally, the Motorola comes with a newer version of the Bluetooth software, being equipped with Bluetooth 3.0 rather than the 2.1 version on the Xperia. If you connect frequently to Bluetooth devices, such as hands free, this means faster data transfer and that your phone uses less battery power to connect to said devices.

What’s the Better Deal?
In the end, we think that the Sony Xperia is the better deal. We like the newer operating system, but mostly we like the extra storage space. 168 MB of storage on a smart phone is a little ridiculous, since most people want to store at least a few pictures and songs on there. So the Sony Xperia Tipo beats out the Motorola Motosmart for best buy.