Duel of the Fates - the Sony Ericsson X1 Vs the Nokia N96

Two mobile phones are easily the most anticipated in the country, as I sit here and type this: the Sony Ericsson X1 and the Nokia N96. But which one should you get? Read on to find out!

A history of not-violence - Sony Ericsson vs Nokia in history

The tussle between Sony Ericsson and Nokia goes back a long way, with their top-end mobile phones being the main weapons. right from the days of the Sony Ericsson P800, that rivalry's been there, but nowhere is it more obvious than in the Nseries mobile phones by Nokia. You see, Sony Ericsson took an early lead in the smartphone battle, using Symbian. Erm, but then, Nokia did the same, and they overtook their rivals. Well, the rivalry still holds today, and their two top mobile phones, the big hitters in their respective arsenals, are going to war.

Nokia N96 - master of multimedia

Following on from the much-loved N95, the Nokia N96 picks up the torch in admirable style, and it's clear that this baby is intent on being perfect at one particular feature: multimedia. The Nokia N96 wants to do better multimedia than its rivals in the world of mobile phones, its as simple as that. And, to be honest, it may very well be on course to succeed in that goal! Not only do you get a 5 megapixel camera, with brilliant video capture, but it has superb music playback, access to Nokia's Ovi Portal (for media content), and unlike any other mobile phones, the Nokia N96 comes, as standard, with BBC iPlayer, right out of the box, as well as a massive 16Gb of memory to store videos on. The Nokia N96, if I'm honest, pretty much has the video realm al to itself, as not many mobile phones even come close to the sheer brilliance on display here!

The Nokia N96 doesn't have everything it's own way, though, as the Sony Ericsson X1 is here to take it on!

Sony Ericsson X1 - a brutal powerhouse in a sensible suit

A quick glance at the specs of the Sony Ericsson X1 seems to imply that it's nowhere near as good as it's Nokia rival. However, as is usually the case with mobile phones, things are a bit more complex than that. You see, whilst the Nokia N96 may well take the crown for multimedia and the camera, it's my honest and sincere opinion that the Sony Ericsson takes the crown for, well, everything else. It's got a bigger screen (and it's a touchscreen, at that) than most other mobile phones, it's got GPS and HSDPA to rival the Nokia N96, and the Sony Ericsson X1 just feels smarter. With that slide-out QWERTY keyboard, the Sony Ericsson X1 feels like a proper, full-on, PC-like smartphone. So, it really depends on what you want. If you want the best multimedia, the Nokia N96 is the phone for you. But if you want the best all-round mobile phones, then the Sony Ericsson X1 is your man!