Mobile gaming has emerged as a promising new frontier as more and more people migrate from PC or console gaming to handheld gaming. The era, which was commenced by devices such as Nokia nGage, has undergone a drastic change. Today people’s perspective has changed completely towards mobile gaming and the expectations from handheld gaming devices will only rise in times to come.
Here, we have short listed five top smartphones on the basis of gaming. These smartphones are not just exceptional gaming devices but work as efficient official smartphones as well. Short listing is done on the basis of personal experience with devices and by taking their features into consideration.
Sony Ericsson Xperia Play
There are several things about the Xperia Play that make it a perfect gaming phone. To begin with, this is an officially certified PlayStation device with PSP-like controls including trackpads, which are capacitive in order to save space.
The big 4 inch capacitive touchscreen displays 480 x 854 Pixel Resolution and accurate colour reproduction while gaming, and the phone delivers stereo sound.
In terms of hardware Xperia Play features a 1 GHz Processor with a dedicated graphics engine ensuring smoother and faster graphics performance that is a must for a gaming device. Along with 400 MB of internal storage space that doubles up as ROM and the added 512 MB of RAM, the device does not run out of breath while gaming, which requires huge amounts of memory.
The Xperia play runs on Google Android, which has hundreds of free and paid games to choose from. If that is not enough then users can also make use of the PlayStation Suite, a dedicated store for PlayStation certified devices.
iPhone 4G
When talking about the top gaming phone, how can the latest iPhone be left out. It is undoubtedly one of the best gaming phones available and commands a major chunk of the mobile gaming market thanks to its patented Retina Display. The 3.5 inch capacitive touchscreen displays a whopping 640 x 960 pixel resolution that makes any game look good.
The iPhone 4 is powered by an Apple A4 Chipset that includes a 1 GHz processing core and dedicated graphics core as well for better visuals. Similar to Xperia Play, the iPhone 4 also includes 512 MB of RAM and 16 or 32 GB of internal space so users need not worry about storage on this device.
To make gaming more realistic the company has added a 3 axis gyroscope sensor to the iPhone 4 along with an Accelerometer for accurate motion sensing that makes first person shooter games and role playing games all the more realistic and fun to play.
Samsung Galaxy SII
This device is by far the fastest smartphone available in the Indian market and what makes it the fastest is its dual core processor running at 1.2 GHz. Along with that the Samsung SII also features the biggest smartphone display present on a smartphone today. It measures a massive 4.3 inches, and makes gaming all the more fun. However, its resolution is slightly low compared to the standard 480 x 800 pixels.
SII is the second smartphone to feature a gyroscope sensor for accurate level and motion sensing, which really helps boost the gaming experience.
The SII also runs on Google Android operating system, which gives it access to multiple free and paid games so users will never run out of options. In addition to this the SII also comes with 16 GB of Internal Memory that takes care of the storage for this device.
LG Optimus 2X
LG Optimus 2X has the honour of being India’s first dual core smartphone and these two cores are over and above a graphics processing core.
Similar to the Galaxy SII the Optimus 2X features an Nvidia Tegra 2 chipset, a dual core Arm A9 processor running at 1 GHz and a graphics core provided by Nvidia Geforce.
Nvidia has a new dedicated content store for devices powered by Tegra chipsets. Also, since it is an Android powered device users will automatically gain access to all the games and applications available at the Google Android marketplace.
The Optimus 2X also comes with 8 GB of internal storage and 512 MB of RAM and for accurate gaming action it features a gyroscope sensor along with an accelerometer.
Nokia X7-00
After the announcement of the latest installment of Symbian, Anna, the X7 has clearly overtaken the N8 as far as gaming is concerned. Nokia was among the first device manufacturers to start the gaming culture on mobile phones with the launch of the dedicated gaming phone nGage.
With its big 4 inch display the X7 makes gaming fun and with its stereo sound output, it adds more realism to games. Although there are fewer applications available for Symbian devices as compared to Android the Symbian store still has some exclusive gaming titles that can only be played on Nokia phones.
X7 has a slower processor as compared to most other devices that are on our list but in terms of gaming performance and OS optimisation it utilises system resources better and never makes you feel the difference.