Sony Mobile Communication and LG Electronics are all geared up to pose a tough challenge and stand up high in the category of leading Android smartphone manufacturers with the launch of their latest flagship model against powerful rivals like Samsung Galaxy S3 and HTC One X.

In April, there were rumors about Sony's plans of secretly working on the launch of one of its best smartphone offerings in the market so far. And on May 9, Sony announced the release of Xperia GX at the London event, accompanied by the launch of another flagship handset, Sony Xperia SX.

Both Android smartphones, the Xperia GX and Xperia SX, were confirmed to be available in the Japanese market from summer 2012. At the same time, Sony Xperia GX, which is also known by its codename "LT29i Hayabusa," is quite an impressive handset backed by 4G LTE capability and is modeled after the Xperia Arc and comes with a gigantic 13.2MP snapper.

Xperia GX was announced by the company for a Japan launch only. However, recent video leaks have got spread in the tech gossip world, which are demonstrating an international version of the same device. A couple of hands-on videos on YouTube show a smartphone identical to the Sony Xperia GX, except for the NTT DoCoMo branding on top which has been replaced by an Xperia logo.

Sony Xperia GX - What to Expect?

The company surely appears to remain tight-lipped on the matter and has shared no information on the availability or pricing for a worldwide release of the handsets. But whenever this handset comes out in the international market, it will definitely become a stiff rival for the current dominating Android smartphones.

Sony Xperia SX will come with some ground-breaking features, including the latest Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich OS, along with 4.6-inch HD Reality Display with 1280 X 720 pixels of resolution accompanied with Sony Mobile Bravia technology. The handset will be powered by a 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8960 S4 dual-core processor along with 1GB RAM and 16GB onboard storage.

However, there would be no microSD card slot for memory expansion, but Xperia GX will have a big camera upgrade of 13MP primary camera with Sony Exmor R "stacked" censor, HDR video function and improved low-light performance; 1080p HD video recording capability and a front-facing 1.3 megapixel camera for forwarding video chats. Further, the phone will also have a 1700mAh battery and 4G LTE radio allowing up to 75Mbps download speeds.

The new handset would also offer its users three new applications introduced to the device. These applications include the WALKMAN app, which would integrate high quality audio technologies, such as clear stereo, clear bass, VPT surround sound, manual equalizer and xLOUD. The Album application will bring intuitive ways to sort and browse high quality photos and videos at high speed, as well as providing instant viewing, commenting and sharing of photos on Facebook and other online albums, leveraging the camera capabilities of the Xperia GX. And lastly, a Movies app, which would avail the buyers with streamlining the playback and view movies in high quality audio and video, with intelligent database search to discover more info about the movie for an immersive experience.

LG LS970 'Eclipse' - What to Expect?

LG has already announced the market release of its new smartphone powered by Android, the LG Optimus LTE2. The device comes with a surprising peg of 2GB RAM and a hefty battery. And the freshest rumors swirling in the media suggest that the Korean tech giant is getting another device ready for an international release. And yes, this device too would have the same storming RAM and mammoth battery.

Earlier rumors were brought out by BriefMobile when they posted an image of an LTE-enabled device, this time of LG's handset codenamed -- LG LS970. Although the manufacturer has not confirmed anything about this handset, reports suggested that the device would sport a model number of LS9760 and would be named as the "G" and may be released as the "Eclipse 4G LTE." Latest rumors have claimed that the new device will also come with 2100mAh Li-Po battery, which would be user removable and there's NFC connectivity available, too.

Reports from BriefMobile also gave some hardware specifications of the device from their source, which noted that the smartphone would boast a 1.5 GHz Qualcomm APQ8064 application processor, a knock-down quad-core Snapdragon S4 chip (a Krait design) that will also include the Adreno 320 GPU.

Other rumored specs of this handset include a large 4.7-inch LCD TFT display capable of delivering a 1280 x 768 pixel of resolution, as well as 16GB of internal storage. There are some more eyebrow raising features, evident from the leaked images, such as a big 13 megapixel camera that will most probably come with the support for HD video recording and would be topped by a VGA shooter for making video calls.

The leaked hardware specs also indicate that the device would fit for the Sprint network (hence the supposition that it could be launched as the LG Eclipse 4G LTE), and with all this, the smartphone would measure at only 8.6mm thickness.

What About Competition?

It is known to all that HTC's biggest bet of the year, the One X, has already been introduced to a few countries, including the US. The country's wireless carrier operator AT&T launched the smartphones in the market just recently at a price tag of $199.99 with a contract of two years. The HTC One X has already impressed tech experts and the phone has come up with numerous groundbreaking specifications to shake up the smartphone market.

HTC EVO 4G LTE, which is the Sprint's variant of the HTC One X is also available for as low as $199.99 from May 23 (shift from the original May 18 date), with a new line of service or eligible upgrade and two-year agreement. As expected, the EVO 4G LTE is powered by Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich operating system integrated with HTC Sense 4 UI. The phone sets itself apart from previous EVO family products through a number of improvements in camera technology, audio and voice quality. HTC recently shared a new picture album on its social website which shows off the smartphone's 8-megapixel rear camera with autofocus, LED flash and full HD (1080p) video recording performance capabilities and the ImageSense technology. At the same time, Sprint's version of the HTC Evo 4G LTE will feature all the USPs that the smartphone is well known for, like a microSD card slot and a good 2,000 mAh battery.

Moreover, the EVO 4G LTE is Sprint's first device with HTC's Authentic Sound experience integrating Beats Audio, allowing for authentic sound while listening to music. In addition, the smartphone boasts a brilliant 4.7-inch HD (720 x 1280 pixels) display, featuring Corning Gorilla Glass coating. Further, the phone is powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon S4 processor clocked at 1.5 GHz, and packs 1 GB of RAM, 16 GB of internal memory and microSD card slot for memory expansion (up to 32GB).

Well, one has to admit, that as compared to HTC EVO 4G LTE, the features of the LG LS970 and Sony Xperia GX sure look overwhelming. However, all the same, it takes more than hardware to impress customers, where brand positioning and manufacturing is concerned. But if the rumored specifications turn out to be true and the LG LS970 and Xperia GX come out in the US market in the fourth quarter of this year, then it could get really challenging for the current smartphone brands.

Also there is the heavyweight Samsung Galaxy S3 which was unveiled a couple of weeks ago, and the successor to Galaxy S2 has come with impressive features including enhanced battery, processor capabilities and inventive "S software features," which are based on a concept of "human interaction."

Talking about other features, Galaxy S3 will run on Android 4.0.3 Ice Cream Sandwich OS with TouchWiz Nature UX on top of it, sporting a 4.8-inch Super AMOLED 720p display with 1280 X 720 pixels of resolution and Eye Tracking technology, powered by a 1.4GHz Samsung-made Exynos 4212 quad-core processor, a Mali-400MP GPU, 1GB, 8MP rear-facing camera with 1080p HD video recording capability, an additional front-facing 1.9 megapixel shooter with face recognition capability, S Voice app, 16GB/32GB/64GB internal memory storage, a microSD card slot for memory expansion up to 32GB, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, DLNA, Wi-Fi Direct, GPS/GLONASS, Wi-Fi hotspot, Bluetooth 4.0 and a hefty 2050mAh battery to keep everything running swiftly.

Which one of the powerful smartphones would be your choice? Can Sony Xperia GX, LG LS970 Eclipse 4G stand out against Android heavyweights like Galaxy S3 and HTC One X?