My best advice is to see if any local shops have them so you can handle them if you do the choice will get a lot easier as both are quality guns and it will come down to what you like. as a new shooter I wold say look for a range that has rental guns and shoot as many different guns as you can before adding to you collection IE find out what YOU like before buying

Both are Great. To me they're pretty much the same firearm. I prefer the FN Grips.

My opinion would be to trade to the SP01 if it's purpose is not a carry gun. The SP-01 shares the attributes of the compact P-01 — light rail, improved grip — with a feature of its own — namely, an extended beaver tail. It will also be more controllable with less recoil with the "Heft" of the SP01. If the intended purpose is "Carry" then case closed, I would upgrade the Compact.