Samsung Galaxy S4 vs. HTC One: Clash of the Titans

2013 will go down in smartphone history as the year in which two strong Android contenders have been released: Samsung Galaxy S IV and HTC One. Though HTC is a relatively new smartphone producer, it is quickly earning a spotless reputation that contributed to its rise to the top. On the other hand, Samsung has been one of the pioneering smartphone producers and a strong opponent to the mogul Apple. Therefore, with both companies releasing two sleek models jammed with apps and features, you can understand why the market is abuzz.

If you’re waiting for April to get your hands on one of these phones, why not make the right choice for you? Here is a comprehensive comparison between both Samsung Galaxy S4 and HTC One to help you pick the best phone.

Display

Though both phones offer an HD screen with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels, the similarity ends there. Samsung’s latest Galaxy phone comes with a 5-inch Super AOLED panel and a pixel density of 441 ppi. In addition, the display is quite sensitive that it works properly with gloved hands and long nails. On the other hand, HTC One is designed with a 4.7-inch Super LCD3 display that offers a higher 468 ppi pixel density.

Phone Design

HTC has always given its phones’ designs a lot of attention. This is again evident in the unibody design implemented in HTC One. However, though the phone appears more attractive, it lacks versatility since there isn’t a microSD card slot and you can’t access the 2.300 mAH battery it uses. The opposite is true for Galaxy S4, which is why the smartphone comes with a removable back panel that allows you to toy around with its 2,600 mAH battery. Unfortunately, this is where the only feature where the phone’s design shines since the plastic material used for its build can be a turn off in comparison with One’s aluminum body.

Cameras

When it comes to cameras, SGS4 shines the brightest with a 13 MP camera in the back and a 2MP camera in the front. You also get additional features like Dual Camera, Drama Shot and Sound & Shot, which make using both cameras fun and convenient. On the other hand, One only features a 4 MP camera. However, before you rule it out, you should know that megapixels don’t make a picture. HTC’s UltraPixel camera is quite impressive since you can click photos in dim areas and use a new signal processor quite similar to Samsung’s Best Face or BlackBerry’s Time Shift.

To further complement the cameras’ specs, HTC and Samsung have included camera apps. Galaxy S4 has fewer of these since it was built to be more practical. However, One was created to be more media-oriented, which is why it offers apps such as the unique Zoe shooting mode. Through Zoe, you can record HD videos, click HD pictures, and then bring them together using visual and audio effects.

User Interface

Galaxy S4 has remained loyal to its predecessor’s user interface, which is why the latest version of TouchWiz doesn’t show much change. However, there are a few perks with the new TouchWiz, including the revolutionary Smart Scroll, Smart Pause and Air View. Because of these, HTC One’s brand-new Sense 5 can lose its luster. Still, HTC has done an impressive feat with its new UI since it redesigned the home screen, cleaned up its widgets, and provided additional functionalities such as modifying the app drawer’s grid size and sorting apps by new criteria.

Under the Hood

After discussing the exterior and software of both phones, it’s important to delve deeper to see which offers the best functionality. Surprisingly, both phones come with similar hardware under their lids, a fact probably attributed to HTC One X losing to Galaxy S3 last year in this particular field. Samsung is marketing its latest offering with Exynos Octa core 1.6 GHz or Qualcomm 600 quad core 1.9 depending on where the phones will be released. As for HTC One, it will sport the similarly robust Snapdragon 600 SoC.

Though their processing power may be similar, both phones remain unique when it comes to internal storage capacity. One only offers 32 and 64 GB storage models whereas SGS4 comes with 16, 32 and 64 GB storage. Besides, since One doesn’t comes with a microDS card slot, Galaxy S4 wins this round by offering more storage (up to 64 GB) through its slot.

The Bottom Line

Both Samsung Galaxy S IV and HTC One are amazing smartphones that will hit the market very soon. However, whereas S4 is more suitable for practical individuals who prefer functionality and flexibility over design, One is a light-hearted model that can suit anyone who doesn’t require huge processing power and large storage.

Author Bio:- This post was contributed by Maria Tomic, a part of IQmango software team, a gadget enthusiast and tech blogger. Maria is looking for free software solutions to copy DVD’s easily.