Will Galaxy S4 Beat The HTC One?

The Galaxy S4 and HTC One are the latest offerings from Samsung and HTC, as they look to seize the title of the best Android manufacturer. HTC announced the One on February 19th, and Samsung followed by making the Galaxy S4 official on March 14th.

Samsung made a lot of claims on how its offering is the best, not only when it comes to the latest hardware, but also in terms of offering convenience and usability to consumers. HTC has also touted a lot of new features about the One.

With both mobiles launching in India this week, let’s take a look at what these mobiles can offer.

Hardware and performance

The HTC One has already won many accolades for its design, as the liberal use of aluminum is evident both on the front and back of the device. The One looks chic and brings about a major design shift for mobiles, Android or otherwise.

When seen against flagships of 2 years ago, the One looks like something out of a sci-fi novel. Meanwhile, Samsung have stuck to something familiar and made heavy use of thermoplastic in the design of the S4.

Though this lessens the premium feel of the device, the S4 is better to hold and looks better than the Galaxy S3. In terms of hardware, the One comes with a 4.7-inch full-HD screen that is one of the best to be included on a mobile. Samsung have included a 5-inch screen that is also full-HD, and it is also striking, with colors looking vibrant and clear.

The Snapdragon 600 APQ8064T SoC in the One includes a quad-core Krait 300 that is clocked at 1.7 GHz. The U.S. variant of the Galaxy S4 also comes with the same SoC, though it is clocked at 1.9 GHz.

International variants of the S4 come with an Exynos 5 Octa 5410 SoC that is built in-house at Samsung, and features ARM’s big. LITTLE architecture which includes a quad-core Cortex A7 for less-intensive tasks like web surfing and a quad-core Cortex A15 for heavier tasks like gaming. The switching between these cores is down to the millisecond, so users would not be able to notice any lag, and should have sufficiently more battery life than a mobile running only a quad-core Cortex A15.

Both mobiles come with 2 GB RAM and are available in internal memory variations of 32/64 GB, but the S4 is the only one to feature extendable memory in the form of a micro-SD slot. Both mobiles come with the latest variant of Jelly Bean.

Another differentiating factor between both mobiles is in the imaging section. The Galaxy S4 comes with a 13 MP camera that is one of the best in daylight conditions.

HTC have gone another route by including a 4 MP sensor that is termed UltraPixel, which has the ability to take in more light, thereby allowing for better images in low-light conditions.

The One wins in this regard by a huge margin, with only the Lumia 920 coming close to it in low-light conditions.

However, in daylight conditions, the images do tend to be fuzzy, as HTC is still working out a more efficient noise-reduction algorithm.

Market reality

HTC announced the One a month before Samsung had a chance to unveil the S4, yet both mobiles are launched at the same time. HTC has not managed to make full use of the time to get a device into the market before Samsung, thereby gaining a foothold before the S4 arrives.

This is down to delays in production for the One, but the fact is that it is going head-to-head with the S4 quite literally, as they launched on the same day.

While Samsung has basically launched a more refined iteration of the S3, HTC has created an entirely new device in the One.

Although it launched models like the One X and One X+ last year, it has been one of the worst for HTC, and a lot is riding on the One. HTC needs this to be a success, and it is long overdue, considering the Taiwanese manufacturer is credited with launching some of the most innovative mobiles ever.

This has been attributed to a bad marketing effort by HTC, as it failed to get the word out effectively to the masses. On the other hand, Samsung has seen overwhelming success  with  the  Galaxy  series, with the S3 breaking records in terms of sales.

Similarly, it is seeing huge amounts of consumer interest in the Galaxy S4, and as such is literally launching a marketing blitz to ensure that everyone is well aware of what the latest offering from Samsung contains.

Both mobiles are priced in similar range, with the Galaxy S4 being available for Rs. 41,500 and the One for Rs. 42,990; price is not going to be a differentiating factor, although Samsung is known for offering more in terms of incentives or freebies with its devices.

This, when added with the software functionality included in S4 like Air Gestures and Smart Stay, should decidedly swing a few consumers Samsung’s way.

Conclusion

Both Samsung and HTC have launched stellar offerings, and should see considerable interest and sales from both devices. However, brand value associated with Samsung and the fact that it has a loyal user-base in the country means that the S4 should see the same amount of frenzy that followed the S3. This is going to be the best Samsung Android mobile, one that HTC should be able to contend with, with the One.