Opening round
The theatrical manner in which Samsung
announced their latest and greatest mobile phone to an amused audience should
only make you wonder I what is going on in the world of smartphones. During the
entire 2 hour or so presentation, not once did Samsung mention anything about
Android, the quad-core (US version) and octa-core (International version) CPU,
the 2GB of RAM or any such awesome spec. They only concentrated on the software
that Samsung had made themselves and have incorporated in this phone, making it
all the more awesome. Of course, the launch couldn't have come at a better time
for Samsung, as HTC had laid down the gauntlet with the release of their HTC
One. Another amazing super-smartphone with unbelievable specs and a
revolutionary new camera, with 4 'Ultra' pixels. Both these will be up against
the likes of the Nokia Lumia 920, BlackBerry Z10 and the iPhone 5, who have now
captured the top slots of the smartphone segment. But, how do they stack up
against each other? Let's try and find out.
Look & feel
There's nothing wrong with an^^ these
phones' build design and quality - rest assured, they all look premium and they
will surely feel comfortable to use in any pair of hands.
Samsung Galaxy S4
Samsung
Galaxy S4
Perhaps the only body in the line-up that
might feel a bit plastic, but rest assured it's not the plastic that will feel
tacky or inferior in any way. We've seen that already in the Galaxy S3 and Note
2, so we can expect the same with the S4 as well.
Nokia Lumia 920
Nokia
Lumia 920
The Finnish have finally got their act
together and ditched the plastic bodies for a polycarbonate unibody and a
curved display that extremely well together. It feels great in the hand and has
a great screen size for one handed operation, but is the heaviest of the lot at
185 gms.
HTC One
HTC
One
Comparisons with the Samsung Galaxy S4
aren't as flattering for the HTC flagship. The aluminum unibody is way
superior, aesthetically, and definitely worth an extra millimeter here and
there but a replaceable battery and memory expansion give the Samsung
smartphone an important advantage.
BlackBerry Z10
BlackBerry
Z10
It looks like a device not belonging to the
BB family, but that's not a bad thing. The Z10 is certainly the most polished
and fluid BB OS experience ever and with a multitude of improvements overall,
it feels quite nice to hold and use throughout a tiring day at work. The back
panel is especially nice due to its nice grip quality material.
Apple iPhone 5
Apple
iPhone 5
A taller frame from the iPhone 4S means
that the iPhone has Anally grown taller, yet thinner, than all previous
iPhones. It's also the lightest iPhone ever made, which when considered with
the fact that it still retains the excellent premium glass and metal body makes
for an astoundingly well-built smartphone, worth the dough you need to pay to
own one.
Performance
Samsung Galaxy S4
The
S4 is the latest phone released in the market, and naturally, has the best
specs and best performance of the lot.
The S4 is the latest phone released in the
market, and naturally, has the best specs and best performance of the lot. The
international version is set to be equipped with an octa-core chip and will
certainly blow the competition out of the water. With 2GB of RAM to assist the
processor and an excellent GPU to boot, this super smartphone has super
capabilities that will enable you to play the most demanding games on your
handheld device with ease.
Nokia Lumia 920
Even
with dual-core processors, the Lumia 920 is not out-of-place with the quad and
octa-core gang of super smartphones.
Even with dual-core processors, the Lumia
920 is not out-of-place with the quad and octa-core gang of super smartphones.
It certainly can't match the octa-core performance of the Galaxy S4, but it's
still good enough for real world performance on its Metro UI Windows Phone 8
goodness. The buttery smooth UI on the WP8 OS works extremely well and delivers
an excellent feel and touch, which is the most unique amongst the competition here.
HTC One
We
will still have to wait and see how the Galaxy can really over-shadow the One.
The Snapdragon 600 quad-core CPU powers
this beast of a phone, which was the clear leader when it came to sheer
performance, till the S4 came along. Nevertheless, with 2GB of RAM and a great
GPU, the phone renders every high-end game with ease and is blazing fast to
use. It certainly had laid down the Gold Standard till the S4 was out, but we
will still have to wait and see how the Galaxy can really over-shadow the One.
Or, will the 'innovative' new features from Samsung just be an overkill.
BlackBerry Z10
The
learning curve on the BB OS 10 is the highest of all the competitors here.
Another dual-core competitor, but certainly
not a slouch by any stretch of imagination. Yes, the learning curve on the BB
OS 10 is the highest of all the competitors here, but the UI is just as slick
and launching apps and games is quick, snappy and multi-tasking a breeze. Of
course, it may not be able to support all high-end games like the quad and
octa-cores, but that's a sacrifice you will have to make.
Apple iPhone 5
It
is an Apple product after all and runs a 3-core GPU which is brilliant for
graphics in high-end games and apps that may require such hardware.
The iPhone 5 has been around the longest
and has hardware that might belong in 2012, but it is an Apple product after
all and runs a 3-core GPU which is brilliant for graphics in high-end games and
apps that may require such hardware. Sheer numbers might not do full justice to
the iPhone, but it does lag a bit when it comes to number crunching on
benchmarks.
