Posted in: Android, Featured, Mobile phones

Smartphone king wanted: HTC One vs Sony Xperia Z vs Galaxy S III

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HTC One is now official and it’s maker is hoping it will be its best chance of reclaiming the smartphone throne yet. Armed with 4.7″ 1080p display of insane pixel density, a 1.7GHz quad-core Krait CPU and a build quality like that, the HTC One is certainly in the running for the smartphone of the season.

But competition might disagree and Sony in particular will be keen to point your attention in the direction of its own Xperia Z. So we decided to pit them against each other and see which one comes on top. The Samsung Galaxy S III joined the fun, too, to show how much smartphones have evolved for the better part of a year.

Check out the quick comparison table we’ve glued together below.

 
HTC One
Sony Xperia Z
Galaxy S III
OS
Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean
Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean
Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean
Display
4.7" Super LCD 3
5.0" TFT
4.8"
Super AMOLED
Resolution
1920 x 1080
(469 ppi)
1920 x 1080
(441 ppi)
1280  x 720
(306 ppi)
Height
Width
Thickness
137.4 mm
68.2 mm
9.3 mm
139 mm
71 mm
7.9 mm
136.6 mm
70.6 mm
8.6 mm
Weight
143 grams
146 grams
133 grams
Processor
Qualcomm APQ8064T Snapdragon 600
Quad-core 1.7 GHz Krait 300
Qualcomm MDM9215M / APQ8064
Quad-core 1.5 GHz Krait
Exynos 4412 Quad
Quad-core 1.4 GHz Cortex-A9
GPU
Adreno 320
Adreno 320
Mali-400MP
RAM
2GB
2GB
1GB
Storage
32GB / 64GB
16GB
16GB / 32GB / 64GB
microSD card slot
No
Yes, up to 32GB
Yes, up to 64GB
Primary camera
4 MP UltraPixels, 2688 x 1520 pixels, autofocus, LED flash, 1080p@30fps, HDR, video stabilization,
Simultaneous HD video and image recording
 13.1 MP, 4128×3096 pixels
autofocus, LED flash, 1080p@30fps, HDR, video stabilizer,
continuous autofocus, video light,
Simultaneous HD video and image recording
8 MP, 3264×2448 pixels,
autofocus, LED flash, 1080p@30fps
Simultaneous HD video and image recording
Front camera
2,1MP
1080p@30fps,
HDR
2.2MP
1080p@30fps
1.9MP
720p@30fps
Battery
Li-Po 2300 mAh
Li-Ion 2330 mAh
Li-Ion 2100 mAh
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi 802.11 a/ac/b/g/n, Wi-Fi Direct, DLNA, Wi-Fi hotspot
Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Wi-Fi Direct, DLNA, Wi-Fi hotspot
Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, dual-band, DLNA, Wi-Fi Direct,
Wi-Fi hotspot
Bluetooth
Yes, v4.0 with A2DP
Yes, v4.0 with A2DP
Yes, v4.0 with A2DP, EDR
Network
 GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100
LTE (market dependent)
GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 – C6602, C6603
HSDPA 850 / 900 / 2100 – C6603
HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1700 / 1900 / 2100 – C6602
LTE 800 / 850 / 900 / 1800 / 2100 / 2600 – C6603
GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100
NFC
Yes (Market dependent)
Yes
Yes
Speakers
Stereo speakers
Mono
Mono
Availability
March, 2013
March, 2013
Currently available

2013 is all about cramping maximum number of pixels on a smartphone screen, resulting in a display so sharp it looks like a painting. Sony first managed to bring its FullHD resolution handset to Europe, but the Taiwanese are quick to catch up and One even exceeds the pixel density of its competitor.

On the processing side, things are somehow identical. Both 2013-announced flagships are powered by a Krait processor, built on a 28nm manufacturing process. However, HTC have one-upped Sony by fitting the One with the more recent Snapdragon 600 chipset boasting Krait 300 CPU clocked at 1.7GHz, instead of Xperia Z’s 1.5GHz.

When it comes to the smartphones’ cameras, HTC relies on a 4MP Ultrapixel snapper with larger pixels, a bright F/2.0 aperture and Optical image stabilization, which should result in amazing per-pixel quality and low-light performance. The Xperia Z, on the other hand takes the traditional approach and brings a 13MP camera, that should have an advantage in well-lit environments, but might not do as well in the dark.

The Samsung Galaxy S III is lagging just about everywhere, which shows how rapidly things are improving in the Android smartphone world. It hasn’t even been a year since the most popular Android smartphone so far launched and it has already looking like a device from another era.

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