HTC One Or Samsung Galaxy S3 ( 4G )
When it comes to choosing either the HTC One or Samsung Galaxy S3, there are a couple of key differences to consider. The HTC One’s minor software enhancements, slight camera improvements, better speakers and better battery probably give the honours to the HTC product over the Samsung Galaxy S3. In my opinion, the HTC One also looks better than the S3.
The great shame of the last few years in the market for mobile phones is that HTC make such fantastic phones. Few get the credit they deserve. Samsung’s fantastic marketing engine ensures that even at very similar price points and with the HTC probably ahead by a nose in looks and capabilities, people will probably still wind up choosing the 4G Samsung Galaxy S3 over the 4G HTC One. That’s a shame and probably not the right decision. Here’s why.
HTC One Vs Samsung Galaxy S3 – Looks and Screen
When it came out, the Samsung Galaxy S3 was one of the best looking devices in market. Some would still argue it is. Perhaps familiarity breeds contempt and the Samsung Galaxy S3 is a victim of it’s own success. So many people have both colours of the Samsung Galaxy S3, to me, the plastic casing of the Samsung device lets it down.
The HTC One, on the other hand looks sleek and ultra modern. The metallic casing it comes in gives it a higher quality appeal. A slightly higher weight for the HTC One adds to the gravitas. Everything seems to fit more neatly, viewed from any angle on the HTC One. The screen goes closer to the edges on the HTC. The front and back edges are both rounded on the HTC which makes it just slightly more comfortable to hold.
The specs might talk to fractional differences but the devices are so close in size as to be physically identical. And without doubt, the HTC One is ahead in the looks department.
Sparking up the screen, the Galaxy S3, ironically, shows it’s true ( high quality colours. ) Samsung’s Super AMOLED screens have to be seen to be believed. Both are great screens, the HTC’s is fine but the better colour saturation on the Samsung Galaxy S3 still gets my vote. The screen on the Samsung Galaxy S3 ( 4.7 inches ) is also very slightly ( 0.1 inches ) larger than the HTC One’s. It’s imperceptible.
I can’t tell any difference in the quality of the images shown on the screen, whether it’s downloaded video, a picture I’ve taken or scrolling around the homescreen apps. However, for the purposes of thoroughness, pixel density is officially better on the HTC One which has true High Definition video resolution of 1080 x 1920 to the Galaxy S3’s 720 x 1280.
HTC One Or Samsung Galaxy S3 – Software Is A Key Difference
Core Operating Software wise, both devices run Android Jellybean out of the box. Quad core processors on both mean the experience of using them is fluid and smooth.
With both the HTC One and Samsung Galaxy S3 running the same core Operating System, it would be easy to think that there was little to tell apart between the experience of using them. Not so. Both HTC and Samsung have been differentiating themselves for years with a software overlay or UI ( User Interface ) which sits above Android. Samsung’s is called TouchWiz, with the Samsung Galaxy S3 running the ‘Nature’ version. HTC’s Sense version 5.0 is included on the HTC One. Both have nice, unique features to them.
The HTC One’s standout software elements are their news aggregation capabilities – called Blinkfeed and video montage suite known as Zoe. If you’ve used Flipboard before, Blinkfeed isn’t a million miles away from it. Right on your homescreen, you’ll see an eye catching collection of news stories, feeds from Facebook and Twitter, in fact, just about any information source you set it up to show. Blinkfeed offers endless hours of interesting and informative content personalised just for you, available every time you go near your phone.
Zoe does something similar with the pictures and videos you take during a day. Importantly, it requires no user action to initiate it. Just sit back and any pictures or videos you’ve snapped that day will be amalgamated by your clever HTC One and presented to you for enjoyment.
On top of that, with very little faffing, I had the HTC One set up to be my TV’s remote control in no time at all. I always know where my phone is. It’s usually within reach. I can never find the TV remote control. Instead of preventing me having to get up, I usually find myself pacing around the living room looking for it. Given this, turning your phone in to a remote control offers the same simple genius as making the doors to McDonald’s thinner would.
Interesting and useful software features are not the exclusive remit of HTC, however. It might be a year old but the Samsung Galaxy S3 is no slouch. Smart Call is a feature I used every day on the S3 I had as my primary device in 2012. In the middle of a text message, you decide it’s all started to get a bit hard so you lift the phone to your ear and it calls the person you were texting ! Brilliant !
Smart Stay tracks your eyeballs and shuts the screen down on your Samsung Galaxy S3 when you’re not looking at it. It’s a useful feature, especially given the challenging battery performance of the Samsung Galaxy S3 – one of it’s worst points – but it’s not flawless. Put simply, this is a flaky feature that doesn’t always work.
Smart Alert vibrates the handset if you’ve received a notification since the last time you’ve put it down. Again, this is a fantastic feature if only because it prevents the misery created when you open up your phone and no one loves you enough to have texted in the last hour.
HTC One Vs Samsung Galaxy S3 – HTC One’s Camera Is Different
To their credit, HTC have tried to do something a bit different with their new release, the HTC One, when it comes to the camera. Check out the HTC One Product Pages for more in depth analysis of the camera capabilities ( they’re in the reviews section. ) By way of summary, HTC have completely redesigned the picture and video taking capabilities of the HTC One and gone against the ever rising number of Megapixels as a measure of camera quality.
The camera on the HTC One has a larger aperture ( lets more light in ) and some clever engineering in the form of a gyroscopic lens over the camera which reduces the negative influence your hand shaking will have on a picture’s quality. The main benefit of the result is better performance in low light conditions for the HTC One’s camera, compared to the Samsung Galaxy S3.
The 8 MP camera on the Samsung Galaxy S3 does a great job. In normal daylight conditions, my view is that it outperforms the colour capture and rendition of the HTC One. However, since most of my pictures are taken after work, in the evening when I’m with friends, I personally preferred the low light performance of the HTC One.
HTC One Or Samsung Galaxy S3 – Summing Up
Given the huge success of the Samsung Galaxy S3 and the fact that many of the headline specifications of the devices ( Quad Core, Android Ice Cream Sandwich, almost identical screen size ) are the same, some people are going to miss a trick.
The HTC One is the better of the two phones.
Not just because the software features are actually more useful. Not simply because the camera has taken the first step towards redefining the way we compare image processing on new phones. Not only as a result of the quality feeling of the phone HTC have produced in metal. It’s the combination of these things which makes the HTC better than, not just from the Samsung Galaxy S3 but, in my view, the Samsung Galaxy S4.
You’re not going to make a mistake. The swappable battery and external memory capabilities of the Galaxy range are important and often overlooked. As well as looks and brains, the HTC One has speakers which are actually loud enough to hear and of good enough quality that you’ll actually want to listen. HTC’s only and major mistake was releasing the One with Ice Cream Sandwich, almost 2 years after its release which means people will be weighing up whether they want the HTC One Or Samsung Galaxy S3. In fact, they should be considering the HTC One or the Samsung Galaxy S4 – and choosing the HTC One.