Monday, November 19, 2012

iPhone 5 vs HTC One S, a Quick Review

 Well, let us take a break from the Apple vs Samsung battles of which I am sure a lot of us got bored off. Instead let us focus on the devices themselves and see which is the best for your needs. Today on the menu we will present the iPhone 5 vs HTC One S duel and pit the two phones against each other. If you have been thinking which one to get out of the two then hopefully this review will help you decide. HTC is certainly a great manufacturer and their smartphones really deserve more attention then they are getting. But is the Android-powered HTC One S good enough to stand up to the latest iPhone 5 with iOS 6? Let us find out!

iPhone 5 vs HTC One S
The One S on the left and the iPhone 5 on the right

iPhone 5 vs HTC One S: The basics, the design...

 I have mentioned this on the blog several times: the iPhone 5 does not live up to its expectations when it comes to its design. The previous models looked amazing, but keeping the same design doesn't go well with this larger screen. On the other hand the One S isn't anything unique either. It is a concept that HTC has reused over and over, and a lot of other companies have used it in the past as well.

iphone 5 design
The iPhone 5 concept compared to previous models
 When it comes to other physical attributes, the iPhone 5 prides itself for being 6.4 mm more narrow and 8 grams lights. The iPhone 5 is also 0.4 mm thinner which is again something you probably will not notice. What you will, however, feel when holding both of them is that the iPhone 5 has almost 20% less volume (55.1cm³ vs 68.3cm³) which will make it feel much more lighter and thinner than it really is.

The Screen/ Display

 The iPhone 5 has a 4 inch screen while HTC One S has a 4.3 inch screen (7.5% larger) which isn't a lot to be honest and this alone doesn't make much of a difference when it comes to user experience. What will, however, make a difference is that fact that Apple's product has a higher resolution (640 x 1136 px vs 540 x 960 px) and has a much better pixel per inch density (326ppi vs 234ppi).

The Camera

 People love the cameras on their smartphone devices and how could this iPhone 5 vs HTC One S review even be made if we didn't pit the cameras against each other? Right off the bat we should mention that both have a back and front camera. The HTC One S has a slightly better one, but you will hardly notice or care about the difference. When it comes to the back camera, iPhone 5 totally dominates the playing field. Unless you have bad luck with the iPhone purple flares the photos on your iPhone 5 should look much better and sharper than those on the HTC device.
 
A lovely iPhone 5 panorama, lick to zoom in on it!

 The iPhone 5 can create panoramas, has adjustable ISO, a dedicated camera button, has manual white balance and features a powerful CMOS sensor. Both devices feature a 8 MP camera.
 

The Operating System

 If we began trying to compare iOS with Android the task would take too long and we would not come to a definitive answer. This is why we consider this a matter of choice upon which we cannot look without being subjective. However, you should consider the fact that your HTC One S might come with a lot of carrier bloatware and will not recive official OS updates. The iPhone 5 however will run smoothly from day one and will receive all official updates as soon as they are released.
 

HTC One S vs iPhone: The Hardware

 When it comes to the processor both are dual core. The HTC One S CPU is 1.5 GHz and iPhone 5 has a CPU speed of 1 GHz, however this doesn't mean that the HTC is faster as the iPhone 5's chip-set is quite powerful and will drain less battery. They both come with 1 GB of RAM and while the HTC One S has 16 GBs of internal memory, you can get the iPhone 5 with up to 64 GB of internal memory, however this will be much more expensive and it is much more easier to solve this issue on the One S because you can get cheap SD cards anywhere!

 So, after all this iPhone 5 vs HTC One S review which one would you buy? While we are still iPhone 5 fans you must admit that the HTC One S is quite impressive for its low cost. Who is the winner here?

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