The HTC One X takes on one of the few handsets around that’s bigger, the Samsung Galaxy Note. While there has been a lot of buzz around the Samsung Galaxy S3, these two smartphones still hold their own in many ways. So which one is better? Lets find out.
HTC One X vs Samsung Galaxy Note
Form – The Galaxy Note looks like a slightly larger Galaxy S2. The huge screen forms most of the front panel, and is positioned in the centre so there’s an even amount of casing above and below, as well as a thin bezel along the edges. This gives it a modern, sleek look. The size of the handset can be a plus or a minus depending on your viewpoint. It certainly is more cumbersome than most other phones and some people may feel silly making a call on such a huge beast. However, you can always opt for a hands-free kit if you get on alright with them. HTC’s One range is among the more striking handset ranges out at the moment, and the design team has done well. HTC’s previous models were a bit so-so and unimaginative, but this current batch has certainly redeemed the company. We like the look of the Note, but have to admit that the HTC One comes out on top with its eye-catching design. Winner: HTC One X.
Display – The Galaxy Note features one of the biggest smartphone screens and, at 5.3” is getting on for tablet size. The display is a Super AMOLED capacitive multi-touch version. Its 1280×800 pixel resolution and its density of 285ppi makes for ultra-sharp visuals with color depth, contrast and pizzazz which makes gaming, multimedia and browsing a great experience. Having a screen this clear and sharp is good at any size, but at 5.3” it becomes stunning, and browsing and gaming on here is a real feast for the eyes. The One X has a Super IPS LCD 2 capacitive display with 1280×720 pixels and 312ppi. The display on here is well set up, in fact is as good as it gets. Color is incredibly vivid and the IPS LCD 2 technology means it performs just as well in bright sunshine. The displays of both phones are made of Corning Gorilla Glass so are very resistant to bumps and scrapes. It’s hard to pick the winner here, as both screens are great to look at, especially the One X. Winner: HTC One X by a hair
Processor – The Galaxy Note uses the same processor in the Galaxy S2 – the dual core ARM Cortex-A9 on Samsung’s Eynos chip. It runs at 1.4GHz, so is a shade faster than the S2, but sadly this doesn’t mean much when it’s running Android 2.3 Gingerbread. It doesn’t run slower, but it stutters now and then. This may be due to the extra firmware that’s running the S-Pen stylus. The graphics are taken care of by a Mali-400MP graphics processing unit. In the main, this system is OK to run pretty much any app or game you can think of, but it can’t run 100% smoothly 100% of the time. The One doesn’t have this problem. Its up-to-date Qualcomm series 4 (S4) dual core Snapdragon MSM8960 Krait chip runs at 1.5GHz, and it has an Adreno 225 GPU for the flashier, more information-dense graphics. This S4 chip is very powerful, and benchmark tests have demonstrated that it far outstrips the Nvidia quad core Tegra 3 set up. This phone gives you an extremely smooth ride when you’re using Android Ice Cream Sandwich, using several apps at the same time or playing intensive games. HTC wins out here with its stronger, smarter processor. Winner: HTC One XL
Camera – The Samsung Galaxy Note has an 8MP primary camera at 3264×2448 pixels. This makes for decent photos and videos. The camera also has an LED flash, geo-tagging, autofocus, touch focus, face and smile detection, panoramic mode, multishot and image stabilisation. Video capture has 1080 pixels and the secondary camera (2MP) on the front is used for video calling. The HTC One X also has an 8MP camera, but it also uses a back-illuminated sensor (BSI) which captures light better and gets you better photos. The HTC phone’s camera has a chip dedicated to it. This chip can do things like running a rapid multi-shot mode that you start off by holding the shutter down. You can also take stills while filming 1080p HD video. Its 1.3MP front camera takes videos at 720p and also supports video calls. The HTC One XL has a better, more thought out setup and most importantly gives you high quality images and videos. Winner: HTC One XL
Bottom line – The Galaxy Note has the build quality and stylish finish you’d expect from a Samsung phone (the S3 lacked this, which was a huge disappointment). The phone also has good power, a decent camera, a great display and lots of storage. It’s let down, however, by its relatively poor running performance which seems a shame considering the processor. These problems may be sorted out by upcoming updates, but we can’t be sure. This is not to say, though, that these bugs are enough of a problem to discourage us from the phone. The HTC One X is our phone of choice here because not only is it a top class phone, but it is a surprise, given the company’s earlier efforts. HTC has come straight out of left-field with something truly phenomenal and there aren’t many phones on the market right now which we’d rather have in our pockets.
