With two of the most exciting smartphones this year both being released around the same time, it is natural to compare the two and decide on the ultimate victor. However upon closer analysis, this is going to be more difficult than originally thought due to how different their features are.
HTC One X vs Samsung Galaxy S3
Great things were expected of the Samsung Galaxy S3 after all its successful predecessors – most recently, the S2. While the The HTC One X on the other hand, was designed by artists and it shows. Let’s begin our comparison with a look at their hardware design and the build quality of it. The One X is a little smaller than the 136.6 mm x 70.6 mm x 8.6 mm, 133g S3, sitting at 134.4mm x 69.9mm x 8.9 and 130g. These differences are negligible and make very little difference to the feel and appearance of the devices.
Looks wise, the HTC One X is stunning with its polycarbonate unibody and matte finish, in a choice of black or white. The Galaxy S3 is very different aesthetically and claims to be inspired by nature, with its curved body and its ‘Pebble Blue’ or ‘Marble White’ hyperglaze finish. The Galaxy S3 does feel a little cheap to the touch, and on this point, the One X takes the crown.
Next, we will move on to display properties. Both devices have large screens, with the HTC One X offering a 4.7-inch Super IPS LCD screen, with a 720p HD resolution. The Galaxy S3 offers a 4.8-inch super AMOLED screen, also with 720p HD res. The massive super AMOLED screen really is something to behold, and with the pixel density of both being almost identical (One X has 312 ppi and S3 has 306 ppi), the HTC One X does just about beat the S3, with the capability the IPS LCD has in natural daylight which the AMOLED get closer to but doesn’t quite do as successfully.
Processing power is the next comparison on our list. The match is relatively even, but the 1.4 GHz quad-core Exynos processor is a real beauty and a massive step up from the dual core processor in its predecessor the S2, at double the speed. The Pop-up-Play feature really is an accomplishment too, as it shows picture-in-picture windowed HD playback. The One X however does also offer a quad core processor, and the NVIDIA Tegra 3 1.5GHz chipset does smoothly manage to handle a lot of high graphics and high intensity apps at one time, including video streaming of 1080p HD videos without the usual expected flicker. With each type of quad core processor bringing something different but equally impressive to the table, we could not decide a winner on this point and decided the One X and S3 are equally matched (especially taking into account that the US version sports a more powerful dual-core Snapdragon S4 chipset).
Battery is a more practical point, but one we are all familiar with from having our batteries run out on us a few too many times. The high specs on these phones naturally require additional battery power, and the 1,800 mAh battery optimum that comes with the HTC One X is impressive. It also has a fifth low power core that processes items that do not require such high spec processing, which is a handy feature. However the Galaxy S3 possesses a 2,100 mAh battery which is by far better than the One X’s 1800mAh, regardless. HTC has however stated that they have done some tweaks on Android 4.0 to improve battery life, however these have proved to be troublesome at best. The HTC One X has been found to aggressively close windows in the background which is cumbersome for power users taking fulling advantage of the One X quad-core’s multitasking capabilities.
Now on to camera and video recording. Both phones have an 8-megapixel camera and can shoot 720p and 1080p videos with an LED flash. The differences include the S3 BestShot, which takes 8 consecutive photos and automatically looks at lighting, blue and noise to pick the best one. The S3 camera keeps low noise in outdoor environments and has low saturation. The One X ImageSense is better in dimmer environments and can also add special effects to photos. The cameras on the front of each device differ by 0.6 MP, with the S3having the higher quality. We could not decide which was best as it depends on your personal preference, but if we had to pick, we would choose the S3 solely because of its features.
Now we compare software. The S3 packs Android Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, with TouchWiz whilst the One X offers the Sense 4.0 flavor. The only real way to tell them out is the way they look and the functionality. However the Sense UI is what we would prefer the Android to look like. The S3 does however have the TouchWiz UI with some impressive features such as Smart Stay which tracks eye movement in order to dim the screen, and Direct Call who calls the person you have been messaging or looking up in your contacts. Finally the S Voice which is the S3 version of Apple’s iPhone 4S Siri. The S-beam, a file transfer app, is another addition to the Samsung Galaxy S3 which we do like. Although we far prefer functionality of the TouchWiz, we think that the S3 has a strong advantage on software despite its somewhat outdated skin.
While the Samsung Galaxy S3 and HTC One X look equally matched on paper, their key differences are very obvious.
