This has been a big year for smartphones with the Samsung Galaxy S3 and HTC One X hitting the market. The latter however has proven a tough contender despite the Samsung Galaxy S3 garnering up more hype (and even pre-sales) than any other Android smartphone to date. So what makes the HTC One X a popular favorite until today? Hype aside, the Samsung Galaxy S3 and HTC One X are almost evenly matched, especially here in the US. Let’s take a look.
HTC One X vs Samsung Galaxy S3
The HTC One X and Samsung Galaxy S3 US variants both come with a Snapdragon S4 dual-core processor. The both also run the latest version of Android – 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.
Moving on to the display. We once again see similarities. The Samsung Galaxy S3 has a Super AMOLED HD 4.8 inch 720x2380p, 306ppi screen with 16M colours. The screen is made with Corning Gorilla Glass 2, and has TouchWiz UI v4. The HTC One X sports a 4.7 inch Super IPS LCD2 screen and Corning Gorilla Glass. When the devices were tested outdoors, we found the One X screen much more clear than the S3 in direct sunlight. Furthermore, a recent drop test showed that Gorilla Glass 2 may have some kinks in it when it comes to falling from certain heights as the S3 was found to shatter more easily than even the iPhone 4S.
On to the rear we find both devices have an 8MP camera with LED flash and autofocus, The HTC One X has 1080p video recording capabilities and a front camera of 1.3MP and 720p video recording, whereas the camera on the S3 has 3264x2448p with HD image and video capture, smile detection, geo-tagging, touch focus and image stabilisation. Its front camera is slightly higher at 1.9MP. The HTC One X has an excellent image processing chip while the Samsung Galaxy S3 has the same camera sensor found in the iPhone 4S. Both are awesome in their own rights.
So where does the Samsung Galaxy S3 clearly stand in lead when comparing both US variants of these Android devices? There is the battery. The S3 wins on the battery life front, as it has a 2050mAh Li-lon battery, and the One X just has a 1800mAh battery, coming with an purported 8 hours of talk-time. The S3 also has expandable storage which only the Sprint version does (HTC EVO 4G LTE). There is NFC and a bunch of smart features like Smart Stay, S-Voice, S-Beam and more as well.
So while the Samsung Galaxy S3 does appear to be the best smartphone on the market, it isn’t leaps and bounds ahead of the HTC One X as portrayed by the general media. The HTC One X is also more readily available and cheaper (the Samsung Galaxy S3 can only be bought off-contract at the moment as it is yet to be released through carriers here in the US).
