HTC One launched in India: How it compares with Samsung Galaxy S4

The HTC One device was launched in India on Monday for a price of Rs 42,900 and will hit stores in April. The Samsung Galaxy S4 which was launched in March will also be available in most countries by the end of this month. We take a look how the two phones stack up in competition with each other. Design: The HTC One has a full metal body finish with a slight curve. The phone HTC claims has zero gap construction and it weighs 143 gm. This is of course heavier than the Galaxy S4 which weighs around 130 gm but its a lot of plastic as always. According to TechCrunch, Both the front panel and back panel (which is removable) are made of brushed plastic, but with a textured pattern of tiny circles laid over it. . The S4 is pretty slim as it is only 7.9 mm thick compared to HTC One’s 9.3 mm thickness. But in terms of an overall design body finish, the HTC One does have the superior edge. The HTC One is drastically different from the HTC One X (the company’s previous flagship device) while the S4 does look a lot like a bigger SIII. Screen: The Samsung Galaxy S4 has a 5-inch Super Amoled full HD screen with 1920x1080 pixel resolution which comes to 441 pixels per inch. Samsung has also added Adapt Display feature to its screeen which will adjust the screen settings, such as brightness and contrast according to the light conditions around users. The HTC One has a 4.7 inch screen which is also full HD at 1920 x 1080 pixel resolution. That’s about 468 pixels per inch (ppi). In terms of the screen resolution the HTC One does have the edge for now remember the Samsung S4 screen is bigger, therefore the pixel density is less. Camera: Both companies have tried to pump their cameras with attractive user interface features. The HTC One has a 4 megapixel camera but HTC is calling it Ultrapixels as the camera has a bigger sensor. The size of each pixel is larger on the sensor and HTC claims the bigger sensor allows more light to come in which allows better pictures even in low light conditions. The Galaxy S4 has a standard 13 megapixel front camera. Samsung has also added features such as Dual Camera , which users to record using both cameras at once. The main video from the back camera is overlayed with the a smaller size video from the front camera. You can choose various styles for the front camera recording. Eraser will allow users to get rid of photo-bombers. The Sound & Shot option allows you to record five seconds of audio before shooting. Drama Shot lets the Galaxy S4 can take more than a 100 shots in 4 seconds and then users can select these to form a dramatic picture. [caption id=“attachment_663105” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  HTC One (R) and Samsung Galaxy S4 (L). Agencies[/caption] The HTC One camera also has most of these features. HTC One has HTC ZOE which lets users automatically captures up to 20 photos and a 3-second video— a picture that’s alive. The camera will also let users get rid of Photo Bombers and create a Cinemagraph kind of image similar to S4’s Dramatic Shot. The HTC Camera also has Always Smile, option which lets users go back and choose the best moment in a picture. Processor: In India Samsung Galaxy S4 will likely come with the 1.6 octa-core (eight core) processor. That is pretty fast when compared to HTC One’s quad-core Snapdragon processor clocked at 1.7 Ghz. In processing Samsung’s S4 might hold the edge over HTC One. Battery: The HTC One has a  2300 mAh while the Galaxy S4 has a bigger 2600 mAh battery. Of course Samsung also has heavier processor so it might result in a lot more battery usage. User Interface Features: Samsung has of course packed the phone with a bunch of features like Smart Scroll which allows you to scroll through content on the screen such as email with face movements and wrist gestures. Smart Pause, which detects if you’re not looking at the smartphone and will pause a video. Air Gesture which allows users to pick up calls by just swiping their hand over the device without touching the screen. You can control and unlock the phone without touching it as well. Air View functionality is also available and allows users to preview the content by simply holding or hovering their finger over it. Air View works for email, Flipboard, photos and calendar. Samsung has definitely ramped up its TouchWiz UI to help its phone stand apart from the competition. For the HTC One, the one thing that is new in terms of UI is BlinkFeed, which is the user live tile user interface. These are very similar to Windows Phone 8 tiles and Flipboard, it works like an aggregator for all your news and social media content including videos and photos. HTC is trying to ensure that users don’t have to jump through apps for all their content with BlinkFeed but for most its similarity to Flipboard has raised many doubts. In terms of features both the HTC One and Samsung Galaxy S4 are offering many options to users. The S4’s advantage lies in its bigger processor and screen and Air Gesture features.