How HTC One M8 competes with Samsung Galaxy S5 and Sony Xperia Z2

HTC has finally pulled the wraps off its 2014 flagship. Some of the highlights of the device are its dual rear cameras and up to 128GB microSD card support. With Samsung and Sony already having announced their respective flagships, the All New HTC One has some solid competition out there. We’ve put the Galaxy S5 and Xperia Z2 in the ring with the HTC One 2014 model to know who emerges as the flagship of the year, at least on paper, for now.

HTC One M8

The new HTC One M8 gets rid of any polycarbonate or plastic for the sides as the chassis is almost completely metal. The phone also debuts their latest version of Sense which features an enhanced BlinkFeed experience. They’ve now opened it up to developers so Foursquare and Fitbit updates can be pushed through BlinkFeed now. Battery life was one of the pain points of the M7 or the old HTC One. The M8 is said to have 40 percent better battery life. Whats more, other than the standard power saver mode, ‘Extreme power saver’ mode will shut down all communications except calls, text and emails.

Samsung Galaxy S5

The Samsung Galaxy S5 is a 5.1-inch upgrade to the year older Galaxy S4 and sports a full HD screen with the same Super AMOLED panel. The dust-proof and water-proof device follows the latest trend by embedding a fingerprint scanner. The Samsung Galaxy S5 comes with a 16MP camera with improved menu and user interface. On the front there is a 2.1MP camera. Samsung Galaxy S5 supports the fifth generation 802.11ac Wi-Fi and it uses LTE Category 4 standard. The Samsung Galaxy S5 runs on a 2.5GHz Snapdragon 800 SoC with 2GB of RAM. It will ship with Android 4.4.2. It comes in the 16GB and 32GB variant with microSD slot for adding in a microSD card up to 64GB. It packs in a 2800mAh batter which gives talk time of 21 hrs. A new feature called the Ultra Power Saving mode, claims to give you a 24-hour battery even when your phone shows the battery capacity at 10 per cent.

Sony Xperia Z2

Sony’s latest flagship Z2 sports a 5.2-inch 1080p full HD Triluminos display with “widest colour palette.” The Z2 has borrowed waterproof and rugged capabilities from its predecessor, and runs on Google’s latest Android 4.4 KitKat. Under the hood, it comes powered by a 2.3 GHz quad-core Snapdragon 801 and Adreno 330 GPU, coupled with 3GB of RAM. One of the highlights of the device is its 20.7-megapixel camera with 4K recording support, along with 1/2.3-type Exmor RS for mobile CMOS image sensor, Sony’s G Lens and intelligent BIONZ. The 4K resolution (3840×2160 pixels/30p) helps capture four times the detail of Full HD. It is fuelled by a 3200 mAh battery for prolonged battery life, which is further spruced by Sony’s Battery STAMINA Mode. Here’s our first impressions of the Z2 .

Take a look at the comparison table below:

The competition is fierce

Obviously, there isn’t a clear winner amongst the three flagships of 2014. In terms of power, they’re all rocking pretty much the same platform so it’s all down to the optimisations done  to the custom interfaces. The feature set also seems to be more or less identical, however, we do feel the S5 and the Z2 have an edge thanks to their amphibious nature. In the end, it all boils down to pricing. Who can offer the most competitive price will be the one that sells the most. While this is not true always, it should be in the case of these three handsets as it’s really hard to pick one out of the three. HTC has another shot at fame here with the One M8 and if they can fix the pricing and availability woes they had with the M7, they could very well give Samsung and Sony a run for their money.