The smartphone market is abuzz this summer with the biggest players of the Android universe releasing phones that have managed to awe potential customers. Samsung has managed to turn quite a few heads with the new feature packed installment of its Galaxy line; the Galaxy S4 and Sony has stirred a bit of gossip as well with the release of the waterproof Xperia Z. HTC has also joined the game, this summer, with the release of HTC One, that boasts excellent build and music quality. If you’re planning to buy a phone anytime soon, thank your lucky stars because every one of these comes equipped with technology that seems almost alien.
HTC One
The HTC One seems to be the final ray of hope for the troubled Taiwanese company and HTC has not failed to deliver. The HTC One is a stellar device that feels like a piece of jewelry in your hand because the One is made entirely out of aluminum. It feels elegant and expensive just because of the wonderful design and the software isn’t half bad either with the most recent Android Jellybean pre-installed and customized with the HTC Sense. The user-interface of the HTC Sense v5 is another beauty on the phone which comes with an easy to use dashboard for all of your notifications and updates. But no matter how aesthetically pleasing the HTC One maybe, it fails to deliver when it comes to specifications and features. The HTC One comes equipped with a 4 Mega-Pixel camera that seems almost prehistoric when compared to the 13 MP cameras of S4 and Xperia Z. Another aspect that HTC falls short in is on the feature of expandable memory because unlike S4 or Xperia Z, the One does not come with an option for any kind of memory cards. The One, however, is equipped with a powerful 1.7 GHz quad-core processor accompanied by 2 Gigabytes of RAM and a big 4.7 inch LCD3 touch screen.
Samsung Galaxy S4
The S4 is probably the most famous and awaited phone in this list and when Samsung finally did start to ship out the phone, they didn’t disappoint. Everything about the S4 seems too advanced for our age, the eye scrolling that scrolls web-pages or eBook based on your eye movement, the air gesture that makes it possible to interact with your phone without even touching it, seems almost supernatural. The S4 also comes with a beautiful 5 inch AMOLED screen that displays in Full-HD, which means that the number of pixel that you see on a HDTV would be visible on the 5 inches of the S4. Much like the S4’s predecessors, the power and volume keys are well-placed and are easily accessible even with the humongous screen. Another wonderful feature to the S4 comes from Samsung’s Tablet line, the infrared blaster that literally turns your phone into a universal remote. The infrared blasters enables you to control any TV, DVD Player, Satellite Box and even some air-conditioners right from your phone. But what the S4 delivers in features, it lacks in build. The phone is constructed from flimsy feeling polycarbonate plastic that gives it the feel of a much cheaper phone and even the design is very similar to S3. All in all, the S4 does not disappoint and it comes equipped with some blazing specifications that perform better than all its rivals.
Sony Xperia Z
When we think about the new Xperia Z, all that comes to mind is the fact that it’s waterproof. But although it’s waterproof, the Xperia Z has a lot more going for it than just that. The Xperia Z is rock-solid in design and build and not only does it keep water away but it is dustproof and the screen is shatter and scratchproof as well. Even though the phone has been constructed with plastic, it surprisingly does not feel cheap or flimsy at all. The Xperia Z also comes with the Bravia Engine that rivals Apple’s Retina Display because it uses the same chip used in high-end Bravia TVs. The screen on the Xperia Z displays on a 441ppi resolution against the 324ppi resolution of the iPhone 5, giving it a clearer edge over Apple’s display. There’s no doubt that the Xperia Z is one stellar device. However, there are certain aspects of the phone that might annoy some users. For example, the 5inch screen that many people are bound to fall in love with might be too big for some and many users have complained that the waterproof ports of the Xperia Z are too fiddly. One of the bigger problems on the Xperia Z is the battery life that exhausts itself quite quickly. Although Sony does ship the phone with a Battery Stamina mode that increases battery life significantly; it usually runs for an average of 2 days.
Verdict
Although all three of these new high-end phones have brought some awesome features to the table, the one phone that has managed to impress us the most is the Samsung Galaxy S4. The phone is a powerhouse of brilliant engineering and innovative technology that Apple was once famous for. Everything on the S4 feels like magic and Samsung does this without compromising on the performance of the device. So if you plan on getting a phone this summer, we recommend the awe-inspiring device by Samsung, the Galaxy S4.
