HTC One v Apple iPhone 5 – It's a close call
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The HTC One v Apple iPhone 5 comparison proved to be a close call but we did manage to unravel a winner.
HTC have got back into the smartphone game in a big way with the HTC One. While the last couple of their flagship handsets didn’t quite inspire the buzz of excitement that HTC were once capable of their latest looks set to change that. It’s a phone with amazing specs and very few compromises, but is it good enough to take on the mighty iPhone 5- itself a stunning combination of form and function? Read on to find out.
HTC One v Apple iPhone 5 - Build quality and durability
HTC have always produced some of the better looking Android handsets out there, but the HTC One takes it to a whole new level. While most are content to stick with a plastic body, HTC have built the HTC One out of a single sheet of aluminium, giving it an expensive look and feel. With speaker grills both above and below the screen it also stands out from the crowd, looking slightly more unique and distinctive than most competitors. It screams quality and with a Gorilla Glass 2 display it should also be able to withstand the scrapes and scratches that come with everyday use.
But while HTC are known for quality, for Apple design and quality is everything. The iPhone 5 is testament to that. Like the HTC One it has a premium metallic build and a Gorilla Glass display. But it’s also slimmer and lighter than its Android foe and for that reason it just about wins this category.
HTC One v Apple iPhone 5 – Which has the better display?
If there’s one way in which the HTC One really stands out it’s the display. The 4.7 inch Super LCD3 screen may be a fairly typical size for a high end phone- but that’s no bad thing. For our money it’s in the sweet spot, not too big and not too small. But it’s not the size that impresses; it’s the resolution, which at 1080 x 1920 gives it a 468 ppi pixel density, which right now is better than any other phone.
The iPhone 5 is no slouch in the display department either, with a 4 inch 640 x 1136 IPS LCD screen. It’s got great contrast too, producing very natural colours, but at just 4 inches in size and with a relatively low (though still impressive) 355 ppi it just can’t compete.
HTC One v Apple iPhone 5 – Which is the most powerful?
The HTC One is a beast of a phone with a 1.7 GHz quad-core processor and 2 GB of RAM driving it. On paper that makes it just about the most powerful phone money can buy.
The iPhone 5 on the other hand has comparatively meagre specs, with just a 1.2 GHz dual-core processor and 1 GB of RAM. Now that can be misleading as iPhone’s have always punched above their weight, but even so, the HTC One buries it.
HTC One v Apple iPhone 5 – Which has the best camera?
The HTC One has thrown a curve-ball with its camera, opting for just a 4 megapixel snapper but one with a lens that lets in a lot more light than most smartphone cameras- up to 330% more to be precise, which should theoretically lead to better pictures.
The iPhone 5 meanwhile opts for a more standard 8 megapixel lens and produces very good pictures by smartphone standards. With the two firms taking such different approaches it’s hard to judge a winner, so we’ll call it a draw.
HTC One v Apple iPhone 5 – Battery life, memory and connectivity
The HTC One comes with a 2300 mAh battery- one which they haven’t provided any performance figures for. However as a rough guideline the Sony Xperia Z uses a similarly sized 2330 mAh battery and promises up to 11 hours talk time and up to 550 hours of standby, which isn’t too bad. That said HTC are notoriously poor with battery life and there’s no reason to think that the HTC One would buck that trend.
The iPhone 5 has just a 1440 mAh battery with a fairly mediocre 8 hours talk time and 225 hours standby time. While we haven’t put the HTC One through its paces in a full review yet, on paper it beats the iPhone 5 hands down here.
In terms of memory the HTC One can be purchased with either 32 GB or 64 GB, which is a pretty decent amount, but there’s no micro SD card slot, so whichever you plump for is what you’ll be stuck with.
The iPhone 5 can be bought with 16 GB, 32 GB or 64 GB of built in memory and as with the HTC One there’s no opportunity to expand that. All in all then they’re pretty equal in the memory stakes, but we’re inclined to give the iPhone 5 the edge for offering a smaller minimum amount.
The two phones are pretty similar in terms of connectivity options, with both supporting 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 and potentially 4G- though right now EE is the only UK network with a 4G service. However on top of all that the HTC One also has NFC, which the iPhone 5 doesn’t, so it’s a marginal win for HTC’s flagship.
HTC One v Apple iPhone 5 – Conclusion
In the end it was almost inevitable that the HTC One would win this battle, as it is after all a much newer handset. What’s more surprising is just how close a contest it actually was. The HTC One is more powerful than the iPhone 5 and has a much better display, along with better battery life and slightly more connectivity options. But the iPhone 5 managed to trump it for build quality and memory while equalling it for camera performance- all of which are very important factors. So it’s a win for HTC, but a hard fought one.
By Kevin Thomas on 14th March, 2013