HTC One X Released: Making Apple iPhone 4S Obsolete?
HTC Corp. has already released the HTC One X, also known as HTC One XL or HTC EVO One.
The iPhone 4S launched by Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) in October last year is the most popular smartphone in the market today. But the HTC One X, with its amazing specs -- is making the fifth generation iPhone obsolete -- Or is it?
Let's take a closer look.
The iPhone 4S has a display that's crisper and brighter than most of the Android competition. And the HTC One X is no exception as the iPhone 4S's display has a 330 ppi pixel density, compared with 312 ppi for the HTC counterpart. But note that the iPhone 4S has a mere 3.5-inch screen with Retina 640 x 960 resolution display. The HTC One X on, the other hand, has a giant 4.7-inch Corning Gorilla Glass 720p (1280 x 720) Super LCD 2 display. Bigger screens are easier on the eyes and they don't you to zoom in as much to read text or click buttons.
The downside with a bigger display is that the phone would end up bulky. The iPhone 4S appears to be more "compact" as it retained the 3.5-inch screen and the exact design of its predecessor, the two-year-old iPhone 4. But for smartphone users that spend most of the time watching video or playing games, then a bulkier would be more preferable than a compact phone.
The One X comes with the highly praised Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. It also has HTC's own Beats Audio and Sense User Interface, which gives owners of HTC phones a great deal of customizations and some exclusive apps. Android phones are customizable and have widgets that allow you to access all sorts of info at a glance. Although Adobe has confirmed that it's done with Flash Mobile Player, Adobe Flash is still running in most sites, hence, you can view more Web pages with the HTC One X as the iPhone 4S doesn't have Flash support. The iPhone 4S's iOS platform, however, is more stable, doesn't lag when loading, and easier to update.
As to internet and connectivity, the iPhone 4S has a has a new dual-antenna system, loading Web pages and streaming videos are faster via Android phones that have 4G LTE. Apple fanboys looking for 4G connectivity on their mobile phones have to wait for the iPhone 5.
As to the processor, the iPhone 4S is powered by a dual-core Apple A5 processor with 512 MB of RAM, compared with the HTC One X's 1.5 Ghz quad-core Nvidia Tegra 3 processor. A variant of the HTC One comes with a dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 One S chip. The HTC One X promises lightning-fast web browsing, remarkable picture quality and seamless gaming visuals thanks to the powerful quad-core processor
Apple fans waiting for powerful computing from the next iPhone might be disappointed. The new iPad released in March comes with a dual-core A5X processor with a quad-core graphics processor. Although Apple has claimed that the A5X is superior over the Tegra 3, benchmarks indicate that while the A5X is superior in terms of graphics performance, the Tegra 3 has greater processor performance.
As to the cameras, the HTC One X has an 8-megapixel camera that starts up in less than a second and has rapid-fire continuous shooting of up to 99 photos. The camera allows you to take photos while shooting a video. The iPhone 4S's iSight camera can also shoot 8-mp stills and record 1080p videos and is a huge improvement from the iPhone 4's. As to the photo quality, PhoneArena.com claims that the photos from the One X are inferior to those of the iPhone 4S. According to CNET's Natasha Lomas
, when used outdoors, the One X produces cooler tones that aren't quite as natural looking -- giving its shots a bluer colour-cast overall. Indoors, Lomas says that iPhone 4S captures slightly more true-to-life colours and its images look sharper.
PhoneArena though claims that with respect to 1080p videos shot, image quality from the One X is superior as it has less noise, although video from the One X is not as smooth as the one from the iPhone 4S.
Here are the full specs of the HTC One X:
* Measurement: 134.36 mm x 69.9 mm x 8.9 mm
* Weight: 130 grams with battery.
* Display: HD 720p touch
* Screen: 4.7-inch Corning Gorilla Glass 2 screen with 1280 x 720 resolution
* Processor: 1.5 GHz Tegra 3 quad core processor.
* Platform: Android 4.0 with HTC Sense 4
* Memory: 32 GB storage, 1 GB RAM
* Network: HSPA/WCDMA - Europe/Asia: 850/900/1900//2100 MHz / GSM/GPRS/EDGE - 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
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* Sensors: Gyro sensor, G-Sensor, Digital compass, Proximity sensor, Ambient light sensor
* Connectivity: 3.5 mm sterio audio jack, NFC, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, DLNA for wireless streaming from phone to TV or computer
* 8 megapixel camera with auto focus, smart LED flash and BSI sensor, 180p HD video recording; 1.3 megapixel front camera (720p for vieo chat)
* Sound enhancement: Beats Audio
* Battery: 1800 mAh
* Variants: In the United States and Canada, the HTC One will called HTC One XL or HTC EVO One and will carry a 1.5 GHz dual-core Qualcomm S4 chip due to incompatibility between the Tegra 3 and LTE.
Also read iPhone 5 Rumors: New Look, iOS 6, October Launch, 4-Inch Plus Screen
To contact the author, e-mail: c.fernandez@ibtimes.com.au