Until recently, Android smartphones were a no match with Apple iPhone either in design, stability or multimedia performance. But now, with the advent of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, top smartphones manufacturers have launched an all-round assault over Apple’s iPhone. Many of the latest generation Android smartphones like Samsung Galaxy S3, HTC One X and Sony Xperia S were released with very high end specifications but were priced lower than Apple products.
For a typical buyer the choice should ideally be between the most advanced Android phone and the most advanced iOS phone, the iPhone 4S. HTC One X is the best overall phone in the market not only because its features but also with its attractive design and solid build quality. Apple, once the only choice for the style conscious people, has a fierce competitor now.
Why HTC One X Beats the Best Apple Can Offer
Awesome Design
HTC One X is surely an eye candy with its polycarbonate unibody. Its body feels smoother and softer as opposed to sharp edged hard body of iPhone 4S. Not to say that Apple’s iPhone 4S is any worse in looks but its design is more than 2 years old and needs a refresh. The Gorilla Glass 2 on HTC One X is tougher than the Gorilla Glass on the iPhone 4S. Even the fashion conscious people can flaunt the chic white color with big colorful screen.
Bigger Display
Just about 6 months ago, Apple used to laugh off bigger sized displays on competitor smartphones stating that they were not as sharp as iPhone’s Retina displays. But now, the competition has larger, brighter screens which are as sharp as Retina display. Particularly, the Super LCD2 screen on HTC One X is not only as sharp as the Apple iPhone 4S, but at the same time, it is brighter even when directly viewed under bright sunlight. The black levels of the screen are deeper and colors have better contrast. The 4.5-inch HD (1280 x 720 pixels) screen with an aspect ratio of 16:9 is perfect for watching movies without annoying black bars. Due to higher resolution, you can view more content of the webpage at once on the screen when compared to the iPhone.
Lag Free Camera
The 8MP camera on the HTC One X has ‘zero shutter lag’ (as seen in Samsung Galaxy Nexus). As soon as you press the shutter button, the photo gets clicked. Also, you can click full resolution pictures while shooting Full HD (1920 x 1080) videos at 30fps. You can use many artistic effects while shooting photos which are not present on the iPhone.
Easier To Connect
It has a micro USB port which also doubles up as a HDMI port so it is easier to connect with a host of home entertainment devices such as HDTV, Monitors, Home Theaters or BluRay Players. It can mirror the phones display to almost any HDMI compatible display so that you can play games, listen to music or watch movies. It can also be paired with Bluetooth Mouse and Keyboard for full fledged browsing on bigger screens. HTC One X has broader range of compatibility with whereas; Apple iPhone’s display mirroring is only compatible with Apple TV or Apple Cinema Display.
With NFC chip, you can pay without your credit card using it as a mobile wallet. NFC can also be used with other Android Beam compatible handsets to send Pictures, Webpage URLs, YouTube Videos and Maps.
It is easier to use HTC One X compared to iPhone because you can ‘Drag & Drop’ files as opposed to iTunes for media and file syncing .You can use it as a plug and play flash storage/drive to drag and drop files between PC and phone. You can attach USB devices to HTC One X such as Keyboards, Mice, Printers and USB Flash Drives.
And Then… There Is Price Advantage!
While the Apple iPhone 4S starts its price at a whopping Rs 37,499 for 16GB and goes up to Rs 49900 for 64GB, you can get a 32GB version of HTC One X for around 33,600 which is even cheaper than iPhone 4 (16GB) which is nearly 2 years old. Considering all these factors, buying this phone is a real steal because it has the better price-to-performance ratio compared to Apple iPhone 4S.
Summary
HTC One X scores brownie points on several counts over the iPhone 4S. Be it the fact that it’s significantly cheaper, significantly well designed and houses a brilliant camera. The phone may lose out on a Voice Recognition Assistant such as Siri but in most markets, this feature is nothing more than a gimmick. HTC has certainly out done the iPhone in several aspects and made a phone that is both affordable and incredibly advanced. If you are looking for a powerful smartphone with significant visual appeal, HTC one X should feature high on your list.
Author Bio
This is a guest post by Ashwin Sreekumar. Ashwin, from mysmartprice.com writes on topics such as mobile phones, smartphones, technology trends, applications and eCommerce. You can also read his contribution on dual SIM smartphones in India on our website.
Android is quite a lot better than iOS.