HTC One S vs Apple iPhone 4S

Introduction:

Here we go, folks, the battle of the “S”-es – the new HTC One S in the blue or black corner, and the iPhone 4S in the black or white corner. This may leave us with two black corners, though, and it's exactly the dark metal ceramic version of the One S we have now, so the fight will be based entirely on merits, rather than color preference.

We kid, since one thing is missing from HTC's phone to go head-to-head with the iPhone 4S in terms of specs, and it is pixel density, while it exceeds in other geeky stuff like processor clock and operating memory. The iPhone's iOS and Android have different resource needs, though, so we'll judge mainly on design, interface performance and camera quality, leaving the application stores aside.

With the new trend of higher-end Android devices coming with sealed batteries and non-expandable memory, just like the iPhone has been from day one, another Android differentiation is lost compared to it, so who will take over the ARM wrestling match? Read on our comparison to find out...

Design:

Apple's iPhone 4S has a unique steel-and-glass casing, which is yet unmatched by other manufacturers, even though this chassis is the same as the previous iPhone edition from 2010. It leaves a very premium feeling in the hand, with the downsides being that it makes the phone comparatively heavy, with sharp edges, and more prone to shatters and scratches than run-of-the-mill materials.


The HTC One S, on the other hand, sports two very distinct chassis materials – a blue-grey version with the more ordinary anodized aluminum, and the black version we have. Blacky is coated in a metal ceramic fusion obtained by zapping the aluminum frame with 10,000 volts, which results in oxidized metal that is three times stronger than stainless steel. This is making the phone very rigid and durable, but have no doubts that if you key it with a vengeance, marks will be left, this is no adamantium.

In terms of comfort, both phones lie well in the hand, with the iPhone leaving a more “edgy” feeling than the rounded corners and tapered back on the One S. HTC's handset is one of the most compact 4.3” phones we've handled, and is thinner than the iPhone 4S, but for smaller palms one-handed operation with the iPhone will come much easier since its screen size is 3.5”, and the whole phone is shorter and a tad narrower than the One S, so your thumb can reach everywhere.



Displays:

The displays on both phones are pretty different in both size and tech. We have the 3.5” Retina Display on the iPhone 4S, with its IPS-LCD technology and 640x960 resolution, meaning 326ppi pixel density, good colors, wide viewing angles, and high brightness.

The 4.3” AMOLED display on the HTC One S sports 540x960 pixels of resolution, which not only results in lower pixel density than the 4S, but since it is done with the PenTile matrix arrangement, the honeycomb structure of the dots makes some elements appear pixelated. Nothing you'd notice unless deliberately looking for it, though.

What they will notice are the oversatured colors on the display, which go way above the standard gamut, and the cold images, making white appear blueish compared to the iPhone 4S. AMOLED has other advantages, like wider viewing angles and deep blacks, hence extremely high contrast ratio. This comes in handy when watching movies, and the AMOLED screens draw much less energy then, compared to displaying white backgrounds during browsing, while for LCD ones this doesn't matter.

Interface and Functionality:

If you are coming from Android, you'll be a bit miffed by the lack of homescreen widgets on the iPhone, but if you have only used iOS devices, you are likely not going to notice their absence. Still, HTC Sense is probably the most functional, good-looking and tightly integrated interface on Android, so we'd give it an edge compared to the icon grids on the iPhone 4S homescreens.



It mostly precludes you from having to download a bunch of 3rd party software to replace the default apps once you get the phone, and the new Sense 4.0 version is less visually cluttered than the previous editions, resulting in snappy performance. Not that the dual-core processors  on both the iPhone 4S and HTC One S, would have problems running any UI or 3rd party app you throw at them anyway.

Both interfaces play their respective branding roles well, though. When you hold and operate the iPhone, you immediately recognize this is an Apple device with iOS, and when you operate the HTC One S, you can tell right away that this is an HTC smartphone, and differentiation is key in the Android universe.

Messaging, Internet and Connectivity:

Despite the smaller size of the iPhone 4S, typing on the One S is very easy with one hand as well, thanks to its narrow and elongated profile. As far as the on-screen keyboards, both have well-spaced layouts, especially the one on the iPhone 4S, but how comfortable typing will be depends on the size of your digits, of course.



The HTC One S browser feels much choppier than the one on the iPhone 4S, mainly due to HTC's overzealous text reflow at each zoom level, but is more functional with its support for Adobe Flash. We also liked the scrolling inertia better on the One S, as with the iPhone 4S you can't flick as quickly to the end of the page or a long list as on HTC's device.  



HTC seems to have plundered the Reader view in Safari that came with the latest major iOS update. In its default browser now you can strip an article you found online from all ads, pics and distractions with a touch of the Read button left from the address bar, leaving you with an e-reader style layout of just the text body reflown to fit in the screen, and introduced on one page.

On paper the HTC One S supports 42Mbps HSDPA downloads, while the iPhone 4S has a 21Mbps radio, but in reality you'll be lucky if your HSPA+ 4G network can deliver even a quarter of those speeds. Both have Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi, GPS and wireless media streaming capabilities, and with both you have to use dongles to connect to the HDMI port on your TV for mirroring the screens.

Camera:

The camera interfaces of the 8MP cameras of the One S and the iPhone couldn't be more different, but both phones have one thing in common – a sub-second camera when it comes to pressing the key, focusing and taking a shot.



HTC's handsets can only be rivaled by Sony now in terms of actually useful options that have found a way into its camera UI. We have numerous modes like panorama, HDR, portrait and group portrait, as well as a macro mode, while a transparent blue orb evokes a plethora of handy Instagram-style effects you can torture your photos with. The photo and video buttons are folded into one screen, so you don't need to flip a switch first to start shooting video, and, since it's an Android ICS phone, you can take pics in the video's 1920x1088 resolution while filming. The HTC One S also has a burst mode, which takes up to 99 consecutive shots when you hold the shutter button, at the speed of four shots a second.

The iPhone 4S... well, you just aim and shoot and the results are pretty great, especially with the excellent HDR mode turned on, which is about the only setting to manually adjust. Despite the numerous modes and settings on the One S, in Closeup mode it often focuses on the near subject only after you've tapped in frustration five or six times on it already, while the iPhone focuses on it with ease, immediately blurring the background. When it does focus, the macro shots from the One S are pretty good, though.

The HDR mode on HTC's handset will make your photos better exposed only in extraordinary lighting conditions, like when the sun shines against the lens in one corner of the frame, for example. In normal circumstances, the HDR result looks as if you have applied one of the crappier retro effects that come in the UI. In HDR mode the One S is also slower than the iPhone 4S to capture the several shots needed, so moving objects appear blurred if you bring down the camera a split second before the shot has finished merging, or shake the phone even a bit.

Looking at the actual pictures and video, we find the pics from the HTC One S slightly sharper and with more saturated colors compared to the iPhone 4S, making the scene look jollier than it actually was. The amount of captured detail is good from both handsets, and in line with what we'd expect from 8MP shooters.

Indoors both handsets perform pretty well with their back-illuminated sensors, keeping the noise in check up until very low light levels, but even then the pics are bearable. The HTC One S seems to have the white balance mastered a bit better indoors, as the colors are overall consistent, while the iPhone 4S  sports a more pronounced yellowish or reddish tints when the lights start going down. The LED flash on the One S illuminated the scene a bit better from about 5 feet, without incoherent exposure spots or weird shadows.

Both handsets film fluid 1080p video with 30 fps and good amount of contrast and detail, with the HTC One S again producing slightly oversaturated colors than the footage from the iPhone 4S.

HTC One S Sample Video:



Apple iPhone 4S Sample Video:



HTC One S Indoor Sample Video:



Apple iPhone 4S Indoor Sample Video:



HTC One S Sample Video - Nighttime:



Apple iPhone 4S Sample Video - Nighttime:



Multimedia:

The HTC One S has Beats Audio branding, which works well by plumping the bass sound in headset mode, but you have to plug in a quality pair to notice the difference. The iPhone 4S outs excellent sound, but it too needs a good pair of in-ear headphones to take full advantage. Since the regular ones that come in the box from Apple are nothing to write home about, and HTC doesn't package Beats headsets with its One series, both phones can't really live up to their full audio potential out of the box.




The One X lives up to its video playback, though – it plays DivX/Xvid files up to 1080p with no problems, whereas you'd have to convert those for the iPhone 4S, or hit the App Store for a 3rd party player. The larger screen, higher contrast and more vivid colors also make for a better video playback experience on the HTC One S.

Performance:

Both the One S and the iPhone 4S deliver above average calling quality from their noise-canceling mics, with a slightly cleaner and stronger sound in the earpiece coming with HTC's handset. It has a less potent loudspeaker than the iPhone 4S, though, so you might miss a call if not nearby, or the phone is buried deeply in a handbag.

Both devices have sealed battery compartments, so you can't swap batteries on the One S as you might be used to with Android phones, but the 1650mAh performed almost on par with the iPhone 4S when playing video, breaking the 8 hours mark. When it comes to browsing, the iPhone 4S performs much better, since the AMOLED display chugs the battery juice like a hungover frat boy when displaying white backgrounds.

Thus in mixed use the iPhone 4S has an edge in battery life, but the HTC One S can still deliver a day of Android-ing with moderate use, thanks to its 28nm Snapdragon chipset, which is about the norm.

Conclusion:

Long story short you can't go wrong with these two handsets – they perform very well and look good in the process. The iPhone 4S has this halo of an Apple product that is hard to beat for the guy on the street, but about the only area that the HTC One S is inferior to it is screen resolution and pixel density.

If you plan on watching plenty of videos, the One S is the better choice, though – it plays DivX/Xvid files up to 1080p out of the box and the larger screen, higher contrast and more vivid colors also make for a better video playback experience.

Thanks to its smaller screen and size, the iPhone 4S is more comfortable to operate with one hand. The  HTC One S is one of the most compact 4.3-inchers out there, but you can reach everywhere on the screen with your thumb only if you have larger hands.

Both handsets have non-removable batteries and no memory card slots now, but the iPhone 4S has versions with different amounts of internal storage, and in mixed usage its battery life is better. You pay top dollar for extra storage in it, though.

As far as price goes, the HTC One S is starting from about $550 without carrier subsidies, whereas the 16GB iPhone 4S can be had for $650 at Apple, or $600 at places like Amazon, and usually keeps value better than other smartphones. HTC phones used to hold their value pretty well, too, but what will happen with the new One series in that respect remains to be seen.

Overall the advantages of one of these handsets over the other are not with a large margin in any department, so your choice will boil down to Android or iOS, and personal design preferences, given the difference in dimensions.

HTC One S vs Apple iPhone 4S Video Comparison: