HTC One X vs Apple iPhone 4S

Introduction:

You might be wondering why we always compare the hot new handsets with the latest iPhone. Well, the explanation is actually pretty simple. Since the iPhone is so popular, and pretty much everyone knows what it offers, it makes for a great reference device! That's the logic behind the article that you're reading right now as well! The HTC One X has been one of the most-anticipated handsets for the first half of this year, and for a reason – this is the first phone powered by a quad-core processor, and not only that. The One X seems like a dream come true for every geek with passion for smartphones. However, it's not only specs these days, so you can't judge a device by its specs sheet. It is time for the One X to go through the ultimate test. It's time for it to face the iPhone 4S!

Design:

The One X and iPhone 4S are complete opposites when it comes to how they look and feel. The biggest differentiating factor here is their size. On one hand, we have the giant One X, and on the other – the very compact (for today's standards) iPhone 4S. For many people out there, the One X might be too bulky to be comfortably held. This feeling is reinforced further by the One X's sharp side edges and excessive width.


In terms of construction and materials, both phones are very impressive. Both the One X and iPhone 4S feel extremely solid and well-made. In order to achieve such a thin and relatively lightweight body, HTC has decided to use polycarbonate, which is a high-quality kind of plastic. It is very pleasant to the touch, similarly to the iPhone 4S's all-glass and stainless steel construction. Which one you'd like more depends on your taste. We, personally, prefer the glass of the iPhone 4S to the polycarbonate of the One X.



Display:

We're again seeing completely different approaches when it comes to the displays of the One X and iPhone 4S. The One X has a 4.7” Super-LCD 2 HD screen, while the iPhone 4S sports a more traditional IPS-LCD screen with a resolution of 640x960. Even though the iPhone 4S has lower pixel count, it actually has the upper hand in the pixel density department (330 ppi vs 312 ppi). However, both displays are incredibly sharp, so you'll have some very hard time finding any jaggedness on them. In this category we'd give our preference to the screen of the One X, not only because it's physically bigger, but mostly because it features some more saturated and vivid colors. It's an awesome screen to watch video or play games on!

Interface:

The Android operating system found on the One X has been vastly improved since its first days. Now, on the One X we have its 4th iteration – ICS, which has been highly-acclaimed by critics. However, what you'll find here isn't the stock UI, but rather, HTC's own Sense user interface, which adds a great deal of customization. The home screen and most parts of the Sense UI are very lively, animated and personalizable through different Scenes and Skins. Since this is an Android device, you can customize it even further by installing different launchers, widgets and other stuff. Actually, one of the benefits of being able to have so many widgets on the homescreen is that you receive up-to-date information just by staring at the homescreen, without having to launch any app. The downside is that it takes time to load these widgets, and thus you're sometimes presented with a “Loading...” screen.


The iPhone 4S doesn't surprise us with its trusty iOS 5 platform, which sticks to the very same user interface that we saw in its first version. Basically, you are presented to a 4x4 grid of icons, and that's that. Of course, you can change the wallpaper, but that's as far as personalization goes on this device. On the other hand, though, this makes the iPhone 4S extremely easy and straightforward to use. It also means that the platforms is very light, so there's almost no lag whatsoever, no matter what apps you launch.



Messaging:

One would think that the One X would be the ultimate device to type texts or email on, due to its giant display, but in reality this isn't the case. The design of the keyboard isn't good enough, which limits your typing speed, due to a higher risk of key mispressing. On the other hand, the iPhone 4S only has a 3.5” screen, but its QWERTY keyboard is designed in such a way that typing doesn't present any problem. As a whole, you can achieve relatively the same typing speeds with both devices, which is a loss for the One X, since it relies on so much more real estate.

Other than that, both devices can handle your messaging needs perfectly.

Internet and Connectivity:

We're not really content with  the browsing experience on the One X, even though it has such great hardware and big screen which should have made it work flawlessly. The truth is that the browser is somewhat clunky and can get visibly unresponsive at times. That's why we tend to prefer the perfectly smooth performance of the iPhone 4S's Safari browser. The smaller screen size actually isn't a problem, since the iPhone's software increases the size of the important font in order to make it easier to read. At the end of the day, you still have to scroll and zoom in or out a lot when surfing the web with both phones, but the iPhone makes this whole experience much easier on the nerves.



Still, one feature that the One X has and the iPhone hasn't is support for Flash Player, which means that some web pages and site elements will be visible only on the One X. There are some third-party attempts to fill the gap for the iPhone, but none of them work really well. One thing that bothers us though is that although the One X will open every Flash page, it presents us to a somewhat unimpressive performance, whereas some other top-shelf Android devices manage to execute the Flash content better.

In terms of connectivity options, both phones have Wi-Fi, but the One X has the upper hand here thanks to its HSPA+ radio, which allows for speeds of 21.1 Mbit/s down and 5.76 Mbit/s up. The iPhone 4S is only capable of the following HSPA speeds: 14.4 Mbit/s down and 5.76 Mbit/s up.

Camera:

Both Apple and HTC made a big fuss about the new cameras in their latest smartphones. We like the camera interface of the One X more, because it presents us with a still photo shutter and a video recording button all at the same time, whereas on the iPhone you have to switch between the two modes, and then press the shutter/rec key. In addition, the One X's camera offers some more advanced settings, and the two handy features – continuous photo taking and the ability to take photos while shooting a video. Continuous photo taking lets you snap a great number of images with almost no delay between them, but sadly, some of those come out of focus. Thankfully, the photos taken while shooting a video look good.



As far as photo quality goes, the ones from the One X are inferior to those of the iPhone 4S. Apple's device manages to capture a bigger amount of details, while colors are much better reproduced as well. Sadly, with the One X there's this purple shade ruining some of the shots.

Both handsets are capable of shooting 1080p video, but not all 1080p is born equal. In terms of pure image quality, the material from the One X is superior, as it has much less noise. On the other hand, however, the video from the One X is not as smooth as the one from the iPhone 4S, as it is recorded at about 22-23 FPS (video taken in the dark falls to about 19 FPS). Meanwhile, the iPhone 4S records at a smoother rate of 29-30 FPS, while in the dark it falls to about 24 FPS.

HTC One X Sample Video:



Apple iPhone 4S Sample Video:



Multimedia:

The cool thing about the HTC One X as far as multimedia goes is that it features some software enhancements by Beats Audio. If you are a fan of the Beats sound, then you'll certainly like what you hear through the earphones of the One X (they won't be Beats earphones, though). The music player of the One X is also integrated with SoundHound, so with a single tap of a button, you'll be taken to the respective page for the currently playing song. With the iPhone 4S, you'll be getting the standard music player that's been around since day one. It's nothing too fancy (save for Cover Flow), but is simple and does what it's meant to do.



When it comes to video playback, however, the One X is a much better device, thanks to its big and vivid screen. Colors get naturally reproduced, while the high HD resolution ensures that you get a stellar video watching experience. The iPhone is not as suitable in this department, as its screen is smaller and not as saturated. The same observations are also true for games and other such kind of multimedia, of course.

Performance:

The HTC One X and Apple iPhone 4S are about equal in the call quality department. While the One X presents us to overall better sounding voices through its earpiece, it's also a bit weaker in terms of loudness. The iPhone 4S is louder, but its earpiece doesn't really sound very well. Its microphone is very good, though, so at least the people that you're talking to will hear you well.

HTC hasn't released official numbers regarding talk-time and stand-by battery life for the One X, but during our testing we came to the conclusion that it's good enough to last through a whole day. The same goes for the iPhone 4S. In this particular category, everything depends on how you prefer to use your mobile device, so we'll just call it a draw, since we haven't noticed any anomalies.

Conclusion:

As we've said before, we don't care if it's Apple, HTC, Samsung, Google, or whichever company it is that has produced a certain device. It also doesn't matter if it's Android or iOS... or bada, webOS or Windows Phone. What matters for us is the quality of execution of the particular device (in every respect), and how well it'd serve customers during their day-to-day routine.

Lately, we've seen some outstanding Android smartphones. However, the HTC One X simply isn't one of them. At least not until HTC fixes its software. The device often feels and behaves like a rushed product, and this is something that you can't fix with a powerful processor, be it a quad-core one. It's also something that we do not expect to see in a top-shelf, premium handset. If you simply fell in love with the phone the moment you saw it – that's a-okay. But it won't change the fact that it's not as good as it should be.

That's not to say that the One X is a bad device. Quite the contrary – it's great, especially if you enjoy watching a lot of video, or play lots of games on your phone. These are the areas where the iPhone 4S can't compete with it. However, the iPhone does have a more approachable design, better camera, easier to use interface, as well as a much more polished and stable software, which won't cause you so much trouble. That's the phone we'd pick to manage our daily grind among these two.

HTC One X vs Apple iPhone 4S: