Nokia Lumia 1020 vs HTC One

Introduction:

As it continues to build up steam, the Nokia Lumia 1020 is looking intently at the competition with great intensity to see who can give it a run for its money in the camera shooting department. Already, the HTC One’s fancied termed UltraPixel camera has been touted for its performance, especially with low lighting, which is also a key area where the Lumia 1020 excels in. When it comes down to it, the true winner manifests itself by delivering a balanced performance in all key areas – so we’re taking these two flagships and pitting them one another to see who can trump who.

Design:

Known for their attractive designs, there’s no arguing that these two are carefully and meticulously crafted from the beginning to catch wandering eyes. Visually, they boast all the quality elements that make them stand over most of the other stuff in the field – like their sturdy constructions and snug frames. It’s hard to say what’s more favorable, but considering that the HTC One employs the more premium aluminum chassis, combined with a lighter and thinner frame, it’s the handset that we feel to have the superior design. Even holding the two together in the hand tells us that HTC’s pride and joy is the better of the two, as it feels more natural and comfortable – whereas the Lumia 1020 feels top heavy and awkward to hold due to the prominent hump around its rear.


Display:

Having the bigger screen and higher resolution really helps to attract prying eyes, so that’s why we’re digging the 4.7-inch 1080x1920 S-LCD 3 display of the HTC One over the 4.5-inch 768 x 1280 PureMotion HD+ display with ClearBlack AMOLED on the Lumia 1020. It might be insignificant from a far distance away, but upon closer inspection, the HTC One’s display is more detailed and crisp – and on top of that, its color are more accurate over the saturated tones of the Lumia 1020, plus, it’s better for outdoor visibility too.

Interface and Functionality:

There is no arguing that the Lumia 1020 has the upper hand over its other Windows Phone 8 brethren in the experience department, since it’s packing Nokia’s own enhancements and apps to deepen its worth, but it still doesn’t have the high level of depth and functionality that’s associated with the HTC One’s Sense 5 UI that’s running on top of Android. Interestingly, Sense’s BlinkFeed almost has a similar look and feel to the Lumia 1020’s Start Screen, as it aggregates relevant content. Still, when we look at the overall picture, the Android experience has the deeper ecosystem than Microsoft’s Windows Phone.



At their core, the respective organizer apps of each phone function in the same manner – so it’s hardly one that’s preferred over the other. Despite that, the Google Now feature with the HTC One is undoubtedly useful in keeping us on track with our daily lives, which is by far more comprehensive than the Bing service on the Lumia 1020.

Honestly, these two smartphones are great for typing up messages – thanks to their spacious layouts and responsiveness. Yet, when we actually hold the two in our hands, the bezel around the Lumia 1020’s camera becomes rather distracting with the typing process, which isn’t an issue with the HTC One.


Processor and Memory:

On paper, the HTC One’s quad-core 1.7GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 processor with 2GB of RAM and the Adreno 320 GPU is the cutting edge hardware between the two, but that doesn’t mean that its performance is tremendously more superior than its rival. In fact, the Lumia 1020’s dual-core 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Plus processor coupled with 2GB of RAM and the Adreno 225 GPU handles similar tasks with the same fluidity, finesse, and responsiveness. Therefore, when it comes to trivial or demanding operations, the two are capable of offering performances that are top-notch.

We shouldn’t be surprised, right? Especially when it’s a common practice in the industry. With no expandable storage on either device, that means we really need to be cautious in what we store – albeit, their 32GB of memory might seem ample enough for some people.

Internet and Connectivity:

In terms of performance with their respective web browsers, especially with 4G LTE connectivity in tow, they both execute all the same tasks without any fluff. As we can clearly see, though, the Google Chrome and stock browsers on the HTC One have some additional features that make it more beneficial than Internet Explorer on the Lumia 1020 – like their gesture movements for quick tab switching.



Being flagship devices and all, there are no surprises that these two GSM-enabled smartphones share all the contemporary connectivity features under the hood. Specifically, they include aGPS, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and NFC.

Camera:

Obviously, both smartphones take photo snapping seriously, but they are based on rather different concepts. The Lumia 1020 packs one monster sized 41-megapixel PureView camera sensor, that can produce huge full sized photos or sharing-friendly 5MP ones with superior quality, thanks to combining six pixels into a single better one. In contrast, the HTC One has a standard size sensor but instead of 8 or 13 MP resolution, it offers only 4-megapixels. This results in larger-than-average pixels, which HTC calls an “UltraPixel” camera.



Snapping photos is a key feature with these two, so it’s wonderful that they boast a similar set of shooting modes and manual controls to adhere to enthusiasts. We absolutely like how the Lumia 1020’s Nokia Pro Cam app follows a similar look and feel to a standard digital camera, since its rotating dial enables us to quickly adjust different settings. At the same time, the HTC One offers the same set of customizations, but it relies more on a typical menu style approach. When it comes to photo quality however, in each and every shooting situation, it’s the Lumia 1020 that comes out as the clear victor – therefore, it’s the choice we’d stick with. Not only are the Lumia 1020 shots sharper, offer more detail, and better color representation in conditions where light is plentiful, but it also excels more under low lighting too. Don't forget that using the Lumia 1020 you can get both high-quality 5MP photo and the full sized 38MP one which is suitable for post production or big prints, while with the HTC One you're stuck with 4MP photos. In addition, when shooting at 5MP resolution, the Lumia 1020 offers something unique - 3x zoom.


Moreover, it’s also a clear winner for the Lumia 1020 in the 1080p high definition video recording quality department. To be frank, it’s not even a close win for the fabled camera phone, as the Lumia 1020 handsomely puts the HTC One in its place.

Nokia Lumia 1020 Sample Video:



HTC One Sample Video:



Multimedia:

Each of the respective music players have their appealing elements, so as a whole, we won’t say that one is better than the other – since the base functions are all the same. However, we do take notice of the Modern UI employed with the Windows Phone music player, and the cool visualizer effect with the Sense music player. The Lumia 1020’s speaker is loud and commanding, but the One’s dual front-facing speakers with HTC BoomSound are even more prolific in tone and output!



Even though there’s a slight size advantage to the HTC One’s display, we don’t find it any more beneficial over the Lumia 1020 when it comes to watching high-definition videos – especially when they move so swimmingly with their performances.

And finally, we can’t forget about the built-in IR blaster on the HTC One, which combined with its integrated TV app (power by Peel), turns the handset into a universal remote of sort that offers an engaging and social TV experience. Clearly, it’s a feature that’s not available with the Lumia 1020.

Call Quality:

Mostly due to the prolific sound output from the HTC One’s earpiece and speakerphone, it’s the choice to stick with when it comes to call quality, as voices have a stronger presence of clarity to them. In contrast, the earpiece of the Lumia 1020 is rather weak – requiring us to mash it closely to our ear just to make out voices better in noisy environments.

Battery:

Unless you’re constantly on either phone, you’ll be pleased by their battery life. To me more specific, they’re adequate enough to get us through a solid 8 hour work shift – and to an extent, a full 24 hours of juice under moderate usage. So yeah, they’re enough to last us throughout the day, but there’s not one that’s extraordinarily better than the other.

Conclusion:

There’s a big price disparity between these two flagships, seeing that the Nokia Lumia 1020 and HTC One are priced respectively at $300 and $200 with a 2-year contract. If we’re to look at the two from a specs standpoint, we’d make a good case for why the Lumia 1020 is such a pricey investment – and that’s despite having a superior camera on board. Looking at the two more intently, the specs are without question more drool worthy on the HTC One, as it features a larger display, higher resolution screen, a quad-core processor, and a built-in IR blaster.

Ultimately though, you’ll want to gravitate towards the Nokia Lumia 1020 if taking photos and videos is most paramount to you. If it isn’t, then the HTC One will surely be the choice to stick with, since it’s an all-around contender that has the more premium design and deeper platform experience. Indeed, it doesn’t come close to matching the Lumia 1020’s quality with photos and videos, but the HTC One still delivers shots that are nonetheless still acceptable to use for 4” x 6” printouts.

Nokia Lumia 1020 vs HTC One: