Android Smartphones Comparison: Galaxy S3 vs HTC One S

Taiwanese tech giant HTC launched its flagship One series Android smartphones at the Mobile World Congress in February. The flagship series comprises the One X, One S and the One V models, wherein the One S is the thinnest. The revolutionary audio technology - Beats Audio in the One S - ensures richer bass and a realistic sound experience. In addition, the One S features 25GB of free Dropbox storage on a two year contract.

On the other hand, Samsung's new smartphone - the Galaxy S3 - sports revolutionary features such as Smart Stay, Direct Call, Smart Alert, Social Tag and S Voice, besides NFC and 4G capabilities. The successor to the best-selling Galaxy S2, the S3 is poised to become the iPhone's most serious rival, with its powerful quad-core processor and a gigantic touch screen. One of its more revolutionary features is an eye-tracking technology that recognises when the user is looking at the screen and when he/she is not; the software then unlocks or locks the screen, depending on either situation. In addition, S Voice - a Siri alternative - allows the user to access the camera and other phone functions through voice commands and the phone also has Near Field Communication (NFC) which facilitates content sharing by simply tapping two devices together.

Check out how the two phones compare...

Display

The Galaxy S3 packs a gigantic 4.8in Super AMOLED display with capacitive touch screen, which runs at 720p (720x1280 pixels) resolution and a pixel density of 306 pixels per inch (ppi). In contrast, the HTC One S features a relatively smaller 4.3in Super AMOLED display with capacitive touch screen and runs at a lower 540x960 pixels resolution and also a thinner pixel density at 256ppi. The One S adds damage resistant Corning Gorilla Glass protection for its display, while the S3 packs the updated version - Corning Gorilla Glass 2 - to prevent scratches and smudges on the display.

Processor

The HTC One S flaunts a dual-core 1.5GHz Krait processor based on Qualcomm MSM8260A Snapdragon chipset, while the next-gen Galaxy smartphone packs a powerful quad-core 1.4GHz Cortex-A9 processor based on Exynos 4 Quad chipset. While Qualcomm's chipset delivers a fine balance between performance and power-saving features, the Exynos 4 packs quite a punch with its superior processing power optimised for multitasking. The S3 features the Mali-400MP GPU for running graphic apps and games, while the One S comes with an Adreno 225 graphics chip. Both the S3 and the One S have 1GB of RAM.

Camera

Both the Galaxy S3 and the One S feature similar camera specifications - eight megapixel rear cameras with auto-focus and LED flash, simultaneous HD video and image recording and geo-tagging as well as face and smile detection. The S3 adds the image stabilisation feature, while both support 1080p video recording at 30fps. However, the One S adds a stereo sound recording and video stabilisation features to its rear camera profile. The S3 ships with a 1.9 megapixel front-facing camera supporting 720p video recording at 30fps. The HTC One S comes with a weaker VGA camera in the front for video calls.

Operating System

Both the S3 and the One S come with the latest version of Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS)). The former runs on the slick and fast TouchWiz 4.0 UI, while the latter tops the HTC Sense 3.5 UI for a zippy and seamless performance.

Memory and Storage

Both the S3 and One S pair 1GB of RAM. However, the former supports three different storage models - 16/32/64GB, while the latter comes with just the 16GB model. The HTC One S offers no microSD memory expansion capability, while the S3 provides a massive 64GB microSD expansion support.

Battery

When it comes to battery, the S3 holds the edge with a powerful 2100mAh battery. The One S in comparison has a relatively weaker 1650mAh battery.

MUST READ: Samsung Galaxy S3 vs HTC Sensation XL: Who is Android Super-Champ?