Samsung Galaxy S3 vs. HTC One X : In-depth comparison

Samsung Galaxy S3 vs. HTC One X : In-depth comparison

For years, we’ve compared nearly every new smartphone to the iPhone. Even today, it remains the best-selling phone of them all. Times are changing though. Excitement over Android handsets has always been scattered, but right now, everyone keeps asking me the same question: Should I get the One X  or the Samsung Galaxy S3? For the first time, we’re seeing excitement for new Android handsets begin to rival the iPhone — at least more than ever before. The Galaxy S3 is actually the first smartphone to launch on all four major carriers 

(and US Cellular). 

So which should you buy? Samsung and HTC are clearly attempting to duke it out. These handsets are nearly identical in many ways, but if you’re going to lay down cash for a top phone, you want the best. And so we bring you our guide to picking which handset is better for you: the HTC One X or the Samsung Galaxy S3.

	Phone	Samsung Galaxy S III (AT&T)	HTC One X (AT&T)
	OS	Android Ice Cream Sandwich	Android Ice Cream Sandwich
	Interface	Samsung TouchWiz	HTC Sense 4
	Processor	1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4	1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4
	Screen	4.8-inch, 1280x720, HD Super AMOLED	4.7-inch, 1280x720, HD Super LCD
	Memory	2GB RAM, 16GB ROM	1GB RAM, 16GB ROM
	Expansion Slot	micro SD	No
	Dimensions (HWD)	5.38 x 2.78 x 0.34 inches	5.3 x 2.75 x 0.36 inches
	Weight	4.7 ounces	4.6 ounces
	4G	4G LTE	4G LTE
	Camera	8MP main, 1.9MP front	8MP main, 1.3MP front
	Max Video Resolution	1080p HD	1080p HD
	Burst Mode	Yes	Yes
	Image capture during video recording	Yes	Yes
	Dedicated camera button	No	No
	Voice Command	Samsung S Voice	Google Voice Actions
	Search with voice	Yes	Yes
	Voice launch 3rd Part Apps	Yes	No

Design
Sculpted from a single block of fancy polycarbonate plastic, the HTC One X is a lovely handset for sure. Its all-white chassis is also pretty striking, plus it feels smooth yet grips fingertips well. Despite its massive 4.7-inch screen, the One X is thin too (0.36 inch) but not quite as trim as the Galaxy S III (0.34 inch).

The Galaxy S III's design outdoes the One X in other ways too, with Samsung's latest flagship phone packing both a microSD card slot and removable battery. Samsung Galaxy phones have also gained a bad rap for their cheap-feeling plastic construction. Not so with the Galaxy S III, which sports smoothly rounded curves that fit hands like a glove. And while the Galaxy S III is indeed made from plastic, it has a more premium paint job than its predecessor.

Display
It's hard not to be entertained by the Galaxy S III's massive 4.8-inch HD Super AMOLED screen. It boasts a high 1,280 by 720-pixel resolution and flaunts colors that pop and blacks that are lusciously deep. The HTC One X's 4.7-inch HD Super LCD is a contender as well. It too offers a sharp 1,280 by 720-pixel resolution, and while the screen's colors aren't as saturated, its hues are more lifelike. Additionally, images and text are more crisp on the One X, plus the display is much brighter. Of course, which of the phone's displays you prefer comes down to your personal preference. Frankly I hear echos of the old plasma versus LCD HDTV debate.

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• Dialed In

Samsung Galaxy S III, HTC One X compared

Sparks fly when these two Android smartphone titans collide.

by Brian Bennett

  June 20, 2012 2:59 PM PDT

How well does the HTC One X stack up against the Samsung Galaxy S III?

(Credit: Brian Bennett/CNET)

If you're a loyal AT&T subscriber, love Android, and need a new phone badly, you've got a tough choice ahead. Both of today's hottest handsets, the Samsung Galaxy S III and HTC One X, are yours for the taking.

The problem is figuring out which one is a better option. These two superphones are each winners in their own right, but if push comes to shove and you had to select just one, which AT&T device is truly worthy of a place in your pocket? Let's get down to brass tacks and find out.

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As you can see from this handy dandy chart, both the Samsung Galaxy S3 and HTC One X can hold their own. They do differ in several ways, which makes picking one over the other that much more difficult.

Design
Sculpted from a single block of fancy polycarbonate plastic, the HTC One X is a lovely handset for sure. Its all-white chassis is also pretty striking, plus it feels smooth yet grips fingertips well. Despite its massive 4.7-inch screen, the One X is thin too (0.36 inch) but not quite as trim as the Galaxy S III (0.34 inch).

The Galaxy S III's design outdoes the One X in other ways too, with Samsung's latest flagship phone packing both a microSD card slot and removable battery. Samsung Galaxy phones have also gained a bad rap for their cheap-feeling plastic construction. Not so with the Galaxy S III, which sports smoothly rounded curves that fit hands like a glove. And while the Galaxy S III is indeed made from plastic, it has a more premium paint job than its predecessor.

HTC takes care in the One X's premium plastic construction.

(Credit: CNET)

Samsung also upped its design game with the Galaxy S III.

(Credit: josh MIller/CNET)

Display
It's hard not to be entertained by the Galaxy S III's massive 4.8-inch HD Super AMOLED screen. It boasts a high 1,280 by 720-pixel resolution and flaunts colors that pop and blacks that are lusciously deep. The HTC One X's 4.7-inch HD Super LCD is a contender as well. It too offers a sharp 1,280 by 720-pixel resolution, and while the screen's colors aren't as saturated, its hues are more lifelike. Additionally, images and text are more crisp on the One X, plus the display is much brighter. Of course, which of the phone's displays you prefer comes down to your personal preference. Frankly I hear echos of the old plasma versus LCD HDTV debate.

Features and performance

Samsung threw all the bells and whistles into the Galaxy S III. The cutting-edge device comes with a boatload of special software and interface enhancements, some of which work better than others. Real standouts, though, are Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, and S Beam for transferring content between phones such as photos and video by bumping them together. Running the Galaxy S III's show is a fast Snapdragon S4 1.5GHz dual-core processor paired with a whopping 2GB of RAM and 16GB of onboard memory.

The HTC One X is no slouch either, equipped with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and HTC's latest Sense 4 UI, which is both intuitive and powerful. Sure, the One X may not come with the amount of ambitious gesture or voice controls as the Galaxy S III. I'd argue, though, that too many snazzy enhancements and special functions may be overwhelming or have limited value. Just like the Galaxy S III, a 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 chip pushes the One X's software along at a quick clip. That said, the phone's RAM tops out at 1GB, though 16GB of internal storage is included.

Camera and network
Both the Samsung Galaxy S III and HTC One X pack formidable 8-megapixel cameras with backlit sensors. The dueling phones also take advantage of Ice Cream Sandwich's new burst shot feature and can capture images with machine gun rapidity. Still, the Galaxy S III wins by a hair in the camera department, capturing clearer and more pleasing HD video. It also has a higher resolution 1.9MP front-facing camera compared to the One X's 1.3MP vanity image sensor.

When it comes to network connection, the two handsets, thankfully, link to AT&T's swift 4G LTE infrastructure and both delivered similar data speeds on our tests. We recorded average download speeds north of 15Mbps with peaks exceeding 20Mbps. Of course, your particular experience will vary depending on the usual variables such as the time of day, location, and the proper alignment of celestial bodies. We also conducted data testing for the Galaxy S III in San Francisco and the HTC One X in New York.

Verdict
I have to say it's a close call and you'll be served exceptionally well by either of these two phones. If you absolutely must have a bleeding-edge device and want the option of swapping out batteries in a pinch or if your power cell fails, the Samsung Galaxy S III is the way to go. I do know that HTC handsets flaunt a distinctive soul all their own, right down to their elegantly crafted interface and quality craftsmanship. If you fall into this camp, only the HTC One X will float your boat.

Samsung Galaxy S 4G

Samsung Galaxy S 4G (T-Mobile): solid and speedy

As a part of its aggressive 4G plans, T-Mobile launched a 4G version of the popular Samsung Galaxy S phones. But unfortunately, the Galaxy S 4G ($200 with a two-year contract from T-Mobile; price as of March 1) does not have the specs of the hot next-gen Galaxy S II phones we saw at Mobile World Congress. That said, there are some slight improvements between the Galaxy S 4G and the Samsung Vibrant, also on T-Mobile.

Design

The Galaxy S 4G retains the lightweight, yet plasticky feel in hand that a few of the other Galaxy phones have had. It looks a bit different from the other all-black Galaxy phones as it has a silver battery cover with a metallic-like sheen. In terms of buttons, you get the standard Menu, Home, Back and Search touch keys. The hardware power button on the right spine is slightly more pronounced than the one on the Vibrant. Measuring 4.82-by-2.54-by-0.39 inches and weighing 4.16 ounces it is pretty much the exact same size as the Vibrant.

Like the other Galaxy S phones out right now, the 4G has a 4-inch Super AMOLED display. Super AMOLED technology, which Samsung introduced at Mobile World Congress last year on the Samsung Wave, puts touch sensors on the display itself, as opposed to creating a separate layer (whichSamsung’s old AMOLED displays had). This allows for a thinner phone as well as brighter colors and more crisp details. It is unfortunate, however, that the Galaxy S 4G does not sport the brand new Super AMOLED Plus display technology, which debuted on the Samsung Infuse 4G at this year’s CES. Super AMOLED Plus technology, the next generation of Super AMOLED, produces richer colors and high visibility indoors and out. It has 50 percent more subpixels for better clarity and readability outdoors, according to Samsung.

Software

Like other Galaxy phones, the Galaxy runs Samsung’s TouchWiz 3.0 user interface over Android. Fortunately, the Galaxy S 4G ships with Android 2.2. I would have preferred a Gingerbread (2.3) phone, though. If the Samsung Nexus S can have it, why can’t the Galaxy S 4G?

Like HTC and its Sense offering, Samsung has its own social media aggregator. Social Hub combines streams from your Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter accounts into a single view. It is a useful feature if you need a simple way to keep track of your networks. One random feature is Mini Diary, which lets you create blog entries with photos, weather info, text messages, and more. When I first tried Mini Diary on the European Galaxy S, I couldn’t figure out how to get my entries off the device. Samsung followed up with me after my original review, thankfully, and confirmed that you can indeed post entries (though only those with photos) to various social networks or send them to friends via text. After you create an entry, you press the Menu key in the bottom-left corner, and it gives you MMS and Publish options. If you choose Publish, you can send your item to Facebook or MySpace.

Overall, TouchWiz is a fun and attractive take on Android, but it isn’t for everyone because it is so overdone that the result doesn’t even look or feel like an Android phone. Also, we found that the skin sometimes interfered with the Galaxy S 4G’s speediness.

Multimedia

The TouchWiz music player is touch-friendly and easy to navigate. It showcases album art nicely, too, with an iTunes Cover Flow-style user interface. Sound was clean over my own earbuds, and decent via the external speakers.

One of the most intriguing features of the Galaxy S phones is the Samsung Media Hub, which will accompany all of the Galaxy S models. Media Hub is Samsung’s answer to iTunes, a store for purchasing music and video. It definitely isn’t as rich in content as iTunes, but you’ll be able to find most major movies and most popular music.

The Galaxy 4G is also loaded with the full length movie Inception (which looked great on the display and played smoothly), T-Mobile video chat, doubleTwist with AirSync, Slacker and Kindle for Android.

Camera

In my hands-on tests, the 5-megapixel camera performed pretty well both indoors and out-until I took it out at night. Oddly, like the very first Galaxy S phone we played with, the Samsung Galaxy S 4G has no flash. For a phone with so much whiz-bang, it is sad that a camera flash was left out of the final design.

My photos shot indoors looked a bit on the dark side, but overall pretty crisp and clear. Photos taken outdoors on a sunny day looked a lot better: colors looked vivid, yet natural and details were sharp.

The HD camcorder can shoot up to 720p video, which looked pretty good in the test videos I shot outdoors. The Galaxy S 4G also ships with a front-facing VGA camera for video chatting.

Performance

The Galaxy S 4G is powered by a 1 GHz Cortex A8 Hummingbird processor, like the other Galaxy phones. Oddly, it has less built-in memory than the Vibrant with 512 MB of RAM as opposed to 1024 MB. The Galaxy S 4G handled video smoothly as well as the multiple apps I threw at it. I did notice a bit of lag though during scrolling and flicking through menus. This might be an issue with TouchWiz bogging down Android; we’ve noticed this on other Samsung TouchWiz phones before.

According to T-Mobile, the Galaxy S 4G is capable of delivering theoretical peak download speeds of up to 21 Mbps over its HSPA+ “4G” network. Theoretical is the keyword here. In San Francisco, our speeds didn’t even get close, but they were fast-depending on where we were. Using the FCC-approved Ookla app, we got an average of 2.6 Mbps for download speeds and 0.36 Mpbs for upload speeds in the South Park neighborhood of San Francisco. In another neighborhood, where the 4G signal is stronger, we got an average of 6.5 down and 1.7 up.

In a real world scenario, pages loaded pretty quickly-when I could get a signal. I had to test the full PCWorld.com HTML site multiple times because the Galaxy S 4G kept switching between EDGE and 4G. When I finally got it to fully load over 4G, I got about 18 seconds on average. ThrasherMagazine.com took an average of 17 seconds and a mobile version of CNN.com took 4 seconds.

Call quality over the network was really good. I didn’t experience any dropped calls (a problem that the Vibrant seems to struggle with) and voices sounded crystal clear. Callers on the other end of line were also pleased with the audio quality and could hear me perfectly.

Rihanna

      

Bio:

Rihanna (born Robyn Rihanna Fenty in Saint Michael, Barbados on February 20, 1988) is a Barbadian recording artist and actress. Rihanna moved to the U.S. at 16 and immediately pursued a recording career under Evan Rogers and Def Jam Recordings. Since her debut solo album, Music of the Sun peaked in the top ten of the Billboard 200 chart in 2005, she has recorded five more studio albums, which includeA Girl Like Me in 2006, Good Girl Gone Bad in 2007, Rated R in2009, Loud in 2010, and Talk That Talk in 2011. Rihanna has earned numerous awards and accolades, including five American Music Awards, 18 Billboard Music Awards, two Brit Awards, and six Grammy Awards! Good Girl Gone Bad produced nine Grammy nominations alone! She is the youngest solo artist to have 11 number one singles on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and the highest-selling digital artist in U.S. history. She made her big screen debut with the release of Battleship in May 2012.

In 2009, Rihanna encountered a crisis in her personal life. She placed a restraining order on ex-boyfriend Chris Brown after he plead guilty to a felony assault against her. Due to this personal event, Rihanna transformed her sound and released a very dark and mature side of her music, which was widely received by the public. Ever since, she has become a fan favorite for her daring fashion statements, her A-list celebrity friend list, and amazing talent that ranges from solo singles to collaborations with Drake, Kanye, Eminem, Jay-Z and more!

Best Known For:
Chart topping Singles that include SOS, Umbrella, Rude Boy, Only Girl, S&M, We Found Love, and collaborations with the best in the industry.

Personal Life:
In 2009 Rihanna was a case of domestic violence by her on-again off-again boyfriend Chris Brown. She reports her whereabouts on a regular basis via twitter for all of her fans to see, and holds BFF’s like Katy Perry.

Date of Birth: February 20, 1988

Height: 5'8"
Hometown: Saint Michael, Barbados
In a Relationship With:
Her Career
Best Quotes:

"Let go of the things that make you feel dead. Life is worth living!"

"I just really wanted to be myself. I wanted to be sassy, the attitude, all these things that I am."

"I don't ever want to have to depend on a relationship. I think it's a really special thing to find love. It's beautiful. Nothing can match it. But I want to make sure that I find other things in life that I love besides . . . love."

Top 10 Rihanna Songs

'Top 10 Rihanna Songs'

Samsung Galaxy Note 2 goes bigger display 5.5-inch and quad-core in August

Samsung Galaxy Note 2 goes bigger display 5.5-inch and 

quad-core in August

If you thought the Samsung Galaxy Note was big, wait until you get a load of the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 -- it's set to be even bigger than the ginormous current model.

MK News reports that the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 will arrive in August packing a 5-5-inch display, which is even larger than the initial 5.3-inch offering.

The tech world descends on Berlin at the end of next month for gadget industry bunfight IFA. The Note debuted there last year, so we're expecting Samsung's sequel to take a bow at this year's event alongside the rest of this year's big-name new kit.

The larger Note is expected to pack a quad-core processor. It's also set for a bump to a 12-megapixel camera, or even a 13-megapixel job. The current Note sports an 8-megapixel snapper.

The update to the hybrid 'phablet' will also see the integration of a quad-core processor and the Android 4.1 Jelly Bean operating system, according to the report. Jelly Bean makes its debut on the Google Nexus 7 later this month, but there's little word on when it'll show up on other devices.

The Note was the first oversized phone to poke the boundary between phone and tablet. It seemed odd but has proved surprisingly popular, among a general trend of phones getting bigger.

Samsung Galaxy S III / S3  Specs & Rumors

We can expect the Samsung Galaxy S III / S 3 sometime in 2012, if we are to believe what the photo below has to offer. The image in question not only tells us when, but what we can expect from the yet to be announced Samsung flagship.

                                           

Samsung Galaxy S III / S 3: Processor & Display

According to the potential sources, the Samsung Galaxy S III will feature a dual-core 1.8GHz Exynos 4212 processor (no quad-core just yet), 2GB of RAM, a 12MP camera, and a 4.6-inch Super AMOLED Plus HD display. That screen technology would provide HD resolution without falling back on the PenTile technology found in Samsung’s current generation of HD displays. Our sources noted that these particular displays are not fully baked at this point in time. The camera would deploy the W750 BSI CMOS sensor and the phone will feature LTE and NFC support.

Samsung Galaxy S III / S 3: Design & Build

Unlike the upcoming Nexus Prime, the Smasung Galaxy S III will not use a curved display and the design language of the phone will apparently differ from the current Galaxy S lineup to avoid future legal issues. The Samsung Galaxy S III is said to be even thinner than the Samsung Galaxy S II. While the handset will run on the upcoming Android Ice Cream Sandwich build, it will reportedly retain four physical buttons.

Conclusion:

It should be noted that this information is unconfirmed at this time, and we would be remiss to not point out a few obvious flaws in the actual image. The original Galaxy S is listed as shipping with an Exynos CPU and other typos can be found. Could this be a clever fake? It’s definitely possible. Take it with a grain of salt but the details seem pretty spot on in most respects.

Samsung Galaxy S III / S 3 Malaysia Release Date & Price:

The Samsung Galaxy S III / S 3 price in Malaysia and release date is yet to be annouce.

The features above & below are rumors only and more details review will be coming soon!

Samsung Galaxy S III / S 3 Unofficial Specifications:

Specification
General 2G Network GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 3G Network HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100 / LTE Dimensions Weight Internal 16GB/32GB storage, 2 GB RAM Card slot microSD, up to 32GB, buy memory OS Android OS CPU 1.8 GHz dualcore processor, Samsung Exynos 4212 chipset Standard battery, LiIon Standby Talk time	Connectivity GPRS Yes EDGE Yes 3G HSDPA, HSUPA WLAN WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n, DLNA, WiFi Direct, WiFi hotspot Bluetooth Yes, v3.0+HS Infrared port No USB Yes, v2.0 microUSB (MHL), USB Onthego GPS Yes, with AGPS support	Entertainment & Features Phonebook Practically unlimited entries and fields, Photocall Call records Practically unlimited Messaging SMS(threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Mail, IM, RSS Browser HTML Games Yes Java Yes, via Java MIDP emulator Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic NFC support (optional) TVout (via MHL A/V link) SNS integration Digital compass MP4/DivX/XviD/WMV/H.264/H.263 player MP3/WAV/eAAC+/AC3/FLAC player Organizer Image/video editor Document editor (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF) Google Search, Maps, Gmail, YouTube, Calendar, Google Talk, Picasa integration Adobe Flash support Voice memo/dial/commands Predictive text input (Swype)
Camera Primary 12 MP, 4000x3000 pixels, autofocus, LED flash Geotagging, touch focus, face and smile detection, image stabilization Video Yes, 1080p@30fps Secondary Yes, 2 MP	Screen Super AMOLED Plus capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors 720 x 1280 pixels, 4.6 inches (~319 ppi pixel density) Gorilla Glass display TouchWiz UI Multitouch input method Accelerometer sensor for UI autorotate Touchsensitive controls Proximity sensor for auto turnoff Gyroscope sensor	Sound & Music Alert types Vibration; MP3, WAV ringtones Loudspeaker Yes 3.5mm jack Yes Radio Stereo FM radio with RDS