HTC finally revealed the highly anticipated HTC One, boosting its flagship smartphone lineup.  Though the launch was met with a lot of bumps along the way, such as knock-offs and leaked images, this remains an important step for HTC as it looks to regain a dominant position in the very crowded smartphone market.

The HTC One has the honor of being the first equipped with the Snapdragon 600, which clearly puts it ahead of the competition.  It is encased in a machined aluminum unibody with curved edges so it fits comfortably in your hand.  And will be available in Silver/White, Black and Red versions.

“People today immerse themselves in a constant stream of updates, news and information. Although smartphones are one of the main ways we stay in touch with the people and information we care about, conventional designs have failed to keep pace with how people are actually using them,” said Peter Chou, CEO of HTC Corporation. “A new, exciting approach to the smartphone is needed and with the new HTC One, we have re-imagined the mobile experience from the ground up to reflect this new reality.”

Want to know how the HTC One compares to other top selling smartphones?  Check out the specs below.

Dimensions

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HTC One: Height 137.4mm  x Width 68.2 mm x Depth 9.3mm, Weight 143 g

BlackBerry Z10: 130 mm x 65.6 mm x 9 mm, 137.5 g

Google Nexus 4: 133.9mm x 68.7mm x 9.1 mm, 139 g

Apple iPhone 5: 123.8 x 58.6 x 7.6 mm, 112 g

Samsung Galaxy SIII: 136.6 x 70.6 x 8.6 mm, 133 g

Display

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One: 4.7 inch  Super LCD 3 display, Full HD 1080p, 468 PPI, Gorilla Glass 2

Z10: 4.1” 1280 x 768 resolution, 356ppi, IPS LCD, All-touch screen, with intuitive gesture based navigation

Nexus 4: Vibrant 1280-by-768 4.7-inch True HD IPS Plus display supported by Zerogap Touch technology, gently curved glass edges allow your finger to slide smoothly on and off the 320ppi screen, topped with scratch resistant Corning Gorilla Glass 2.

iPhone 5: 4” Retina display with 1136 x 640 resolution and 326 ppi, Fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coating on front

Galaxy SIII: 4.8 inch HD Super AMOLED (1280×720) display, Corning Gorilla Glass that provides exceptional damage resistance to the drops, bumps, and scrapes of everyday use.

Capacity and Price

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One:  32GB and 64GB, no price yet, available in March

Z10: 16GB, can be upgraded to up to 64GB via microSD, $149 with a 3-year plan

Nexus 4: 8GB for $299, 16GB for $349 or $199 for a two-year contract with T-Mobile.

iPhone 5: 16GB $199, 32GB $299, 64GB $399with free 5GB iCloud – with a new two-year contract either on AT&T, Sprint or Verizon

Galaxy SIII: 16GB, 32GB, 64GB user memory – can be upgraded to up to 64GB via MicroSD, $199 with a two-year contract

Cellular and Wireless

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One: HSPA/WCDMA – Europe/Asia: 850/900/1900/2100 MHz; GSM/GPRS/EDGE – 850/900/1800/1900 MHz; NFC capable, Bluetooth 4.0 with aptX enabled, Wi-Fi: IEEE 802.11 a/ac/b/g/n, DLNA for wirelessly streaming media from the phone to a compatible TV or computer, Support consumer infrared remote control, Internal GPS antenna + GLONASS, digital compass

Z10: 3G, 4G LTE, 21Mbps HSPA+, Quad band HSPA+ 1, 2, 5/6, 8 (850/900/1900/2100 MHz), Quad band EDGE (850/900/1800/1900 MHz), WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n, 2.4 GHz / 5 GHz, Mobile Hotspot, Bluetooth 4.0 Low Energy (LE), Assisted, Autonomous and Simultaneous GPS, Preloaded with BlackBerry Maps application, BlackBerry Tag with NFC technology enables communication between BlackBerry smartphones and other NFC-enabled devices with a tap

Nexus 4: WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, NFC Android Beam, Bluetooth, GSM/UMTS/HSPA+, GSM/EDGE/GPRS (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz), 3G (850, 900, 1700, 1900, 2100 MHz) and HSPA+ 21

iPhone 5: GSM model: GSM/EDGE; UMTS/HSPA+; DC-HSDPA; CDMA model: CDMA EV-DO Rev. A and Rev. B; LTE; Wi-Fi (802.11a/b/g/n; 802.11n on 2.4GHz and 5GHz); Bluetooth 4.0; GPS and GLONASS

Galaxy SIII: 2.5G (GSM/ GPRS/ EDGE): 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 MHz; 3G (HSPA＋ 21Mbps): 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100 MHz; 4G (Dependent on market); WiFi a/b/g/n, WiFi HT40; GPS/GLONASS; NFC; Bluetooth 4.0(LE)

Battery

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One: 2300 mAh embedded rechargeable Li-polymer battery

Z10: 1800mAH removable battery, Up to 10 hours talk time (3G), Up to 13 days standby time
*Note: Battery life claims are for Model STL100-3

Nexus 4: 2,100mAh Li-Polymer (embedded) / Talk time: 15.3 hours / Standby: 390 hours

iPhone 5: Talk time: Up to 8 hours on 3G; Browsing time: Up to 8 hours on LTE, Up to 8 hours on 3G, Up to 10 hours on Wi-Fi; Standby time: Up to 225 hours

Galaxy SIII: 2,100 mAh

Processor

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One: Qualcomm Snapdragon 600, quad-core, 1.7GHz, 2GB of RAM

Z10: Qualcomm Snapdragon Dual Core 1.5 GHz, 2GB RAM

Nexus 4: Cutting-edge Qualcomm Snapdragon™ S4 processor, 2GB RAM

iPhone 5: A6 – Apple engineered chip

Galaxy SIII:  Exynos 4 Quad processor @ 1.4Ghz for HSPA version, and 1GB RAM.

OS

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One: Android with HTC Sense

Z10: BlackBerry 10 OS

Nexus 4: Android 4.2 Jelly Bean

iPhone 5: iOS 6

Galaxy SIII: Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich upgradable to Jelly Bean

Camera

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One: HTC UltraPixel Camera, BSI sensor, Pixel size 2.0 µm, Sensor size 1/3′, Dedicated HTC ImageChip 2, F2.0 aperture and 28 mm lens, Optical Image Stabilization (OIS), Smart Flash: Five levels of flash automatically set by distance to subject, Front Camera –  2.1 MP, 880 wide angle lens with HDR capability, 1080p Full HD video recording for both front and back cameras, HDR Video, Continuous shooting and VideoPic, Slow motion video recording with variable speed playback, HTC Zoe with HTC Zoe Highlights and HTC Zoe Share, Retouch with Object Removal, Group Retouch, and Sequence Shot

Z10: Rear camera – 8MP auto-focus camera, Back Side Illumination for better low-light performance, 5-element F2.2 lens, flash, continuous and touch to focus, image stabilization, 5 x digital zoom, 1080p HD video recording, Time Shift mode for pinpointing and adjusting individual elements of your picture; Front camera – 2 megapixel fixed-focus camera, Image and video stabilization, 3x digital zoom, 720p HD video recording.

Nexus 4: High-performance 8MP camera and takes stunning 360° panoramas with Photo Sphere, shoot video in full 1080p and snap still shots while filming, instantly upload photos on Google+, 1.3MP front-facing camera

iPhone 5: 8MP iSight camera that features Autofocus, Tap to focus, LED flash, Backside illumination sensor, Five-element lens, Face detection, Hybrid IR filter, ƒ/2.4 aperture, Panorama and improved video recording feature now with face detection and enhanced image stabilization, 30fps; 1.2MP FaceTime camera with 720p HD video and Backside illumination sensor

Galaxy SIII: Main(Rear): 8 Mega pixel Auto Focus camera with Flash & Zero Shutter Lag, BSI; Sub (Front): 1.9 Mega pixel camera, HD recording @30fps with Zero Shutter Lag, BSI; Best photo

Sensors

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One: Gyro sensor, Accelerometer, Proximity sensor, Ambient light sensor

Z10: Accelerometer, Magnetometer, Proximity sensor, Gyroscope, Ambient light sensor

Nexus 4: Accelerometer, Ambient light, Compass, Gyroscope, Barometer and GPS.

iPhone 5: Three-axis gyro, Accelerometer, Proximity sensor, Ambient light sensor, Compass

Galaxy SIII: Accelerometer, RGB light, Digital compass, Proximity, Gyro, Barometer

SIM

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One: Micro SIM

Z10: Micro SIM

Nexus 4: Micro SIM

iPhone 5: Nano SIM

Galaxy SIII: Micro SIM

Standout features

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One: Its user interface has been overhauled to deliver the things you want, when you want them.  BlinkFeed gives you a live home screen so you can stay up to date with the latest happenings in Twitter or Facebook, or the latest news around the globe.  Even the photo gallery has been brought to life with HTC Zoe and the HTC UltraPixel Camera that lets you capture 20 photos and a 3-second video in one shot.  As you may have noticed, the HTC One has two strips of speaker grills in the front for a whole new music and video experience via the HTC BoomSound with Beats Audio integration.  And the HTC Sense TV transform your HTC One into the perfect TV companion.

Z10: BlackBerry Balance, which offers dedicated profiles to keep work and personal data separate and secure, USB 2.0 high speed port which allows charging and data synchronization of the device with a USB cable, Micro HDMI for connection to your HDTV or projector, BlackBerry® Magnify, for customers with partial vision, Teletypewriter (TTY) Support.

Nexus 4: Wireless charging, Google Now, Voice Search, Google Maps, Gesture Typing, Android Beam, Google Wallet,  Music Manager.

iPhone 5: Ultrafast Wireless, Maps, EarPods, Lightning connector, enhanced Siri, Passbook.

Galaxy SIII: Smart Stay, Direct Call, Smart Alert, Social Tag, S Voice.

So which is the best phone?

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The HTC One takes the prize for the best phone in this round because it uses the Snapdragon 600 which makes it super fast compared to the other devices.  But aside from that, the live home screen makes it really interesting.  And if you’re a budding photographer or just likes taking photos everywhere you go, the UltraPixel Camera seems like a formidable companion.

HTC should have called this the HTC Live since it’s all about giving life to the most mundane features of a phone.  Though it weighs more than most of the phones it was compare to, the sleek aluminum body, and curved design makes up for the extra weight.