UPDATED 11:21 EDT / SEPTEMBER 11 2013

NEWS

The iPhone 5s vs Galaxy S4 vs HTC One vs Xperia Z vs BlackBerry Z10 vs Lumia 1020 vs Optimus G Pro

Aside from entering the budget market for the first time with its iPhone 5c, Apple also revealed its’ latest flagship high-end device, the iPhone 5s. This is the device that everyone’s been talking about, mostly because of its new Touch ID feature.

But apart from that, is there anything else that the iPhone 5s has that some of the other top smartphones released don’t have? Or does Apple’s latest offering fail to live up to the capabilities of the top Android and Windows Phone devices currently on the market? Let’s take a closer look in our latest head to head of the iPhone vs the best of the rest of this year’s smartphones:

iPhone 5s vs The Rest

 

Design:

 

iPhone 5s: Available in gold, silver, and space gray, the back panel of the device is make up of high grade aluminum.

Galaxy S4: Special polycarbonate body, slim bezel, wide display, unique textured design

HTC One: Sleek aluminum body, live home screen, dual front stereo speakers

Xperia Z: Slim body, reflective durable front and back glass, glass fibre polyamide frame, OmniBalance design, dust and water resistant

BlackBerry Z10: Though it looks a lot like the iPhone 5, it’s sleek and simple design claimed the Red Dot Award for Product Design 2013.

Lumia 1020: Polycarbonate body, with physical buttons, convex back

Optimus G Pro: Smooth metallic highlights done with Laser Cut Contour and a unibody with a clean finish

Dimensions:

 

iPhone 5s: Height 123.8 mm x Width 58.6 mm x Depth 7.6 mm, Weight 112 grams

Galaxy S4: 136.6 x 69.8 x 7.9 mm, 130g

HTC One: 137.4mm  x 68.2 mm x  9.3mm, 143 g

Xperia Z: 139 x 71 x 7.9 mm, 146 g

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

Lumia 1020: 130.4  x 71.4 x 10.4 mm, 158g

Optimus G Pro: 150.2 x 76.1 x 9.4 mm, 172 g

Display:

 

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

Galaxy S4: 5-inch Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 1080 x 1920 pixels, ~441 ppi pixel density, topped with Corning Gorilla Glass 3. multitouch

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

Xperia Z: 5-inch shatter-proof and scratch resistant tempered glass, Sony Mobile BRAVIA Engine 2, TFT capacitive touchscreen, 1080 x 1920 pixels, ~441 ppi pixel density, multitouch, OptiContrast™ panel

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

Lumia 1020: 4.5 ” ClearBlack AMOLED with super-sensitive touch technology featuring PureMotion HD+, Brightness control, High brightness mode, Refresh rate 60 Hz, easy to clean sculpted glass, Nokia Glance screen, Lumia Color profile, Wide viewing angle, Corning Gorilla Glass 3, Sunlight readability enhancements

Optimus G Pro: True Full HD IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors, 1080 x 1920 pixels, 5.5 inches (~401 ppi pixel density), multitouch

Processor:

 

iPhone 5s: A7 chip and a new M7 motion coprocessor

Galaxy S4:Exynos 5 Octa 5410, 1.9GHz quad-core or 1.6GHz octa-core processor, depending on what region you’re from,

HTC One: Qualcomm Snapdragon 600, quad-core, 1.7GHz,

Xperia Z: Qualcomm S4 Pro Quad-core 1.5 GHz Krait

BlackBerry Z10: Qualcomm Snapdragon Dual Core 1.5 GHz

Lumia 1020: Dual-core 1.5 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4

Optimus G Pro: Qualcomm APQ8064T Snapdragon 600, Quad-core 1.7 GHz Krait 300,

Memory/Storage:

 

iPhone 5s: 16/32/64GB

Galaxy S4: 16/32/64 GB storage, can be upgraded with up to 64GB of storage via microSD, 2GB of RAM

HTC One: 32GB and 64GB, 2GB RAM

Xperia Z: 16 GB, upgradable with 64GB microSD, 2GB RAM

BlackBerry Z10: 16GB, can be upgraded to up to 64GB via microSD, 2GB RAM

Lumia 1020: 32BG mass memory, 7 GB free SkyDrive cloud storage, 2GB RAM

Optimus G Pro: 32 GB, upgradable with 64GB microSD, 2GB RAM

Battery:

 

iPhone 5s: Built-in rechargeable lithium-ion battery, charging via USB to computer system or power adapter, talk time up to 10 hours on 3G, standby time up to 250 hours, Internet use up to 8 hours on 3G, up to 10 hours on LTE, up to 10 hours on Wi-Fi, video playback up to 10 hours, audio playback up to 40 hours

Galaxy S4: 2600 mAh Li-Ion removable battery

HTC One: 2300 mAh embedded rechargeable Li-polymer battery

Xperia Z:  Non-removable Li-Ion 2330 mAh battery, Battery STAMINA mode for longer battery life, Up to 550 h (2G) / Up to 530 h (3G) on standby, Up to 11 h (2G) / Up to 14 h (3G) talk time, Up to 40 h music play

BlackBerry 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

Lumia 1020:  2000 mAh built-in battery with a maximum 2G talk time of 19.1 hours, maximum 3G talk time of 13.3 h, music playback time of 63 h, video playback time of 6.8 h, maximum WiFi network browsing time of 5.5 h, and supports wireless charging via an accessory cover.

Optimus G Pro:  Li-Po 3140 mAh battery

Operating System:

 

iPhone 5s: iOS 7

Galaxy S4: Android 4.2.2 JellyBean

HTC One: Android with HTC Sense

Xperia Z: Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean

BlackBerry Z10: BlackBerry 10

Lumia 1020: Windows Phone 8

Optimus G Pro: Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean

Camera:

 

iPhone 5s: 8MP iSight camera with 1.5µ pixels, ƒ/2.2 aperture, Sapphire crystal lens cover, True Tone flash, Apple-designed 5-element lens, autofocus, tap to focus, face detection, panorama, burst mode, geotagging, and 1.2MP FaceTime camera

Galaxy S4: rear camera – 13MP, 4128 x 3096 pixels, autofocus, LED flash, front camera – 2 MP, 1080p@30fps, dual video call, Dual Shot, Simultaneous HD video and image recording, geo-tagging, touch focus, face and smile detection, image stabilization, HDR

HTC 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

Xperia Z: Exmor RS rear camera – 13.1 MP, 4128×3096 pixels, autofocus, LED flash, front camera – 2.2 MP, 1080p@30fps, sweep panorama, geo-tagging, touch focus, HDR, face detection

BlackBerry Z10: front camera – HD 1.2 MP wide angle, 1280 x 960 pixels, f/2.4, capable of video recording, still image capture, video call; rear camera – 41 MP, PureView, 7712 x 5360 camera resolution, with autofocus , Carl Zeiss Tessar lens, 1/1.5 inch sensor size, f/2.2 aperture, 26mm camera focal length, 15cm minimum focus range, JPEG camera image format, Xenon flash, 4.0m flash operating range, with on, off and automatic flash modes.

Lumia 1020: 41MP PureView 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.

Optimus G Pro: rear camera – 13 MP, autofocus, LED flash, front camera –  2.1 MP, 1080p@30fps, geo-tagging, face detection, image stabilization, Smart Shutter, Time Catch Shot, Cheese Shutter

Price:

 

iPhone 5s: $199 for the 16GB, $299 for the 32GB, $399 for the 64GB, available on AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, and T-Mobile.  Available in retail stores on September 20, 2013.

Galaxy S4: $199 with a two-year carrier contract

HTC One: $199 with a two-year carrier contract

Xperia Z: $600 or $25 for 24 months on T-Mobile

BlackBerry Z10: $99.99 with a two-year contract, $439.99 full price

Lumia 1020: $299.99 with a two-year contract, $659.99 full price

Optimus G Pro: $99.99 with a two-year contract, $439.99

Special features:

 

iPhone 5s: Touch ID – the new fingerprint sensor which can be used to unlock the device as well as authorize iTunes purchases, M7 chip which makes it a fitness tracking device, the iOS 7’s new features, AirDrop so you can share files easily over WiFi or Bluetooth, new security feature in Find My iPhone, revamped apps, uses nano SIM instead of micro SIM, Siri

Galaxy S4: Smart Screen – Smart Stay, Smart Pause, Smart Rotation, Smart Scroll; Air Gesture, WatchOn, ChatOn, AirView, Group Play, S Health, wireless charging cover, S Translator, Sound and Shot, Dual Shot, Cinema Photo, Drama Shot

HTC One:  BlinkFeed, HTC Zoe, HTC UltraPixel Camera, HTC BoomSound with Beats Audio integration, HTC Sense TV

Xperia Z: Water resistant – one meter, 30 minutes; dust-resistant, PlayStation Mobile, PlayMemories, Xperia Care, Battery STAMINA Mode, One-touch mirroring with NFC technology

BlackBerry Z10:  BlackBerry Balance, BlackBerry Magnify,  Teletypewriter (TTY) Support, micro HDMI, BlackBerry Flow, BlackBerry Hub, BlackBerry Keyboard, BBM Video with Share Screen, Camera with Time Shift

Lumia 1020: 41MP camera, physical camera buttons, camera apps

Optimus G Pro: Quick Memo, Live Zooming, Screen Zooming, Message Wallpaper, Icon personalizer, Application Link, Dual Screen, QSLIDE

The Verdict:

 

The M7 chip, A7 chip, the new iOS 7, Touch ID, and camera enhancements will have fanbois drooling as they queue up outside the Apple stores ahead of the iPhone 5s’ launch on the 20th.  But specs-wise, the Galaxy S4, Xperia Z and Optimus Pro G all have a better screen resolution, while the Lumia 1020 has the by far and away the best camera with its 41MP PureView camera.

As far as the design goes, the iPhone 5s looks sleek and elegant with its new color scheme, and the metal trim on the Touch ID makes it look all the better.  And of course, nothing beats metal if you want a device that makes you look more matured.  That’s why it’s quite baffling  why Apple chose a polycarbonate casing on the iPhone 5c, they should have just used the casing that was used on the 5th gen iPod Touch – so even if it’s colorful, there’s still an air of sophistication to it.

If you want a device that looks really beautiful, go for the iPhone 5s. Of course, it also has a barrage of new security features so that’s a plus, especially for business users.  If you want an Android phone that looks really good, you can also opt for the iPhone 5s – after all, the new iOS 7 is just like Android these days. But if you hate Apple and all of its fanbois, either go for the Galaxy S4 for its Jedi-like features or the Xperia Z because it’s very durable.  If you want something with an awesome camera, the Lumia 1020 is the best bet.


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