The Samsung Galaxy S5 has been officially announced. However, one of its key rivals the HTC One M8 won’t be shown off for another few weeks. Is it worth waiting for? Here are a few reasons why you might want to wait out of the HTC One 2 before deciding which to buy.
It has three cameras, including an UltraPixel one
A three-camera smartphone sounds a little silly, but it makes sense in the HTC One 2. The phone is expected to have two cameras on the back and one on the front.
The double back camera setup isn’t there for a gimmick, either. It’s not there for 3D video shooting (as far as we know). Instead, the HTC One 2 will have one UltraPixel camera and one lower-res one used to ‘artifically’ increase the shallow depth of field effect.
UltraPixel is a term HTC invented, but it refers to having a lower-resolution sensor, which allows the sensor pixels to be larger. Larger pixels can gather more light for photos than smaller ones, resulting in more accurate photos in poor lighting. On a bright day, the Galaxy S5 will produce far more detailed photos, but the HTC camera is far more intriguing.
In contrast, the Galaxy S5 has a much more ordinary two-camera setup – one on the front, one on the back. The main one is a 16-megapixel sensor that sticks to the high megapixel count, small pixel pitch style of the previous Samsung Galaxy S phones.
The HTC One 2 probably has BoomSound speakers
Better-than-average speakers aren’t something you can make sound all that high-tech without trying a bit too hard. But in actual use, we find them much more useful than most of the tech whizzbang features you’ll find in the Galaxy S5.
Like the HTC One, the HTC One 2 will reportedly have a pair of BoomSound speakers on the front. Front-loaded stereo speakers are the best you can hope for from a mobile phone, and pretty much every leak suggests the second HTC One will have them.
The Galaxy S5 has more a traditional rear-mounted speaker.
A metal body feels better than a plastic one
Like every Samsung Galaxy S phone, the Galaxy S5 has a plastic body. It’ll be surprisingly tough in drop tests if it’s going to be anything like the Galaxy S4 shell, but it won’t feel anywhere near as expensive in-hand as the HTC One 2.
HTC’s new phone will almost certainly have an aluminium body – the first HTC One was an exceptionally well-made phone with similar construction standards to Apples. Leaks suggest that, like last year’s flagship, it’ll have the same ‘unibody’ style as that phone rather than the slightly less impressive build of phones like the HTC One Max and HTC One Mini.
It’s likely to have a slightly more natural-looking screen
Both HTC and Samsung flagships have 1080p screens that are close to the 5-inch mark. However, the screen types they use are quite different.
The Samsung Galaxy S5 has an OLED-based screen, the HTC One 2 an LCD screen. OLED provides much better contrast and black level, but often oversaturates colours and can have trouble reaching the same brightness levels as a top LCD.
We’ve not yet had a proper look at the Galaxy S5 screen in ‘normal’ conditions, but there’s a good chance the same old screen rivalry we saw last year with the S5 and One 2. That means a slightly more natural look and more dazzling brightness from the HTC phone.
HTC Sense is a bit more tasteful than TouchWiz
Samsung loves packing features into its phones, and its abilities sound pretty great when you list them. The Galaxy S5 can do absolutely loads of things.
However, in use we prefer the more pared-back, simple approach taken by the HTC Sense interface. With last year’s HTC One, HTC slimmed-down the interface in some respects. It has fewer features and a cleaner look than the vast majority of custom Android skins.
While HTC may foul all that up with the new phone, we have a feeling HTC may have realised it was onto a good thing with the ‘simple is best’ approach. Well, we hope.
Should you wait for the HTC One 2?
At this point we’re not sure if the HTC One 2 is going to be better than the Galaxy S5. However, you’d be mad not to wait. We’ll know all the official details about the phone within a couple of weeks, so take a deep breath and relax. We’ll be back with the official news on the HTC One 2 soon.
Next, read more about the HTC One 2
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
