Sprint announced yesterday that its latest flagship phone, the HTC Evo 4D LTE, will be released and made available on the 18th of May 2012. Though Sprint does not have a nationwide LTE network running yet, the latest HTC Evo 4G LTE offers several cutting-edge technologies and features that will surely make its users busy for a while. HTC had lived up to the challenges of the high-end smartphone market with the launch of the HTC Evo 4G LTE, the phone is packed with the latest technology and will surely make the competition among the top-of-the-line smartphones even tighter.
One of the direct competitors of the HTC Evo 4G LTE is the latest flagship smartphone of Samsung, the Samsung Galaxy S III. Similarly, the Galaxy S III comes with loaded features and smart technology that offers its users the luxury of experiencing the latest technologies available for smartphones. Its release last May 3, 2012 had truly marked the standards of a modern smartphone. Samsung packaged the Galaxy S III with features that allowed it to see, listen, and respond to the needs of its users that greatly improves the functionality of the phone and increases its impacts on the lives of its users.
Today, we will put the HTC Evo 4G LTE and the Samsung Galaxy S III head-to-head to determine which of the two will be dominating the smartphone market. Both phones are truly impressive in terms of its raw performance and added features. Is it going to be a tie? Or will one of them emerge as the winner? Let’s find out.
Design
HTC Evo 4G LTE had improved its typical Evo fashion in terms of its kickstand, the latest phone can now be charged while it is propped up and the new design even allows its users to position the phone in several number of ways. The kickstand of the HTC Evo 4G LTE is spring-loaded and is very useable with its sturdy and professional look. It also adds up to the overall design of the phone as the kickstand is place on the red band across the back of the phone which gives it a strong contrast. The upper portion of the back casing is made with plastic that allows for NFC payments. However, the plastic casing gets smudges most of the time which is quite a disadvantage. The lower back casing is made with industrial aluminum which is very decent, plus it does not get smudges.
The top plastic casing can be removed to reveal the microSD slot and allows access to the battery of the phone. Another noticeable design at the back of the phone is its speakers which is located at the bottom. The speakers are now designed as a single slit, as opposed to the former HTC designs that were dotted speakers. Not only that it adds to the sleek design, but it also increased the volume of sound produced from the phone. On the right side of the phone, we can see a beautiful, brushed metal dedicated camera button and the volume rocker. The microUSB is placed of the left edge of the phone. On the top edge, the 3.5 mm audio jack on the left side while the power button is on the left. The dimensions of the phone are 134.8 mm by 68.9 mm, and it is 8.9 mm thick.
On the other hand, the Samsung Galaxy S III offers a design that is inspired by nature. Taking some design considerations from pebbles, leaves and drops of water. The edges of the S III are highly curved and it is very slim, having a thickness of 8.6 mm. The Evo 4G LTE is a bit smaller while having the same size of screen as the S III. It can be noticed that the later has a slimmer bezel than the S III which is very impressive. On the top of the phone, we can see the 3.5 mm audio jack and the power button, similar with the Evo 4G LTE. The left edge is where the volume rocker is located and the dedicated power button is located on the right edge. On the bottom edge, we can see the microUSB port that supports MHL. Samsung Galaxy has a physical Home key button at the bottom of the screen with two capacitive touch buttons on its side for the Menu key and the Back key. On the contrary, the HTC Evo 4G uses three capacitive touch buttons for its Home, Back, and Menu keys.
The slim body, curved edges and sleek design of the Samsung Galaxy S III is really appealing, while the slimmer bezel and the kickstand that adds functionality to the phone makes the HTC Evo 4G LTE also stand out. It is quite hard to choose which one offers the better design, so we call this round a draw.
Display
The HTC Evo 4G LTE houses a 4.7 inch Super IPS LCD2 capacitive touchscreen display with a 720 x 1280 pixel resolution and a pixel density of 312 PPI. It is protected with the Corning Gorilla Glass display. On the other hand, the Samsung Galaxy S III has a 4.8 inch Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen display that also has a 720 x 1280p resolution and pixel density of 306 PPI.
Based on direct comparison of the Super IPS LCD2 and the Super AMOLED screen, it can be noticed that the Super AMOLED displays better whites and black, with awful results in the Super IPS LCD2. However, the Super IPS LCD 2 performs better in displaying colors. These results leave us with a very difficult decision to make, so again we decide on a draw for this round.
Processor
HTC Evo 4G LTE is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 1.5 GHz dual-core Krait processor with the Adreno 226 GPU and 1 GB of RAM. On the other hand, the Samsung Galaxy S III is powered by the Exynos 4212 chipset with a 1.4 GHz quad-core Cortex A9 processor with the MALI-400MP GPU and also 1GB of RAM. However, some reports say that the LTE enabled version of the S III will run a dual core processor due to compatibility issues. As of now, there are still no official announcements regarding the processor of the Samsung Galaxy S III LTE version.
Based on benchmark tests, the Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Krait 1.5 GHz MSM8960 processor scored 5531 on Quadrant and 6954 on AnTuTu. On the other hand, the Exynos 4212 1.4 GHz quad core Cortex A9 processor scored 5642 on the Quadrant benchmark, a whopping 11,492 points in the AnTuTu benchmark test. For this round, the Samsung Galaxy S III wins, for now, due to the performance of its processor based on the benchmarks. However, we still have to wait for the exact benchmark tests of the actual HTC Evo 4G LTE to come up with a final decision.
Software
HTC Evo 4G LTE will run the latest Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) and an overlay of the latest HTC Sense 4.0 UI. Samsung will also have the same ICS OS and will have an overlay of Samsung’s latest Touchwiz nature UX that was specially modified for the Samsung Galaxy S III. We call a draw on this round.
Camera
Both phones have an 8 megapixel camera sensor capable of producing photos at 3264 x 2448p resolution. The camera also features simultaneous HD video recording while taking still images. The Samsung Galaxy S III also features a pop up playback option which is an advantage. Both phones also support burst shot modes. HTC Evo 4G LTE features a continuous burst shot mode, wherein the camera takes continuous shots while the user keeps the camera shutter button pressed. It then chooses the best shot taken and will also prompt the user if he wishes to save all the photos. By doing so, the phone manages effectively photos taken in burst mode by showing only a single image thumbnail. On the other hand, the Samsung Galaxy S III has fixed burst options in 8 burst shots or 20 burst shot modes. The phone will also automatically pick the best photo and best shot. It will also detect the faces of individuals in the photo and will prompt the user if he wishes to tag them or share to them the photo taken. There is still much to hear about the complete features that the HTC Evo 4G LTE will offer with their latest smartphone. So again we call this round a draw.
Memory
The HTC Evo 4G LTE will have a basic internal storage of 16 GB, similar to the Samsung Galaxy S III. However, the Galaxy S III will also be available in 32 GB and 64GB variants. Both phones also supports microSD expansion, the HTC Evo 4G LTE can be expanded up to 32 GB while the S III can be expanded up to 64 GB. Thus, the winner for this round is the Samsung Galaxy S III.
Data Connectivity
Both phones will have LTE network support. Unlike the Galaxy S III, the HTC Evo 4G LTE will not support data networks such as HSDPA and HSUPA. Instead, it will support Rev A, LTE, and UL with speeds up to 3.1 mbps, 50 mbps, and 100 mbps, respectively. Both phones will also have DLNA, Wi-Fi Direct, and NFC support. The devices will also have a microUSB port with MHL that will allow HDMI output. Samsung Galaxy S III uses the Bluetooth 4.0 while Evo 4G LTE has the 3.0 version. This round goes to Samsung Galaxy S III since the HTC Evo 4G LTE has no GSM support which makes it unusable worldwide.
Battery
HTC Evo 4G LTE will come with a 2000 mAh standard battery while the Samsung Galaxy S III has a 2100 mAh battery. Samsung Galaxy S III will be able to provide longer mobility to users with its stronger battery. However, the HTC Evo 4G LTE still performs well compared to other smartphones in the market today. The winner for this round is the Samsung Galaxy S III.
Price
HTC Evo 4G LTE has a pre-order price of $199 and will come with a two-year contract with Sprint while the pre-order price of the Samsung Galaxy S III is at $806 for the unlocked unit. We are still waiting the price of an unlocked version of the HTC Evo 4G LTE or the price of the Samsung Galaxy S III that will come with a contract from telecomm carriers. We leave the decision for this round open and will wait for further info on both phones.
Conclusion
HTC Evo 4G LTE offers great features for a modern smartphone including Beats audio, HD voice, Google wallet, among its other features. Samsung Galaxy S III also has several features of its own such as the S-Beam, S-Voice, pop up play, and a lot more.
Both phones have a plethora of features that makes it difficult to weigh which of the phones are better. The HTC Evo 4G LTE may attract those who are particular with sound quality due to its integration with Beats audio. On the contrary, consumers that are particular with social networking might find the features of the Samsung S III advantageous and helpful to them. The consumers must be keen on examining the different features of both phones and decide which will fit well with their lifestyles, thus choosing between the HTC Evo 4G LTE and the Samsung Galaxy S III will be subjective with its users need.
