Battle of the smartphones hots up

Vibhuti Jaitly

New Delhi: Are you planning to buy a top-end smartphone which will cost anything between Rs 40,000- Rs 50,000 and are confused as to which one to settle for? Then this article might help you choosing your next smartphone, though it is not an easy choice to make as the users are spoilt for choices. Also, Apple on Friday launched 5C at a price tag of Rs 37,000.

Samsung, Apple, Sony and HTC and are no doubt four of the biggest players of the smartphone market. Samsung's S5, iPhone 5S, Sony Xperia Z2 and HTC One M8 are having a neck-to-neck competition.

Let's throw a quick look at the main features of these smartphones and compare them as well.

Design and Look: Cosmetically and in terms of build quality, One M8 is one of the most stunning smartphones with its aluminum unibody design. Galaxy S5 is made of plastic and the backing gives a faux leather look. Sony's Xperia Z2 look is still fresh and the metal and glass body feels strong and good to hold. Apple's iPhone 5s sports a compact aluminum body.

Display and storage: iPhone has the smallest screen a 4.0 inches. The M8 has a 5 inches screen, followed by the S5 at 5.1 inches and the Z2 at 5.2 inches. S5 and One M8 offer a 2GB RAM. Whereas, Z2 and iphone 5S offer 3GB and 1GB RAM respectively. All the four phones have 16GB of built-in storage space.

Camera: Samsung's S5 offers a 16MP camera and has features which none of the three phones offer in this category. One M8 gives you dual 4MP camera. Sony's Z2 camera is 20.7 MP and the iphone 5S gives you a 8MP camera.

Weight: iphone 5S weighs the least at 112gm compared with the rest three phones. S5 weighs 14 gm and One M8 and Z2 are at 160 gm and 163 gm respectively.

Both theSamsung's S5 and Sony's Z2 are waterproof and dustproof up to a point, but HTC's M8 and iPhone's 5S doesn't have any such protection. Samsung also has a heart rate monitor. It is located at the phone's backside, just below its rear camera, and is tied to Samsung's S Health app. The Galaxy S5 is the first phone to include a pulse sensor too. Samsung has also included a fingerprint scanner in the Galaxy S5.

All the four smartphones quite extremely similar, yet have their own identities. The one you choose will depend mainly on your personal style.