A Guide to iPhone 5 Alternatives - Apple's Not the World
Apple's Not the World: Guide to iPhone 5 Alternatives
Apple's Not the World: Guide to iPhone 5 Alternatives
Now that the sparkly-new iPhone 5 has been unveiled and is soon to be available locally, the hype has mellowed down somewhat (or not). With pre-orders and registration of interest web-links (M1, StarHub, Singtel) popping up a couple of days ago and 21st September just days ahead, the question on a potential smartphone buyer's mind is: Should I be revisiting or jumping onto the Apple/iOS 6 bandwagon? What are the pros and cons? To recap, here's a quick list of the iPhone 5's key features:
Apple iPhone 5: Notable Features
|
But hang on for a second. If you are one of those still divided over whether the newly-released iPhone 5 is indeed your cup of tea, we hope to give you more information and options to assist in your decision-making process. For one, there's a gazillion Android alternatives. On the other hand, there's the understated but certainly growing pool of Windows Phone 8-powered devices, including announced Samsung Ativ S and unannounced HTC 8X, 8V and 8V devices. Here's a quick primer on the former:
The Android pool has been a decidedly convoluted lot, with manufacturers launching devices with different specs, screen sizes, even different OS revisions. On top of that, many of these Android smartphones pack their own special features or give the phone a unique user interface. For starters, let's take a quick look at the hardware aspects first. Typically these days, a top-tier Android smartphone comes with a 4.6 to 4.8-inch touch screen (1280 x 720 pixels resolution), Android 4.0 or Android 4.1 OS, a quad-core processor and a 8-megapixel camera. As a point of reference, iPhones, with the exception of the iPhone 5, traditionally come with 3.5-inch screens, which is much smaller than the average Android smartphone:
- Samsung Galaxy S III
- HTC One X / XL
- LG Optimus 4X HD
- LG Optimus G (upcoming)
Additionally, there's a growing pool of Android devices that cross the boundary between smartphones and tablets. These "phablets", as we call them, are primarily differentiated by their 5-inch or larger touch screens with telephony functions. As of now, Korean manufacturers LG and Samsung are the only players in this market:
- Samsung Galaxy Note
- Samsung Galaxy Note II (upcoming)
- LG Optimus VU (upcoming)
- LG Optimmus VU II (upcoming)
The phones mentioned above are considered top of the line at the moment of publication, just like how the iPhone 5 is considered Apple's flagship phone. Taking that into consideration, some of the above mentioned devices can also be considered as iPhone alternatives, despite large discrepancies in their hardware specifications. In this article however, we have tried to match the iPhone to the latest phones with the closest specs as possible; if there isn't any suitable, we've considered the phone's date of release and popularity into consideration (in the case of the Samsung Galaxy S III as you'll soon read below).
Without further ado, here are our five alternatives to the iPhone 5:
Nokia Lumia 920In Summary: The new display called the "Pure Motion HD+" will, according to Nokia, allegedly provide "better than HD resolution", fast refresh rates, and above average and intuitive daylight viewing capabilities. While the Pureview technology featured in Lumia 920 might not be identical to its 41-megapixel cousin, the Nokia 808 PureView, it promises optical image stabilization. Smartphones typically features digital image stabilization, which boosts ISO sensitivity, resulting in noise and softness from the noise reduction process. In Nokia Lumia 920's case, the camera counters unnecessary hand movement by moving the entire camera module as well. Pricing and Availability Both phones will be available in LTE and HSPA+ versions and are expected to start shipping in select markets later in the year. Nokia has mentioned that they will announce pricing and specific roll-out dates country by country. |
|
Samsung Galaxy S IIIIn Summary: The flagship Android device comes with a 4.8-inch HD Super AMOLED screen, one of the best in the market, exhibiting crisp details, true blacks and superb viewing angles under sunlight. Its 8-megaxpixel camera fares well too; the only dent in its "performance" probably lies in the fact that it does not come with a F2.0 lens like the HTC One X. The icing on top of the cherry would be in its extended battery life of 9 hours 45 minutes, the best that we have seen thus far in our mobile battery tests. Check out our full review here. Pricing and Availability The 16GB Galaxy S III (S$998) is now available at all three telcos. Right now, the phone is only available in three shades, Pebble Blue, Marble White and Garnet Red, in Singapore. There are currently a total of six shades, the other three being Sapphire Black, Titanium Grey and Amber Brown, with availability dependent on different regions and carriers. Check its latest prices here. |
|
Motorola Razr Maxx
|
|
HTC One SIn Summary: The middle sibling of the popular HTC One series, the dual-core HTC One S is not just a good looker; its slim metal unibody with anodized finish has been extremely well-crafted and it's no exaggeration to say that it is one of the best-looking phones out there. To add on, it comes with a 4.3-inch qHD Super AMOLED touch screen and well-rounded performance, despite operating on a rather outdated dual-core S3 Snapdragon chipset. Its camera capabilities might not be the best of the 8-megapixel devices available in the market, but it is rather decent to say the least (with room for improvements). Of course, the HTC One S comes with Android 4.0 and HTC Sense 4.0 - we have to add that Sense 4.0 is at its best in years, and HTC certainly deserves some praise for streamlining and refining the Sense UI to work in tandem with Android 4.0. The plus point is, the HTC One S, along with the HTC One X/XL, will be getting an Android 4.1 update soon. Check out our full review of the HTC One S here. Pricing and Availability From 21st July onwards, customers have the option to purchase the HTC One S with or without Beats Solo Headset, at S$748 and S$948 respectively. Check its latest prices here.
|
|
Sony Xperia IonIn Summary: While Sony Mobile has mostly been a small step behind its smartphone competitors, their dual-core, 4.55-inch Sony Xperia Ion isn't a pushover. The only dent in its overall performance is in its battery test results, in which lasted only 240 minutes in our formal video-looping battery test. We pinpointed the battery performance discrepancy to the non-usage of an AMOLED screen, which resulted in higher battery consumption. Fortunately, its day-to-day battery performance expectations are pretty much in-line with most other comparable devices and is able to last a full day. Check out our full review here. Pricing and Availability The Sony Xperia Ion is available in Singapore at S$798. Check its latest prices here. |
For those who prefer to compare it spec-to-spec:
Apple iPhone 5 | Nokia Lumia 920 | Samsung Galaxy S III | Motorola Razr Maxxx | HTC One S |
Sony Xperia Ion | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Processor | Apple A6 | Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Dual-core 1.5GHz | Cortex-A9 Quad-core 1.4GHz |
TI OMAP 4430 Dual-core 1.2 GHz | Qualcomm Snapdragon S3 Dual-core 1.7GHz | Qualcomm Dual-Core S3 1.5 GHz |
Operating System | Apple iOS 6 | Windows Phone 8 | Google Android 4.0 (upgradeable to 4.1) |
Google Android 4.0 |
Google Android 4.0 |
Google Android 2.3 (upgradeable to 4.0) |
Storage Capacity | 16GB / 32GB / 64GB | 32GB / 7GB free SkyDrive storage | 16/32/64GB / microSD up to 64GB | 16GB / microSD expandable up to 32GB |
16GB | 13.2GB (up to 12.9GB user-accessible memory) / microSD expandable up to 32GB |
Display Size + Resolution | 4.0-inch TFT IPS / 1136 x 640 pixels |
4.5-inch Pure Motion HD+ / 1280 x 768 pixels | 4.8-inch HD Super AMOLED / 1280 x 720 pixels | 4.3-inch Super AMOLED Advanced / 960 x 540 pixels | 4.3-inch Super AMOLED / 960 x 540 pixels | 4.55-inch LED-backlit LCD / 1280 x 720 pixels |
Camera | 8-megapixel / BSI Sensor / f 2.4 | 8.7-megapixel / Pureview technology | 8 megapixel / Autofocus / Flash & Zero Shutter Lag / BIS | 8-megapixel / LED flash / 1080p video recording | 8-megapixel / Autofocus / BSI Sensor / 1080p HD video recording | 12-megapixel / Autofocus / LED flash |
Battery | N.A. | 2000mAh / integrated Qi wireless charging | 2100mAh | 3300mAh | 1650mAh | 1900mAh |
LTE Support | Yes | Yes (dependent on region) | Yes (dependent on region) | No | No | Yes (dependent on region) |
Price at Launch | S$948 (16GB) S$1088 (32GB) S$1238 (64GB) | N.A. | S$998 | S$749 | S$748 S$948 (with Beats Solo Headset) |
S$798 |