Hot new smartphone showdown

Comparing and contrasting four new smartphones

Three Androids and a BlackBerry walk into a bar. Who are you leaving with?

With the coming arrivals of both the Samsung Galaxy S4 and BlackBerry’s Q10, the Canadian company’s new phone with a physical QWERTY keyboard, the battle to try to convince you to upgrade is in full swing. Here, we compare and contrast these hot new devices. While the Q10 and Galaxy S4 are taking up most of the hype, we’re adding two other new Android phones, the HTC One and Sony’s Xperia ZL, into the mix. BLACKBERRY Q10 Size (LxWxD): 119.6mm x 66.8mm x 10.35mm Weight: 139 g Display: 3.1-inch Super Amoled display, 720 x 720 resolution at 330 ppi pixel density Memory: 2 GB RAM, 16 GB Flash, microSD slot (up to 32 GB) Processor: Dual Core 1.5 GHz Camera: 8 MP rear-facing camera, 2MP front-facing camera Issues: Lack of apps still hurt the phone. They just got Skype, but many big names are still missing. Also, the smaller screen means that it is not as good for watching videos or other multimedia. What it does best: The keyboard, which is excellent, sets it apart. Otherwise, the benefits come from the new BB10 operating system, which shows the company’s strength in messaging. It also has a really fast browser. SAMSUNG GALAXY S4 Size: 136.6 x 69.8 x 7.9 mm Weight: 130 g Display: 5-inch Super Amoled capacitive touchscreen, 1080 x 1920 pixels, at 441 ppi pixel density Memory: 16/32/64 GB storage, 2 GB RAM, microSD, up to 64 GB Processor: Quad-core 1.6 GHz Cortex-A15 & quad-core 1.2 GHz Cortex-A7 Camera: 13 MP, 2 MP Issues: One of the best things you can say about Android phones is that you can customize them. The S4 has so much stuff going on you will have to fiddle with the various controls; if all of them are on at once, they tend to climb all over each other and get confused. For instance, if you are using the Smart Scroll eye-tracking software (which follows your eyes as you read a web page) and the Air View (which highlights things on web pages as you hover your finger over the screen), other things begin popping up. What it does best: The latest from the leading Android phone manufacturer wins out on hype alone, but beyond that it implements every trendy control feature of the past few years. It has voice and gesture control, as well as health and eye tracking software. It works as a universal remote, which has led to some reviewers wondering if this phone has too many features.

HTC ONE

Size: 137.4 x 68.2 x 9.3 mm Weight: 143 g Display: 4.7 inch Super LCD3, 1080 x 1920 pixels at 469 ppi pixel density Memory: 32/64 GB, 2 GB RAM, no Card Slot Processor: Quad-core 1.7 GHz Krait 300 Camera: 4 MP, front 2.1 MP Issues: It’s not really an issue, but this phone is the one that looks and feels most like an iPhone 5. It’s a great phone and perhaps the one that Android-curious Apple devotees (do they even exist?) might want to switch to. What it does best: This is a great all-around phone, with some nice features, such as its headphones powered by Beats by Dre. As well, like Samsung, the company has created its own layer of software called Sense, to automate features that could come in an app. Blink-feed is one that lets you log in and add information from your social media channels and pick your news sources. A constantly updated screen shows the latest news and updates.

XPERIA ZL

Size: 131.6 x 69.3 x 9.8 mm Weight: 151 g Display: 5-inch TFT display1080 x1920 pixels at 441ppi pixel density Memory: 16 GB, 2 GB RAM, microSD, up to 64 GB Processor: Quad-core 1.5 GHz Krait Camera: 13 MP, front facing 2 MP Issues: Battery life tends to top out at about five or six hours, and less if you do more demanding things with it, like consuming multimedia. What it does best: Sony debuted this new phone at CES in January. While the company has had issues in the past with its mobile devices, this is a fine update, but it doesn’t feel like it has any distinguishing factors other than the big, round, silver on/off switch on its side. Even its sister phone, the Xperia Z, is waterproof, which sets it apart. With common NFC technology, which allows you to touch other devices with a phone and connect, the ZL is a key part of the company’s ecosystem and will play very nicely with upcoming Sony products. The screen and 13-megapixel camera are two of the best things about the phone.

QUICK NOTES ON SPECS

It has become a cliché to say that our phones are computers now, but just looking at the heft and power of the chips in all of these, it is absolutely true. The S4 is the lightest of all the phones. The HTC comes with the most onboard memory, but is also the only one of these phones without a card slot, which means the other three can have additional memory added.

DESIGN

While both the S4 and BlackBerry designs have evolved — the Q10, in particular, is a throwback to the company’s heyday — the HTC One and Xperia ZL that feel a bit slicker and more solid. Three of the phones have backings that feel like cheap plastic, but the HTC One is all metal — very iPhone 5-like — and its curved back feels best to hold in your hand.

SCREEN

The BlackBerry loses out on this one, as all the other phones are bigger and share the same resolution. All of the Android screens are big and beautiful, so it is pretty much a wash among them.

CAMERA

With both the ZL and the S4 topping out with 13-megapixel cameras, they are leading the arms race in these categories. The HTC One has what they are calling an Ultrapixel camera, which is bigger and supposedly lets more light in, but all of these take really good pictures. The Q10 has the Timeshift function, which takes a series of photos and uses facial recognition software to let you mix and match frames to get a perfect shot. The S4 has a number of crazy features, including adding sound to pictures and recordings with both cameras, so the person shooting can be digitally inserted into the video they are shooting.

FINAL THOUGHTS

The physical keyboard sets the BlackBerry apart and will appeal to the already converted folks who have been waiting for the new phone. Of the other three, Samsung’s S4 will clearly get the hype and, after testing its set- tings and control schemes, it deserves it. If any of these are underrated, it is the HTC One, which is a gorgeous phone that feels great to hold.