Gadgetory

we've put samsung's new Galaxy s4 up against the best Android has to offer and now it's time to shift our focus to Windows Phone I'm Michael Fisher this is PocketNow and this is Samsung Galaxy s4 vs. Nokia Lumia 920 we've already reviewed the galaxy s4 and run it through an extensive battery of comparisons visit pocketnow.com subscribe here on YouTube and follow us on social media so you can stay abreast of our latest content we're using the american sprint variant here the L 720 instead of the octa-core AI 9500 but even considering that it almost seems like an unfair comparison the galaxy s4 is fresh out of the factory while our AT&T Lumia 920 here was released back in November still for now it's the cream of the crop as far as Windows Phone goes and if someone was trying to choose between the top of the line of Windows Phone and the top of the line of Android this would be a relevant comparison so let's dive in in this comparison will cover hardware and build UI camera and some test notes even if these phones weren't painted in opposing colors the differences would be evident the polycarbonate Lumia 920's squared off corners palm kissing curved smile cross-section shaped gorilla glass display covering and robust 185 gram weight give it a feel in hand like no other it feels solid heavy and big in the good way the galaxy s4 almost couldn't be more different with its rounded corners faux metallic mid plate micro crosshatch finish and hyper glaze glossy coating the s4 is also made of polycarbonate but it's ridiculously light in the hand at 130 grams we've set it before it almost feels like a dummy phone you might handle at a retail store each of these devices has its ups and downs in terms of build quality you'll notice each of them bears a few bumps and bruises but the crucial difference is that we've been using the Lumia 920 on and off as our daily driver for about five months and we only took delivery on the galaxy s4 a few weeks ago the Samsung products Gorilla Glass 3 display protection is holding a fine but the rest of its casing scratches incredibly easily it's too early to make a definitive call and which one is more durable but make no mistake our money's Honda Lumia we just wish we didn't have one of the defective units that lets a lot of dust into the front-facing camera lens and we wish windows phones were friendlier to the idea of notification LEDs Samsung's is here on the s4 and it's as big and bright as usual which we love in terms of horsepower there's a generational gap here the AT&T Lumia 920 is powered by last year's American darling the dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon s4 running at 1.5 gigahertz and backed up by a single gig of ram powering the galaxy s4 is the newer quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 at 1.9 gigahertz and backed up by double the RAM the Samsung device also offers a choice in memory capacity and microSD expansion and it's 2600 milliamp hour battery is user replaceable Lumia owners need to be happy with 32 gigs of on-board storage and a 2,000 milliamp hour battery they cannot replace but the silver lining of Qi compatible wireless charging is nice though samsung has announced plans to build that functionality into s4 battery doors this summer on the radio side both of these phones feature LTE support in addition to their respective 3G Suites but the galaxy s4 steps up its Wi-Fi offering with AC support it 1ups the Bluetooth 3.0 on the Lumia 920 with Bluetooth 4.0 and it features an IR blaster and a host of other sensors again you can tell which one of these devices was just built yesterday and which ones been around the block a few times moving on to the display it's very clear that Samsung has been making smart phone displays for a while shoehorning a 1080p five inch Super AMOLED into a frame as small as the galaxy s4 is quite a feat but more importantly the results are incredible the display is vibrant its modes are adjustable on the fly and it's 441 pixels per inch sharpness is just outrageous it's definitely one of the best smartphone screens we've used the Lumia 920's screen is by no means a bad one at 4.5 inches and WXGA resolution making for 332 PPI it's certainly no slouch and Windows Phones modern UI doesn't exact need 1080p to shine it looks great but the IPS LCD technology means blacks aren't as deep on the 9:20 and the polarization filter nokia uses in part to simulate deep blacks also impacts side on visibility pretty extensively neither is great in direct sunlight but both of these phones offer hypersensitive touch for gloved users which is nice All Things Considered though the galaxy s4 definitely carries the better screen here that screen is also used to greater effect on the galaxy s4 through a gesture based interface though the usefulness of the hovering air view functionality is up for debate actually that holds true for almost the entire suite of new features Samsung is lumped into the galaxy s4 it's not just an Android phone it's a TouchWiz phone and that makes a world of difference we've covered the full extent of Samsung's feature offerings in other gs4 videos at pocket now so it may be the best way to condense it is this there are more features on the galaxy s4 than most people will know what to do with so many that Samsung has built in an easy mode to allow new smartphone users to gradually acclimate to the massive array of add-ons this phone includes by contrast Windows Phone 8 is like easy mode without sacrificing the core functionality of a smart phone make no mistake you get far fewer features but as a result everything runs more smoothly despite the Lumias last generation hardware the experience is fluid responsive and reliable and about the only downside is that it doesn't allow the kind of in-depth tweak ability the GS 4 and other Android phones offer there's also the ecosystem question to consider which is a conversation we've had before and one you should definitely think about in advance of any hardware buying decision the platform is a huge part of what makes a smart phone a smart phone and Windows Phone 8 really couldn't be any different from TouchWiz atop Android jelly bean if it tried so do your research choose your platform first the Lumia 920 was and still is sold heavily on the merits of its PureView camera the 8.7 megapixel shooter with carl zeiss optics optical image stabilization and some of the best low-light photo taking capability we've seen thanks to Windows Phone standards the camera also features a hardware shutter release which doubles as a shortcut key to jump right into viewfinder mode which we wish was on every phone ever the viewfinder itself is Spartan like the rest of Windows Phone and we continue to be annoyed at its lack of commonplace features like HDR and on-screen indicators if you're shooting in a special mode the absence of that simple indicator can really mess you up if you forgot to take the phone out of night mode the last time you shot a picture fortunately those deficiencies are offset by some really nice manual exposure ISO and white balance controls as well as the Windows Phone lens functionality that allows other apps to plug into the camera there's also tap to focus and shoot and the quick swipe to the right to jump into the gallery from the viewfinder which we've always found very intuitive the viewfinder for the galaxy s4's 13 megapixel shooter is predictably more cluttered but it's also more useful shooting modes can be selected from a friendly scrolling wheel on the side and there's an awful lot to play around with here so many that we are right now shooting another video tutorial on how to use all the s4's camera features check for that this week settings are available behind a cog in the upper left alongside other toggles for dual shot and switching cameras the settings menu allows all the fine-tuning the Lumia 920's software does and then some in terms of how the cameras perform most consumers probably won't notice much difference in broad daylight there's a bit more saturation from the Lumia 920's camera but there's no huge difference in resolution in these shots predominantly because the GS force default shooting mode is 9.6 megapixels to preserve a 16 by 9 aspect ratio shooting in the full 13 megapixel resolution is possible but results in a 4 by 3 image the added saturation in the 9 20s image intensifies indoors in dim lighting but where the nokia really beats the pants off the GS 4 is in low-light situations the 920 continues to lead the pack in extremely dim conditions bringing an almost unearthly glow to areas that other phones can barely capture if you're looking for a solid smartphone camera either will do if you want more features and higher resolution not to mention features that really take advantage of the dust-free front-facing camera go with the galaxy s4 but if you want outstanding low-light photography and optical image stabilization you'll want to go with the Lumia Network differences prevent us from making too detailed of comparison in terms of speed and call quality but fortunately in our area of Greater Boston these were about on par call quality is similarly even with callers telling us we sounded okay but not great on each phone on our end the Lumia 920 produced the warmer sound through the earpiece with rich side tone we really appreciate it Samsung has moved its loudspeaker lower on the device and expanded its size greatly which gives it a much louder deeper sound than its predecessor on the galaxy s3 still the speaker phone on the Lumia 920 seems to be the base here and the louder of the two just watch out how long you go listening though battery life has never really been the Lumia 920 strong suit maybe it's because of our comparatively ancient launch day device but the 920 couldn't really keep up with the battery endurance of the Sprint Galaxy s4 variant your experience will vary depending on your usage but considering the extra capacity and removability of the s4 s power pack it shouldn't be a surprise that we'd recommend the Samsung device over the nokia one for road warriors as we mentioned in episode 12 of pocket now's after the buzz series the Lumia 920 is aging very well it's durable it's beautiful and it packs a camera that while not king of the hill anymore is at least a high deputy or something but up against a cutting-edge piece of technology like the galaxy s4 it does start to show its age still if you're looking for the best available Windows Phone experience the Lumia 920 remains the best way to go you just need to decide whether you want to buy it or wait for its successor which we're expecting to see revealed somewhat soon and in the meantime if you can put up with its boatload of gimmicky software features and almost toy like build quality the galaxy s4 sits shiny on the Shelf ready to take your money the question underneath it all is as always Android or Windows Phone in this instance either path you take you'll be getting one of the best examples of each platform folks wave so much coverage on the galaxy s4 and the Lumia 920 and obviously our coverage is not over yet so visit us at pocketnow.com check out the rest of our channel here on youtube drop us a like if you enjoyed this video leave us a comment if you have some feedback for us and as always thank you for watching we'll see you next time