Gadgetory

Windows Phone or Android PureView or ultrapixel polycarbonate or aluminum if these are the decisions running through your mind let us help I'm Michael Fisher this is PocketNow and this is Nokia Lumia 1020 vs. HTC One at first blush there's almost nothing similar about these smartphones they're made of different materials they're casing designs are totally disparate and their software platforms have almost nothing in common aesthetically but there are two commonalities here they're both among the best their respective platforms can offer and they're both being sold on the merits of their cameras let's jump into our comparison and on the way you should follow PocketNow on social media and subscribe here on youtube so you don't miss future ones thanks let's talk about casing build first since this is the most obvious difference between the phones the HTC one's zero gap construction is the more eye-catching with its machined aluminum body and polycarbonate accents and it feels quite well-constructed in the hand its build quality making it seem more substantial than its 143 grams would suggest though it's a robust 9.3 millimeters thick at its middle the shell tapers down to about 4 millimeters on the sides giving the phone a very sleek in-hand feel the Lumia 1020 gives off a reassuring well-constructed vibe as well but that's about the only physical similarity these phones enjoy the 1020 is slightly squatter but in every other dimension it's larger peaking in thickness at ten point four millimeters and weighing in at a hundred and fifty eight grams it's also made entirely of matte polycarbonate save for the aluminum camera disk inside keys and the Gorilla Glass 3 display facing generation newer than the ones display protection it's hard to overstate how different these devices feel in the hand the one continues to impress with its elegant if slippery design and its aluminum build while susceptible to scratching on the chamfered edges still turns heads everywhere we go the Lumia 1020 turns heads also but for a different reason the big PureView bulge around back is impossible not to notice and it definitely makes holding the 1020 a unique experience we're glad the Lumias polycarbonate seems able to bear up to some abuse because we can definitely see ourselves dropping it due to the awkward placement of the camera finally both of these phones are Weeble wobbles when placed on a table so don't expect to use either of them no handed down in the engine room the disparity continues but there are some commonalities here too as an Android flagship the HTC One is the more modern of the two internally powered by a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 at 1.7 gigahertz and backed up by two gigs of RAM and 32 gigs of on-board storage the Lumia 1020 makes do with a dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon s4 at 1.5 gigahertz but it matches the two gigs of RAM and 32 gigs of storage in each case the onboard memory is non expandable also not expandable on each phone the battery for what it's worth the HTC one's power pack is the larger of the two at 2,300 milliamp hours versus the Lumias 2,000 milliamp hours and we'll have more in depth thoughts on the Lumias battery endurance in our full review even the window into the heart of each phone is different the HTC One features a 5-inch SL cd3 display kicking out a resolution of 1080p while the Lumia makes do with a 4.5 inch WXGA screen that uses AMOLED technology while that's about as different as you can get on a pair of modern flagships the saturation and color temperature concerns people often cite about AMOLED can be adjusted with the Lumias new software customizations and the grayish black sand washed out colors people sometimes attribute to LCD screens really aren't in evidence at all on the one daylight visibility is just slightly better on the HTC device as different as these screens are technologically they're quite comparable in real-world use the rest of the specs between these phones match up quite nicely with a few exceptions like the Lumia 1020 s onboard barometer and the HTC one's IR port and 802 111 AC support features shared by the galaxy s4 we compared the new Nokia to yesterday speaking of the galaxy s4 comparison that video gave us a chance to highlight some of the broad differences between the Windows Phone and Android platforms and much of it holds true with our HTC one here but the one is running a very different third-party UI atop Android and it's called Sense 5 this is a much flatter more minimalistic and frankly more responsive skin than Samsung's TouchWiz so it's actually a much closer analog to Windows Phone 8 running on the Lumia 1020 that's especially true if you agree with those who feel that HTC's blinkfeed social app is derivative of the Windows Phone design aesthetic but similar is not identical and the bottom line here is that the software on these phones is still fundamentally and hugely different see our full reviews of both Windows Phone 8 and the HTC One for our in-depth thoughts on these two platforms also fundamentally different the camera experience on each device but there are still some surprises here while the Nokia is absurdly huge 41 megapixel camera is over ten times the resolution of HTC's 4 megapixel shooter the contest isn't the slam-dunk you might expect remember the ones camera packs optical image stabilization alongside a sensor with very large pixels meaning it can capture pretty excellent low-light photos now the 1020 certainly can as well thanks to its manually customizable shutter speed exposure almost every other setting you can think of as well as its own optical image stabilization but the added light that the one automatically imparts to a scene is sometimes quite helpful other times though it can be a hindrance and that's where the 1020 shines many photos taken with the Lumia show richer more natural color saturation than the ones washed out results in the Lumia with its thirty four megapixel Raw and five megapixel oversampled shooting modes also excels at picking out fine detail that's especially true with text photographed from a distance with the 1020 providing much sharper results even in low-light results which can be seen right on the phone before the photo for later on through simple cropping in terms of 1080p video the 1020 is the clear winner while the one might deliver louder audio and a slightly more stable picture it also has a tough time keeping focus and it exhibits much wilder swings in exposure when shifting between light and dark zones by contrast the 1020 delivers a sharp saturated and much crisper image most of the time here's a few seconds of sample footage from each with audio the front facing cameras deserve one sentence and here it is they're both wide-angle which is great and they offer you a choice of a horrible purple tint or a sickly green one which isn't great the front facing cameras folks let's move on time to touch on the view finders where the one uses a fairly typical smartphone interface for snapping photos with filters and shooting modes and such the Lumia pulls out all the stops with available adjustments for almost every setting you can imagine including manual focus the Nokia pro camera app takes significantly longer to launch as a result of all that added power but it is worth it the Lumia also packs the nokia smart camera app for some fun editing options like erasing unwanted objects instilling motion blur and so on but remember these options are matched and even exceeded in some respects by HTC Zoe on the 1 and the 1 also sports one of the most enjoyable gallery experiences we've ever come across so while the 1020 may enjoy the upper hand in terms of raw photographic performance the 1 is no slouch when it comes to a solid camera experience overall we're using the Lumia and the one on separate networks so you'll have to take some of our test notes with a grain of salt that aside we found the one to be a bit better at suppressing background noise in boys calls which shouldn't be a surprise considering its excellent record in the phone call arena that holds true for speakerphone performance as well those boom sound forward-firing speakers aren't necessarily louder than the Lumia 1020 s bottom mounted port but they're definitely clearer and more dynamic the Lumia brings a little bit more heat in the earbud Department its dolby headphone support a bit more customizable than HTC's Beats Audio but overall the one is in no danger of losing its audio quality crown to the Lumia buying either one of these devices will mean that you're getting some of the very best of what a platform has to offer while there are major differences in aesthetics and internals the biggest gulf here is obviously in the camera now the one excels at delivering an excellent casual experience with bright low-light shots and lots of fun touches like the Zoe suite many of which are so much fun that they might actually change the way you share pictures from your smartphone but it's resolution is pretty low and it doesn't always produce the sharpest results the Lumia 1020 packs in a lot of its own fun in the form of the Nokia smart cam but its primary camera lends itself more to the aspiring professional photographer or at least a person willing to fiddle a little with settings if you're one of those people the Lumia 1020 can produce the best photos you'll ever see from a smartphone and even if you're not one of those people the 1020 will probably still outclass the ones pictures the only question is whether you're willing to spend the extra benjamín on the Lumia over the one on an AT&T contract and of course whether you're willing to consider a Windows Phone as your daily driver folks if you'd like to see the Nokia Lumia 1020 face off against the galaxy s4 the Lumia 920 or if you just want to see it come out of its box all those videos are already up and you can find them on our channel page here on youtube or at pocketnow.com and pocketnow.com is also where you can find our full review of the Nokia Lumia 1020 coming very shortly but before you go anywhere please throw us a like if you did enjoy the video leave us a comment if you have something to say and as I say before follow us on social media so you don't miss a future content from pocket now this has been Michael Fisher thank you so much for watching and we'll see you next time