Samsung Galaxy S4 vs. HTC One: Specs Compared

As expected, Samsung on Thursday unveiled its next big thing— the Galaxy S4. While there weren't many surprises, the S4 is still packed to the brim with the latest and greatest features and goodies that Google and Samsung have to offer. It's a serious Android flagship phone, no doubt, but did Samsung do enough to upstage HTC once again this year? We pit the Galaxy S4 against the HTC One to see just how well these two powerhouses stack up.

There's a lot to like from both phones—in fact, they're remarkably similar if you go strictly by the specs. They both pack powerful quad-core processors and sharp 1080p displays, but there are a few notable differences here. The S4 has a larger screen at 5 inches, compared with the One's 4.7-inch screen, which equates to a tighter pixel density for the latter. Samsung also opted to continue its tradition of using Super AMOLED, which is praised for its incredibly high contrast, but knocked for its inaccurate color reproduction and PenTile subpixel arrangement that causes some text to appear stippled. HTC went with its equally heroic Super LCD technology, which doesn't match AMOLED's contrast, but offers superior color reproduction. With such high resolutions on both, don't expect to see too much difference in clarity and sharpness.

HTC uses a quad-core 1.7-GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 chipset, while the S4 uses a 1.9-GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 600. Both processors will likely breeze through any task you throw at them, so its hard to give either the edge here until we get them into our labs for testing.

The biggest and most immediate difference you'll notice between these two phones is build quality. Samsung opted for the same all-plastic build that's been knocked as cheap and somewhat flimsy for the past year in its older models. HTC takes the advantage here with its stunning unibody aluminum construction, but it does come with a few disadvantages. Samsung retained the microSD card slot and removable battery that made the S III such a hit with Android enthusiasts, while HTC offers neither of these options.

More and more, Android handset manufacturers are looking to distinguish themselves from the pack with software features and customizations. Samsung has TouchWiz and HTC has Sense, and while neither are going to be a hit with Android purists, they do offer a few compelling features. Samsung offers features like hover-over email previews and dual camera capture, while HTC unveiled its BlinkFeed content aggregator. Both also offer universal remote control capability, with their own accompanying apps to help you browse your TV selection.

Last but not least are the cameras. Samsung decided to escalate the megapixel race once again, packing in a 13-megapixel camera into the S4. But as you should know by now, megapixels aren't everything, and that's exactly what HTC is banking on with its new ultrapixel gambit. It's technically only 4 megapixels, but those pixels are considerably larger, which means better low light performance.

We'll have to wait until we get both of these beasts in the labs until to make a definitive call, but it's clear that both are worthy of their flagship designations. So which camp do you fall into, Samsung or HTC? Let us know in the comments below. Also be sure to check out how the Galaxy S4 stacks up against the Apple iPhone 5 and our hands on with the Galaxy S4.