The battle of the smartphones

Should I go avant-garde or pick one that does not mess with old habits were some of the questions I was faced with on buying a new smartphone. With aggressive players in the market, I knew I had my task cut out for me. To replace the revolutionary HTC One M7 (the one with the Beats) would have at the time seemed next to impossible.

My criteria for the next smartphone:

Sound quality
Camera
Call reception
Battery Life
Design and other features

There were couple of phones (as amazing as they are) that I had to reject because of personal preferences. One was the iPhone 6 Plus as its extremely large frame would have been a hassle in my small hands. The other was the S6 Edge. While the whole world is screaming the S6 Edge is the next best thing and it probably is, if you have perfect vision. For someone who suffers from Astigmatism, reading mails and any text on the curved screen becomes a huge strain on the eyes. I would deem it impractical for anyone with less than perfect vision.

Like most people, I was confronted with 3 contenders (S6, iPhone 6 and the M9) from which I would pick the one to replace the HTC.

Design

iPhone 6 – The iPhone 6 is sleek, very comfortable to hold and has a strong aluminum body that makes it quite durable which can be a huge plus if you have butter fingers like I do. The rounded edges are always a nice detail. Sticking to the smaller side of large screens, the iPhone 6 provides 4.7 inches of screen space making it comfortably large for even the petite hands.

M9 – The M9 did go through a few barely noticeable changes. For example, the power button on the top has been shifted to the right alongside the volume buttons. This can be quite confusing and is definitely a hassle for a left handed person in this very right hand centric world.
The M9 is more rounded and slightly larger than the iPhone 6 with 5 inches of screen space. On the whole, the HTC One marked the beginning of good looking phones with its M7. And it continues to be true with the M9.

S6 – The S6 has definitely upped its game this time. Bye bye to the plastic and in with the sleek glass – The Samsung S6 is a svelte new phone that defies everything Samsung stood for in the past. From sealing in the batteries to chucking the plastic, the S6 is beautiful and probably the sexiest phone today!

Sound

iPhone 6 -There is nothing wow and nothing bad either about the audio quality on the iPhone 6. The iPhone still doesn’t match up to the front facing speakers of the HTC. Those are a league apart and will probably need an earth-shattering model from these tech giants to beat the quality of HTC’s sound. What you do get with the iPhone 6 is reasonable audio that is still good enough for calls over speaker and even playing music that is not completely distorted. With headphones, the 3 phones are pretty much the same.

M9 – One of the luxuries of owning the HTC M9 is the amazing audio quality. It is simply irreplaceable. I had forgotten to use headphones in the last couple of years of owning a HTC One. However, audio cannot alone be the sole reason for buying a smartphone.

S6 – The S6 and the iPhone 6 are almost the same in terms of audio. The audio on the S6 is definitely not the grainy audio you got on the S5. It is definitely not the best. Like I said, the audio on the HTC is just that irreplaceable.

Camera

iPhone 6 – This one was a huge surprise to me. After having used the S5 for personal projects recently, I was pleasantly surprised by the camera quality on the iPhone. I specifically tested the cameras on all 3 phones by taking selfies, portraits and nature – shots normally done on most phones. The iPhone 6 has definitely one of the better cameras today.

M9 – The camera have always been a disappointment in the HTC phones. I use the DSLR or my husbands phone to click pictures for personal projects. The trend continues with the M9. The M9 is a definite improvement from the M7. However, with stiff competition from Apple and Samsung, the M9’s camera loses face.

S6 – Like the HTC stands for outstanding audio quality, the S6 has that unbeatable camera. The camera quality on the iPhone 6 is good but when compared to photos clicked on both, I would say there is a noticeable difference especially in pictures clicked in broad daylight. Get your instagram page ready as this phone will make yours look like a million bucks.

Battery Life

iPhone 6 – The battery (1810 mAh) is definitely smaller compared to the M9 and you will probably get a better battery life out of the 6 Plus if big phones are your thing.

M9 – The battery (2800 mAh) on the M9 is definitely better than the iPhone 6. It is a plus compared to last year’s model and only time will tell if the battery does make a difference on the M9.

S6 – The battery (2500 mAh) is pretty great and gets better with a power saving mode turned on. And for those who need their phone to last that extra mile, there is an ultra power saving mode which can easily stretch a mere 10% up to 3 hours.

Overall Performance of the smartphones

Of the 3, it ultimately boiled down to which phone offered the most of what I wanted. Although the iPhone 6 was a pretty strong contender, I migrated a long time ago to Android and am still impressed to want to migrate back. For that reason and the fact that everything on the list is just so much better on the S6, the S6 came out the clear winner.

The S6 managed to check off battery, camera, call quality and design off the list. Samsung has been always touted to deliver the best features in any smartphone today. I never thought too much of the multitasking feature available on Samsung phones until I bought the S6. Now I can hardly imagine a phone without it.

The camera is stunning. I simply could not take my eyes off the photos clicked on the S6. They have replaced my DSLR for clicking pictures on my personal blog and other social media. I am able to produce excellent pictures with my S6 and I am content with that.

As far as audio is concerned, the6 comes close and the display more than makes up for the audio. Watching videos on the S6 is an absolute pleasure especially if you are someone who consumes a lot of videos on Youtube.

On the whole, if you find yourself in a similar situation, know that Samsung will emerge the winner in this battle.