2013 flagship benchmark comparison: Sony Xperia Z, OPPO Find 5, Samsung Galaxy S IV and HTC One
At our disposal were four flagship smartphones of the mid-2013 model - Samsung Galaxy S4, HTC One, Sony Xperia Z and OPPO Find 5. The characteristics of these devices, I think, have long been well known to everyone - they have been discussing them on the Internet for more than a month. And if so, then let's not repeat ourselves and describe each figure from the specification of these smartphones - it’s better to turn to practical points and the level of implementation of specific functions. Say three of the four models have 13-megapixel cameras, that is, everything is the same on paper; however, which photographs are the best? In which smartphone is ergonomics more elaborate? Which one is neater assembled? Which one loads the fastest? We will answer these and other questions in this material. Below are a lot of letters and pictures.
Ergonomics keys
One of the best ergonomic buttons in my opinion was the Samsung Galaxy S4. Immediately it is worth explaining that in my understanding the best position is achieved when the keys are located under the fingers. And the user does not have to significantly change the position of the smartphone in his hand in order to reach the elements. So, in the Samsung Galaxy S4 and the power button and volume are located exactly "where necessary."
Almost on the same level as the Samsung Galaxy S4 is OPPO Find 5, with the exception that the power button is set just below my “ideal”.
Sony Xperia Z left a depressing impression. I sincerely do not understand why it was necessary to put the power button almost in the middle, and set the volume control a) on the same end b) and even lower than the middle. The photo shows that for lefties the option is not the worst. But what about the rest?
HTC One was the most upset. The power button is on top, and even on the bent "inward" side. As a result, the finger, which is already difficult to press a low profile key, has to be additionally bent. Even though the volume rocker is “under the fingers”, it is made almost flush with the body. To say that it is difficult to press is to say nothing.
On time
The video clearly shows how much it costs to wait for access to the system from the moment you press a key to the loading of the start screen. I applaud HTC One, 10 seconds - a record result, the closest rival behind with a double loss. Samsung Galaxy S 4 showed moderate 20 seconds, while OPPO Find 5 and Sony Xperia Z are in the tail with 28 and 26 seconds, respectively.
The number of configuration screens after the first run
In my opinion, a very interesting and controversial parameter. On the one hand, in my understanding, the manufacturer should minimize the time spent on the user and give access to the system as quickly as possible. On the other hand, there is no denying the benefit of the fact that the company immediately tries to get the user to deal with basic parameters such as connected accounts or dates.
In my opinion, OPPO Find 5 wins, giving access to the desktop in three screens.
Sony Xperia Z is not too annoying to the user.
But HTC One will have to tinker.
However, the Samsung Galaxy S 4 “outdid everyone” - definitely have to spend 10-15 minutes on it. But, I repeat, everyone decides whether it is good or not.
Available memory
I did not quite understand the HTC One policy - right after the start, without any files and programs, on my part, almost 10 GB of 32 GB were "bitten off". Too much.
OPPO Find 5 also cannot be called a “dietary” smartphone in terms of allocated memory, but the available total of almost 27 GB compared to the previous smartphone does not “depress” at all.
Samsung is not in a hurry to share the declared memory, only 8.2 GB was given to me for files.
19.56 GB - this is the result of the flagship Sony. Almost 12 GB went under the personal needs of the smartphone, which does not suit me at all.
Screen quality
Regarding display technologies, we have before us: Super AMOLED (Samsung), PVA (HTC), IPS (OPPO), and TFT (Sony). Smartphones are shown in the order in which they are located in the photo from top to bottom. As a result, we can unequivocally say that the worst display quality is observed in Sony Xperia Z - the colors are faded and inexpressive, the brightness also loses to all participants in the test. The most saturated and contrasting colors were predictably demonstrated by the brainchild of Samsung. The HTC and OPPO models have approximately the same high quality level - the colors are calm, there are no obvious “distortions”.
Behavior in the sun
Oddly enough, there were no obvious favorites or "losers" here. With greater readability, displays in bright sunshine remain at approximately the same level. Of course, for this, all four smartphones had to set the maximum brightness. I note that regardless of the model, a miracle did not happen - faded tones and midtones were equally poorly visible for all participants.
Camera launch speed
In the comments of the article’s announcement, I was asked to conduct this test, for this I suggest you see the results with your own eyes. OPPO Find 5 worked the fastest, Sony Xperia Z turned out to be the most thoughtful. In my opinion, by and large, all smartphones except Sony worked almost equally quickly.
Photo Quality
From top to bottom in each example are pictures of HTC One, OPPO Find 5, Samsung Galaxy S 4 and Sony Xperia Z. I think the images speak for themselves. In the daily sketch I liked that the OPPO model makes the picture a little more saturated and “warm”. The Sony smartphone was a little behind, adding a faint flicker to the photos.
HTC One
OPPO Find 5
Samsung Galaxy S 4
Sony Xperia Z
HTC One
OPPO Find 5
Samsung Galaxy S 4
Sony Xperia Z
HTC One
OPPO Find 5
Samsung Galaxy S 4
Sony Xperia Z
HTC One
OPPO Find 5
Samsung Galaxy S 4
Sony Xperia Z
In the night, when viewing “on the spot” on the street, it seemed to me that the HTC One became an unattainable leader. But no, upon closer inspection, both the Sony Xperia Z and Samsung Galaxy S 4 showed themselves very well in places. Only the latter regularly added crimson tones to the photo. Alas, OPPO Find 5 had nothing to brag about at night.
HTC One
OPPO Find 5
Samsung Galaxy S 4
Sony Xperia Z
HTC One
OPPO Find 5
Samsung Galaxy S 4
Sony Xperia Z
HTC One
OPPO Find 5
Samsung Galaxy S 4
Sony Xperia Z
HTC One
OPPO Find 5
Samsung Galaxy S 4
Sony Xperia Z
Download time games
Real Racing 3 provides a good opportunity to start testing at the time of the "initial" launch of the program, and then see the duration of the loading of the game track. Congratulations to HTC and OPPO, perplexed about Samsung. True, then the flagship Samsung rehabilitated and showed approximately the same result with other smartphones.
Vibration
At first I wanted to put a glass of water on smartphones or put it on an inclined surface and find out who would win the “race” at the speed of rolling down. But in reality, smartphones did not show the wonders of "trembling." HTC One trembled a little stronger than others, due to the small area of contact with the table, he even managed to “ride” a little.
Volume and sound quality
I liked the multimedia speakers most of all on HTC One and OPPO Find 5 - if we talk about the quality of the music I’ve listened to. The volume was measured in a rather banal way - using a microphone and the Waves plugin, which detected the maximum volume. Smartphones were located at the distance of the index finger from the microphone. OPPO Find 5 comes first with -7.9 dB, then comes HTC One with 9.8 dB, then Samsung Galaxy S 4 with 10.2 dB. The anti-record set Sony Xperia Z with - 20.6 dB. The speaker of the model is too quiet, especially for the flagship.
.
With regard to listening to the headphones for the equation of the test conditions, I used the home “pair” AKG K44. I got the most pleasure from the Samsung smartphone. Pleasure is hard to describe, but if the audio system is able to artificially embellish the sound and even hide bitrate flaws, then in the case of the Samsung Galaxy S 4 I have nothing against such a “fraud”.
Pure monitor sound was shown by OPPO and HTC, I consider both models to be leaders in this issue. OPPO is slightly ahead due to the fact that with a lower position the slider showed a louder sound - which means that everything is fine with a volume reserve. Sony is not at all blamed for anything, clean sound is an asset, but the saturation and volume reserve of the model were not enough. I note that I fully understand the complexity of the test due to the possibility of setting different equalizer settings to significantly change the sound quality in a particular smartphone model.
Offline work
Due to circumstances, I decided to abandon the "daily" tests of the duration of work, having carried out a comprehensive check-hodgepodge. I was always amazed at how voracious Cool Reader becomes in the automatic page turning mode. Each smartphone had to endure two hours of reading, then each showed me a DVDrip of the movie "How to Train Your Dragon" (1:37, 720x304, 1.54 Mbps, Xvid). After that, I wanted to listen to music for an hour, so all four smartphones “digested” the new Snoop Dogg album for 60 minutes.
As a result, Samsung Galaxy S IV left 65% of the battery, Sony Xperia Z stopped at 43%, while HTC One and OPPO Find 5 were in the tail with 26% and 23%, respectively. I note that the Sony smartphone indicator was for me the most significant achievement of the model in the test.
Conclusion
The conclusions are roughly as follows. Samsung Galaxy S4 is really worth the money and is the best of this “Big Four” (which is confirmed by sales - SGS4 has already sold a multi-million circulation). Yes, you can scold him for a pretty faceless plastic case, but otherwise he is a leader. The main advantage of HTC One should be called a completely metal case, and this is the only smartphone in our review with such a chip. True, the use of this material has led One to heat more than others and then cool longer. It is entirely conceivable that this moment will not be upsetting anyone, but nevertheless it has a place to be.
In most “disciplines,” the HTC One is inferior to SGS4, but not too much. So the “unit” is a very worthy option. As for the Sony Xperia Z, this device is notable except for its design. Photographs a model worse than the Galaxy S4, although both devices have similar photo modules from Sony. The screen in the “Zedka” is mediocre, there are also a number of questions to the software part, and the hardware here is of the previous generation ... In general, we recommend ardent fans of “Sonistyle” and no one else. OPPO Find 5 costs less than the other heroes of this review - 19,990 rubles per version with 16 GB of memory. This model may be slightly inferior to the same SGS4 and HTC One in most respects, but for exactly the amount that you can save when you buy it. So for economical buyers this option is very good: it doesn’t look like a “black sheep” next to other models.
Ergonomics keys
One of the best ergonomic buttons in my opinion was the Samsung Galaxy S4. Immediately it is worth explaining that in my understanding the best position is achieved when the keys are located under the fingers. And the user does not have to significantly change the position of the smartphone in his hand in order to reach the elements. So, in the Samsung Galaxy S4 and the power button and volume are located exactly "where necessary."
Almost on the same level as the Samsung Galaxy S4 is OPPO Find 5, with the exception that the power button is set just below my “ideal”.
Sony Xperia Z left a depressing impression. I sincerely do not understand why it was necessary to put the power button almost in the middle, and set the volume control a) on the same end b) and even lower than the middle. The photo shows that for lefties the option is not the worst. But what about the rest?
HTC One was the most upset. The power button is on top, and even on the bent "inward" side. As a result, the finger, which is already difficult to press a low profile key, has to be additionally bent. Even though the volume rocker is “under the fingers”, it is made almost flush with the body. To say that it is difficult to press is to say nothing.
On time
The video clearly shows how much it costs to wait for access to the system from the moment you press a key to the loading of the start screen. I applaud HTC One, 10 seconds - a record result, the closest rival behind with a double loss. Samsung Galaxy S 4 showed moderate 20 seconds, while OPPO Find 5 and Sony Xperia Z are in the tail with 28 and 26 seconds, respectively.
The number of configuration screens after the first run
In my opinion, a very interesting and controversial parameter. On the one hand, in my understanding, the manufacturer should minimize the time spent on the user and give access to the system as quickly as possible. On the other hand, there is no denying the benefit of the fact that the company immediately tries to get the user to deal with basic parameters such as connected accounts or dates.
In my opinion, OPPO Find 5 wins, giving access to the desktop in three screens.
Sony Xperia Z is not too annoying to the user.
But HTC One will have to tinker.
However, the Samsung Galaxy S 4 “outdid everyone” - definitely have to spend 10-15 minutes on it. But, I repeat, everyone decides whether it is good or not.
Available memory
I did not quite understand the HTC One policy - right after the start, without any files and programs, on my part, almost 10 GB of 32 GB were "bitten off". Too much.
OPPO Find 5 also cannot be called a “dietary” smartphone in terms of allocated memory, but the available total of almost 27 GB compared to the previous smartphone does not “depress” at all.
Samsung is not in a hurry to share the declared memory, only 8.2 GB was given to me for files.
19.56 GB - this is the result of the flagship Sony. Almost 12 GB went under the personal needs of the smartphone, which does not suit me at all.
Screen quality
Regarding display technologies, we have before us: Super AMOLED (Samsung), PVA (HTC), IPS (OPPO), and TFT (Sony). Smartphones are shown in the order in which they are located in the photo from top to bottom. As a result, we can unequivocally say that the worst display quality is observed in Sony Xperia Z - the colors are faded and inexpressive, the brightness also loses to all participants in the test. The most saturated and contrasting colors were predictably demonstrated by the brainchild of Samsung. The HTC and OPPO models have approximately the same high quality level - the colors are calm, there are no obvious “distortions”.
Behavior in the sun
Oddly enough, there were no obvious favorites or "losers" here. With greater readability, displays in bright sunshine remain at approximately the same level. Of course, for this, all four smartphones had to set the maximum brightness. I note that regardless of the model, a miracle did not happen - faded tones and midtones were equally poorly visible for all participants.
Camera launch speed
In the comments of the article’s announcement, I was asked to conduct this test, for this I suggest you see the results with your own eyes. OPPO Find 5 worked the fastest, Sony Xperia Z turned out to be the most thoughtful. In my opinion, by and large, all smartphones except Sony worked almost equally quickly.
Photo Quality
From top to bottom in each example are pictures of HTC One, OPPO Find 5, Samsung Galaxy S 4 and Sony Xperia Z. I think the images speak for themselves. In the daily sketch I liked that the OPPO model makes the picture a little more saturated and “warm”. The Sony smartphone was a little behind, adding a faint flicker to the photos.
HTC One
OPPO Find 5
Samsung Galaxy S 4
Sony Xperia Z
HTC One
OPPO Find 5
Samsung Galaxy S 4
Sony Xperia Z
HTC One
OPPO Find 5
Samsung Galaxy S 4
Sony Xperia Z
HTC One
OPPO Find 5
Samsung Galaxy S 4
Sony Xperia Z
In the night, when viewing “on the spot” on the street, it seemed to me that the HTC One became an unattainable leader. But no, upon closer inspection, both the Sony Xperia Z and Samsung Galaxy S 4 showed themselves very well in places. Only the latter regularly added crimson tones to the photo. Alas, OPPO Find 5 had nothing to brag about at night.
HTC One
OPPO Find 5
Samsung Galaxy S 4
Sony Xperia Z
HTC One
OPPO Find 5
Samsung Galaxy S 4
Sony Xperia Z
HTC One
OPPO Find 5
Samsung Galaxy S 4
Sony Xperia Z
HTC One
OPPO Find 5
Samsung Galaxy S 4
Sony Xperia Z
Download time games
Real Racing 3 provides a good opportunity to start testing at the time of the "initial" launch of the program, and then see the duration of the loading of the game track. Congratulations to HTC and OPPO, perplexed about Samsung. True, then the flagship Samsung rehabilitated and showed approximately the same result with other smartphones.
Vibration
At first I wanted to put a glass of water on smartphones or put it on an inclined surface and find out who would win the “race” at the speed of rolling down. But in reality, smartphones did not show the wonders of "trembling." HTC One trembled a little stronger than others, due to the small area of contact with the table, he even managed to “ride” a little.
Volume and sound quality
I liked the multimedia speakers most of all on HTC One and OPPO Find 5 - if we talk about the quality of the music I’ve listened to. The volume was measured in a rather banal way - using a microphone and the Waves plugin, which detected the maximum volume. Smartphones were located at the distance of the index finger from the microphone. OPPO Find 5 comes first with -7.9 dB, then comes HTC One with 9.8 dB, then Samsung Galaxy S 4 with 10.2 dB. The anti-record set Sony Xperia Z with - 20.6 dB. The speaker of the model is too quiet, especially for the flagship.
.
With regard to listening to the headphones for the equation of the test conditions, I used the home “pair” AKG K44. I got the most pleasure from the Samsung smartphone. Pleasure is hard to describe, but if the audio system is able to artificially embellish the sound and even hide bitrate flaws, then in the case of the Samsung Galaxy S 4 I have nothing against such a “fraud”.
Pure monitor sound was shown by OPPO and HTC, I consider both models to be leaders in this issue. OPPO is slightly ahead due to the fact that with a lower position the slider showed a louder sound - which means that everything is fine with a volume reserve. Sony is not at all blamed for anything, clean sound is an asset, but the saturation and volume reserve of the model were not enough. I note that I fully understand the complexity of the test due to the possibility of setting different equalizer settings to significantly change the sound quality in a particular smartphone model.
Offline work
Due to circumstances, I decided to abandon the "daily" tests of the duration of work, having carried out a comprehensive check-hodgepodge. I was always amazed at how voracious Cool Reader becomes in the automatic page turning mode. Each smartphone had to endure two hours of reading, then each showed me a DVDrip of the movie "How to Train Your Dragon" (1:37, 720x304, 1.54 Mbps, Xvid). After that, I wanted to listen to music for an hour, so all four smartphones “digested” the new Snoop Dogg album for 60 minutes.
As a result, Samsung Galaxy S IV left 65% of the battery, Sony Xperia Z stopped at 43%, while HTC One and OPPO Find 5 were in the tail with 26% and 23%, respectively. I note that the Sony smartphone indicator was for me the most significant achievement of the model in the test.
Conclusion
The conclusions are roughly as follows. Samsung Galaxy S4 is really worth the money and is the best of this “Big Four” (which is confirmed by sales - SGS4 has already sold a multi-million circulation). Yes, you can scold him for a pretty faceless plastic case, but otherwise he is a leader. The main advantage of HTC One should be called a completely metal case, and this is the only smartphone in our review with such a chip. True, the use of this material has led One to heat more than others and then cool longer. It is entirely conceivable that this moment will not be upsetting anyone, but nevertheless it has a place to be.
In most “disciplines,” the HTC One is inferior to SGS4, but not too much. So the “unit” is a very worthy option. As for the Sony Xperia Z, this device is notable except for its design. Photographs a model worse than the Galaxy S4, although both devices have similar photo modules from Sony. The screen in the “Zedka” is mediocre, there are also a number of questions to the software part, and the hardware here is of the previous generation ... In general, we recommend ardent fans of “Sonistyle” and no one else. OPPO Find 5 costs less than the other heroes of this review - 19,990 rubles per version with 16 GB of memory. This model may be slightly inferior to the same SGS4 and HTC One in most respects, but for exactly the amount that you can save when you buy it. So for economical buyers this option is very good: it doesn’t look like a “black sheep” next to other models.
