The Samsung Galaxy S4 and the iPhone 5 are two of the top-of-the-line smartphones in the market today despite the heavy competition brought about by their successors and those of other smartphone companies all the same. Nevertheless, it is still undeniable that the Samsung Galaxy S4 along with the iPhone 5 continue to remain on the top handsets to beat for this year. And if you are thinking of purchasing one of these smartphones, here is a quick comparison review of their best specs and features to give you an idea on which device best fits your needs and wants, and on which smartphone is relatively better than the other.
Samsung Galaxy S4 over Apple iPhone 5
The first thing that you will notice when pitting the Samsung Galaxy S4 with the iPhone 5 is the obvious difference in their sizes, which is all thanks to their quite dissimilar screen sizes. The iPhone 5 sports a 4-inch IPS display. In contrast, the Samsung Galaxy S4 flaunts a larger 5-inch Super AMOLED screen. The display technology in both handsets is a big leap from their predecessors', with the boost mainly found on the resolution they sport. The Apple iPhone 5's display gives more contrast and more vivid colors as opposed to its predecessors' screen technology. However, it isn't enough to keep up to the major enhancement the Samsung Galaxy S4 got with its 1080p SUPER AMOLED display that is super bright and super sharp. Furthermore, given the 1 inch difference in their screen size, we can firmly say that the Samsung Galaxy S4 blows the Apple iPhone 5 in this round for having much better pixel density despite its larger frame. The advantage is quite obvious when using the S4 in viewing videos and playing games.
When it comes to internal speaker quality, the Samsung Galaxy S4 still beats the iPhone 5. Though it's plane to see that both companies thoroughly calculated where they want to put the speakers on these devices, it is still fortunate that the Galaxy S4 offers less strained and much clearer sound quality. The speakers of the iPhone 5 are cleverly placed on its bottom edge to avoid possible muffling when the hand accidentally covers the entire phone. On the other hand, Samsung decided to put the grille cut at the bottom left of the plastic battery cover of the phone. Despite the less strategic placement of Samsung's internal speakers on its handset, it is very remarkable that many reviews give it the upper hand when it comes to clarity.
Now, when talking about phone storage, the Apple iPhone 5 has the advantage of having several variants. There's a 16GB model, a 32GB and a 64GB model as well. However, the main problem with these devices - similar with all other Apple devices - is the fact that it does not have expandable storage for external memory. This is where the Samsung Galaxy S4's advantageous expandable memory comes in. The Samsung handset's storage can be expanded with an additional 32GB of memory via mircoSD. The only downside here though is one cannot really install apps to the memory card, but still it will come in handy for photos, videos, music, and more.
Additionally, the Samsung Galaxy S4 still has the upside when it comes to processor technology. The S4 takes pride on its octa-core Snapdragon processor that is very impressive in every way. Meanwhile, not far behind is the Apple iPhone 5's A6 dual-core 1.2 GHz processor that uses Apple's advanced Cortex-A15 architecture for second-to-none performance compared to its quad-core rivals, Nonetheless, its remarkable technology is still not enough to beat the Galaxy S4's processor.
Finally, the camera technology in the Samsung Galaxy S4 is also another hard-to-neat facet of the smartphone. The S4 comes with a 13MP rear-facing shooter while the Apple iPhone 5 has an 8MP back camera. In terms of front-facing camera, the Galaxy S4 has a 2MP camera unlike the iPhone 5 which sports a 1.2MP front camera. Over-all the picture quality in the Samsung Galaxy S4 is significantly better than that of the iPhone 5.
Apple iPhone 5 over Samsung Galaxy S4
While comparing the Samsung Galaxy S4's design with other Android smartphones may mean differences between devices that are almost the same, comparing the S4 with the Apple iPhone 5 is very different. For one thing, the design of the iPhone 5 is totally disparate to that of the Samsung Galaxy S4. Its solid metallic case gives the iPhone 5 a more premium look and feel than what the form and design of the S4 exude. Although the curvier body of the S4 adds to its beauty, the metallic exterior of the Apple iPhone 5 is not only sophisticated on the surface but it is also quite comfortable into the hand. What's more is that the removable plastic cover of the S4 is more often than not criticized as cheap and flimsy.
As what we have mentioned earlier, the two devices are quite different and this is very evident on the software they have. The Samsung Galaxy S4 runs on Android 4.2 that is tweaked with TouchWiz UI by Samsung. The Apple iPhone 5, on the other hand, runs on iOS 7. Although the customized UI of the Android device is very catchy with all of its nifty tricks at hand, the simplicity of the iOS 7 just gives the Apple iPhone 5 the major boost it needs to stand out from the rest. Apple's software is well-known for its simple yet more modern transitions and cleaner effects and icons. Conversely, the TouchWiz UI - despite its numerous extra feats - tends to slow the Android software down; hence, notable lags could be seen from time to time when using the Samsung Galaxy S4.
