Washington – Samsung and HTC must be working off the same calendar. Both released their next flagship phones – the HTC One M9 and Samsung Galaxy S6 and Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge – last week.
That poses a very difficult question for someone who’s looking for a premium smartphone and wants that phone to run Google’s Android system.
The One M9 and the Galaxy S6 (and its sibling the S6 Edge, which has a screen that covers one edge) will vie for the title of the best Android phone.
In the past, HTC has seemed to be the underdog, putting out indisputably beautiful phones but failing to gain traction in the premium-market, which Samsung and Apple have dominated. Now, even Samsung is having trouble keeping up its growth in that market. Both companies have a lot riding on the success of these phones.
At first, there are a lot of similarities. They run the latest version of Google’s operating system, Android Lollipop. All embrace unibody design, giving them a sleek look and expensive feel. And all have screens in the five-inch range – landing them somewhere between the size of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.
Samsung has taken some of its more distinctive features out of the Galaxy S6. It swopped out its normal plastic back for metal and ditched the much-touted ability to swop out for a spare battery. It also did away with the option to add your own expandable card for more storage, something the HTC One still supports.
HTC’s One M9 also boasts a slightly better set of cameras, with a front-facing “ultra pixel” camera and a 20-MP rear-facing camera. Samsung has a 5 MP front-facing camera and a 16 MP rear-facing camera.
Overall the differences that will probably have the greatest impact come not from the phones themselves but from the services offered by the companies.
Samsung may have the slight edge, with the broad range of services such as the upcoming Samsung Pay. But HTC has a warranty programme that gives you a free phone replacement for a cracked screen, water damage or a carrier switch.
Washington Post