The first quadrant of 2014 is power packed with some great android devices from big boys like Samsung, Sony, HTC etc… Samsung and HTC have released their flagship devices, namely Samsung Galaxy S5 and HTC One M8 in the first quarter of this year. Both the devices are exceptionally great and choosing between the two is really a tough task. If you are planning to buy a device and confused between these two awesome devices, let us help you in crossing this mire of utter confusion.

So which one do you think is the best device among the Samsung Galaxy S5 and HTC One M8 ? Let’s find out with the in-depth comparison of both the devices in every aspect. So let’s see who’s going to win the battle and bag the prize.

BUILD QUALITY

So let’s decide on the build quality first as you have to make your friends go jealous on your new smartphone right?

Samsung Galaxy S5 The Samsung Galaxy S5 comes with the similar design of its predecessors which packs a plastic body and the chrome frame. The slighter improvement that Samsung managed to change is the rear body which is now perforated design which makes it more appealing than its predecessors. The body of the device is tightly packed and has exceptional build quality. Galaxy S5 is IP67 certified water and dust proof device which adds to its value. Samsung S5 has the dimensions 142 x 72.5 x 8.1 mm weighing 145 grams.

HTC One M8 HTC One M8 sports a full aluminium design with 90% of its body framed with metal. The Unibody deisgn of M8 is quite impressive with the dense assembly of the phone and its sleek design. The elegant look and the premium finish of the with brushed metal design and smooth curves is a easy winner of looks. The placement of stereo strips on the front adds to its beauty. The device definitely feels good to hold in the hand. HTC M8 has the dimensions 146.4 x 70.6 x 9.4 mm weighing 160 gms.

So coming to the comparison in terms of the build quality, it is a tough call. Considering the elegant looks and premium finish we call HTC M8 as the winner in the build quality even though it is slightly heavy than Samsung S5, but that’s due to metal design. Don’t feel bad Samsung lovers, we too admit Samsung S5 offers good protection but its simply not appealing to the eye.

Winner: HTC One M8

DISPLAY

Samsung Galaxy S5 Samsung Galaxy S5 features a 5.1 inch 1080 x 1920 pixels Full HD display with a Super AMOLED capacitive touch screen which offers a pixel density of 432 ppi. The display is bright and offers vibrant colours reproduction. The AMOLED display offers deeper blacks and richer colours. This is due to the fact that the pixel is actually turned off so it is as black as it can get. The display is sharp and produces slightly saturated colours on the screen.

HTC One M8 HTC One M8 features a 5 inch 1080 x 1920 pixels Full HD display with Super LCD3 capacitive touch screen which offers a pixel density of 441 ppi. The HTC M8 offers more realistic picture reproduction than the AMOLED screen but sometimes the picture seems washed away. The screen size shrunk down a bit due to the fact that the device has on screen controls rather than capacitive touch buttons. So you are getting a screen that is less than 5 inch.

Coming to choose the winner of this round, it is undoubtedly Samsung S5 as it offers more vibrant colours and deeper blacks which offers a pleasant viewing experience. Even though HTC has more pixel density than Galaxy S5, in realistic conditions it is of negligible amount. Another deciding factor is that Galaxy S5 offers a full 5.1 inch screen while HTC M8 is giving less than 5 inch which is less than they advertised.

Winner: Galaxy S5

AUDIO

Samsung Galaxy S5 Samsung Galaxy S5 has a single speaker located at the rear side of the device which offers a decent sound in external conditions while it is a bit outmatched when comes to the outdoor conditions. The sound gets even lower when the device is placed on a table, in that case the speaker is covered. So if you want to listen a track in your room, it’s ok but if you want to boast it outside it might not end up well for you.

HTC One M8 HTC M8 offers a dual Boom Sound speakers on the front which are one of the its class and offers good music quality and deeper sounds. The placement of the speakers is also suitable for most conditions as they will be well exposed to the surroundings. HTC’s software customisations make the sound quality even better and the HTC launched the Harman/Kardon edition of M8 which has better sound quality.

The choice is much simpler in this section as the HTC M8’s dual boom speakers really blasted the Galaxy S5 in terms of Sound quality both in indoor and outdoor conditions.

Winner: HTC One M8

CAMERA

Samsung Galaxy S5 Samsung S5 comes with a 16MP camera sensor which captures images at whopping 5312 x 2988 pixel resolution. One notable feature of Samsung S5 is that it offers a lot of flexibility in camera capturing. It packs Shot & More settings which can used to adjust the image using various modes. The real time HDR option lets you preview the HDR image before capturing and takes relatively less time to process the HDR images. Video recording can be done at 30 FPS for 2016p video and 60 FPS for 1080p videos. The front camera is of 2MP though.

HTC One M8 The HTC One M8 offers a 4 MP Dual secondary camera which takes images at 2688х1520 pixel resolution, Of the two secondary cameras, one is same as the usual Ultrapixel camera while the other is for capturing the image depth. The camera duo alllows you to take 3D-like image in real time. After taking a photo, you can use UFocus feature to add the Lytro effect of blurred-out objects in the foreground or background. Video recording can be done upto 60 FPS for 1080p video. The front camera is a 5 MP camera which can take HDR images as well.

The camera segment gets a little twitchy with both the devices having their own beauty. The rear camera of S5 is better in many cases than the HTC M8 while the for the front camera, HTC M8 is a clear choice. So it is inevitable for us to declare both of them as winners, one in rear camera section and other in front camera section.

Winner of Rear Camera: Samsung Galaxy S5

Winner of Secondary Camera: HTC One M8

USER INTERFACE

Samsung Galaxy S5 The Galaxy S5 comes with the latest Android 4.4.2 Kitkat out-of-the-box. Samsung has made its devices more powerful with its own TouchWiz interface which is colourful and bold. The TouchWiz style is more or less the IOS style and has smooth user interface over all. One notable feature in the TouchWiz is the Quick settings which allows you to interact with your device with a few clicks. The device is powered by My Magazine which offers social feed and news right on your homescreen.

HTC One M8 The HTC One M8 comes with the latest Android 4.4.2 Kitkat out-of-the-box. HTC offers Sense UI 6.0 which run on top of android and provides a Sleek and clean interface. The UI is exceptionally good with a eye catching icons and transitions. The on screen buttons provides a smoother navigation on the device. Sense UI is fast and more modern and offers good looks. HTC offers its home grown BlinkFeed as the newsfeed for its customers.

Both the TouchWiz and SenseUI are one of their kind and it is pretty difficult to make a choice. It also depends on the personal preference of the user to choose between them. In my opinion, Sense UI is much faster and sleeker than TouchWiz. Also Sense UI uses minimal CPU resources and drains less battery, and the UI feels snappy in hands. So i prefer Sense UI here. (Once again it purely depends on your personal choice)

Winner: HTC One M8

PERFORMANCE

Samsung Galaxy S5 The Samsung Galaxy S5 comes packed with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor clocked at 2.5 GHz along with a 2 GB RAM. It also includes the Adreno 330 GPU for gaming and graphics performance. The device is extremely fast and gives a smooth performance overall but is only limited by its own TouchWiz interface which in times, lags a bit. The device supports almost all games and no lag whatsoever in terms of gaming.

HTC One M8 The HTC One M8 comes packed with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor clocked at 2.3 GHz along with a 2 GB RAM. It also includes the Adreno 330 GPU for gaming and graphics performance. The device is really smooth and snappy and the overall performance is great. Gaming is good with no lags and the performance in benchmarks is also good. The games load faster and the device boot time is really fast.

On paper Samsung S5 has 0.2 GHz edge over the HTC One M8 but in reality the difference is not all noticeable. Both the devices perform extremely well in all conditions but the TouchWiz may be the Achilles heel to the Galaxy S5. In hand the HTC M8 feels snappy rather than the Galaxy S5.

Winner: HTC One M8

STORAGE

Samsung Galaxy S5 The Samsung Galaxy S5 comes in 16 GB and 32 GB variants and also supports the MicroSD card support upto 128 GB. If the storage still concerns you, you can attach a pendrive or portable hardrive using OTG cable.

HTC One M8 The HTC One M8 comes in 16 GB and 32 GB variants and also supports the MicroSD card support upto 128 GB. If the storage still concerns you, you can attach a pendrive or portable hardrive using OTG cable.

There is no difference in this section, so we can call it a tie.

Winner: It’s a tie.

BATTERY

Samsung Galaxy S5 The Samsung Galaxy S5 comes with a removable 2800 mAh Li-Ion battery which offers talk-time up to 21 hours. There is also provision to save your battery with the Ultra Power Savings Mode offered by the Samsung.

HTC One M8 The HTC One M8 comes with a non-removable 2600 mAh Li-Ion battery which offers talk-time up to 20 hours. The non-removable battery limits the phone capabilities to some extent.

Although there is no much difference in the battery power of both the devices, a removable battery creates provision to carry around an extra battery which you can use if you are a power user and need frequent charging. So Galaxy S5 wins in the battery section for its flexibility.

Winner: Samsung Galaxy S5

MISCELLANEOUS FEATURES

Samsung Galaxy S5 Samsung Galaxy S5 is packed with some exciting and cool features like heart beat sensor, fingerprint scanner etc… The S Health app use a sensor next to camera flash to record the heart beat data and process it to give your health advice. The PayPal certified fingerprint scanner provides secure online transactions. The water resistant build also add to its overall feature list. Multi Window feature is another feature from Samsung to allow multiple apps to run on the screen at the same time.

HTC One M8 The HTC M8 really rock the stage with its dual Boom Sound speakers which offers superior sound quality. The smart gestures function is also a smooth way to interact with your device. The device allows you to unlock by double tapping the screen. The company itself is manufacturing a special case called Dot View Case which is specially designed for M8. The case offers innovative notifications and interactions with the device while the flip is still on.

Both the flagship devices offers their own features which are exceptional in their lines. But when it comes to comparison, Samsung S5 offers some useful features like Heartbeat sensor, fingerprint reader, water resistance etc… which are good.

Winner: Samsung Galaxy S5

FINAL VERDICT

So looking at the in-depth review, you can understand that it’s a tough call between the two. But coming to the analysis, both the devices have their respective pro’s and cons. The HTC M8 is a great device in terms build quality, performance but the Galaxy S5 steals the camera and battery segments. When considering the extra features the devices offer, even though the Galaxy S5 offer Heartbeat monitor, water resistance and fingerprint scanner, practically they are of limited use. The elegance and performance of HTC M8 outruns the Samsung S5’s features. So the winner of overall performance and quality is HTC ONE M8.

Overall Winner: HTC One M8