HTC Amaze 4G vs Samsung Galaxy S II

Introduction:

It seems that every week a new Android superphone is released, and last week it was the HTC Amaze 4G and Samsung Galaxy S II launching for T-Mobile. These two flagship devices pack the latest processors, 4G data speed, 8 megapixel cameras and large displays. One is thin and light as a feather, the other unapologetically big and bold. With lots of onboard memory and a helping of Gingerbread these devices are pretty similar on paper. So, which device is right for you? Come along with us as we explore these two beastly phones.


Design:

Thin, large, light, sleek. Samsung has crammed so much technology into the waif-like Galaxy S II that one can’t help but be amazed (no pun intended.) The phone is super thin at just 9.4mm yet sports a large 4.5” WVGA Super AMOLED display. The 8 megapixel camera is on the back and a minimalist set of buttons and ports ring the latest Galaxy flagship. The black monotony is only barely broken up with some dark chrome trim. For being such a large phone the Galaxy S II feels almost natural in your hands, with the soft touch battery door offering just enough grip and texture. It slides effortlessly into a front pocket, where it remains undetected until you feel it vibrate.

HTC Amaze 4G is quite the opposite. The Amaze is just as tall as the Galaxy S II and just a few mm narrower, but it is also more than 2mm thicker and weighs over an ounce and a quarter more. A sharp, beveled display and bright, faux aluminum accenting make the Amaze 4G stand out. HTC two upped Samsung by including not only a dedicated camera button, but also a dedicated camcorder button on the Amaze 4G. The rounded edges make the Amaze easy to hold, but wrap your fingers around too tight and the pronounced beveling of the display will cut into them. For as rough as its edges are, the 4.3” qHD Super LCD panel sure is easy on the eyes.

The 4.3” Amaze display has a higher PPI thanks to its qHD resolution, but Samsung’s larger 4.5” has the Super AMOLED Plus technology. Neither display will disappoint, but when you place them side by side it’s hard we found ourselves consistently drawn to the Super AMOLED panel. It is brighter and colors are more vivid (some would say to a fault,) but what really gets us is the deepness of the black. The lower resolution is unfortunate, and despite the 16 million color depth we still saw some banding which was not apparent on the Amaze 4G. This is nothing new for AMOLED panels, but whites are very blue which gives the Amaze’s Super LCD more natural reproduction most of the time. The Amaze has its own shortcomings though, such as being able to see pixels now and again. 

With no disrespect to HTC, the Galaxy S II is a more attractive phone both to hold and use. There will no doubt be some of you out there who prefer the extra heft and solid built, but for the majority of you the Galaxy is the design to go with.

 Camera:

As we stated earlier, both devices have an 8MP main camera capable of recording 1080p video. The HTC Amaze 4G has a dual LED flash whereas the Galaxy S II’s LED flash is solitary. The Amaze is advertised as having zero shutter lag, and it is certainly fast. The limitation is the auto-focus, which can be wonky at times and as you can see a few photos ended up out of focus despite the phone thinking otherwise. Once the auto focus settles down you can snap photos back to back in about a second as compared to around four seconds with the Galaxy S II. The Galaxy beats the Amaze in cold start performance; we were able to launch, focus and snap in 4s. The Amaze grabbed the image in 4s as well, but auto-focus didn’t do its job.

Assuming you take the time to set up the shot the Amaze 4G did a bit better with color reproduction and detail of the focused object. Once you got out of the focus range though the peripheral began to get oddly blurry. This can be best visualized on the image with the pool of water by looking at the mud on the drain as well as the shamrocks in the top right. With the Galaxy S II those parts are very clear, but on the Amaze’s image they are progressively blurrier. The two cameras honestly are very similar, but if given the choice we’d trade the slight drawbacks of the Galaxy S II with the more consistent performance.

Both devices shoot 1080p video at 30fps. The Amaze looks a bit crisper initially, but does not auto focus on the fly so changing depth of field results in blurry videos. The Galaxy S II took a second or two to focus and was shakier than the Amaze, but was a solid performer all around. Like the camera, we’ll take the Galaxy S II’s consistency over the Amaze.

HTC Amaze 4G Sample Video:



Samsung Galaxy S II Sample Video:




Both of these devices, when working as they should, are able to replace your everyday point and shoot. We took some sample shots with our Panasonic FZ35 which, not surprisingly, outperformed both of the phones due to both image quality as well as versatility.


Reviewed By CanadaGSM


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