Blackberry Z10 v/s HTC One v/s Sony Xperia Z v/s Samsung Galaxy S IV

Image courtesy techradar.com

As I had promised you in month of December 2012, the month of March as arrived with a whole host of launches by all the premier mobile manufacturers.    The new launches are taunted as flagship products by their respective companies.   Blackberry depends it survival on the success of BB Z10 with BB10 OS.  Sony has brought out a game changer in Xperia Z, HTC One is already one of the most talked about phones right now and last but not the least, come March 14, Samsung will unveil its Galaxy S IV.

With so many products available, we are pampered with choice.  So let me give a frank and honest opinion about the released phones.  Indians are now deeply into smart phones and have both the money power and the will to buy the high end phones.  But will they buy Blackberry Z10?

I dont think so?  First of all the Z10 doesn't have any new features which the other phones don't have.  And its price is just to high even for a premium product.  At Rs.43,500.00 it is a bit costly in my opinion.  As of now it has managed to sell the product in India due to the initial wow factor associated with it.    But Blackberry seems to have lost the plot on the pricing front.  Why would anybody buy a Z10 at Rs.43,500.00 when you have got two great products at a similar price.  The iPhone 5 is available at Rs.45,000.00 in India with whole host of Apps in the Apple Store and Galaxy S III is way to cheaper at Rs.28,000.00.  Add to it the benefit of 7 lakhs plus Apps available in the Google Play.  How many Apps does Blackberry App World have on its site.  Around 1,20,000.   

What does Z10 have that others don't?  The only plus point it has is the  IPS LCD panel ensures brilliant experience with incredible sharpness on the 4.2-inch display with a resolution of 1280 x 768. At 356 ppi, it beats the iPhone 5’s Retina Display.  But will you buy a phone just because its display is wonderful.  Nokia Lumia 920 users swear by its camera in terms of image clarity, but that hasn't made the Lumia 920 a hot favourite among buyers.  It has its own niche users but that number is too small to effect a convincing 'Hit' in the highly changing mobile industry.  Other than the display, the BB Z10 has almost similar features as the other Android phones available in the market.

The next one is Xperia Z from the Sony stable.  Sony has been in India long enough and its services backbone in India is third only to Nokia and Samsung.  Xperia Z is a game changer of sorts.  It is reasonably priced at Rs.39,000.00 for a high end phone.

Sony has got every thing right in this phone.  It is dust and water resistant.  The Wet Finger Tracking technology ensured that even if your finger or the display was wet.  The display is fine with 1080p output at 30 fps.   The UI is just wonderful and add to it the Sony Bravia Engine which runs on the Phone is just too awesome.  If you have a Sony TV set in the house, pairing both will give you unexpected results in terms of quality.  Music lovers and bollywood afficionados have also been addressed by Sony, which has just released a free downloadable App Jive for Xperia buyers for six months.  Specification wise this phone is the best in the lot and except for Samsung Galaxy SIV (which will soon be out), this phone has no competition from BB Z10 or HTC One.

HTC has also upped the ante with launch of HTC One at the MWC 2013.   The HTC One is almost similar to HTC Butterfly in all aspects.  Priced at Rs.45,000.00 (expected price) this is a tad costly if you consider a much better speced Sony is available cheaper than this one.  

The HTC One has only two plus points over its nearest rivals, one is the Beats Audio technology and the other is a nifty little feature called 'Zoe'.  The  HTC Zoe feature, which when enabled captures 5 photos before you press the shutter and another 15 after you do. It also shoots a three-second HD video clip besides giving you the 20 pictures.  This is useful when you want to capture the 'Kodak Moments' of your life in every form but have to do with either still or video at one time.  HTC Zoe solves that by giving a little of both.

But will the quality and price conscious Indian buyer go for this phone just for these two features, I don't see it that way.  Either way this phone will be available in India in April, 2013 when the budget raise of 6% takes effect.  So this one is going to a lot costlier then its counterparts which are available now.

That leaves us to the last.  And the last generally is the best.  While Samsung S IV is awaited by the world at large and and expected to unveiled on March 14, 2013.  It remains to be seen when the Samsung guys will release it in India. 

Samsung has always considered India a strategically important part of its marketing blitz and this has helped the company to rise to number one not only in India but in the world.  So Samsung must be wary of the budget raise and may ship the phone in March itself to take advantage of the price arbitrage.    Another thing I expect from Samsung is that it knows Indian market so well that it will price it very strategically as it has done with S III.

The S IV is supposed to a real masterpiece from the Samsung stable.  It has the right things in places.

Its has a new feature called the Smart Scroll.  This feature follows you eyes and scrolls the webpage or screenshot as you follow it.  It also has a jaw breaking Octa (4+4) core speed to boot. I expect it to be priced below Rs.40000.00 by the Samsung guys.   View the leaked screen shots here.

There you have it, I have only two suggestion for you.  If you want to take advantage of the reduced price before the budget hike kicks in on 1st April, go for Sony Xperia Z.  If you don't mind paying a little bit more towards the progress of our country in form of increased taxes, wait till April, 2013 and then decide between the Sony Xperia Z and Samsung Galaxy S IV.  

Further I have heard reports that Apple is bringing out a India and China centric iPhone for under Rs.20,000.00.  This was published on a Japanese website Macotakara.  Though this may just be a rumour, I have always said that Apple ought to shift its focus more and more on India, China and the third world countries if it has to progress.  But this phone and the iPhone 5S are still a long way off. 

In other words as of now the choice is Sony Xperia Z.  Read the article on Gartner here to find out who came tops for Q1 2013.

May the phone be with you!

Vijay Prabhu