Sony Xperia Z1 Compact or Apple iPhone 5s: Which is best?

Japanese Phone Maker Sony's Xperia Z1 Compact smartphone might be a miniature alternative to the flagship Xperia Z1, but it features the same top-end specifications as its larger sibling. With a 4.3in display and top-end features, this handset sees Sony challenging Apple's iPhone 5S in the smartphone market.

Design

The Sony Xperia Z1 Compact and iPhone 5S are worlds apart in design, but both devices have a premium look.

Sony's Xperia Z1 Compact measures 127x65x9.5mm and is crafted predominantly from plastic. But much like the flagship Xperia Z1, this is coated in glass and edged with aluminium, giving the handset an all around high-end feel.

The iPhone 5S measures 124x59x7.6mm and features the same boxy, angular design as the Xperia Z1 Compact. But Apple's handset differs from Sony's plastic and glass casing with a fully aluminium chassis, which both looks and feels premium. However, we have found the handset's metal casing is prone to picking up scuffs and scratches, much like the Xperia Z1 Compact is prone to picking up fingerprints.

Display

The Sony Xperia Z1 Compact has a 4.3 inch 1280 x 720 display with a pixel density of 342 pixels per inch. It’s a high quality, high definition screen and it uses Triluminos technology which does a good job of replicating natural colour shades.

The Apple iPhone 5S has a 4 inch 640 x 1136 display with a pixel density of 326 pixels per inch. It’s both smaller and marginally lower resolution than the Sony Xperia Z1 Compact’s screen, but not enough to be an issue. The overall quality of images on the iPhone 5S’s display is every bit as good in fact and the only major difference between the two is that the iPhone 5S is true widescreen 16:9, which is great for watching videos on but takes a little getting used to for everything else.

Power

The Sony Xperia Z1 Compact has a 2.2 GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800 32 bit processor and 2GB of RAM. It’s an enormously powerful phone, right up there with the likes of the LG G2 and the Sony Xperia Z1.

The Apple iPhone 5S uses a 1.3 GHz dual-core Apple A7 64 bit processor and 1GB of RAM. While that may sound worse it’s actually one of the most powerful handsets on the planet and should easily be able to match the Sony Xperia Z1 Compact for performance.

Operating system

Despite their similar performance, the Sony Xperia Z1 Compact and iPhone 5S mobile operating systems couldn't be more different, with the handsets running Google's Android 4.3 Jelly Bean and Apple's iOS 7, respectively.

It's always hard to compare Android with iOS, because most smartphone users already have their favourite, with some favouring Android's openness and ability to customise, and others preferring the simplicity of Apple's iOS.

On the Sony Xperia Z1 Compact, Android 4.3 Jelly Bean is coated with Sony's custom skin that overlays the stock user interface with the firm's custom apps and widgets. Saying that, Sony's custom user interface is much less obtrusive than Samsung's and HTC's skins, but it still has more of a learning curve than Apple's iOS 7 mobile operating system.

Camera

The Sony Xperia Z1 Compact has a 20.7 megapixel main camera, complete with a number of shooting options, such as HDR and burst mode. The combination of an Exmor RS sensor and wide angle G lens ensure that it lets in more light than most other phones and at the same time reduces noise, allowing it to capture sharp, detailed images.

The Xperia Z1 Compact also has a 2 megapixel front facing camera and can shoot 1080p video.

The Apple iPhone 5S only has an 8 megapixel camera. However it has a large active sensor area and uses a ‘True Tone’ flash, which ensures that pictures have natural colours. It also has a 1.2 megapixel front facing camera and can shoot video in 1080p.

Both phones are great for photo fanatics, but the Sony Xperia Z1 Compact is the better of the two.

Battery life and storage

Sony claims that the 2,300mAh battery battery on the Xperia Z1 Compact will last for 18 hours of constant talk-time, while Apple claims up to 10 hours.

We found that the battery on Sony's pint-sized smartphone way outlasted that of the iPhone 5S. We used both smartphones over the weekend, with both seeing average to heavy use, and while the iPhone 5S needed to be recharged towards the evening, the Xperia Z1 Compact easily breezed through into a second day.

The Xperia Z1 Compact storage trumps that of the iPhone 5S too. While it's only available with 16GB of internal storage, it boasts a microSD card slot, which means users can expand this by an additional 64GB. The iPhone 5S, on the other hand, is available with 16GB, 32GB, or 64GB of internal storage, but has no way to expand this further.

Price

The Sony Xperia Z1 Compact is available in the UK SIM free from £449, while the cheapest iPhone 5S is priced at £529. It's pretty clear which one is the winner in this category.

Apple charges Indians the most for iPhone 5S: Study

It is not a secret that Apple gadgets cost a fortune in India, where even the base variant of the iPhone 5S costs over half-a-lakh rupees. Now, a study has shown that Indians end up paying the most for the Apple smartphone - across the world!

According to data compiled by technology website Mobiles Unlocked, the iPhone 5S costs the Indians the most globally when compared with their purchasing power. In fact, buyers here have to shell out 22.3% of the national gross domestic product per capita (GDP PPP). The GDP PPP is a means of measuring how much each person earns in a country.

This means that Indian buyers shell out over 22.3% of their disposable incomes if they purchase the iPhone 5S.

China, another emerging country and Apple's fastest-growing market, stands fifth in the list and there it acosts buyers less than 10% of their purchasing power.

The study details the countries where the iPhone 5S is most and least expensive across 47 countries. It only included the basic 16GB model of the iPhone 5S and took the pricing via official channels, not grey market.

While iPhone 5S is the most expensive for Indians, it costs the least to citizens of Qatar, who only pay 0.76% of their disposable incomes for the device. The US, home market of Apple, stands fourth-last in the list; buyers only have to pay 1.36% of their incomes for the model, as per the data.

Despite the high price, Apple has enjoyed its best-ever sales for the iPhone 5S in India. The model has been out of stock ever since it was launched in the country and retailers are still struggling to meet the demand.

Source : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/tech-news/hardware/Apple-charges-Indians-the-most-for-iPhone-5S-Study/articleshow/26845974.cms?

Retailers launch exchange, buyback offers for iPhone 5C and iPhone 4S

It seems India is not so keen on buying the new iPhone 5C. It's been about two weeks since the new Apple iPhones went on sale in India and we are already learning about the exchange or buyback schemes for the iPhone 5C. The offer is on selected smartphones on whose exchange you can get minimum Rs.13,000 off on the price of iPhone 5c and iPhone 4S . (similar exchange offer for iPhone 5/iPhone 4S/iPhone 4 was quite popular and iPhone sales sky-rocketed with it and we think this new offer will do better due to its high exchange price).

This exchange offer is not available for the new iPhone 5s , the reason being simple , iPhone 5s is Apple’s flagship smartphone and is selling at a good pace irrespective of its high price and similar design to iPhone 5 (Fingerprint scanner one of the major reason) . Whereas the iPhone 5c , initially dubbed as an affordable price version of iPhone , is not selling like an Apple iPhone generally do . This is because Apple has kept this new color panel plastic smartphone’s price not so affordable. 

Here is a list of devices that are eligible for the scheme: BlackBerry Z10, BlackBerry Q10, HTC One dual-SIM, HTC One mini, HTC Desire 500, HTC Desire 600, Nokia Lumia 925,Samsung Galaxy S4, Samsung Galaxy S III, Samsung Galaxy Note 2, Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini,Samsung Galaxy Mega 5.8, Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3, Sony Xperia Z1, Sony Xperia Z, Sony Xperia Z Ultra, Sony Xperia ZR, Sony Xperia C. The list also includes the Apple iPhone 4 8GB and 16GB models.

However, Business Today confirmed that the deal doesn't come as an official one from Apple but from the retailers on their own initiative. Even the distributor reportedly said that Apple has not yet introduced any such scheme.

Google Nexus 5 vs. Apple iPhone 5S

The Nexus 5 has finally arrived and it has already got plenty of smartphones to compete with. One of the major rival for Nexus 5 is none other than the iPhone 5S. In 2012, both the phones had arrived in the fourth quarter of the year but went to be the best smartphones of the year. Again, both iPhone 5S and Nexus 5 have arrived in the fourth quarter and come plenty of new features that will make the best smartphones of 2013. Google's Nexus 5 is the perfect blend of functionality and affordability but can it take on the powerful and fast iPhone 5S? 

Display and Dimensions

The Nexus 5 comes with a 5inch display screen that offers a display resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels with a pixel density of 445ppi. The handset is quite thin as its thickness is only 0.34 inches. The phone weighs only 130g. On the other side, Apple has continued to offer the same sized display that came with the older iPhone 5. It has got a 5inch display screen that offers a display resolution of 1136 x 640 pixels. It brings to you amazing clarity through the Retina Display technology. In comparison with Nexus 5, the pixel density of iPhone 5S is lower with 326ppi. However, compared to the Nexus 5, the iPhone 5S is thinner as it only 7.6mm thick and even weighs less with a weight of 112g.

Form

iPhone 5s - 123.8 x 58.6 x 7.6mm, 112g

Google Nexus 5 - 137.9 x 69.2 x 8.6mm, 130g

Neither Google nor Apple has gone for anything wildly different from their current ranges, with the iPhone 5S looking almost exactly like its predecessor, with the slight exception of it now being available in gold, as well as the standard Apple black and white. The device remains minimal and has the usual thin side-to-side bevel, with the larger bevel above and below the screen. As with previous models, the device is made of glass and metal, giving it a heavy, premium feel, if a little slippery in the hand.

Google’s Nexus 5 is possibly even more minimal than the iPhone, with no buttons on the fascia of the device and a minimal side bevel. The device is made of edge-to-edge toughened glass, giving it a high-quality feel and the updated Gorilla Glass 3 is especially thin, making the device tough without being bulky. Buttons are hewn from a ceramic material, which is a vast improvement on plastic from the previous Nexus smartphone, and they lend a real feeling of quality to the device.

Hardware

The Nexus 5 is powered with a Snapdragon 800 chipset with Krait CPU cores that delivers a clocking speed of 2.3GHz. It has got 2GB RAM board. The phone is available in two storage variants, namely 16GB and 32GB. It comes with 2300mAh capacity battery. As mentioned before, there is 64bit A7 processor that offers a clocking speed of 1.3GHz. It is coupled with PowerVR G6430 graphics and M7 coprocessor. It comes with 1GB RAM. The handset is available in storage variants of 16GB, 32GB and 64GB. It has got a battery of 1570mAh capacity.

Software

A much more important question than which hardware to go for is the ecosystem to pick – Android or iOS. Both phones run the very latest version of their respective systems – iOS 7 and Android 4.4 KitKat. 

These days, both are very fast and look good – before iOS 7 the Apple mobile OS was starting to look a little musty. The main benefit of iOS is that it offers the best apps and games selection. You just can’t beat the App Store. 

With Android, you get much more control. You can change keyboards, tweak the look of the system a whole lot more and can generally connect to other devices much more easily – whether a TV or just your computer.We could go on, but the debate around iOS vs Android is long enough, complicated enough and emotive enough to fill several volumes.

Camera

Both these phones have 8-megapixel cameras, a megapixel count that sounds a little low when the Samsung Galaxy S4 has a 13-megapixel camera and the Xperia Z1 a 20.7-megapixel camera. However, each has a few minor tricks up its sleeve. 

The iPhone 5S has a slightly larger-than-average sensor. It is 1/3 of an inch rather than 1/3.2 inches – the standard size, and that of the Nexus 5. Larger sensors result in less noisy pictures, given the same level of processing. 

The Nexus 5 also has a slower lens than the iPhone 5S – f/2.4 to the iPhone’s f/2.2. A faster lens again results in less noisy pictures, and better low-light performance. 

However, the Nexus 5 has one thing the iPhone 5S does not – optical image stabilisation. This buffers the lens to compensate for any movement made while you’re taking photos, and will reduce the number of blurry photos you take.

Connectivity

The Nexus 5 and the iPhone 5S both come with support for 4G LTE connectivity. The Nexus 5 will be available through AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint but there is no info on whether the Nexus 5 will be made available by Verizon. The iPhone 5S is being offered by all the leading carriers in US.

When it comes to Wi-Fi, the iPhone 5S only offers 802.11n speeds whereas the Nexus 5 offers much faster internet connectivity through 802.11ac. Both the handsets come with Bluetooth 4.0 and GPS. Google Nexus 5 comes with NFC connectivity but Apple is yet to offer this feature on its iPhone.

When we compare the hardware specs of both the smartphones, the Nexus 5 seems to be a superior. However, it all boils down to how the hardware interacts with the operating system on the handset.

Battery Life

Battery life is one of those things that no one is ever happy with. With that said, you might be pleased to know that the battery life on both the Nexus 5 and the iPhone 5s are pretty decent. According to Apple, you’ll be able to get 10 hours worth of LTE surfing time, while Google says that the Nexus 5 will last seven hours on LTE. Of course, your mileage will vary, and each user will have their own experiences as far battery life goes, but it’s usually a safe bet to knock a couple hours off of what companies give you as far as battery life numbers.

Price

Nexus 5’s 16 and 32 GB variants are priced at Rs.28,999 and Rs. 32,999. On the other hand 5s 16GB, 32 and 64 GB variants are priced at Rs.53,500, Rs 62,500 and 71,500.

iPhone 5s sold out in India, shortages everywhere!

The iPhone 5s and 5c opened for sale in India on Friday 1 November ahead of the Diwali weekend to a demand that rapidly outstripped supply and on Tuesday.

According to The Times of India, Apple’s iPhone 5s sold out within 24 hours of launching in India, which is now the world’s third largest smartphone market by volume. Initial supply is unknown — possibly as low as 30,000 units across the country, according to “trade estimates” — but India now marks yet another market where consumers will have to wait for weeks to buy Apple’s latest phone. 

On Tuesday, Economic Times reported that “top multi-brand cellphone and electronic retail chains such as The MobileStore, PlanetM, UniverCell and Future Group say their 5S stocks are over but that they still have 5C phones.” The report adds that trade estimates put the number of iPhones launched in India was close to 30,000 of which around 6000 were iPhone 5s devices. Reliance which is offering the phone for a year contract sold out the devices in one and a half days.

But when it comes to the iPhone, it’s not just the big guys who are facing a supply shortage and a demand overload. Local mobile stores in Delhi too have very limited supply of the iPhone 5s, which seems to be in high demand.

As far as offers on the iPhone 5s are concerned, Reliance Communications is offering the smartphone for a sweet Rs 2,999 per month for a contract period pf  24 months. The offer will include the handset cost, unlimited local and STD calls, SMS, national roaming and 3G data. Under this offer, Apple iPhone 5c and iPhone 5s customers will not receive any usage bill for 24 months, as the monthly payments include all usage charges. Only international calls and international roaming charges will have to be paid for. The iPhone 5c is also available on the same offer but for a monthly payment of Rs 2599 with the same data and voice deal. Customers however will require a credit card for buying the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c under the offer. They will need credit cards from ICICI Bank, Standard Chartered, HDFC Bank and Citi Bank. The amount will be billed to their credit card.

Sony Xperia Z Ultra

The Sony Xperia Z Ultra is a big ol' phone. It’s huge in fact. After the 5.7-inch Samsung Galaxy Note 3 and the 6.3-inch Samsung Galaxy Mega, Sony is pushing the limits of what is acceptable to carry in your pocket with this giant 6.4-inch Android smartphone.

Almost every smartphone seems to be small when you compare it to the Xperia Z Ultra. The smartphone/tablet hybrid is huge with 179 x 92 x 6.5 mm, but also very thin. The Galaxy Note 3 is considerably thicker with 8.3 mm, but also more than 40 grams lighter. The use of glass at the back should be the main reason for that additional weight since the case of the Galaxy Note 3 is once again completely made of plastic.

The physical button for stand-by and the volume rocker can easily be reached with one hand because they are on the lower half of the device - no risk for contortions. The build quality is on a very high level and the materials can convince us - even though the glass at the back attracts fingerprints. The torsion resistance cannot quite keep up with the HTC One because of the thin profile and results in a slight point reduction.

Similar to many other Xperia devices, the Z Ultra is also certified according to the IP55 & IP58 standards. This means you can submerge the phone for 30 minutes to a depth of 1.5 meters. Even though the Ultra Z is supposed to be equipped with a back of robust glass and a protective film, we already had a few scratches after a little while.

The Xperia Z Ultra packs a powerful quad-core 2.2 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 MSM8974 System-on-Chip which is paired with Adreno 330 graphics chip clocked at 450 Mhz. To make the best of this SoC, Sony has fitted 2 GB RAM in the phablet. We ran variety of popular benchmark apps just to satiate our itch for testing the new SoC breed. We weren't surprised for the Snapdragon 800 easily topped in several benchmarks such as 3DMark scoring 15899 in the Ice Storm game benchmark. Interesting bit is that the Samsung Galaxy S 4 LTE-A model with the same processor gets slightly more score than the Xperia Z Ultra. The secret lies in the optimization performed by both companies separately.

The Xperia Z Ultra packs an 8 megapixel camera at the rear with Exmor RS imaging sensor for fast capture. When you look at the back, Sony inadvertently repeated the same mistake that Apple did with the first iPhone and Samsung followed it with Galaxy S - no LED Flash. Now there goes an opportunity to offer great images with little bit of artificial light. The Camera app remains the same as it has been with the last couple of Xperia series handsets. In the camera app, the on-screen button in upper left corner can be tapped to get single tap access to various modes - Normal, Burst, Picture Effect, Sweep Panorama, Scene Selection (With sub-menus), Video Camera and Front Camera-video.

The Sony Xperia Z Ultra is large screen phablet promising great multimedia possibilities at Rs 39,000 approximately. Undoubtedly the Xperia Z Ultra is one of the best and powerful phablets in the Indian market. The waterproof nature and slim body design makes it attractive to those who love big devices that can comfortably stay in the overcoat or blazer pockets. There is no way that this phablet can comfortably rest in the trouser pockets and having said that, it is one of the uncomfortable smartphones in terms of size.

Apple’s India success story: iPhone 5s sold out in less than 24 hrs

Sales of the lowerpriced colourful iPhone 5c, however, picked up pace only from Saturday with consumers buying the model since the 5s was sold out. However, the iPhone 5c is also selling like hot cakes, with retail chains expecting their stocks to be sold-out during the weekend.

Apple launched its two new iPhone models in India on Friday in a series of events in Hyderabad, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Delhi, Ludhiana, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, Gurgaon and Kolkata. The Apple iPhone 5s is priced between Rs 53,500 and Rs 71,500, depending on the size of the internal memory, while iPhone 5c is priced at Rs 41,900 (16 GB) and Rs 53,500 (32 GB). At Mumbai’s Phoenix Mills in Lower Parel, which was one of the selected venues of the launch, the event was supposed to start at 5 pm. However, reports say people were queuing since 8 in the morning. The country’s largest cell-phone retail chain, The MobileStore, sold out its iPhone 5s stock in cities like Pune on Friday itself. The MobileStore CEO Himanshu Chakrawarti told ET, “The hype is huge, probably due to the shorter gap between the US launch of the device and India.” At the Lower Parel launch, the phones were sold out in just three hours. The gold version of the iPhone was sold out even faster and many consumers were forced to buy the silver one, reported DNA.

Credit : gadgets.ndtv.com

As per retail industry estimates, some 30,000 units of iPhone 5s and 5c models were distributed in India in the launch phase, which includes some 6,000 units of iPhone5s. New stock of iPhone 5s will available again from Wednesday. It seems Apple got it right this time by launching the two new phones during Dhanteras.

Credit : gadgets.ndtv.com

Source : http://www.firstpost.com

Reliance's iPhone 5S and 5C plans with zero down-payment

credit : Phonearena

Reliance Communications will offer the 16GB iPhone 5s at a monthly fee of Rs. 2,999 and 16GB iPhone 5c at a fee of Rs. 2,599 at zero upfront cost. The monthly fee is inclusive of taxes. In lieu of the fee, consumers will get unlimited local and STD calls, SMS (up to 3,000 a month due to TRAI regulations), national roaming and 3G data. There's no fair use policy and iPhone 5c and iPhone 5s customers will not receive any usage bill for 24 months, except for usage related to international calls and international roaming charges.

The 32GB and 64GB variants of the iPhone 5s and the 32GB variant of the iPhone 5c would also be offered under the same scheme though consumers will have to shell out upfront charges. The 32GB iPhone 5s will come with upfront charges of Rs. 11,600 while the 32GB and 64GB variants of the iPhone 5s will be available following a downpayment of Rs. 10,992 and Rs. 19,992, respectively.

Commenting on the offer, Gurdeep Singh, President & CEO (Wireless), Reliance Communications Limited, said: "We are delighted to be amongst the first to launch the Apple iPhone 5c and iPhone 5s in India and are focused on growing this user segment with our novel iPhone offers, which break all ownership rules and put the customer first. The Apple iPhone has been a dream for users in India and overseas, and it is our endeavour to grow this market and make every Indian's dream come true with RCom's compelling and affordable iPhone ownership plan."

RCom has partnered with select credit card providers to extend the offer with a single swipe of a credit card enabling users to opt in for the contract for 2 years. RCom will reportedly offer the subsidy scheme to credit card users and has tied up with banks, including ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank for the same to ensure that consumers don't dishonour the contract. The Company has also launched special facilities for corporate users of Apple products who would like to migrate to the Reliance network through MNP, with their requests being fast-processed. It's also setting up a special dedicated helpline for Apple customers for assistance and inquiries.

It's worth pointing out that the 16GB iPhone 5s costs Rs. 53,500, while the 16GB iPhone 5c is priced at Rs. 41,900. If you buy the iPhone 5s under the offer, you'll end up paying Rs.71,976 at the end of 24 months, Rs.18,476 over and above the cost of the phone but the monthly rental effectively turns out to be Rs.769.83, so the deal seems quite fair.

Best camera phones in India

Nokia Lumia 1020

Credit : Engadget

The camera's 41-megapixel sensor is undoubtedly the Lumia 1020's major selling point. The combination of the wide-angle lens, f/2.2 aperture, very effective built-in image stabilizer and maximum ISO speed of 4000 makes this smartphone better suited to hand-held low-light photography than most other comparable devices. The Lumia 1020 offers a built-in, lens-based image stabilisation system that Nokia claims offers a 3-stop advantage compared to smartphones with no anti-shake. In practice we could hand-hold the Lumia 1020 in fairly dark conditions and still get sharp results for both stills and video without resorting to using the rather ineffective built-in flash.

You can digitally zoom the lens by 3x by swiping up and down on the screen - we'd recommend that you forget this feature, though, as zooming in does degrade the picture quality slightly, despite the claims that it's a lossless zoom, and its also only applied to the image at 5 megapixels, rather than the highest resolution of 38 megapixels. The lens has a minimum focus range of 15cm, not bad, but not really good enough for macro shots.

Apple iPhone 5S

Credit : iMore

The iPhone 5S' improved camera is probably its biggest selling point. Cameras are no longer afterthoughts on smartphones: they're becoming the most important feature, for many, as they slowly but surely replace point-and-shoot cameras.

If you're getting a new iPhone for its camera, get the 5S. A suite of new and useful upgrades help make the already-good iPhone 5 camera into something even better...but, in a landscape riddled with increasingly impressive phone cameras, the iPhone stands out a little less than before.

Unlike many megapixel-packing smartphones, the iPhone 5S camera stays at 8 megapixels, the same on paper as last year and even the year before. The sensor, as Apple will proclaim, however, is 15 percent larger: the pixels are physically bigger (1.5 microns), even if there are the same number of them. The camera's aperture is larger (f/2.2). All of these elements add up to better low-light exposure.

Newer A7-driven processing also enables true burst-mode shooting: hold down the shutter button and you'll snag as many shots as you desire. The iPhone 5 could take multiple shots with quick taps, but the iPhone 5S can capture rapid-motion activities like sports events (or, in my household, random baby tricks). Instead of spamming your Camera Roll with identical-looking images, the new iOS 7 camera app cleverly bundles them in a subfolder, and even autopicks what it considers the best shots. This decision is based on image crispness and other factors; you can pick your own favorites easily, and delete the rest at the touch of a button.

Samsung Galaxy S4

Credit : Cnet

The Samsung Galaxy S4 camera is a big upgrade over other sensors it has put into phones, and with a 13MP sensor you can see why. It is capable of taking some stunning photos and comes with a decent auto mode, which enables you to get really great shots no matter what the framing. In terms of camera features, the Galaxy S4 comes with a whole bunch of new shooting modes like Drama mode, Animated Photo, Eraser, Dual Shot. Panorama Mode, Rich Tone (HDR) to name a few.

HTC One

Credit : Techno Buffalo

A big change on the HTC One is the camera: it's 'only' a 4MP sensor. It should be put into context though: the camera has a smaller sensor but much larger pixels to capture 300 per cent more light than traditional imaging sensors, and therefore more data, to make your pictures look that much better on the go. It comes with a fast F2.0 lens but also offers an optical image stabilization system. The HTC's camera menu is quite comprehensive for a smartphone, but we would prefer some of the options, for example exposure compensation and ISO, to be more accessible. It's also worth mentioning that the latter option is only of limited value as the HTC One, like most smartphones, does not display shutter speeds.

Nokia Lumia 925

Credit : Fonearena

Nokia Lumia 925 has an 8.7-megapixel lens with PureView processing algorithms.

Instead of the 928's Xenon bulb, the 925 returns to LED flash; two of them, in fact. This time around there's a sixth lens in the Carl Zeiss optical assembly, which Nokia says will take clearer daytime shots. In addition, you have a backside-illuminated image sensor, autofocus, and 4x digital zoom.

The camera app is pretty plain by default, but like all Nokia phones, it includes lenses for panorama and Nokia Smart Cam, which adds a load of effects you also see on top Android phones. You'll be able to edit photos as well.

BlackBerry Introduces the New BlackBerry Z30 Smartphone with 5” Display and BlackBerry 10.2 OS

Candian smartphone maker BlackBerry unveiled its premium flagship Z30 phone in India, pricing it at Rs 39,990, as it took on competition from iPhone and Samsung to save its dwindling market share. The company is also offering 12-month EMI options for purchasing its latest device.

The BlackBerry Z30 which features a 5-inch display with 720 x 1280 pixels resolution runs on Blackberry 10 OS version 10.2. It is powered by 1.7 gigahertz Snapdragon S4 Pro processor and has a 2880 mAh capacity removable battery.

It sports 8 megapixel rear camera and 2 MP front camera and comes with a 2880 mAh capacity removable battery. It has 2 GB of RAM and an internal memory of 16 GB that can be expanded to 64 GB with microSD card.

"BlackBerry Z30 is the ultimate smartphone for the urban youth and consumers who are looking for a bigger screen size, long-lasting battery and a best in class productivity experience, offers a unique and engaging user experience with features like the powerful BlackBerry Hub, its exceptional touchscreen keyboard and industry leading browser," BlackBerry India Managing Director Sunil Lalwani said.

Analysts feel that this festival season the Z30 will face strong competition from other flagship smartphones like the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 & Galaxy S4, Apple iPhone 5s, 5c, LG G2 and Sony Xperia Z1.