LG/Google Nexus 5

The first impression of the LG Nexus 5 is that it remarkably resembles the Samsung Galaxy S4, but the more you look at it, and also as soon as you pick it up, you immediately see the differences. Nevertheless, Google always managed to surprise us with the Nexus line of products, particularly with how much top of the line technology they were able to cram into a seriously affordable phone. If nothing else, the Nexus 5 will once again reignite the pricing wars and also bring turmoil to the competition.

Looking at the specs, it seems like there is no place where money was saved. A true HD IPS Plus capacitive touchscreen, 4.95 inches with the expected 1080 x 1920 pixels resolution at a pixel density of around 445 ppi, furthermore a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 quad-core processor, clocking at 2.3 GHz with the completely new Adreno 330 GPU. It comes in two versions, 16 GB or 32 GB of internal storage, no expansion card slot is provided, there is also 2 GB of RAM. It also features, as the first smartphone ever, the latest Android OS 4.4 KitKat.

There is also the primary camera with 8 MP, autofocus, optical image stabilisation, LED flash, and whatnot, of course is the camera capable of recording full HD video at 1080p, 30 fps. All models come with 3G and LTE, microUSB 2.0, NFC, Bluetooth 4.0 with A2DP, but no FM radio. The pretty strong Li-Po 2300 mAh battery is, alas, non-removable, continuing a trend that I do not appreciate.

What is there to say more about the Nexus 5, besides the fact that it costs only less than 300 quid if you purchase it without a contract, i.e. without SIM card. This pricing policy is the most staggering fact of all. It actually does not matter that you cannot replace the battery, it will work at least for two years, after which you will most likely have the next Nexus already available and affordable. Perhaps the next time Google will finally opt to utilize the incredible resources of the Motorola brand they purchased and release the first ever Motorola Nexus. In any case, this is truly the price to beat, with all the top of the line specs. Perhaps we can look forward to a time, where all top of the line devices will cost around 300 quid. What a marketplace would that be! Source: TechRadar

Samsung Galaxy S4

It is actually not clear who started the whole movement towards having a bigger display screen, but the general public seems to have embraced the notion. It was no surprise that the size of the display screen of Samsung models in the Galaxy S series have been enlarged in every consequent incarnation, so it is really a pleasure to see the latest model, the Samsung Galaxy S4, proudly present an alluring 5.0 inches wide screen, with a resolution of 1080 x 1920 pixels, nowadays almost the norm, and a pixel density of 441 ppi on an incredibly crisp Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen.

How do you rate the flagship model of the market leading manufacturer? It does have all the knick-knacks that were expected, storage choice of 16 GB, 32 GB and 64 GB with expansion up to 64 GB per microSD, 2 GB of RAM, all the connectivity you can get nowadays, including microUSB, MHL, NFC and whatever else is out there. The camera is really good one, 13 megapixels, with autofocus and LED flash, has of course full HD video capture, the latest Android OS, 4.3 Jelly Bean, with KitKat coming very shortly. Inside is the Exynos 5 Octa 5410 octa-core processor, unless you opt for the LTE variant, whereby you get the quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 600.

Currently, the Samsung Galaxy S4 is one of the most sold smartphones ever, with over forty million units sold by the end of October 2013. Large numbers were expected, because pre-orders alone amounted to a whopping ten million units, but the continuous demand was a positive surprise, even for Samsung. This development firmly establishes Samsung as the market leading manufacturer of handheld devices, or rather mobile phones, despite Apple’s efforts to regain the throne. While the competition is getting more and more interesting, Samsung continues to provide just what the public is asking for.