Google Nexus 4 vs. HTC One: How Do They Stack Up?

HTC One hit the Indian retail stores in late May after one-and-a-half month of its official launch which led many to believe that HTC smartphone's late entry would affect its sales prospects, as its rivals LG and Samsung have also debuted their flagship devices, Nexus 4 and Galaxy S4 to cash in on the fast growing Indian smartphone market.

But considering HTC One's build quality and innovative camera features, it still has a fighting chance in the country as it runs on the accolades showered by many global tech pundits who rated HTC smartphone on top of Samsung's Galaxy S4  and hailed it as the best Android phone to match the Apple smartphone in terms of internal and physical form.

As of now, in terms of build quality LG's Google Nexus 4, HTC One and Sony Xperia Z are rated top Android phones, but Xperia Z is bit big to handle in single hand whereas 4.7-inch based HTC One and Nexus 4 can be oprated in single hand. One major drawback is that, HTC smartphone holds an expensive price-tag on its head which might play a crucial role on the minds of price-sensitive Indian consumer.

Here is a brief comparison of main features between LG-Google Nexus 4 and HTC One:

Display:

In this department, HTC One wins hands down as it sports a Super LCD 3 screen with Full HD 1920x1080p resolution having close to pixel density of 469 ppi (pixels per inch) and is touted as the industry's highest screen resolution. On the other hand, Nexus 4 houses 4.7-inch WXGA IPS screen panel with HD 1280x768p display resolutions having a pixel density close to 318 ppi (pixels per inch).

Processor:

In terms of power, HTC smartphone once again comes on top as it packs a faster 1.7GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 series quad-core processor whereas Nexus 4 houses a bit slower and a generation old Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro quad-core processor with 1.5GHz CPU speed.

Nexus 4 and HTC One both features the Adreno 320 GPU graphics engine.

Storage and RAM:

Nexus 4 houses 2GB RAM and 16GB internal memory, whereas HTC One ships with 2GB and a larger internal memory of 32GB. It is to be noted that both the devices will not come with the microSD card slot.

Camera:

Google Nexus 4 sports an 8.0-megapixel camera at the rear side and a 1.3-megapixel front camera; the main camera boasts auto-focus, LED flash, 4X digital zoom and other standard features.

Whereas HTC One comes with revolutionary futuristic camera technology; it is one of the first smartphone in the industry to sport a 2.0 -UltraPixel rear camera (equivalent to 4.0-megapixel).

HTC One's custom build camera houses an f/2.0 aperture lens and a breakthrough sensor technology with UltraPixels that can absorb 300 percent more light than any other high-end smartphone camera sensors.

Mobile Operating System:

In this department, both Nexus 4 and HTC One stand even as they both run on the same ubiquitous Android OS. However, Google phone has one advantage as it will always be the first smartphone among all android devices to get OS update.

Currently, Nexus runs on latest Android v4.2.2 Jelly Bean OS whereas HTC One runs on an older OS v4.1.2 Jelly Bean.

Price:

Currently, Nexus 4 is now available for ₹25,990 in the market, whereas Aluminum clad HTC One is priced ₹42,900, almost ₹17,000 more than the LG smartphone.

Considering the overall aspects and market sensitivity of India, Nexus 4 emerges as the best buy, but for the people who don't mind to pay big bucks for a quality high-end smartphone in terms of build quality, HTC One trumps even the popular Samsung Galaxy S4.

Here is a breakdown of specifications of LG-Google Nexus 4 and HTC One:

 Prices vary depending on the market.