The Flagship Battle:Would you prefer HTC One(M8) for Windows over Lumia 930?

Image Credit:Pocketnow

HTC officially unveiled it’s new Windows Phone device at it’s event yesterday, and I must say they have returned to WindowsPhone with a bang. The HTC One(M8) for Windows is exclusive to Verizon for now and costs $99 on-contract but the device will soon be available to more carriers .

So, I was thinking how would this new HTC flagship WindowsPhone device fare against the Lumia flagship device, the Lumia 930? I ran up a specs comparison and the results were not surprising to say the least.

HTC One(M8) for Windows comes with a powerful 2.3GHz Quad-core Snapdragon 801 processor which is considerably more powerful than Lumia 930’s 2.2GHz Quad-core Snapdragon 800 processor. But is it really a plus point over the Lumia 930? Most Lumia supporters would argue and say that Windows Phone 8.1 runs smoothly even on a 1.5GHz Dual-core processor so it really wouldn’t matter to have a slightly more powerful processor than Lumia 930. To those people, I say, suppose an Android device owner, a newcomer who wants to try out his luck with WindowsPhone, what would he choose? He doesn’t know that there isn’t much of a noticeable performance difference between the processors, he’ll obviously choose the device with the more powerful processor, namely HTC One(M8) for Windows. So,even though Lumia 930 might be more enticing for current Lumia owners, it will face competition from people who want to switch to Windows Phone and are looking for high-end devices.

Moving onward comes the memory issue. Both the devices come with 2GB of RAM and 32GB internal memory but the point to be noted here is the lack of SD card expansion in Lumia 930. While the Lumia 930 has 32GB of internal memory, HTC One(M8) for Windows does have a SD Card slot and possesses a potential 160GB of memory(including SD Card expansion). In my personal opinion, the biggest mistake Nokia(now Microsoft Mobile) made was the lack of SD card expansion in the Lumia 930 which made it a deal-breaker to most, including me. While 32GB may be enough for some users, it’s certainly quite less for powerusers now that WP8.1 allows you to store apps and games on your SD Card. Another point to HTC One(M8) for Windows.

The biggest difference between the two is camera. While Lumia 930/Icon features a 20mp PureView camera, the HTC One(M8) for Windows sports a measly 4mp Ultra-pixel camera. Both capture photos at 1080p but the difference is still very, very noticeable. Have a look at the images below(Courtesy of WPCentral). Point to Lumia 930.

Captured with HTC One(M8) for Windows

Captured with Lumia Icon

 

But HTC One(M8) for Windows does take away the game from Lumia 930 in terms of front facing camera, a much needed feature for the selfie-fanatics. HTC One(M8) for Windows comes packed with a 5mp front facing camera, 1080p capture whereas Lumia 930 has a considerably lesser 1.2mp camera with 720p capture.

More surprisingly HTC One(M8) for Windows has a better battery than Lumia 930. Agreed, it’s only a small difference but considering the power hungry WP8.1 OS, every small difference counts, as I’m sure most would agree. Lumia 930 comes with a 2420 mAh battery whereas HTC One(M8) for Windows packs a 2600mAh battery, only slightly better than Lumia 930. Yet another point to HTC.

But perhaps the most important and distinct advantage Lumia 930 has over the HTC One(M8) is the exclusivity of the Nokia apps collection only available on Lumia devices. HTC does have it’s own slightly smaller collection of exclusive apps including Blinkfeed, Video Highlights, Sense Camera UI etc but most people would prefer the Nokia apps collection as compared to HTC app collection. This is perhaps one main advantage Lumia 930 has over HTC One(M8) for Windows, the trust people have in the Lumia brand and it’s exclusive apps.

The last point to be discussed is the gimmicks or accessories. HTC One(M8) for Windows offers the customer a dot-view case, a very useful case which will allow you to interact with your phone without flipping off the cover. It will allow you to interact with your phone caller, show you the time, other important information like the weather but most importantly, it will allow you to interact with Cortana. A useful feature indeed. Lumia 930 on the other hand offers wireless charging, an essential requirement for people who travel a lot or are powerusers and need to charge their phones often even more necessary now considering how fast WP8.1 drains the battery in comparison to WP8. Meanwhile HTC One(M8) for Windows also boasts of Boom Sound, a feature attractive to people who view a lot of media on their phones and prefer a clear and loud voice. But these gimmicks depend more on personal choice rather than an advantage over the other. I would personally prefer wireless charging over the dot-view case and Boom Sound.

All-in-all, I personally believe HTC One(M8) for Windows takes the game away from the flagship Lumia 930 in this round and will pose a strong challenge to the high-end Lumias in the market. The high-end Lumias aren’t performing well at all with sales accounting for only 13.7% of the market share according to recent reports. Even though HTC One(M8) for Windows is Verizon-exclusive right now but it’s bound to come to more carriers soon posing a strong threat to the vulnerable high-end Lumia devices. Microsoft Mobile really needs to step up to meet the challenge and release more high-end devices with better specs. The only thing which attracts me to Lumia 930 for now is wireless charging and a 20mp camera. But I still think it’s not enough to lure me away from the likes of the HTC One(M8) for Windows once it becomes available to more carriers and countries too hopefully.

But what do you think? How well will this device perform in the high-end market? Would you prefer HTC One(M8) for Windows over Lumia 930? Let us know in the comments section below.