This is a short comparison review between the Samsung Galaxy S III and the HTC Rezound, both of which are available from Verizon Wireless. You can read our full in-depth review of the Samsung Galaxy S III here, and of the HTC Rezound here.
Introduction:
Even though the HTC Rezound had been on the scene since last November, it has until recently been one of Verizon’s top-tier smartphones alongside the Motorola DROID RAZR. This time around, we’re going to see how the HTC Rezound faces-off next to the new Samsung Galaxy S III, as both come with plenty of features and have the same $199 on-contract price tag for the 16GB version.
Design:
When looking at the Samsung Galaxy S III next to the HTC Rezound, their differences in style are quite evident. The Galaxy S III is more fashionable with its sleek and thin body, while the Rezound looks like it from 2 years ago – all black with just a few red accent point. Even though the Rezound isn’t as tall and wide as the Galaxy S III, it is quite thick at 0.54”, compared to only 0.30” thick on the Galaxy S III, and the Rezound is also 1.3 oz heavier. Some may like this extra thickness and weight, but to us, the Rezound feels more like holding a brick, while the Galaxy S III is lighter and more comfortable to carry around.
The HTC Rezound comes with the standard 4 touch-sensitive buttons on the front of the phone, but they are illuminated in red. The Samsung Galaxy S III instead uses a physical Home button in the center, with two touch-sensitive buttons on either side. We like having this physical Home button since it can also wake up the phone, instead of having to use the power/lock button on the side.
In order to access the microSD memory card slot, you must first remove the rear cover of both phones, but the Rezound takes it one step further and requires the removal of the battery as well, which means the phone has to be turned off.
Display:
This is where things start to get interesting. Both the HTC Rezound and Samsung Galaxy S III have an HD display with a resolution of 720x1280, but they are completely different. The S-LCD display on the Rezound is 4.3”, which yields a pixel density of 341 ppi, while the Galaxy S III has a larger 4.8” Super AMOLED display, but it has a lower pixel density of 306 ppi.
Because of this, fine text does look slightly sharper on the Rezound, but the Galaxy S III isn’t far behind. Still, the larger Super AMOLED screen on the Galaxy S III does have its benefits, such as producing highly saturated colors, better viewing angles, and is easier to view while in sunlight.
Samsung Galaxy S III 360-Degrees View:
Drag the picture or use the keyboard arrows to rotate the phone. Double click or press keyboard
Space to zoom in/out.
Drag the picture in the desired orientation to rotate the phone.
HTC Rezound 360-Degrees View:
Drag the picture or use the keyboard arrows to rotate the phone. Double click or press keyboard
Space to zoom in/out.
Drag the picture in the desired orientation to rotate the phone.
Interface:
Samsung is using their TouchWiz Nature UX interface layered over Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich, while the Rezound is using HTC’s Sense UI over Android 2.3.4 Gingerbread. HTC says an ICS update for the Rezound will be released.
Both are heavily integrated, and you really don’t see anything of the stock Android interface. There are 5 static icons on the bottom of the Galaxy S III, while the Rezound has 3 (apps, phone, and personalize). Even though the Rezound is months older, it allows for greater customization with its assortment of Scenes and Skins, though both phones do come with a nice selection of desktop widgets.
We like what Samsung has done with its TouchWiz Nature UX, but wish they would take is a step further and allow more customizations of its appearance.
Messaging:
There is very little difference between the E-Mail programs on the Galaxy S III and Rezound, as both allow you to accomplish the same tasks and allow you to access pretty much any E-Mail account you may have. GMail still uses its own dedicated app, and can check multiple GMail accounts.
Between the two phones, we found the on-screen QWERTY keyboard on the HTC Rezound to be the easiest to use, as the buttons are larger and populate more of the screen than the keyboard on the Galaxy S III. Also, the auto word completion seems to be more accurate on the Rezound.
Processor and Memory:
It is no surprise that the newer 1.5GHz dual-core Qualcomm MSM8960 Snapdragon S4 processor on the Galaxy S III does a better job overall than the 1.5GHz dual-core Qualcomm MSM8660 Snapdragon S3 on the Rezound. Not only can you see the difference in the benchmarks, but the Galaxy S III feels faster and more fluid, and having an extra 1GB of RAM doesn’t hurt either.
Quadrant Standard
AnTuTu
NenaMark 2
Samsung Galaxy S III
5022
6396
58,7
HTC Rezound
2490
5603
33,9
The HTC Rezound comes with 16GB of internal memory and also a 16GB microSDHC memory card pre-installed, while the Samsung Galaxy S III is available with either 16GB or 32GB of internal memory – but still has a microSD memory card slot if you need more storage room.
Internet and Connectivity:
The included web browser on both the HTC Rezound and Samsung Galaxy S III does a great job of properly rendering web pages, including those with embedded Flash content. Pinch-to-zoom and kinetic scrolling is fast and fluid on both devices. Of course, you can always download a 3rd party browser if you prefer, such as Dolphin, Chrome, or FireFox.
Even though the Rezound and Galaxy S III run on Verizon’s 4G LTE data network, we did see some differences. When used outside and with the SpeedTest.net app, the Galaxy S III continually got the fastest speeds around town, while the Rezound was a bit slower. For example, we ran one test outside our house at night after 1am so there would be lower internet traffic, and the Galaxy S III got a download speed of 14.29 Mbps and an upload speed of 7.26 Mbps with a 99ms Ping time. The HTC Rezound got download speed of 7.80 Mbps and an upload speed of 4.59 Mbps with a 93ms Ping time.
Both phones also support Bluetooth and Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n at 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands. The Galaxy S III also supports NFC, and S Beam, so you can transfer files easily to another S Beam enabled phone.
Camera:
The Samsung Galaxy S III and HTC Rezound sport an 8MP autofocus camera with LED flash. Images that we took outside with the Galaxy S III have neutral colors and good detail, while the Rezound produced over-saturated colors, and both have a tendency to over expose bright areas. For indoor images, the Galaxy S III had less grain and looked more in-focus than ones from the Rezound. The LED Flash is plenty bright on both phones, but the flash images from the Rezound have a bit of a purple hue to them.
For videos, the Rezound and Galaxy S III can record at 1080p resolution at 30 frames per second. It is clear that videos from the Rezound continue with having more saturated colors, but it doesn’t have as much detail as the videos captured by the Galaxy S III.
Samsung Galaxy S III Sample Video:
HTC Rezound Sample Video:
Between them, we are more pleased with the accurate and neutral colors produced by the Galaxy S III for pictures, and also more detail with videos, than the over saturated colors and less detail from the Rezound.
Multimedia:
The music player on the Samsung Galaxy S III and HTC Rezound are equally nice and have similar functionality. The Galaxy S III includes a standard set of earbuds, while the Rezound comes with a set of premium iBeats earbuds, which is to be used with the Beats Audio intergraton. But honestly, both sets of earbuds sound good. Turning on the Beast Audio on the Rezound does give music a nice fullness to it (compared to having it set to off), but there are a ton of preset and manual EQ settings on the Galaxy S III that can accomplish the same thing.
Of course, both phones can play pretty much any video file you can through at it up to 1080p resolution; including H.263/H.264 encoded MP4s and DivX files. Naturally, the 4.8” Super AMOLED screen on the Galaxy S III is a real treat to watch videos on, but the Rezound looks almost as good at a smaller size.
Call Quality:
When we recently compared the Motorola DROID RAZR MAXX to the Samsung Galaxy S III, we mentioned that the voice quality from the RAZR MAXX was the better of the two. Now with the HTC Rezound thrown into the mix, we’d keep the Galaxy S III in the middle, and place the Rezound as 3rd. Even though its voices are good, we could hear a background “hiss” on our end that never went away, and if the person talked too loud, there was distortion in the earpiece speaker. The Samsung Galaxy S III had more “thin” sounding voices than the Rezound, but there was no background hiss or speaker distortion.
Battery:
The 2100 mAh battery on the Samsung Galaxy S III did provide us with the longest talk time of 8 hours on a full charge, compared to only 6 hours of talk time with the 1620 mAh battery included with the HTC Rezound. But under mixed usage, both seem to last for nearly a day, so they will require nightly charging.
Conclusion:
When it comes right down to it, the HTC Rezound is clearly outdated by the new Samsung Galaxy S III, as it features a larger display, thinner body, faster processor (and more RAM), and comes with Android ICS. When you factor in the same price of $199 on-contract, the choice is clear: the Samsung Galaxy S III is the better buy.
Sam Earley, is a former reviews and news writer at PhoneArena. His incredibly productive run included numerous reviews and comparison articles of breakthrough products, such as the Motorola DROID X, Verizon Pre 2, HTC Thunderbolt and many others.
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