I personally think that the Samsung Galaxy S3 is as good as the iPhone 5S. Considering that the S4 is an improvement to the S3, then the iPhone 5S has a huge battle to fight.
Size, Color and Weight
Photo from v3.co.uk
The iPhone 5S weighs 3.95 ounces and has a size of 4.87 x 2.31 x .30 inches, while the Galaxy S4 weighs 4.59 ounces and has a size of 5.38 x 2.75 x .31 inches.
Considering the extra volume that the S4 has, it’s insane that its only .01 inch thicker than the 5S. If you hold the S4 in your hand and factor in volume, it will feel lighter than the iPhone 5S does.
The iPhone 5S is available in silver, space grey and champagne gold, while the Galaxy S4 is available in black, white and red.
Build Quality
The S4’s back is made out of the same plastic material the iPhone 5C is made out of: polycarbonate. Although the S4 isn’t as elegant as the iPhone 5S aluminum body, it is more cost-effective to repair or replace. Considering that the back cover slides off, it is really easy to replace if the cover gets scratched or cracked.
Photo from laptopmag.com
Photo from laptopmag.com
You can even replace the S4’s polycarbonate back cover with an aluminum one if you’d like.
Another good thing about the S4 is that it always gets less damaged when dropped as opposed to the iPhone 5S.
Display
The iPhone 5S has a 4 inch screen size with a resolution of 1136 x 640 pixels, whereas the S4 has a 5 inch screen size with a resolution of 1080 x 1920. Something that’s really interesting about the Galaxy S4 is that is has a pixel density of 441 pixels per inch, while the iPhone 5S only has 326 pixels per inch.
Photo from laptopmag.com
Although the S4 has a better screen resolution and quality, the iPhone 5S is slightly brighter. According to Laptopmag, the S4 has a brightness of 480 lux while the iPhone 5S has a brightness of 500 lux.
Audio
The iPhone 5S has a distinctively crisper sound, whereas the S4 has a louder sound. The 5S has is only 70 dB loud while the S4 is 81 dB loud.
Processors and RAM
The iPhone 5S has a dual-core 64-bit 1.3GHz processor with 1GB of RAM, while the S4 has a quad-core 32-bit 1.9GHz processor with 2GB of RAM. You would think that the S4 would perform better, but it actually doesn’t.
Photo from PCmag.com
The pure spec sheet above (tested by Geedbench) shows that the iPhone 5S beats the S4 in any processing test. Whether its through frames per second, or the pure processing power, the iPhone 5S is better than the S4 in every sense.
However, I can’t say that I’ve seen a noticeable difference in performance. My friends and I have the same apps on iOS and Android, and from the amateur tests we’ve done, there is no noticeable graphic or performance difference. If the iPhone 5S was twice as fast as the Galaxy S4, we would be able to see a difference, but it’s not. At only a 10-20% boost in performance, the iPhone 5S does not have any noticeable processing power. Computer tests may tell one tale, but if our eyes don’t really notice the small differences, there’s no need to stress them.
Motion Coprocessor
The iPhone 5S has a M7 motion coprocessor which takes the workload off of the gyroscope, accelerometer and compass. While using fitness apps and sleep pattern tracking apps, you will notice a significant boost in battery life.
Cool Perks
The iPhone 5S has a fingerprint scanner that can be used to unlock the lockscreen and purchase apps without a password. Other than that, the 5S doesn’t have any other cool perks.
When it comes to great features, the Galaxy S4 really takes the lead. It has an eye gesture feature that lets you control the phone by moving your eyes (great for scrolling through photos) and Air Gestures for letting you skip music or answer the phone by waving your hand. You can also preview email content by hovering your finger above email subject on your screen. If you want to read the rest of the email, then you just tap the screen and the full message will show up.
The S4 is also NFC and Infrared enabled. NFC lets you share files locally without the use of Bluetooth or Wi-Fi, and the Infrared Blaster lets you use your phone as a TV remote. Another great feature of the S4 is S Health, which tracks your fitness level through various activity metrics.
Battery
The Galaxy S4 has up to 17 hours of talk time, which is almost twice as much battery life when compared to the iPhone 5S’ talk time of up to 10 hours. Whereas the iPhone 5S can stand by for 10.4 days, the S4 can stand by for 15.4 days.
Cameras
Photo from phonearena.com
When it comes to clarity, the Galaxy S4 is slightly better than the iPhone 5S. However, the iPhone 5S has better color representation and does really well in low-light conditions. Since the iPhone 5S has a dual LED flash system, it will always do better in low-light conditions than the S4’s single LED flash.
Galaxy S4: Photo from phonearena.com
iPhone 5S: Photo from phonearena.com
The Galaxy S4 has a 2MP front-facing camera, while the iPhone 5S has a 1.2MP front-facing camera. Not to mention that the S4 shoots HD video at 1920 x 1080 pixels, while the iPhone 5S shoots HD video at 1280 x 720 pixels. An interesting feature of the Galaxy S4 is the ability to shoot photos out of the rear and front cameras at the same time.
One benefit of the iPhone 5S is that it can shoot slo-mo video at 120 frames per second, whereas the Galaxy S4 can’t shoot past 30 frames per second.
Price and Storage
Photo from wallpaperstock.net
The iPhone 5S 16GB model costs $200 with a two-year plan, $300 for 32GB and $400 for 64GB. The Galaxy S4 costs exactly the same for 16GB and 32GB. A 64GB model is not available, but the S4 supports up to 64GB microSD cards.
Conclusion
If you want a stunning display, large screen, long battery, NFC chip, and IR Blaster, then the Galaxy S4 is the right choice for you. However, if you’re more concerned with an HD camera that shoots well in low-light conditions, efficient motion coprocessor for fitness apps, fingerprint scanner, and crisp speaker audio, then the iPhone 5S is the right choice for you.