The Verge - Gadget VS Gadgets

With Xbox One and PlayStation 4, Microsoft and Sony rekindle the war for your TV

2013-05-21T18:16:35Z

The next generation is nearly upon us. Both Microsoft and Sony have revealed their latest gaming / entertainment consoles to the world, setting up yet another high stakes battle for your hard-earned dollars later this year. The Xbox One and PlayStation 4 each represent a major leap over anything we've seen before from a home console in terms of hardware and software capabilities. With their latest and most groundbreaking products to date now unveiled, both Microsoft and Sony hope to redefine what a set-top box is capable of in the minds of consumers. By all accounts, the war for your living room and TV is about to enter its most heated battle yet. Let's take a look at where things stand as of now.

Powerful machines on both sides

Under the hood, both Xbox One and PlayStation 4 reveal the vast advancements that have been made in computer processing and graphics since their predecessors were released to market. Each console contains a powerful 8-core CPU. Both feature 8 gigabytes of RAM, a massive jump over the memory resources available to current consoles. Similarly, Xbox One and PlayStation 4 are based on x86 architecture. In fact, it's hard to remember the last time that two concurrent gaming consoles resembled one another so closely in specifications. What it ultimately means is that developers can provide gaming experiences that simply weren't possible with the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. And for Sony, its fourth console won't have to endure the same growing pains as the PS3.

Evolutionary (not revolutionary) controllers

Small but welcome changes

Rather than reinvent the wheel, both Microsoft and Sony are releasing iterative updates to their previous (and well-received) Xbox and PlayStation controllers. On stage in Redmond, Marc Whitten said the Xbox One controller has seen over 40 design changes, but the fundamental ergonomic design remains largely unchanged. The controller's triggers now provide independent force feedback, and Microsoft is yet again promising to deliver a more precise directional pad — a longstanding request from fighting game fans.

Sony's DualShock 4 has undergone more in the way of visual changes; there's now a touchpad on the front of the controller, a built-in speaker, and a Share button to quickly upload your gaming highlights to the cloud.

The next wave of movement-based gaming

With Kinect, Microsoft landed on a more successful recipe for motion gaming than Sony managed with its own attempts (Sixaxis and later PlayStation Move). Both are back at it for this go-round: Microsoft just took the wraps off a second-generation Kinect that's promised to be far more precise than the prior technology. The company says it functions in nearly any lighting condition and can detect even the slightest movements of a user's wrist. Voice recognition and isolation are also said to be improved. For its part, Sony too has put in more work on this front with the PlayStation 4. A new high-resolution camera communicates with an LED at the top of the DualShock 4 controller to achieve sophisticated 3D movement tracking.

Share, share, share

More so than ever before, both Microsoft and Sony are putting a huge emphasis on sharing with their next-generation consoles. Both Xbox One and PlayStation 4 allow you to record gameplay footage in realtime and upload those clips to the web for later viewing. It seems each manufacturer is confident that this formula — which has proven popular among PC gamers — can also find momentum with a mainstream audience. Even if not, it's a nice perk for the hardcore segment of gamers most loyal to each company. At least when it comes to this one feature, it doesn't matter which console you pick.

Microsoft looks to own your TV once and for all

Both the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 dabbled in live TV / DVR functionality, but Microsoft is stepping up those efforts in a huge way with Xbox One. During its reveal keynote, the company placed a big focus on the Xbox One Guide, which seamlessly (and instantly) lets users hop between watching live television and playing a game. Partnerships with ESPN and the NFL underline how serious Microsoft is about making the Xbox One far more than a gaming machine, and thus far Sony doesn't have (or hasn't announced) agreements of the same magnitude.

Blu-ray gets a shot of fresh life

Sony's PlayStation 3 has carried the Blu-ray torch since 2006 — successfully winning a cutthroat format war with HD-DVD in the process. Now, with both next-gen consoles set to utilize the high-def media, its future prospects are suddenly brighter than ever. Unlike the 360 before it, Microsoft's new Xbox One will be able to fully harness the capacious strengths of Blu-ray. One of Sony's key advantages of the prior console battle has been erased, and more importantly for home theater aficionados, Blu-ray — which still offers superior video quality to streaming services —just got a major kick of momentum in the process.

Compare this: Xbox One vs. PlayStation 4

HTC's First won't compete on hardware, but does that matter to Facebook users?

2013-04-04T21:22:03Z

We weren't expecting HTC's First to be a barn burner in terms of hardware specs, and by all accounts it's not. As today's Facebook presentation made abundantly clear though, hardware isn't the focus here. Rather than trumpeting what a phone is capable of under the hood, HTC is riding Facebook Home, the social network's newest and "best" mobile experience, as a means to hook consumers.

Moreso than any handset in recent memory, the HTC First is a minimalistic shell meant to showcase the software users will be interacting with. You're not supposed to be concerned with its innards. HTC CEO Peter Chou's time on stage illustrated that perfectly; he didn't say a word about the First's screen resolution, nor did he have anything to share about processor speed or the device's camera performance. Details on storage capacity and memory? Nowhere to be seen. There were no comparisons with or trash talking of the competition. The lack of information could be considered somewhat surprising; Chou said his company has been working on First for some time, but taking a deep dive into the silicon inside wouldn't have jived with Facebook's theme of establishing a presence on all Android devices — not just one.

HTC doesn't want you to be concerned with hardware specs

It was only after Facebook's event concluded that HTC filled the gaps on what's inside the First — at least partially. The phone features a 720p 4.3-inch glass display, putting it in close proximity to Apple's iPhone 5 but behind the clarity offered by 1080p screens. Inside is a dual-core Snapdragon 400 processor running at 1.4GHz. We haven't seen this chip widely used elsewhere, and looking at numbers alone, it's thoroughly trumped by the latest processors inside Samsung's Galaxy S4 and HTC's own One. But our hands-on time with the First left us optimistic that it's capable of providing users with a smooth experience. Facebook also reportedly spent months optimizing Home's responsiveness, and performance is also aided by the gigabyte of memory on board here.

The First also includes a 5-megapixel rear camera with an f/2.0, 28mm lens. HTC hasn't yet offered up details on whether it's again gunning for strong low light performance here or if the reduced megapixel count is merely a byproduct of that $99 subsidized price. A capable camera would be a major asset for a phone squarely aimed at Facebook's billion-plus user base, so we're looking forward to seeing what kind of shots the First can produce.

HTC has also revealed that the First carries 16GB of storage, a decent allotment considering the device's price point, and a 2,000mAh battery. Again, as we're somewhat unfamiliar with this Snapdragon chipset, it's hard to gauge whether the First will be able to carry you through a day. When it comes to build quality, the handset features plastic casing with a smooth matte finish. It's not going to approach the premium materials seen in Apple's iPhone 5 or the HTC One, but the First should be on par with other plastic-clad hardware on the market.

Considering that the HTC First's primary Android competition — the Galaxy S4, Note II, etc. — will all have (or eventually gain access to) Facebook Home, HTC isn't going to win this one on hardware alone. But AT&T's $99 asking price combined with a simplistic device aimed at the Facebook generation could prove compelling for more people than you'd think.

Compare this: HTC First vs. HTC One vs. Galaxy S4 vs. iPhone 5 and more

Samsung's Galaxy S4 takes on the iPhone, HTC One, and other competition

2013-03-14T23:34:03Z

With momentum on its side, Samsung is hoping the just-unveiled Galaxy S4 will cement its standing as the most successful Android manufacturer for yet another year. By timing its announcement several months after the launch of Apple's iPhone 5, Samsung is in a great position to leap ahead of Cupertino in terms of hardware specifications. And, at least on paper, that's exactly what it's done. But Samsung's other Android competitors are determined not to cede the market and have made compelling products in recent months, led by HTC's stunning One. Since we haven't yet had extensive time with the Galaxy S4, we're left playing the numbers game for now, but let's look at where Samsung's new flagship falls.

1080p is the new norm

If the recent wave of Full HD displays found on the HTC's Droid DNA, One, and Sony's Xperia Z didn't make it clear, Samsung's adoption of 1080p essentially standardizes the resolution as a de facto Android hardware spec. Even at five inches, the 441 pixel density of the GS4 leapfrogs that of Apple's Retina display on the iPhone 5 and the 1280 x 768 screens seen on Nokia's Lumia 920, the Nexus 4, and BlackBerry's Z10. Considering how difficult pixels were becoming to see, however, we're not sure how much this will set Samsung apart — nor have we had time to contrast the new AMOLED panel against a screen of the LCD variety.

An eight-core processor breakthrough*

Put lightly, we've yet to see anything quite like the eight-core Samsung Exynos found in the Galaxy S4. Unfortunately the massively powerful CPU is only seeing use in certain countries, and notably the US isn't among them. Stateside, the quad-core Snapdragon ~~S4 Pro~~ 600 chip brings the GS4 back down to earth alongside its Android rivals. Four cores is still enough to best the two found in the iPhone 5, Lumia 920, and BlackBerry Z10, but as we've said repeatedly, smartphone performance is feeling uniformly snappy these days. We've barely seen mobile applications that leverage internals with lesser power, so the cart is getting a bit ahead of the horse here. Even so, if the most powerful mobile device on the market is what you're after, the Exynos-powered Galaxy S4 should be on your list.

A modest bump in megapixels

Samsung's reputation for delivering quality optics in a smartphone camera was solidified with last year's Galaxy S III. For 2013 the company is ramping things up with a new 13-megapixel rear camera. But Samsung isn't directing much focus towards that higher megapixel count; instead, it's highlighting a bevy of new shooting modes. Now more than ever it seems smartphone makers have differing philosophies on what makes a good mobile camera. Will Samsung's latest hold up against the iPhone 5, HTC One, and Lumia 920 in low light? We just tested several of the best smartphone cameras available right now, and you can bet we'll be giving the Galaxy S4's shooter — and all of those unique shooting modes — a thorough test.

TouchWiz vs. stock Android vs. iOS vs. BlackBerry 10 vs. Windows Phone

The Galaxy S4 runs Android at its core, but with its latest handset Samsung has yet again piled on a slew of software adds it thinks will appeal to mainstream consumers and power users alike. We can't imagine stock Android loyalists will change their opinion of Samsung's skin this year, but TouchWiz makes for a powerful marketing tool against the simplicity of iOS and Windows Phone. If your allegiance hasn't yet been decided, it's worth investigating whether Samsung's heavily modified version of Android could be the right match.

Update: This article original said that the US Galaxy S4 would include a Snapdragon S4 Pro. It is in fact Qualcomm's newer Snapdragon 600.

Compare this: Galaxy S4 vs. iPhone 5 vs. One vs. Z10 and more!