HTC Raider vs. Apple iPhone 4S

While the iPhone has dominated the smartphone market for quite some time, the last few years have seen a major surge in the competition. There are some outstanding Android devices on the market these days that are giving the iPhone a run for its money – not only in pricing, but in appearance, quality, and overall performance.Today we’re putting the now older HTC Raider head-to-head with the Apple iPhone 4S to see which one comes out on top. The reason; The new HTC products are about to hit the market very soon, as we look at the older HTC Raider, we can see how impressive it is against the newer Apple iPhone 4s. The New HTC’s should be dynamic!

Look & Feel

Overall, the iPhone 4S is lighter and more compact than previous models (at only 115.2 x 58.6 x 9.3 mm), so it is slightly smaller than the HTC Raider (at 128 x 67 x 11.2 mm). This is largely due to the Raider’s stunning 4.5-inch capacitive touchscreen, which definitely outshines the iPhone 4S’s 3.5 inches. The slightly larger size of the Raider does mean that it’s a little heavier, however, weighing in at 177g compared to the iPhone’s 137g.Both phones have a 3.5mm headphone jack conveniently placed at the top, and the volume control on the right side. The Raider’s microUSB port is located on the left side of the phone, and conveniently doubles as an HDMI out (with the right converter).The screen on the HTC Raider is quite good, providing a sharp image at 540×960 pixels. While it can’t quite boast the “pixel-free” density we see on the iPhone 4S, the SuperLCD screen of the Raider displays accurate colors, a bright image, and wide viewing angles.

Hardware

The HTC Raider comes with the dual-core, 1.2GHz APQ8060 Snapdragon processor. While the Apple iPhone 4S tends to run a bit faster with its 1 GHz dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 processor and Apple A5 chipset, the Raider keeps up pretty well. The Raider performs quite well overall and doesn’t lack in responsiveness, and the dual-core processor in both of these phones means that they can juggle multiple apps without compromising performance.While the Raider runs marginally slower than the iPhone 4S, it performed brilliantly in the areas of social networking, web browsing, email, and even game play. In fact, the difference between the two phones in this area is nearly imperceptible, which makes it a great choice and much lower price.The Apple iPhone 4S runs on a (non-removable) Li-Po 1432 mAH battery, whereas the HTC Raider uses a standard Li-Ion 1620 mAH battery. The drawback of the iPhone here is that the battery can only be replaced by Apple, meaning that you are without a phone while the new one is installed (at a hefty price markup). The Raider’s battery is easily replaced and is comparatively inexpensive, allowing you to even carry a spare if you’ll need the extra power. And of course, one of the major benefits of the Raider’s lighter processor is the extended battery life.

Software

The HTC Raider runs on Android 2.3.4, with the Sense UI (HTC’s Android skin), which provides an overall attractive and stable performance. Of course, the Android app market has grown considerably over the last year and offers a huge assortment of games, music, movie application, maybe not quite as many as Apple’s. One of the things I have always loved about the Android software is their important communication apps like Maps, Texting, and Email. They work beautifully right out of the box and the Sense UI provides a consistently pleasant experience.The iPhone 4S runs on iOS5, and is one of Apple’s less dramatic updates, and if you ask even an Apple iPhone lover, this last update was a disappointment to them. The major additions are the Siri app and iCloud features. While these have been touted as fantastic additions, some users have been frustrated with trying to get these functions to work. Many Siri features simply aren’t functioning yet, and the iCloud is still glitchy at best. This is something that will need to be worked on. The HTC Raider running 2.3.4 has software in the Android Market that does exactly what the iCloud and Siri apps do. The Android Speaktoit application found in the Android Market is a free application, after having tested this application myself, find it to be better than the Siri app. The google docs that come free with your gmail email application have the majority of the iCloud features covered as well, and have been in use now for over 2 years and work very well with the phone service.

Summary

In my opinion, the slightly older HTC Raider holds up surprisingly well against the newer Apple iPhone 4S. For the average user, the differences are practically negligible as the Raider provides a stellar performance overall, with Applications that are as good or better than the new apps for the iphone 4s.HTC has also recently announced there will be an Ice Cream Sandwich upgrade soon, this is something to be extremely happy about!The HTC Raider is available at most cellular providers in North America

Cost

Rogers: $49.99 – 3 year contract, $474.99 – 2 year contract, $524.99 – No Term
Bell Canada:$49.95 – 3 year contract, $549.95 – 2 year contract, $599.95 – No Term