If you’re thinking about buying a new cell phone, then an HTC model is a pretty good bet. HTC have recently garnered a solid reputation for bringing out reliable, attractive and fast phones; plus, you get a lot of choice, HTC really does have phones to suit everyone’s needs, and everyone’s wallets. However, even a great company gets to make bad decisions sometimes. The HTC Droid DNA is HTC’s current top of the line Android operating system phone. And it’s a great one. Nice to look at and loaded with features, it’s a seriously great phone. However, HTC also makes a line of Windows operating system phones. The Windows Phone 8S is one of these, and what a disappointment it turned out to be. Being a Windows 8 phone, you would expect that it would be at least a worthy competitor to an Android phone; it uses the latest version of the Windows operating system, after all. But the 8S failed to live up to our expectations. We compared the two so you can see exactly what we’re talking about.

What the Droid DNA Offers…
When it comes to phones, it’s all about speed, and the Droid is significantly faster than the 8S. It runs a faster processor (1500 MHz versus 100 MHz on the 8S), meaning the phone is more powerful, snappier, and generally more responsive. It also has four times more RAM than the 8S (2MB versus 0.5MB), which helps with responsiveness and makes the phone more able to handle multi-tasking. The screen is not only larger (a full five inches compared to the 8S’s four inches), but also better. The resolution on the Droid is five and a half times better than the 8S, and there’s a massive ninety per cent more PPI (pixels per inch). All of this means that the picture quality on the Droid is clearer, sharper and more colourful than the 8S. You also get a better quality camera in the Droid, which comes with an 8 MP cam compared to the 8S’s 5 MP camera, meaning better and more detailed picture taking. Oh, and the Droid cam can take shot in full HD, unlike the 8S camera. Top all of this off with the fact that since it’s an Android phone you have the ability to run multiple applications at the same time (surfing the web whilst talking on Skype, for example). Multi-tasking is something that the Windows operating system doesn’t support, and you can see why this phone is miles better than the 8S.

What the Windows Phone 8S Offers…
Well, not a lot. The only comparisons in which the 8S comes off best are when it comes to size. The 8S comes in around twenty per cent smaller and lighter than the Droid. But remember that the screen is far smaller too…

Our Recommendation…
Go for the Android, every time. The Windows phone just isn’t worth the money that you’d spend on it. Despite running Windows 8, the 8S is nowhere near top of the line. It frankly pales in comparison when held up against the Droid. Spending your money on the Android is definitely the way to go.

Every time Phil Turner needs to buy mobile phones he usually heads down to the supermarket to see what phones are available on special offer.