X

Phone Comparisons: HTC Desire 820 vs Motorola Moto X 2014

Introduction

Do we have a good one for you today – the new HTC Desire 820 goes up against one of our favorites, the Motorola Moto X.  Both devices have the look of their respective companies.  The HTC Desire 820 retains the look of the current HTC One devices, only a plastic version, but still keeps the dual front-facing stereo speakers with their trademark BoomSound.  The Moto X 2014 model, although larger in every dimension, is very much like its predecessor in looks, including the familiar curved back that makes it a joy to hold – it can be covered in genuine leather or even be made from real wood.

Although their target markets may be different, these two devices do have a few specifications in common.  They both contain 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage, although if you special order the Moto X, you can get a 32GB model.  They both use a 13MP sensor for the main camera, with auto-focus, and an LED flash, although the Moto X 2014 uses a dual-LED flash ring around the lens of the camera.  The batteries are fairly close – 2600mAh versus 2300mAh.  They both have the usual Dual-Band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, a microUSB connector and both have front mounted speakers.

Please take a close look at the detailed specification chart below and after you look at those numbers and features, we will take a closer look at each individual device to determine their strengths and weaknesses in order to help pick a winner in this comparison.

Specifications

HTC Desire 820

The HTC Desire 820 is the company’s first 64-bit smartphone – a midrange device, with some high-end specs as well.  It is made of plastic, like the other Desire entries, with a colorful stripe around the outside edge, but it feels like a well-built device and is actually quite nice looking, other than the large bezels.  It’s designed for the social media crowd age-group and it looks like a perfect fit.

HTC Desire 820 features a 5.5-inch HD LCD display with a resolution of 1280 x 720 and 267 pixels-per-inch (PPI), which is much less than the AMOLED 423 PPI found on the Moto X.  The Desire 820 is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 615 64-bit octa-core processor (four 1.5GHz cores and four 1GHz cores) which comes with an Adreno 305 GPU with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage, although expandable via MicroSD card up to 128GB.  Without the upgrade to Android 5.0 Lollipop, the 64-bits will not really mean much to its performance.

A 13-megapixel camera is located at the back of each of these devices while the Desire 820 includes a larger than normal 8-megapixel front-facing camera (FFC) for social media selfies and video chatting. Android 4.4.2 KitKat comes on the Desire 820 with HTC’s Sense 6 UI on top of it. A 2600mAh non-removable battery ships with the device as well, which is actually larger than the 2300mAh battery found on the Moto X, although both batteries will get you through a full day.

It does have the dual stereo front-facing speakers with HTC’s infamous BoomSound and an FM radio and comes in multiple colors.  It can be purchased through Amazon or online for approximately $400.

Motorola Moto X 2014

The new Motorola Moto X is a great update of an old favorite – not only physically larger all around, but also a bump up in the specifications department as well.  This year’s Moto X can finally compete directly with the ‘big boys,’ but how does it stand up to the HTC Desire 820.  We have already shown that these two devices do have a few things in common, so we will not rehash them here – we just want to look at the positives and negatives of the Moto X as compared to the Desire 820.

The Moto X sports a 5.2-inch FHD AMOLED display with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels and 423 PPI – this is much better than the 5.5-inch HD display on the Desire 820 with only 267 PPI.  The processor on the Moto X may not be 64-bit, but the Motorola optimized Snapdragon 801 quad-core clocked at 2.5GHz is more than able to power the new Moto X.  It has the same 2GB of RAM and either 16GB and 32 GB of internal storage, although the Moto X has no room for expansion – Google and Motorola want you to store your pictures, songs and videos in your cloud, not on your device.

While both devices have a 13MP sensor and auto-focus, the Moto X tosses in a dual LED flash ‘ring’ that encompasses the camera lens.  Now when it comes to the FFCs, the Desire 820 is armed with a rather large 8MP shooter versus the standard, 2MP found on the Moto X.  The Moto X’s 2300mAh battery is a little smaller in size, but it will easily get you through the day and you can always use its turbo charger to get the device a 60-percent charge in just 15 minutes.

As far as extras, the Moto X is packed with them – NFC capable, four microphones for great noise cancellation, front mounted speakers, full metal frame, nano-coating for water resistance, dynamic tuning and the Motorola turbo charger.  It has already been updated to Android 5.0 lollipop and is available on all major U.S. networks for only $99 on a two-year contract.

…And The Winner Is…

Summary

This turned out to be a no-brainer to me, although I actually thought it would be much closer when I first started this comparison.  The Motorola Moto X just has way too much on the HTC Desire 820 – a better display, processor, a better flash, more manageable size, more professional looking, four microphones, metal frame, water resistant, dynamic tuning, the Motorola Turbo Charger (Quick Charge – thanks to the Qualcomm 800 series) and it has already received its 5.0 Lollipop upgrade.  It is available on all major U.S. networks and is only $99 on a two-year contract or $499 off contract.

Please let us know on our Google+ Page which one of these devices you would pick as the winner of this smartphone comparison and WHY…as always, we would love to hear from you!