Well, what do we have here? Forget about LG's attempt in taking a bit of Samsung's phablet market with their LG Optimus Vu (that was lame), this is the real competition that the Galaxy Note line of devices from Sammy has ever faced. HTC already announced this device in Japan but yesterday, Verizon announced it and dubbed it as the HTC Droid DNA. It is apparently, the smartphone with the world's largest screen resolution on it. It sports a 1080p HD (1920x1090) native resolution which equates to a 441 pixels per inch density. That, alone makes the Galaxy Note II cry for help. But, fret not, the Galaxy Note II still has some tricks up its sleeves.
Design
With the design, I believe it's a tie between the two. Whichever way you look at it it's like the SGS Note II looks like the Droid DNA or the Droid DNA looks like the Galaxy Note II. I would not say much about this department because design is a subjective topic. One might like the Note II's design and the others might like the Droid DNA's design (even if nothing much is there to really compare the two). So yes, it's a tie.
Display
This is the part where the Galaxy Note II or to be more specific, the Samsung Super AMOLED HD display, just bows down to the SLCD 3's 1080p 1920x1090 screen resolution. The Galaxy Note II's display boasts just a 720p native resolution while the crazy Droid DNA flaunts a 1080p native resolution. Just where the hell are you going to put that against? Not even Apple's Retina display can beat that. The SGS Note II's pixel density equates to just a 267 pixels per inch while the Droid DNA has 441 pixels per inch. With that said, HTC's Droid DNA wins this department. By the way, S-LCD is a company that is wholly owned by Samsung Electronics. It was a joint-venture between Samsung and Sony but then Samsung decided to bump out of the equation the Japanese company so in 2011, Samsung announced that it will buy the shares of Sony from SLCD, hence today, SLCD is a subsidiary of Samsung.
Hardware/Connectivity/Other stuff inside
Processors, now we're getting more technical. The Droid DNA sports Qualcomm's Snapdragon S4 Pro quad-core chipset which brings out 1.5GHz of quad-core power to the device. The Galaxy Note II, on the other hand, sports the industry's most powerful chipset ever, the in-house Samsung Exynos 4412 Quad quad-core processor. The Note II's CPU can pump 1.6GHz of computing power to the Note II's intricate software and the things hardware (like the buttons) needs to do.
"the 1.6GHz quad-core processor inside the Galaxy Note 2 is still the king of mobile CPU benchmarks for the moment, which is a bit strange given that it uses the ARM Cortex A9 architecture." - Android Authority
The Droid DNA sports a 2GB RAM so does the Note II. The Droid has a 16GB internal storage while Samsung allows you to choose either a 16GB, 32GB or a massive 64GB storage. The Note II, sports a microSD card which can support up to 64GB of external storage compared to the Droid DNA, which does not support or has a slot for your microSD.
Both devices sport an 8MP rear facing camera. The Droid DNA can do a bit better because it has a feature that can take a full HD 1080p video while you are taking photos (I am not sure if you can do this with a Galaxy Note II). Droid DNA probably uses Sony's CMOS sensor at its rear so with that, I'd give the camera to the Droid DNA. Samsung still needs a lot of things to be done when it comes to its lenses. Both also sport GPS with aGPS support and GLONASS technology. Both have WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n, WiDi, DLNA, Bluetooth 4.0, NFC (which is becoming more of a standard in the Android world), and 4G LTE.
With the battery, it's a no brainer. HTC Droid DNA - 2020 mAh (not to mention that the 1080p display will be eating the battery like there is no tomorrow). Samsung Galaxy Note II 3100 mAh.
With the battery, it's a no brainer. HTC Droid DNA - 2020 mAh (not to mention that the 1080p display will be eating the battery like there is no tomorrow). Samsung Galaxy Note II 3100 mAh.
So over all, I'd give the hardware department to the Galaxy Note II. CPU, expandable storage, thinner profile, although technically heavier, the Galaxy Note II snatches this department from the HTC Droid DNA.
Other Features
This is where the Galaxy Note II just runs away from any other phablet devices or any other devices for that matter. Samsung actually made that market and others are simply following suit. Again, forget about LG's attempt of trying to be at par with what the software in the Galaxy Note II can do with either the Optimus Vu and the Optimus G, the Galaxy Note II or Samsung for that matter, has been perfecting it since the first Galaxy Note.
Now with the Droid DNA, there is no sign that the device can do what the SGS Note II has come to be loved. The S-Pen with the matching software that just makes the whole experience of the Note II a lot better than even the most brilliant smartphone out there (The Galaxy S III).
Pop-up Play, Smart Stay, S Beam, S Voice, Direct Call, Quick Glance, Screen Recorder, Air View, Shape Match, Formula Match, and Idea Visualizer among a lot more features inside the true phablet king, the Droid DNA does not even stand a chance. HTC had the time to create a better competition, but personally, they failed. They focused more on the display, probably forgetting that the Droid DNA is actually competing with the Note II and not Apple devices (with their Retina displays).
Pop-up Play, Smart Stay, S Beam, S Voice, Direct Call, Quick Glance, Screen Recorder, Air View, Shape Match, Formula Match, and Idea Visualizer among a lot more features inside the true phablet king, the Droid DNA does not even stand a chance. HTC had the time to create a better competition, but personally, they failed. They focused more on the display, probably forgetting that the Droid DNA is actually competing with the Note II and not Apple devices (with their Retina displays).
But, kudos to HTC, for putting a good competition for Samsung. It's good to know that there is still competition in the mobile tech industry. I or you don't want to see Samsung just speeding ahead without any real fight, right? So yeah, kudos to HTC. LG needs to step up if they want to truly compete.
