Lumia 925 vs HTC One vs Galaxy S4 vs iPhone 5: screen
Screen resolutions tend to inspire real one-upmanship among phone companies. Apple's launch from the old style to retina really was groundbreaking and set the bar. It's hard to make something that replicates that first impression again - hence why even on the 4-inch, 640 x 1,136 iPhone 5, Apple itself even, hasn't managed to top its 326ppi pixel density.
HTC's made sure it can secure boasting rights here over the opposition. The 1,920 x 1,080 4.7-inch HTC One screen also uses LCD technology, but opts for Super LCD3 as a display and as a result performs so much better. It helps that its peak brightness is much higher (although beware of this munching your battery), but it also packs such an improved contrast ratio as well - far more than we've come to expect from an LCD screen.
Pixel-density-wise, that's around 469ppi. The Samsung's 5-inch display weighs in with a 441ppi and again it's Full HD. The new 4.5-inch Lumia sits below both of these though, sadly - not only does it not have a Full HD display (768 x 1,280 instead), it has a 332ppi pixel density.
Lumia 925 vs HTC One vs Galaxy S4 vs iPhone 5: camera
The camera on all these phones is excellent - but there's a big difference between them all. The Samsung is way out in front with a 13MP sensor, while the Nokia Lumia 925 features an 8.7 megapixel shooter and the iPhone 5 an 8 megapixel version. But when it comes to the HTC One, you'll have to make do with a 4MP option.
The HTC One takes things in a different direction, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. The 4MP UltraPixel camera is probably one that most of you are familiar with, but here's a quick overview: a 4MP sensor can have bigger pixels, which let in more light for an overall brighter photo - excellent in lower lights where you don't want a flash.
The image quality of all the Android and iOS handsets is excellent (see their individual reviews for more analysis), but we're really interested to see how the Lumia stacks up. It features advanced lens technology for grabbing low-light images.
Nokia Smart Camera mode is also a new addition to the handset, letting you snap 10 images at once and edit, animate and enhance pictures straight away with features such as Best Shot and Motion Focus. Nokia also announced that Smart Camera Mode will also be rolling out as an update to all Lumia Windows Phone 8 devices.
Lumia 925 vs HTC One vs Galaxy S4 vs iPhone 5: storage
Storage continues to annoy us, as HTC has obeyed Google's demand for there to be no expandable storage slot. Apple isn't a fan either as they want everything done through the cloud. And Nokia just hasn't bothered. So thank goodness for Samsung, who has retained a microSD slot up to 64 GB.
Internal storage just doesn't go as far as it used to, so it's great to see Samsung sticking to its guns. The iPhone 5 and Galaxy S4 are available in 16, 32 and 64GB versions while the HTC One is available in 32 or 64GB variants and the Lumia 925 in 16 and 32GB.
The S4 and HTC One win the RAM race with 2GB, while the other handsets feature 1GB.
Lumia 925 vs HTC One vs Galaxy S4 vs iPhone 5: early verdict
While the Lumia 925's processor and RAM won't have too much impact on a great Windows Phone 8 experience, it's clear that this is a handset which falls behind in some key areas. There isn't a 64GB version available, for example. And while the pixel density and screen resolution would have been state-of-the-art eight months ago, they simply aren't now. We know that Nokia is really trying, while the camera enhancements look like they will produce some very good results. But while this is the top Windows Phone, it is some way from taking the smartphone crown. We'll let it onto the top table, mind.
