Introduction
The Samsung Galaxy Alpha comes forward as the next super mini but its armor will surely be tested in battle against the HTC One mini 2. The two have their distinct strengths but enough common ground to meet on - compact and metal.
The Galaxy Alpha is lighter and much thinner but Samsung used aluminum sparingly. HTC covered all of the One mini 2 in metal. The Galaxy Alpha has processing power to spare while the One mini 2 has a midrange chipset. The HTC brings the trademark BoomSound speakers while the Samsung promises a better camera.
Before you place your bets, here's specs the rundown.
Samsung Galaxy Alpha over One mini 2
- More powerful chipset with double the RAM
- Slightly bigger screen - 4.7" vs. 4.5"
- More compact and much thinner - 6.7mm vs. 10.6mm
- 16:9 camera sensor
- 2160p video capture
- Faster LTE downlink - 300Mbps vs. 150Mbps
- Fingerprint scanner
- Heart rate monitor
HTC one mini 2 over Galaxy Alpha
- Aluminum unibody
- Front-facing stereo speakers
- Expandable storage
- Bigger battery - 2,110mAh (sealed) vs. 1,860mAh (removable)
- Better front-facing camera - 5MP vs. 2.1MP
- Costs less
There's no perfect middle ground, a phone that combines the looks of the One mini 2 and the brains of the Galaxy Alpha. Apple fans might argue that the description matches the iPhone but in the Android world there's no exact match. The Xperia Z3 Compact comes close but that calls for its own piece.
Samsung Galaxy Alpha and HTC one mini 2 at the office
The screen size explosion brought us the phablet segment, which basks in growing popularity but, unfortunately, it left midsized devices in the midrange. Now we're seeing the tide turn a bit with compact high-enders like the Samsung Galaxy Alpha and the HTC One mini 2 but that direction puts them on a collision course. Flip over to the next page for the first punches exchange.
Design and handling
The silhouette of both phones is virtually identical (the famous rounded rectangle) but the dimensions differ. Most crucially, the Samsung Galaxy Alpha is only 6.7mm thick, more than 30% thinner than the 10.6mm HTC One mini 2.
The Galaxy Alpha is noticeably thinner than the One mini 2
The Galaxy Alpha is half a centimeter shorter too, despite having a bigger screen. HTC make this tradeoff to make room for the two front-facing speakers. The Alpha is lighter too, 115g vs. 137g, though the difference is small.
What makes a bigger difference for in-hand feel (and looks) is the back panel. The HTC One mini 2 has a sealed metal unibody and cards are put in trays that slot into the sides. The Samsung Galaxy Alpha has a removable plastic back cover so you can access the battery and SIM slot.
The premium feel of metal is a huge boon for the HTC phone while the Alpha doesn't even use the best plastic from Samsung. The dotted pattern is too small on this one so it doesn't quite look like perforated leather and the material feels smoother (more like plastic).
The exposed aluminum from the frame of the Alpha does improve things significantly compared to an all-plastic Galaxy. Still, a glass back (a la iPhone 4/4s or Xperia Z) or a matte polycarbonate (like Lumia 925/930) would have been a better choice.
The HTC One mini 2 has a rounded back which hides some of its thickness. The sharper edges of the Samsung Galaxy Alpha tend to poke into your wrist a bit, enough to remind you that it's made of hard metal but also enough to be slightly less comfortable than the smooth, round back of the One mini 2.
A rounded, all-aluminum back on the HTC One mini 2
Both phones have their microUSB 2.0 ports on the bottom and their 3.5mm audio jacks on top. HTC has put the Power key also on top so it's slightly harder to reach on the taller phone.
3.5mm audio jacks and microUSB ports
On the flip side, the on-screen buttons are further up the phone so they are easier to reach. On-screen buttons, however, mean the One mini 2 has less screen real estate left for apps.
The hardware home key on the Galaxy Alpha is very near the bottom and requires a more flexible thumb. It houses a fingerprint scanner of the swipe kind and using it is a learned skill - you have to run the entire top digit of your thumb against the key and the scanner can be sensitive to the angle at which of you're doing it.
Hardware keys and fingerprint scanner on the Galaxy Alpha • on-screen buttons on the One mini 2
Speaker placement is important. The BoomSound speakers on the One mini 2 are on its front, while the single speaker on the Galaxy Alpha is at the bottom. Neither will get muffled when you put the phone on a table but the HTC is better at directing sound outward.
Front-facing stereo speakers from HTC • single speaker on the bottom from Samsung
The sides of the devices feature a volume rocker. The one on the Samsung is a bit too thin for our liking, while the one on the HTC is too flush with the sides. Overall neither is the most ergonomic to use.
The HTC One mini 2 has card slots on the left and right and you'll need a tool to open them. The SIM slot on the Galaxy Alpha are accessible without any tools but you'll need to remove the battery.
A removable plasticy back cover • cards go on trays for the HTC
We come back around to the back of each device. We covered the differences in material but there's more to talk about. The Galaxy Alpha may be thinner but its camera module protrudes from the back, making it more vulnerable to damage. Next to it is the LED flash and the heart rate monitor (check the camera lens for finger smudges after measuring your heart rate).
Protruding camera with heart rate monitor • HTC's thicker phone has a flush camera
The HTC One mini 2 camera is flush with the back and also features a single LED flash. The secondary microphone is here too, while the Galaxy Alpha places its two mics on the top and bottom.
Winner: HTC One mini 2. There are plenty of half metal/half not phones out there from Apple, Sony, Nokia and others but metal unibodies are rare. The One mini 2 is certainly not the most compact 4.5" phone out there but it's still a joy to hold - and has stereo speakers to show for it.
The Galaxy Alpha is one of the best built phones by Samsung (the metal-clad Waves as good as forgotten). It's impressively thin and light too and doesn't add much bulk around its 4.7" screen. Still, that so-so plastic on the back doesn't do it any favors.
Displays
Both phones prioritize compact size over screen size and their parent companies settled on a 4.5-4.7" diagonal, 720p resolution giving them virtually equal pixel density.The Samsung Galaxy Alpha has the raw screen size advantage and it doesn't have to reserve an area for on-screen buttons like the HTC. That said, we've seen some excellent screens from HTC and the One mini 2 is another success.
While pixel density is about the same, sharpness is slightly more complicated. The Super LCD2 has a standard RGB matrix while the Samsung Super AMOLED screen has a diamond pattern PenTile arrangement. Differences are slight but people with good eyesight can notice a crosshatch pattern up close. Nothing to worry about for normal day-to-day usage though.
More important are things like brightness and contrast and as far as the first of those is concerned are virtually matched - 450nits for the Galaxy Alpha and 500nits for the One mini 2. The HTC even has a solid answer to Super AMOLED's theoretically infinite contrast and even black levels stay relatively low.
| Display test | 50% brightness | 100% brightness | ||||
| Black, cd/m2 | White, cd/m2 | Black, cd/m2 | White, cd/m2 | |||
| 0.19 | 220 | 1141 | 0.42 | 501 | 1196 | |
| 0 | 228 | ∞ | 0 | 456 | ∞ | |
| 0.14 | 163 | 1145 | 0.49 | 596 | 1219 | |
| 0.2 | 245 | 1219 | 0.46 | 577 | 1256 | |
| 0 | 274 | ∞ | 0 | 529 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 226 | ∞ | 0 | 432 | ∞ | |
| - | - | - | 0.34 | 626 | 1819 | |
Sunlight legibility goes in favor of the Samsung in large part thanks to the low reflectivity of the Super AMOLED assembly. The HTC One mini 2 screen is fairly average in this respect.
Sunlight contrast ratio
-
Nokia 808 PureView
4.698 -
Samsung Galaxy Note 3
3.997 -
Apple iPhone 5
3.997 -
Samsung Galaxy K zoom
3.675 -
Nokia Lumia 930
3.567 -
Samsung Galaxy mini 2
1.114
Now we get to the can of worms that is color rendering. Some people just don't like the oversaturated colors typical of AMOLED screens and for them Samsung has included a choice of four screen modes that make sure you get a choice between punchiness and perfectly accurate colors - as well as steps in-between.
The HTC One mini does not have color options but the default is good with beautiful (and not oversaturated) colors.
Winner: Samsung Galaxy Alpha. The screen offers more real estate and handles sunlight much better, plus it gives you the choice between oversaturated punchiness and accurate colors.
The HTC One mini 2 has an excellent screen but it's slightly cramped for the size of the device and has no definitive advantages over the Alpha.
Connectivity
Both the Samsung Galaxy Alpha and the HTC One (M8) are LTE-enabled phones but the Galaxy can be up to twice as fast at downloading data. LTE Cat. 6 promises up to 300Mbps downlink speeds, up from 150Mbps for Cat. 4.That's for the Snapdragon 801-based Galaxy Alpha, the one with Exynos is at Cat. 4 150Mbps just like the One mini 2. That matters only if your carrier supports such speeds, of course, most are still at 100Mbps. Both categories of LTE upload at 50Mbps.
LTE aside, both phones use nano-SIM cards and have quad-band 2G. The Samsung also has quad-band 3G, while the One mini 2 offers tri- or quad-band 3G depending on region. Outside of LTE coverage both phones will do up to 42Mbps on an HSPA+ network.
Locally, the Galaxy Alpha wins out with 802.11ac, while the HTC only handles the previous standards - a/b/g/n. Both support dual-band Wi-Fi, DLNA and Wi-Fi hotspots. Bluetooth connectivity is on par with v4.0 support and both have NFC built-in.
Surprisingly Samsung didn't include MHL support for its Alpha flagship, while the HTC One mini 2 has it. MHL allows the phone to mirror its screen on a TV via an HDMI adapter, so Galaxy Alpha owners will have just wireless screen mirroring to rely on.
The Galaxy Alpha wins one back with ANT+ connectivity - sport sensors (an important part of Samsung's strategy) work either via Bluetooth 4.0 or ANT+, both low-power wireless standards.
Positioning is handled by the industry standard combo of A-GPS and GLONASS, but Samsung also supports the Chinese Beidou system. That one is yet to achieve worldwide coverage.
Neither phone has an IR blaster even though their bigger counterparts do.
Winner: Tie. Lack of MHL is certainly a negative for the Alpha but it is future-proof when it comes to LTE, Wi-Fi and positioning, plus it adds ANT+.
The HTC One mini 2 will perform slightly better in the short run but if you upgrade your Wi-Fi router before you upgrade your phone, you'll miss out on the new tech.
Battery life
The Samsung Galaxy Alpha raised eyebrows when it was announced with a 1,860mAh battery - most 4.5+ inch phones are well into the 2,000 milliamp range. At first we wrote that off as a sacrifice in favor of a thinner device.The HTC One mini 2 is almost 4mm thicker and naturally packs a bigger battery, though not by much - 2,110mAh. It's a sealed Li-Po battery, while the Samsung has a user-removable Li-Ion unit.
Perhaps it was Samsung's custom-made Exynos chipset (the first mobile chipset at 20nm, while Snapdragons are at 28nm) but the Galaxy Alpha managed very respectable numbers, actually better than the One mini 2 managed.
The endurance ratings for both are virtually the same - 50 hours for the HTC, two more for the Samsung. You'll need to charge both every two days of moderate usage, every day with heavy usage.
But the Samsung Galaxy Alpha can give you three hours more of talk time, meaning you can make 30% more calls on average at the same charging schedule. The HTC One mini 2 does 10 hours - more than you can do in a sitting but less power usage during calls also means more power left over for other tasks.
Talk time
-
Huawei Ascend Mate2 4G
33:19h -
Huawei Ascend P7
13:36h -
Nokia Lumia 520
13:33h -
HTC One X+
13:31h -
Sony Xperia C
13:29h -
Xiaomi Mi 3
13:28h -
Samsung Galaxy Alpha
13:20h -
Nokia Lumia 630
13:20h -
Samsung Galaxy Grand Neo
13:20h -
Samsung I9190 Galaxy S4 mini
13:10h -
HTC Desire 616 dual sim
13:00h -
Samsung Galaxy Grand I9082
12:45h -
HTC One mini 2
09:58h -
Pantech Burst
4:46h
Web browsing
-
Huawei Ascend Mate2 4G
16:41h -
Samsung Galaxy Note II N7100
8:48h -
Motorola Moto E
8:42h -
Motorola Moto E Dual SIM
8:42h -
BlackBerry Q10
8:42h -
Sony Xperia M2 Aqua
8:38h -
Samsung Galaxy Alpha
8:25h -
Asus PadFone 2
8:20h -
Nokia Lumia 810
8:20h -
Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3 I9200
8:17h -
Huawei Ascend Mate
8:17h -
Motorola Moto X
8:17h -
HTC One mini 2
06:33h -
Samsung Galaxy Nexus I9250
3:01h
Video playback
-
LG G Flex
19:57h -
HTC One X+
8:11h -
Samsung Galaxy Grand I9082
8:11h -
Motorola RAZR i XT890
8:11h -
Sony Xperia J
8:11h -
Huawei Ascend P7
8:10h -
Samsung Galaxy Alpha
8:05h -
Samsung I9100 Galaxy S II
8:00h -
Samsung Focus S I937
7:55h -
Samsung S8600 Wave 3
7:52h -
HTC Desire 500
7:50h -
Samsung I8190 Galaxy S III mini
7:46h -
HTC One mini 2
06:05h -
Nokia Lumia 710
3:27h
Heavy users will get even less battery life out of the HTC One mini 2 than the moderate usage numbers suggest since its advantage - low standby power consumption - doesn't get the time to shine when you use up the battery in a single day. It will do better than the Samsung for low to moderate usage though.
Winner: Samsung Galaxy Alpha. The Galaxy Alpha won every single category and impressed despite its relatively small battery. It's user-removable too so
Final words
The Galaxy Alpha marks a new beginning for Samsung, which HTC may view as trespassing on their premium territory. Samsung may have found a weakness - HTC have a proper full-size flagship but their compact offering feels like a midranger at times.The Samsung Galaxy Alpha has more devices to worry about, the high-profile targets being the Apple iPhone 6 and the Sony Xperia Z3 Compact. The HTC One mini 2 is cheaper than all three and the iPhone is the only one matching its metal unibody.
The HTC workmanship didn't go unnoticed, we gave the One mini 2 high praise despite being a bit too big for its screen size. That's partly down to the BoomSound speakers, of course, which are excellent, as is the audio quality in general. With a microSD card slot the HTC can also carry more music on board.
The Samsung Galaxy Alpha wins the performance competition by a country mile, which also allowed it to handle more demanding video - both in terms of resolution and framerate. The still camera also had an advantage in quality, though HTC recovered from the disappointment of the Duo Camera on the One (M8).
The Galaxy Alpha offers more screen real estate though HTC didn't skimp on the One mini 2 screen either. One area where the Super AMOLED display had a clear advantage was sunlight legibility.
Samsung Galaxy Alpha
Despite nearly equal screen brightness and a huge lead in performance, the Samsung phone actually offered better battery life. Not by much if you go by the Endurance rating alone but the small battery managed impressive feats in the individual tests.
In terms of software and additional features, the Galaxy Alpha matches its parent company's usual attitude of more is better. It has an almost complete copy of the Galaxy S5 software pack including the security features involving the fingerprint scanner, and the heart rate sensor.
HTC dropped some features from the One mini 2 compared to its big sibling which, along with the duly reduced processing speed, is more becoming of a midrange device than a flagship.
HTC One mini 2
Again, the compact offering from HTC is cheaper than its Samsung opponent (funny, it's usually the opposite). Sure, it could have been closer to the One (M8) in certain respects but the premium feel isn't one of them.
The Samsung Galaxy Alpha couldn't pull off a metal unibody but the metal frame design is shared by Nokia and Sony so it's in good company. The compact device is a beast in performance and lasts longer than you'd guess going by its nominal battery capacity. It has an excellent camera too, our biggest complaint about the device overall is that it omitted the waterproofing.
As we said early on, techies are more forgiving of imperfect design while others value build quality above raw chipset performance. That - and budget - will be the dividing line between those who buy a Samsung Galaxy Alpha and those who go for the HTC One mini 2.
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