HTC One X To Land At AT&T On May 6: Top 5 Contenders On Same Runway

The HTC One X, featuring a mammoth yet bright and beautiful 4.7-inch HD display with 1280 x 720 pixel (720p) resolution, Qualcomm's next-generation Snapdragon S4 CPU, a 1.5-GHz dual-core chip, 1GB RAM and 16GB of internal storage, is finally launching on the AT&T network on May 6 for $199.

HTC unveiled a great collection of Android phones at Mobile World Congress in February for 2012: the HTC One X, One S and One V. But the One X stands out among the rest with its impressive looks and brilliant functionalities. The company has launched two variants of One X based on its two different CPUs (quad-core and dual-core). While the international version of the phone sports a quad-core CPU, the US version comes with a dual-core processor. But the phone with its sensational Sense 4.0 UI, AT&T's lightening fast LTE 4G network and Android Ice Cream Sandwich is amazingly fluid and fast and easily beats the European Tegra 3 variant.

Although the phone has a huge length of 5.3 inches, One X is surprisingly slim and light with its 2.75-inch width, 0.36-inch thickness and 4.6-ounce weight. This time, the company has ditched the usual aluminum unibody construction and crafted One X from a single piece of polycarbonate plastic, giving the phone a premium quality feel.

Another feature in the HTC One X that demands special attention is the camera. The 8-megapixel primary camera comes with what HTC calls the Image Chip. The camera, paired with Sense 4.0, results into a lag-free shutter and lets you capture all the moments. The phone also gives photo and video capture buttons on the same screen, making it easy for the user to switch modes or simply snap a photo while recording HD at the same time.

HTC has also packed in the usual GPS, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth radio along with the Beats audio. Explaining the quality of Beats audio on One X, AT&T describes the experience as good, better, best - good as is, better with Beats headphones and best when plugged into Beats.

The One X, however, lacks external SD card slot therefore you are stuck with the onboard 16GB memory. But the company gives you freedom with 25 GB of integrated Dropbox space that is free for two years.

While all these features and a host of apps make HTC One X a definite must-buy Android phone, the phone's journey will be far from smooth. The HTC phone will not only have to face competition from other network phones but also from its own network, AT&T, which houses a good number of iOS, Android and Windows phones that are kings of the smartphone market in their own right.

Check out the top five competitors running on the AT&T network that the soon-to-be released HTC phone will face in coming days:

1. Samsung Galaxy S2 Skyrocket 4G

Galaxy S2 Skyrocket is till date regarded as one of Samsung's finest smartphones. With its 4.5-inch Super AMOLED Plus display that features resolution of 800 x 480 pixels with 207 ppi pixel density that results into a gorgeous display, astonishingly powerful 1.5 GHz dual core processor and Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread operating system, the Skyrocket is still the match-winner.

The phone features a dual-core 1.5 GHz Qualcomm APQ8060 (Snapdragon S3) CPU and accompanying Adreno 220 GPU, a fixed 16 GB internal storage that can be expanded up to 32 GB via microSD card. Skyrocket also features an admirable 8MP rear camera.

And, not to forget, Samsung Galaxy S2 Skyrocket is one of the first smartphones from AT&T that supports 4G LTE. The phone goes along with HSPA+, GPS, Bluetooth and NFC.

The phone is available at $149.99 with a two-year AT&T contract.

2. iPhone 4S

Apple's last iPhone, the iPhone 4S, was not a new iPhone but more of an upgrade on the iPhone 4. But its improved camera, faster processor, smarter antenna and the addition of 'Siri', make this iPhone one of the biggest hits in Apple's smartphone history.

While the design of the new iPhone is reminiscent of its immediate predecessor, it still exudes elegance. The phone, just like its predecessor, touts a 3.5-inch, 960 x 640-pixel IPS display. Note, this is the first phone that Apple packed in Retina display with.

iPhone 4S runs on Apple's latest iOS 5 operating system and features dual-core 1 GHz Cortex-A9 processor with PowerVR SGX543MP2 GPU, Apple A5 chipset and 512 MB RAM. Apple smartphone sports an 8 megapixel rear-facing LED flash cameras with 1080p HD video capture capability and a front VGA camera with 480p video capture capability and video calling over Wi-Fi only.

The iPhone 4S gives 14.4 Mbps download speed and 5.8 Mbps upload speed and does not support 4G LTE. Apple also provides a Bluetooth version 4.0 with A2DP, USB 2.0 version and Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n and Wi-Fi hotspot with its last released iPhone 4S.

The AT&T price of the phone ranges between $199 to $725.

3. Nokia Lumia 900

Nokia's flagship Lumia phone is perhaps the biggest bet for both Microsoft and Nokia to silence their critics, get back their lost kingdom (Nokia lost its 14-year dominance of the smartphone market to Samsung) and make a solid impression in the world of smartphone OS that was until now dominated by Google's Android and Apple's iOS.

The Lumia 900, ensconced in a polycarbonate body with a striking blue color, is quite impressive. The phone is Nokia's first 4G LTE compatible phone and sports some topnotch specs. Lumia 900 comes with dimensions of 127.8 (height) x 68.5 (width) x 11.5 (depth) mm and weighs 160 grams. The latest Nokia phone sports a 4.3-inch 800 x 480 pixels Super AMOLED Plus capacitive ClearBlack touch-screen with 217 ppi density and Nokia's ClearBlack Display technology delivers very bright, sharp and saturated colors. The phone also touts a versatile 8MP camera with Carl Zeiss optics.

Lumia 900 will run on the latest Microsoft Windows Phone 7.5 Mango and will offer one-touch access to social networking sites along with features like easy grouping of contacts, communication threads and Internet Explorer 9. The Lumia 900 comes with a 1.4 GHz Scorpion single-core processor, Qualcomm APQ8055 Snapdragon, Adreno 205 GPU with 16GB internal storage and 512MB RAM.

The phone is available at a very affordable price of $99.99 on AT&T.

4. LG Nitro HD

You won't think of LG first when you think of smartphones, but the Nitro HD that features a stunning 4.5-inch True HD AH-IPS display, the Korean company has launched the world's first smartphone with a true high definition screen in AT&T. The LG smartphone is considered to be the third 4G LTE smartphone for AT&T customers.

The Android 2.3 phone has other impressive specs like a 1.5GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, an 8-megapixel rear camera and 4GB of internal storage with a card slot to extend memory for up to 32GB.

The phone is available for $99.99 at AT&T.

5. Samsung Galaxy Note

Samsung's last best bet was the Galaxy Note, of which the company claimed to have sold 5 million units globally in just five months after its launch in October. The unique and winning factor for the growing popularity of the Note is of course its combination of the size of a tablet and the features of a smartphone. Although experts have criticized the size of the phone as being odd, it has been a factor of curiosity among smartphone lovers who are looking out for something new.

The Korean electronics giant has packed in a 1.5 GHz Scorpion dual-core processor, a 5.3-inch AMOLED display, 8 megapixels rear camera, 2 MP front camera for video calling, 16GB storage, 1 GB RAM, S Pen stylus for sketching and making notes and Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Li-Ion 2500 mAh and AT&T's 4G LTE connectivity.

Now rumors are rife that Samsung is releasing an Ice Cream Sandwich update for the Note phone. With the new IC update, the phone will have fully functional Face Unlock, Stereo Bluetooth, MMS and GPS along with solid and up to speed LTE connections, better audio quality, Google Talk and Video Chat and more.

Galaxy Note is available at $299.99 for a 2-year contract.