The Galaxy S4 was released earlier this year, and as always, many of Samsung’s fans are now waiting patiently for the handset to reach the shelves of mobile phone stores around the world.

We know a little bit about the specifications, but one area that always interests me, like many others, is the luscious 1080p full HD screen that sits 5 inches across the Galaxy S4’s slick body. After later 2012, it was clear that screen size and pixel density did matter, and the first 1080p phones to hit the market, the Oppo Find 5 and the Droid DNA were received with very open arms across the smartphone industry.

All of the 1080p smartphones are pretty, but who comes out on top out of the 1080p screens? And whose screen technology will give the most clear, crisp results?

Brightness and Screen Visibility

Samsung like to stick to their own brand of screen technology, which when compared to the majority of the other 1080p handsets, a lot of strengths and weaknesses are shown in both technologies. When it comes to brightness and pure visibility though, the Galaxy S4 falls behind in this department, and the LCD screens used in the HTC One, Xperia Z, Lumia P20 and iPhone 5 bright up like a light compared to the Galaxy S4. When outside you’ll notice the difficulty in being able to look at the S4’s screen, whilst the LCD handsets, especially the HTC One and the iPhone 5, manage to keep things easy to look at.

The Galaxy S4 isn’t terrible at any means though, but it certainly lacks the vibrant colors that the LCD screens offer on full brightness.

Viewing Angles

This is an important one if you’re one of those who like to view their smartphones upside down whilst hanging off a sofa. On a more serious note, having a better viewing angles allows us to view information on our handsets from further away, and with the 1080p screen, a good viewing angle is important.

At the bottom of the list sit the Nokia Lumia 920 and the Xperia Z which both have slightly poor viewing angles. At most angles both devices start to lose their color. The Galaxy S4 isn’t as bad, although it starts to get a bluish tint around the edges of the screen when looked at, at an angle. The HTC One and iPhone 5 have relatively low issues with retaining their screen quality at almost every viewing angle.

Resolution

PPI has become the next thing on the spec sheet to start up a numbers war pushing handsets against each other, and as the phones for the last two years had a pixel density of around 300-350PPI, it was a shock to see a screen density in the 400s late 2012.

Some say that after around 320PPI, differences aren’t noticeable, but unless you’ve looked at a 5 inch 1080p panel yourself, it’d be hard for you to judge. With the iPhone 5 having the smallest screen, it’s a shame to see it lagging behind with the second lowest PPI of 326, with the Galaxy S3 sitting at the front seat with a 306 PPI. The Nokia Lumia 920 has a PPI of 332, but when considering these three handsets are 2012 720p flagships, you know there’s no point comparing them to the 1080p wonders of 2013.

The leader with the smallest screen is the HTC One with an incredible 468 PPI on a 4.7 inch, whilst the Xperia Z and Galaxy S4 share a similar 5 inch 441 PPI. With such a small PPI difference, is there really any noticeable change in screen appearance? Certainly with the S4 there is, as Samsung have filled its screen with PenTile pixels, a technology with both its pros and cons.

Even with PenTile though, the HTC One wins the competition, with the Xperia Z close behind, putting the Galaxy S4 in third place.

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