Once upon a time a smartphone with 3.5 inches screen was considered a big smartphone. Today the screens are getting bigger and bigger and we want smartphones with big screens to better read stuff online and watch movies and photos.
So after comparing the 4.0 inches screen smartphones, we take a step to bigger screens and now comparing 4.3 inches screen smartphones. And there are a lot of them.
Starting from lower price points and arriving at higher levels, there are a lot of options if you want a 4.3 inches screen smartphone.
A 4.3 inches screen is what you need because it is not very big and it can fit your pocket but at the same time you have a big surface to read or play games.
On that post we compare 15 phones: Sony Xperia Z1 Compact, HTC One SV, One mini, Desire 500 and One S, Huawei Ascend P1, LG Optimus F5, L7II, Prada 3.0 and Optimus L7, Samsung Galaxy S4 mini, Galaxy S2 and S2 Plus and Sony Xperia L and Xperia S.
SCREEN
Well, the screens have all the same size, so we have 14 smartphones with exactly the same size but what changes is the quality of the screens.
There are just three phones with more than 300 pixels per inch, it’s the Sony Xperia Z1 Compact with 342PPI and Sony Xperia S with 342PPI and HTC One mini with 341PPI, then there are 4 phones with 256PPI: HTC One, Huawei Ascend P1, LG Optimus F5, Samsung Galaxy S4 mini.
All the other phones have 217PPI except Sony Xperia L with 228PPI. So the ultimate screen winners are Sony Xperia Z1 Compact and Sony Xperia S.
CAMERA
There are 15 phones with 4.3 inches screen and all of them except 5 have a 8MP camera. The best camera phone at 4.3 inches is Sony Xperia Z1 Compact with the incredible 20.7MP camera. This phone is great for photos because it has great photo software. So if you want the ultimate camera at that size, you only have one option.
Beyond the 20.7MP camera Sony phone, there are 3 devices that have a 5MP cameras: LG Optimus F5, HTC One SV and LG Optimus L7 and you can also choose Sony Xperia S with 12.1MP camera. Also there is HTC One mini with the 4MP Ultrapixel technology. We love the HTC photo technology but the 8MP and 12MP cameras are better than the 4MP camera.
Between the other 9 phones with the 8MP camera, there are slight differences, some of them have a lot of camera options like the Samsung or the HTC phones. Others have only the essential Android settings like Huawei Ascend. But the main camera winner is Sony Xperia Z1 Compact.
The secondary camera is different in most phones. So if you want to video chat a lot, you may choose Samsung Galaxy S4 mini or Samsung Galaxy S2 with 1.9MP secondary camera or Sony Xperia S and LG Optimus F5 with 1.3MP camera. So the winner here is Samsung Galaxy S4 mini with the latest camera software from Samsung and a great secondary camera.
PROCESSOR
A 4.3 inches screen smartphones is a smartphone for multitasking, internet and videos so we want the fastest phone possible. Sony Xperia Z1 Compact and HTC Desire 500 are the only quad core smartphones, all the other phones have a dual core processor except LG Optimus L7 which has a single core.
From the dual core phones, the fastest are Samsung Galaxy S4 mini and HTC One S but as HTC One S has 1GB of RAM, Samsung Galaxy S4 mini is the fastest dual core processor. Only HTC Desire 500 can beat that with the quad core processor at 1.2GHz.
Sony Xperia Z1 Compact and Galaxy S4 mini are the only phones with 2GB of RAM, all other phones have 1GB (HTC Desire 500 included) and LG L7II has 768MB and LG Optimus L7 512MB. So the three fastest phone is Sony Xperia Z1 Compact and then Samsung Galaxy S4 mini, HTC Desire 500 and HTC One S.
ANDROID VERSION
There is big diversion on the Android versions of 4.3 inches screen smartphones. We can find phones with Android 2.3 or Android 4.3.
The only device with Android 4.3 is Sony Xperia Z1 Compact and then there are only three phones with Android 4.2, these are Samsung Galaxy S4 mini, HTC Desire 500 and HTC One mini. Then there are 4 phones with Android 4.1 (Samsung Galaxy S2 Plus, LG Optimus F5, Sony Xperia L and LG L7ii). The oldest Android version is found on LG Prada 3.0, Samsung Galaxy S2 and Sony Xperia S.
DESIGN
Even if all the phones have the same screen, the body is different in all of them. We focus on the width and the weight as these factors are the most important.
The slimmest device is Huawei Ascend P1 with HTC One S coming second with just 0.1mm difference. Then we have three phones with 8.5mm (Samsung Galaxy S2 Plus, Samsung Galaxy S2 and LG Prada 3.0). The worst phone to take on your hands is Sony Xperia S with 10.6mm, that’s 2.9mm thicker than Huawei Ascend P1. That’s a difference.
Comparing the weight, the lightest phone is Samsung Galaxy S4 mini with 107g and Huawei Ascend P1 is second with 110g and Samsung Galaxy S2 third with 116g. The heaviest device is Sony Xperia S which weights 144g. That’s pretty heavy!
BATTERY
The battery capacity on smartphones is something we count to have our smartphone working the whole day. So let’s take a look at the batteries. The biggest battery is by far on LG L7ii (2.460mAh) and then on Sony Xperia Z1 Compact. Then you can find another LG device, LG Optimus F5 (2.150mAh). The fourth place is for Samsung Galaxy S4 mini (1900) and all other phones are bellow 2.000 mAh and above 1.000 mAh. The smartphone with the smaller battery is LG Prada 3.0 (1.540mAh).
LAUNCHED
We always take a look at the date a phone was launched as newer phones have bigger possibilities to be updated to newer versions and fewer to be quickly replaced. So the newer smartphones on the market is Sony Xperia Z1 Compact (January 2014), then HTC Desire 500 launched in September 2013 and HTC One Mini launched on August 2013, then LG Optimus F5, Samsung Galaxy S4 mini and Sony Xperia L launched on May 2013. The oldest phone of them is LG Prada 3.0 from January 2011 and then Samsung Galaxy S2 from April of the same year. So avoid these phones as they are pretty oldies.
VERDICT
We already have the winners in each category so if you want a phone with great secondary camera or a light phone, you know which device you need. But here we rate all phones with our AVC rating system to let you know which phone is the best overall.
Comparing these 14 phones with 4.3 inches screen Sony Xperia Z1 Compact is the best. Of course it is the priciest too. Samsung Galaxy S4 mini comes second with great processor, light body and good cameras. Samsung has another phone which is really great, Samsung Galaxy SII Plus which comes third. The fourth place is for LG Optimus F5 with strong battery and then HTC One SV. Huawei Ascend P1 phone comes sixth with a slim and light body, strong specs and great screen.
On the last spot you can find LG Optimus L7 and also Sony Xperia S which is built for bodybuilders but has a great camera and LG Prada 3.0, a beautiful oldie device.
FINAL RANKING
| Company | Model | Rated 06/14 | " | PPI | CAM | CPU | RAM | mAh | W | g | AV | Date | PG | Buy now |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sony | Xperia Z1 Compact | 62.0 | 4.3 | 342 | 20.7 | 4 * 2.2 | 2000 | 2300 | 8.8 | 137 | 4.3 | 14-01 | 5 | Best price |
| Samsung | Galaxy S4 mini | 52.7 | 4.3 | 256 | 8 | 2 * 1.7 | 2000 | 1900 | 8.9 | 107 | 4.2 | 13-05 | 5 | Best price |
| HTC | One mini | 46.2 | 4.3 | 341 | 4 | 2 * 1.4 | 1000 | 1800 | 9.3 | 122 | 4.2 | 13-08 | 4 | Best price |
| HTC | Desire 500 | 45.6 | 4.3 | 217 | 8 | 4 * 1.2 | 1000 | 1800 | 9.9 | 123 | 4.2 | 13-09 | 3 | Best price |
| Samsung | Galaxy S II Plus | 43.5 | 4.3 | 217 | 8 | 2 * 1.2 | 1000 | 1650 | 8.5 | 121 | 4.1 | 13-02 | 3 | Best price |
| LG | Optimus F5 | 43.3 | 4.3 | 256 | 5 | 2 * 1.2 | 1000 | 2150 | 9.3 | 131 | 4.1 | 13-05 | 4 | Best price |
| Samsung | Galaxy S2 | 40.0 | 4.3 | 217 | 8 | 2 * 1.2 | 1000 | 1650 | 8.5 | 116 | 2.3 | 11-04 | 3 | Best price |
| Huawei | Ascend P1 | 40.4 | 4.3 | 256 | 8 | 2 * 1.5 | 1000 | 1670 | 7.7 | 110 | 4.0 | 12-05 | 3 | Best price |
| Sony | Xperia L | 40.5 | 4.3 | 228 | 8 | 2 * 1.0 | 1000 | 1750 | 9.7 | 137 | 4.1 | 13-05 | 3 | Best price |
| LG | L7 II | 40.4 | 4.3 | 217 | 8 | 2 * 1.0 | 768 | 2460 | 9.7 | 118 | 4.1 | 13-03 | 3 | Best price |
| HTC | One S | 39.9 | 4.3 | 256 | 8 | 2 * 1.7 | 1000 | 1650 | 7.8 | 119 | 4.0 | 12-04 | 3 | Best price |
| HTC | One Sv | 39.0 | 4.3 | 217 | 5 | 2 * 1.2 | 1000 | 1800 | 9.2 | 122 | 4.0 | 13-01 | 4 | Best price |
| Sony | Xperia S | 32.7 | 4.3 | 342 | 12 | 2 * 1.5 | 1000 | 1750 | 10.6 | 144 | 2.3 | 12-02 | 3 | Best price |
| LG | Optimus L7 | 33.2 | 4.3 | 217 | 5 | 1 * 1.0 | 512 | 1700 | 8.7 | 122 | 4.0 | 12-05 | 2 | Best price |
| LG | Prada 3.0 | 27.4 | 4.3 | 217 | 8 | 2* 1.0 | 1000 | 1540 | 8.5 | 138 | 2.3 | 11-01 | 3 | Best price |
You can compare these phones with the ranking of all Android smartphones.