New and Considering Android: G3 vs HTC M8

metrix

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Greetings,

I'm a current IOS user. I've used IOS for a long time and I'm a big fan of Apple products in general. However that doesn't mean I'm a blind follower. I've dabbled in the Android world previously with mixed results. I owned the HTC Evo when it first came out and loved it...for the first year. Then it got long in the tooth...then the lack of updates really soured me on Android. Fast forward to now, I'm almost 3 years long on my current iPhone 4s and it's time for an upgrade. I've considered sticking to the iPhone for the 6 launch, but Android has my eye again. Given that we're so far down the line from the original evo I'm sure a ton of the bugs and issues are worked out, but being away from Android for so long, I'm having to get caught up.

Originally, I only wanted a Google only phone. The Nexus 5 is sexy as hell and I love it...but it's already ( just about) a year old and I'm not too keen on jumping back to an "old" device, and as there's no idea as to if/when the next Nexus phone will drop, I've decided on the HTC One M8 and the LG G3 as my go potential candidates. I'll be honest, I'm leaning towards the G3. With a 15 month old, the camera is swaying me.

My concern with the G3 is the display. While gorgeous, and yea a little power hungry, I'm really worried about what it means as far as support. Will there be issues down the line as far as updates, and mods, etc? It's a VERY non standard screen and I don't want to be tied to specific updates from certain providers. Is LG and HTC timely when it comes to OS updates? Rooting and/or Cyanogen recommendations?

I haven't finalized my decision yet and iphone 6 is still on the table, but I'm leaning heavily towards Android at the moment. I like to mix things up.

Thanks in advance!!
 

codyoehl

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I've heard from people that the QHD screen causes some performance hiccups, but I haven't used it enough to know for sure
And have you considered the Samsung Galaxy S5?

Posted via Android Central App with my Samsung Galaxy S5
 

Golfdriver97

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Google is the way to go if you want to stay up to date. It will stay updated (through custom ROMs) long after Google gives up on it too.
 

metrix

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I've heard from people that the QHD screen causes some performance hiccups, but I haven't used it enough to know for sure
And have you considered the Samsung Galaxy S5?

Posted via Android Central App with my Samsung Galaxy S5

I'll be honest, and please don't take this personal, but Samsung's off the table for me. They're largely unattractive (IMO) and I like the appeal of no physical home button.
 

codyoehl

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I'll be honest, and please don't take this personal, but Samsung's off the table for me. They're largely unattractive (IMO) and I like the appeal of no physical home button.

That's OK, everybody has different opinions
To me, I honestly couldn't see using a phone without a home button (physical) and the back and recent apps buttons beside it, but that's just me

Posted via Android Central App with my Samsung Galaxy S5
 

srkmagnus

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Of the two devices, I don't think you can go wrong with either. Both are good devices and will receive update support. For reference, the M7 and G2 have been updated fairly quickly all things considered. It's going to be a tough choice if you decide to go with either the M8 or G3, so pop back in and let us know what you decide on going with.
 

metrix

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Of the two devices, I don't think you can go wrong with either. Both are good devices and will receive update support. For reference, the M7 and G2 have been updated fairly quickly all things considered. It's going to be a tough choice if you decide to go with either the M8 or G3, so pop back in and let us know what you decide on going with.

Just curious but are either the M7 or G2 currently being updated with KitKat? The biggest fail with the old Evo was that halfway through my contract, it was like HTC forgot it existed and didn't receive jack.
 

petaf

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Just curious but are either the M7 or G2 currently being updated with KitKat? The biggest fail with the old Evo was that halfway through my contract, it was like HTC forgot it existed and didn't receive jack.

My HTC M7 is updated to latest version of Sense (6) and 4.4.2 (KitKat). It's still a fantastic device!

Posted via Android Central App
 

JeffDenver

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Greetings,

I'm a current IOS user.
Then I would advise you to skip both the G3 and M8 and go with a Nexus. I have tried both, and if you are used to the smooth UI of iOS, you will be annoyed with the minor lag of these other two phones. The Nexus 5 is the only Android phone I would consider as low-lag as iOS.

That being said...if I had to choose between them, I'd get the G3. The G3 has one of the best cameras on the market right now. And I know from personal experience the M8 camera is kinda crappy (and not just because it is low res...images are washed out). Had some out of town friends visit this week and they had M8s...the camera pictures are very washed out.

Then it got long in the tooth...then the lack of updates really soured me on Android.
Another reason to get a nexus.

Originally, I only wanted a Google only phone. The Nexus 5 is sexy as hell and I love it...but it's already ( just about) a year old and I'm not too keen on jumping back to an "old" device
"Old" is relative. That "old" device still has some of the best specs on the market. It still has the fastest UI of any Android phone. It will still get updates the longest (and the quickest). It still has one of the best cameras on the market (definitely better than the M8).

HTC vs Nexus 1.jpg

there's no idea as to if/when the next Nexus phone will drop
Probably not until at least late October, and probably late November.

I'll be honest, I'm leaning towards the G3. With a 15 month old, the camera is swaying me.
The G3 is the first camera I would consider to be actually better than the Nexus 5 in all areas.

The M8 does as well or better in low-light, but it's daytime shots are washed out, and it has half the resolution of the Nexus 5.

My concern with the G3 is the display. While gorgeous, and yea a little power hungry
It has a huge battery to feed that hunger. So does the M8. Battery life will be better than the iPhone for both of those.

I'm really worried about what it means as far as support. Will there be issues down the line as far as updates, and mods, etc?
Definitely. That is going to be true of any Non-Nexus phone except maybe Moto phones. It's something you just have to accept if you are going to buy a skinned phone.

And no, they are NOT root friendly. LG and HTC do not want you rooting their phones, and they will put roadblocks in your way whenever they can. It's another thing you have to accept about them if you buy their phones.

It's a VERY non standard screen and I don't want to be tied to specific updates from certain providers. Is LG and HTC timely when it comes to OS updates? Rooting and/or Cyanogen recommendations?
Rooting is generally a pain in the ***. It is not like jailbreaking on an iPhone...it is a lot more involved. The Nexus is the easiest to root, and even that was a chore for me.

Their displays are standard 1080p actually, as is the Nexus 5. And all of them have great displays. The LG is the largest and the Nexus 5 the smallest.

Using both the G3 and the M8 I noticed lag. Despite having more powerful CPUs, the UI is definitely not as smooth as the Nexus. If you are coming from an iPhone, it is something you will definitely notice.
 

JeffDenver

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Just curious but are either the M7 or G2 currently being updated with KitKat? The biggest fail with the old Evo was that halfway through my contract, it was like HTC forgot it existed and didn't receive jack.
In their defense, HTC has gotten a lot better. They screwed everyone over before the M7, but since the M7 they have been good about updates.

Will it last? I guess we'll see. I had an even worse experience on my Rezound than you had on that Evo. So I am staying away from HTC myself indefinitely. But the M7 looks like it will probably get Android L, and if it does, that is pretty good for an HTC product.

I'll be honest, and please don't take this personal, but Samsung's off the table for me. They're largely unattractive (IMO) and I like the appeal of no physical home button.

I totally agree actually. My BF has a GS3, and that physical home button is a pain. You will be surprised how fast you can navigate using only soft-keys. Having tried it, I can never go back.

The S5 does have awesome hardware. The best display on the market, a great camera, it's waterproof, SD expansion, and great battery life. But touchwiz is awful, and I hate physical home buttons now. You can always add a case to make it less ugly, but there is no easy way to disable those hardware buttons or remove touchwiz.
 

JeffDenver

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I've heard from people that the QHD screen causes some performance hiccups, but I haven't used it enough to know for sure
And have you considered the Samsung Galaxy S5?

It's not QHD that causes those hiccups. It's the skin. You will not see those hiccups on vanilla android, I guarantee it.
 

LeoRex

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Greetings ... recommendations?

OK... :) I have a G3, came from a Nexus 5 (which I ran a bunch of different ROMs)... got little kids.... I can answer a few. :) And yes.. I'm long winded, so I apologize for the expansive tome that follows.

- The Nexus 5 will still have a couple of years left in it. It might be 'old', but it's internals aren't that out of date. But still.... The Nexus 6, 'Shamu', whatevs... everyone seems to point to a Motorola build device, 5.2' QHD (yes, quad) with a SD 805 and 3G of RAM. Beastmode.... but all the flagships are going to go with similar pairings soon enough. Look for that phone to drop, with the next version of Android, around Halloween. This is the ONLY phone that I would consider replacing my G3 with at the moment.

- G3's screen. Don't stress about the screen.... it might be 'non-standard' now, but everyone... Sony, HTC, Samsung, Motorola, etc... each one of their top devices will be rocking a screen with the same resolution quite soon. The Note 4 will most certainly have a QHD screen, as will the aforementioned Nexus 6. I don't expect to see many 'flagship' devices with a 1080 screen going forward. LG was just the first to market with it.

- Updates... this one's blurry. LG isn't exactly known for timely updates, but considering the news items I see on Flowly this morning, HTC isn't exactly speedy either. For carrier branded phones, that update has to get touched by a ton of hands before it gets to your phone. The best phones for updates, by a 1000 mile wide gap, is the Nexus line... Google announces a new version of Android by releasing an update for the currently supported Nexus devices.... No OEM development, no carriers fattening them up.... straight from the source.

Custom ROMs. Not a lot at the moment. Currently, the ONLY G3 that can even load something non-standard is the T-Mobile variant, which has an unlocked bootloader out of the box. There are a few ROMs based on the stock rom, and a few custom kernels being worked on, but they are basically just small one-man operations. I've seen some rumblings of some of the bigger teams starting up... Liquid Smooth comes to mind. Nothing from Cyanogen or Paranoid Android, I have a feeling that once someone get's the other models' bootloaders unlocked (and this is being worked on), it'll be like a starter pistol going off. LG has released their sources, so all the ingredients are there.

And lastly... the camera. The M8's main camera was a horrible mistake in judgement by HTC, thinking that people aren't going to do anything other than post their pictures on Facebook. My wife does a ton of photo albums from places like Shutterfly, and she edits and crops near every picture in some way.... the lack of detail from a 4MP camera would really **** her off. The G3 takes rather good photographs and the laser AF is rock-solid reliable.
 

codyoehl

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In their defense, HTC has gotten a lot better. They screwed everyone over before the M7, but since the M7 they have been good about updates.

Will it last? I guess we'll see. I had an even worse experience on my Rezound than you had on that Evo. So I am staying away from HTC myself indefinitely. But the M7 looks like it will probably get Android L, and if it does, that is pretty good for an HTC product.



I totally agree actually. My BF has a GS3, and that physical home button is a pain. You will be surprised how fast you can navigate using only soft-keys. Having tried it, I can never go back.

The S5 does have awesome hardware. The best display on the market, a great camera, it's waterproof, SD expansion, and great battery life. But touchwiz is awful, and I hate physical home buttons now. You can always add a case to make it less ugly, but there is no easy way to disable those hardware buttons or remove touchwiz.

That's funny, I love the physical home button

Posted via Android Central App with my Samsung Galaxy S5
 

LeoRex

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Rooting is generally a pain in the ***. It is not like jailbreaking on an iPhone...it is a lot more involved. The Nexus is the easiest to root, and even that was a chore for me.

Actually, rooting the G3 was pretty easy.... loaded the drivers from LG, plugged it into my laptop, ran PurpleDrake... it booted a couple of times and I got root. Granted, the rooting process for the Nexus 5 is much more straightforward and requires NO weird work-arounds or hacks... whereas the G3 has a lot going on to get root. But from an end user standpoint, getting my G3 rooted was nothing special. But it's clear that the phone isn't set up to be dev friendly, at least in the same way the Nexus was dev-friendly.

I guess it all depends.... if you are going to be stuck with the phone long-term (1 to 2 years), then I'd say hold off for just a smidge. The Nexus 6 might only be 2, 2 1/2 months out... and if the current rumors are true, it's going to be one hell of a phone... glad I am still on the old 'Every 6 or twice a year' JUMP. :)
 

metrix

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Wow lots of great info. Thanks guys. I appreciate the in depth thoughts.

I've been waiting impatiently since about April to upgrade and yea, this'll be a 1-2 year phone for me. It'll be pretty damn hard to convince myself to wait until October. I'm liking the G3 definitely more than the M8 but with the comments, the Nexus 5 is back on the radar lol.
 

JeffDenver

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That's funny, I love the physical home button
I think a lot of people are just used to it. But it is far faster to navigate with soft-keys. Even the fastest phones are going to be slowed down by the time it takes you to depress the home key IMO.

It doesn't seem like it should be a big deal, but pressing the home key is something you do on a phone a lot.
 

JeffDenver

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Actually, rooting the G3 was pretty easy.... loaded the drivers from LG, plugged it into my laptop, ran PurpleDrake... it booted a couple of times and I got root.
...until LG gives you an update that breaks that method. And they will. Vendors hate rooted phones.

At the very least, rooting involves installing drivers for your phone for windows, which is a pain all by itself. Getting the SDK set up to root my nexus 5 was 80% of the annoyance. If you are not a tech nerd, a lot of these steps will seem cryptic.

Every time I have rooted, on every device, it has been a chore. Even for me.

I guess it all depends.... if you are going to be stuck with the phone long-term (1 to 2 years), then I'd say hold off for just a smidge. The Nexus 6 might only be 2, 2 1/2 months out... and if the current rumors are true, it's going to be one hell of a phone... glad I am still on the old 'Every 6 or twice a year' JUMP.
A lot of people will regret rooting when patches and updates come out. You will need to be prepared to do more footwork during those times.

In the past, there were a lot more reasons to root. You could do things that would improve performance, and it might be worth it for that. Now? Not so much. Even low end phones have good hardware now.
 

JeffDenver

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If I had a 3rd party phone, I probably would root...just to get rid of the skin. I've done this on all my older phones already. My Rezound has never run better once finally freed of Sense.
 

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