What smartphone would fits more my needs... ?

[tarball]

AKA GS4 vs HTC One

I'm posting this thread on HTC One and SG4 forums.

My current phone is an Blackberry Bold. This is provided by my employer. I am looking for a smartphone for my personal needs.
Since the last 2 weeks I have spent at least 20 hours reading user and expert reviews. I am writing this post in order to have more users feedbacks ...

So, there is the key feature that is important to me...

First, i'm in Canada, and here the contract for mobile phone is 3 years. So i need a phone that won't be completely outdated in 3 years. I mean, I know it will be old, but I hope the phone will still perform well and not be too much scratched and damaged. It is metal vs plastic I guess.
Being father of 2 beautiful girls, the camera is very important to me. I will take tons of pictures and share them on Facebook, Picasa...
Facebook, Browsing the web... must be fast.
Light and slim. My phone will be in my jeans pocket most of the time.
Performance. Paying a smartphone over 600$ I expect to be as lag and bug free as much as possible.
Features. I don't need all the features such as air-gesture and smart pause stuff, but definitly like to have many features that I could enable or disable at my conveniance.
I would like to have something like Siri with voice command (I think Google now do it?).
Storage: I don't NEED to have portable memory card. I will send pictures on Facebook or save it on my computer by USB.
Battery : I don't plan to buy backup battery, so unable to remove the back is not a big deal, except if the battery of The One would be bad as hell in 2 years. I need at least 12 hrs autonomy.

Well.. that's pretty much what i have in mind.

Durable, professional looking, mature usage, great camera, great performance for browsing and facebook.

Thanks for giving your opinions based on my needs. Please let's be mature and polite.

 

[LegendaryDrumr]

This phone is perfect for what you're wanting and looking for in a phone. I got my HTC One this past Friday and it's absolutely great in every area. I play games a lot more on this phone than I have on others in the past just because the performance is crazy good along withh the screen and pictures.

Sent from my HTCONE using Android Central Forums

 

[I Can Be Your Hero]

They both do what you need.

 

[Tbayrgs]

They both do what you need.

This ^. Both of these phones are more than capable. Considering how important a good camera is you may want to lean towards the S4, unless you plan on taking more of your photos in lower light environments. Otherwise, I'd suggest checking them both out in person and give them as much of a test drive as you can in a retail location. I have owned both the Note 2 and now the HTC One and personally really don't like the look/design/feel of the Samsung hardware and also really am not a fan of TouchWiz--looks almost like a cartoon theme and Samsung makes everything too large. To be fair, I don't really love HTC Sense either--better appearance but a bit lacking in functionality. The great option provided by Android is the ability to ditch both skins either with a custom ROM or using a custom launcher--I'm a big fan of Nova.

All that being said, I find the HTC One infinitely more attractive, love the build materials and feel in the hand (no cases used here) and find it is very smooth/snappy with pretty good battery performance.

Either way, you'll have a powerhouse of a device at your fingers.

 

[karmamule]

Since you don't value/need removable storage and removable battery I'd lean towards the HTC One as those are the two features many people use to sway themselves to the S4.

Almost all capabilities/characteristics you list as wanting will be satisfied by either phone, and I don't think either will fail to work well for you.

A few notes:

Do you care about zooming into photos a lot? If so the S4 will give you more zoomable photos due to the higher resolution. If you take lots of photos indoors or in dusk/dawn/evening conditions, then the HTC One has a significant advantage there.

Do you want to listen to music and/or watch movies much with the phone's built-in speakers? If so, another point to the HTC One.

When you talk about features, do you like the "throw a fistful of darts at the dartboard and see what sticks" approach, or the careful selection of a handful of features that are more likely to be useful? If the former, that's the Samsung approach, the latter is HTC's. Samsung will give you lots of potentially fun stuff, but odds are most will end up unused on an ongoing basis.

That seems to carry to the feel of the skin too, with Samsung's being busier, more in your face, and HTC's more minimalist and getting out of your way. Some people really like touchwiz, others abhor it. The latest stripped down version of Sense seems to be getting a bit more consistently positive responses, although it still mucks with some things that probably would be better left alone. (e.g. the apps drawer)

Yes I'm a fan of the HTC One so take it all with a grain of salt as very much "IMO", but I do think your eliminating external storage/removable battery really does heavily favor the HTC One.

 

[TheyStoleMyName]

Id say the gs4 because of the user changable battery. I prefer htc but since the battery cant be changed and ull have it three years(which sucks for a contract) id go with the gs4. The batteries are ratrd at a recharge cycle rate. 300-400 for lithium ion and 600-700 for a lithium ion polymer.

Sent from my LG-E970 using Android Central Forums

 

[myth75]

The one is slimmer and may feel better in your pockets. The battery is a non issue for myself as I've never felt the need to carry a spare in my pocket. If you wanted to purchase an extended battery then the 4 would be a better choice but with heavy surfing and video streaming I've never had a problem getting through 8 hours of work and 4 at home before charging. Mophie has a battery case for the one now as well. I loved the juice pak on my iPhone when I had it.

If you take care of your equipment I'd go four the sweet looking HTC, if you're concerned about damage get the other. Neither will disappoint.

Sent from my sweet looking HTCONE made of aluminum and not plastic using Tapatalk 2

 

[robsawalker]

You won't be disappointed by either phone. I would suggest going into a shop and trying them both out a little bit. Regarding photos, the HTC takes pictures faster than the S4 and is better in low light, whereas if you want to print off images greater than A4 the S4 is the one you need. The battery thing is a non-issue in my mind, because you can get the HTC portable battery which stores enough juice for 2 full charges and has received excellent reviews. Both phones will last for 12 hours generally, but remember usage can kill a battery quickly.

 

[JRDroid]

If you take pictures of your girls indoors, the One will have an advantage with the camera. Also, highlight videos are an awesome way to share a video of your kids with family members. They are only 30 seconds, so most people will watch the whole thing, and their combo of stills and 3 second video clips give a good feeling for what was going on that day. I love them with my daughter.

 

[TEEMILL]

Put it like this anything will be better then ur bold lol but one question if ur a blackberry guy why wouldn't u look into the blackberry z10?

Sent from my SPH-L720 using Android Central Forums

 

[JRDroid]

Put it like this anything will be better then ur bold lol but one question if ur a blackberry guy why wouldn't u look into the blackberry z10?

Sent from my SPH-L720 using Android Central Forums

Two reasons
1. He is intelligent and realize that BB10 is not as good as Android
2. He said he wants a good camera. That right there rules out the Z10.

 

[tarball]

Thanks for your responds !