What's this phone missing?

[Kevin OQuinn]

It seems to have anything and everything you could ever want in a phone.

The only possible thing missing would be an AOSP build, but if you want that this isn't the phone for you anyway.

Looks like an excellent piece of kit.

 

[Air Force One]

It seems to have anything and everything you could ever want in a phone.

The only possible thing missing would be an AOSP build, but if you want that this isn't the phone for you anyway.

Looks like an excellent piece of kit.

A bad ass phone that they completely ruined by eliminating the removable battery and SD card. Nexus One had a unibody and had a removable battery and so should the X. No way in heck I'm going to depend on one internal battery. How many times have you gotten good battery life one day and then terrible the next? Or how many times have you bought two standard batteries only to find one lasts longer than the other even though they are the same OEM battery from HTC? I want control over the battery. Period.

I'm totallly bummed. This is a freaky nice phone if it had removable battery and SD card support. These phone makers always seem to find a way to screw up what could have been a perfect device.

 

[Gaurav]

no micro-sd

no removable battery



those two make me not love this phone.... everything else is sexy....

 

[E_man]

A bad ass phone that they completely ruined by eliminating the removable battery and SD card. Nexus One had a unibody and had a removable battery and so should the X. No way in heck I'm going to depend on one internal battery. How many times have you gotten good battery life one day and then terrible the next? Or how many times have you bought two standard batteries only to find one lasts longer than the other even though they are the same OEM battery from HTC? I want control over the battery. Period.

I'm totallly bummed. This is a freaky nice phone if it had removable battery and SD card support. These phone makers always seem to find a way to screw up what could have been a perfect device.

0 times and 0 times. In fact, I've never owned a second battery, and I bet most people don't. It will kill it for some, as it did for the first Razr. Most people? Won't care at all.

 

[Air Force One]

0 times and 0 times. In fact, I've never owned a second battery, and I bet most people don't. It will kill it for some, as it did for the first Razr. Most people? Won't care at all.

Try owning an LTE phone for an extended period and then get back to me

 

[thebizz]

I have and never changed the battery. plus this has a few things that should help it in the battery area 28nm chip set, the lte radio is now intergrated into the s4 rather than an add on modem. and with cloud storage do you really need more than 32 gb probably not

 

[BoostHungry]

Yeah the new S4 chip in the LTE version of this phone will revolutionize LTE phones.

What its missing is a good LTE network in the states to take advantage of. This phone is an AT&T exclusive isn't it? Haven't seen any superstars from WMC heading to Verizon yet.

I also think 4.7 inch screen is a little overkill. I'm looking for a phone with a 4.3, maybe 4.5, inch screen.

 

[thebizz]

yes 4.7 may be somewhat overkill I've owned the gnex and it wasn't to large I just want to see how this fits. if this came with stock ics it would be the nexus for me. love the design could care less about a non removable battery with all the little quick charging packs and the fact that I have 10 chargers laying around my house I'm not worried. as far as att lte network yes they need to build it out . but for now I'd be happy turning off. lte and running h+

 

[Duke of BB]

Either removeable memory or larger "internal" memory, Why the intl version has 32gb and the ATT has 16gb is rediculous. I understand that everyone has "the cloud" BUT with the tiered data plans being rather restrictive, its nice to keep most things right on your phone that you use frequently. I for one will be switching from Sprint to ATT very soon will be moving from unlimited data to a fixed data plan and limited device memory may sway me from a very nice otherwise phone like this.

 

[ChromeJob]

Duke nailed it. Limited memory (and reduced onboard memory) on a network that charges more for data overages is sneaky s***.

I'm also disappointed in the quad-core chip being Euro-only. WTF? You can have Tegra3 *or* US LTE, but not both? Bite me, HTC. The Amaze has exhibited multiple problems (Bluetooth connection, video recording noise) so unless they can demonstrate that QA has improved, I'm not snowed by the new shiny marketing.

 

[thebizz]

so your mad that nvidia hasn't come up with an lte option in time to release this phone, and att is pushing lte devices. honestly other than hardcore gaming I don't see a benifit of having the t3 especially knowing that the two scorpion cores out perform the 4 cores on the t3 while being more efficient while under load. now the gpu won't keep up but if its as good as the sgx543 in the iPhone 4s I'm good. now the 16 gigs of storage is a negative I can work with 32 16 may become to limiting over time , but its not a show stopper especially with beats being able to work with Google music and ics auto uploading photos to my g+ account their is less of a reason for me to keep content on my phone . oh and lets not forget about drop box and that free 25 gigs

 

[anon(394005)]

What's the One X missing? A kickstand! Seriously though, the non-removable battery is a deal breaker! I don't care how great battery life may be, I WANT the choice of being able to easily swap out a battery and not be tethered to some charger. Also, if that battery goes bad, I want to be able to easily replace it myself without needing hex drivers or case opener tools. Thus, I will NEVER buy a phone with a non-removable battery!

 

[E_man]

Try owning an LTE phone for an extended period and then get back to me

Oh, you've owned a phone with S4 that has LTE integrated rather than a separate radio, which is one thing that really hurts battery life? I thought they weren't out yet...

Besides, even if it didn't have the theoretical battery saving features of the S4, and did have a removable battery, most people would still get a $4 AC USB charger and put it by their desk, rather than a $30 external battery.

Duke nailed it. Limited memory (and reduced onboard memory) on a network that charges more for data overages is sneaky s***.

Except, it's the worldwide LTE phone that has 16gb, not just AT&T.

I'm also disappointed in the quad-core chip being Euro-only. WTF? You can have Tegra3 *or* US LTE, but not both? Bite me, HTC. The Amaze has exhibited multiple problems (Bluetooth connection, video recording noise) so unless they can demonstrate that QA has improved, I'm not snowed by the new shiny marketing.

You're disappointed that LTE comes with a chip that is faster than everything but gaming? By the way, your wrong about Tegra 3 or US LTE. It's simply Tegra 3 or LTE from anywhere.

 

[Kevin OQuinn]

nvidia will have LTE integrated into it's chipsets later this year I believe. I saw no slowdowns or lag when quickly switching screens in the hands on videos i've seen.

I'm excited about the S4, just like I'm excited about tegra 3. Both have advantages. I'm betting both will get great battery life, and the S4 will *hopefully* fix battery life issues with LTE. The smaller process (28nm) plus having LTE on the same chip as all other radios should help a lot. Think of when 3G first came out. It was the same way.

 

[Air Force One]

Oh, you've owned a phone with S4 that has LTE integrated rather than a separate radio, which is one thing that really hurts battery life? I thought they weren't out yet...

Oh, so you've owned one either? At least I've used an actual LTE device to base my opinion on. We have no idea of how this device will actually perform in the real world but I'm not willing to trust that it will have enough juice to last thru a heavy day of use and travel. Besides, it's a matter of principal. HTC should not be taking control of our device from us just to satisfy those who scream for a thinner phone. For what it's worth, I'm an HTC fanboy at heart so I'm not just bashing to bash. Hopefully HTC will release a device with similar specs with a removable battery or at the very least one with a bigger battery built in.

 

[Kevin OQuinn]

Oh, so you've owned one either? At least I've used an actual LTE device to base my opinion on. We have no idea of how this device will actually perform in the real world but I'm not willing to trust that it will have enough juice to last thru a heavy day of use and travel. Besides, it's a matter of principal. HTC should not be taking control of our device from us just to satisfy those who scream for a thinner phone. For what it's worth, I'm an HTC fanboy at heart so I'm not just bashing to bash. Hopefully HTC will release a device with similar specs with a removable battery or at the very least one with a bigger battery built in.

That would be a fair trade. Make a "MAXX" version with a bigger battery. And comparing your experience with a current LTE device and one that nobody has any real world experience isn't really fair, either.

Just like comparing my experience with dual-core exynos has no bearing on how the quad-core exynos will perform. People smarter than me have made fairly educated guesses as to how it will perform, though, and it looks pretty promising. Same with the S4 and its battery life. And hopefully it has a real off switch for LTE.

 

[Air Force One]

That would be a fair trade. Make a "MAXX" version with a bigger battery. And comparing your experience with a current LTE device and one that nobody has any real world experience isn't really fair, either.

Just like comparing my experience with dual-core exynos has no bearing on how the quad-core exynos will perform. People smarter than me have made fairly educated guesses as to how it will perform, though, and it looks pretty promising. Same with the S4 and its battery life. And hopefully it has a real off switch for LTE.

I'm not trying to be unfair. Instead I'm trying to highlight how some of have been scarred by how bad LTE battery life can be, especially depending on location and particular usage that day. The idea that we cannot have control over the battery given the past issues is worrisome...that's all I'm trying to say.

Honestly though? I hope to heck that you guys are right and I'm wrong, I hope HTC/LTE battery issues are a thing of the past...still, I don't ever think that losing any kind of control over our devices is something we should take lightly. A user replaceable battery, imo, is ALWAYS a better choice than a built in battery. Just as an example: what if the battery is defective down the road and now you must send back the whole device that you have babied and taken care of for a refurb. It would be much preferable to me to simply try a new battery myself and keep my device.

To the MAXX example, I personally would be willing to add some thickness to the device in exchange for say a 2800mah- 3200mah battery.

 

[Kevin OQuinn]

I'm not trying to be unfair. Instead I'm trying to highlight how some of have been scarred by how bad LTE battery life can be, especially depending on location and particular usage that day. The idea that we cannot have control over the battery given the past issues is worrisome...that's all I'm trying to say.

Honestly though? I hope to heck that you guys are right and I'm wrong, I hope HTC/LTE battery issues are a thing of the past...still, I don't ever think that losing any kind of control over our devices is something we should take lightly. A user replaceable battery, imo, is ALWAYS a better choice than a built in battery. Just as an example: what if the battery is defective down the road and now you must send back the whole device that you have babied and taken care of for a refurb. It would be much preferable to me to simply try a new battery myself and keep my device.

To the MAXX example, I personally would be willing to add some thickness to the device in exchange for say a 2800mah- 3200mah battery.

I can definitely agree with your points. I would prefer it, too, but at the same time it's not a deal breaker for me. I like the style and sleekness of a non-removable battery (of course that style can work with a removable battery if they try hard), and it really lets them do amazing things with the design.

So far it seems that every phone has a compromise of some kind, but this is the closest I've seen so far to the "perfect" phone. Yeah, the definition of perfect is not the same for everyone, but looking at what's been announced so far (still waiting on Samsung's next big thing) this is the closest thing to perfection for me.


We also seem to be to the point where the high-end phones can finally offer a mostly no-compromise experience for the end user. Great cameras, awesome performance, and (hopefully) really good battery life.

 

[digthemlows]

I have many times had to pull the battery because the phone freezes, especially once you start flashing custom roms.............what will you do if you can pull the battery?

 

[Air Force One]

I have many times had to pull the battery because the phone freezes, especially once you start flashing custom roms.............what will you do if you can pull the battery?

It will have some of way of doing a hard reset. Like holding down power for ten seconds or holding power button + volume down, etc..