ZCLUTCH
Member
I had the ONE for 13 days and liked it but traded it for the S4 (coming from the S3) as I thought I would love it. BUT, there were just too many things that got on my nerves. The hiccups here and there, jitteriness at times, the gimmicks only work half the time, the "colorful" icons make it look cartoonish, and battery life that sucked but I could go on. So I gave the S4 to my daughter and I went and got the stealth black "one" and I couldn't be happier. The One looks more professional, more fluid, battery lasts all day with moderate use and a few other things that turned me to it. As far as charging times, it trickle charges so the battery will last for years. Rapid charging (like on the S4) diminishes battery life over time (just google li-ion, li-poly best way to charge).
As far as updates, HTC doesn't need updates as often cause it works like it should. Samsung seems to have to update software to get it to work right....but to Sammy's defense, their updates usually add new features. The One is getting 4.2.2 soon as it is already leaked so that is a plus. Most of what I said are soley my opinion to my personal preference but to be honest, you can't go wrong with either phone.
Having come from the Galaxy S 2 to the HTC One X, and now to the S4- I can tell you first hand that you will eventually regret your decision. Here's why:
HTC's lack of support is a huge issue. Currently there is a black bar at the bottom of every HTC One- an issue I dealt with on the One X. This robs you of a good amount of screen space which is highly annoying, but more importantly it shows you how out of touch they are with their customers. Why on earth would you release a phone without addressing this? And it doesn't end there. The Sense UI does well with smoothing transitions- but good luck keeping that way. With minimal apps installed and one click optimized app used daily, the One X struggled to keep its fluidity and began having several apps hang up. I was force closing waaaaay too much for a 3 month old phone.
Problem is, their lack of Android support is such a joke that when HTC finally decided to update Jellybean most phones couldn't update over the air... you had to download the update via PC if you weren't one of the lucky ones. Way too much of a hassle.
Everyone talks about build quality with HTC now, and that was one of the perks of the One X- initially. Boy did it feel great to hold that heft with its pretty screen. But after a month or so I noticed a flex with the One X, and hear the phone creak. I returned the phone to Costco (great return policies) and got another- only to have the same issue. Then a few month later, the bottom portion of the touch screen stopped registering- to the point I could barely type or even unlock the phone. After much research I found I was not alone- that several HTC users experienced the same touch screen issue and had to put in warranty. I had to go back to my S2 just to get work done again...
Point being that HTC's build quality is all about show, not longevity. Their build process is inferior to that of Samsung, and while the Galaxy's arent built with premium aluminum shells they are built to last.
Your point about trickle charging is invalid when you can simply charge via usb on pc, laptops or any device with usb access to achieve this. With battery tech where it is today, this is only needed a few times during the duration of a battery's life anyway and doesn't increase a battery's capacity. Its pretty simple here- Galaxy S4 has the larger battery, so there is no contesting that.
Every point you made against the S4 otherwise can be taken care of in a software update, which happens to be Samsung's strong suits. Don't like th3 icons? Get Nova Launcher.
Bottom line people- do real research before purchasing. What may feel like a premium device is only as good as the software that supports it- and when that software and UI begin to fall behind, you'll eventually just be holding and expensive paper weight.
Posted via Android Central App