I'm posting this in the HTC One forum, the Galaxy S4 forum, and the S3 forum.
My son just upgraded his HTC Evo 4G. Since I'm the phone geek (and he's on my business account), he asked me to go with him. We both took a close look at the One, the S4, and the S3. I made a point of comparing the "feel" of each of them. My take:
The htc is much lighter than I expected. The S4 packs an amazing amount of screen in a package the same size as the S3. But I think it looks funny with the various sensors above the screen squeezed so close to the top of the phone. Whatever, I don't really buy my phone for looks.
What about that "feel," you ask? Well, I was a bit surprised. To be perfectly honest, they all three feel......... like phones. The htc doesn't feel like a bank vault, the S3 doesn't feel like it's going to fall to pieces the first time I drop it on the floor. I have fairly small hands, but I could easily hold all of them. The button layout on the htc is a bit awkward, but nothing I wouldn't get used to. The biggest difference is that the S3 is too slippery, the S4 not quite as much. This is the one area I felt the htc superior, but not by a huge amount. Put a case on them, and the differences go away.
Indoors, all three screens are fine. All three of them are fast and smooth. I noticed no real lag on any of them, and since I'd likely put Nova launcher on the S4, (and probably the htc), any lag caused by Touchwiz would be a non-issue. I do think htc's changes to vanilla Android are a bit strange and counter-intuitive, while Samsung's tweaks are less strange but more complex. Most of the new features of the S4 I probably wouldn't use much, and I can't say there's any single feature of the One that floors me, either.
My son's decision? For his needs, neither of the new phones is worth the price premium over the S3. Especially not the S4, at $250 vs. $200 for the One and $99 for the S3. I think I'd reach the same conclusion if I were upgrading today. Until Google introduces a new version of Android with some truly significant new features, today's phones are more similar than they are different. The current generation of Android phones are a pretty mature product, and efforts to differentiate them amount to details around the edges, not fundamental distinctions.
My 2 cents worth.....
My son just upgraded his HTC Evo 4G. Since I'm the phone geek (and he's on my business account), he asked me to go with him. We both took a close look at the One, the S4, and the S3. I made a point of comparing the "feel" of each of them. My take:
The htc is much lighter than I expected. The S4 packs an amazing amount of screen in a package the same size as the S3. But I think it looks funny with the various sensors above the screen squeezed so close to the top of the phone. Whatever, I don't really buy my phone for looks.
What about that "feel," you ask? Well, I was a bit surprised. To be perfectly honest, they all three feel......... like phones. The htc doesn't feel like a bank vault, the S3 doesn't feel like it's going to fall to pieces the first time I drop it on the floor. I have fairly small hands, but I could easily hold all of them. The button layout on the htc is a bit awkward, but nothing I wouldn't get used to. The biggest difference is that the S3 is too slippery, the S4 not quite as much. This is the one area I felt the htc superior, but not by a huge amount. Put a case on them, and the differences go away.
Indoors, all three screens are fine. All three of them are fast and smooth. I noticed no real lag on any of them, and since I'd likely put Nova launcher on the S4, (and probably the htc), any lag caused by Touchwiz would be a non-issue. I do think htc's changes to vanilla Android are a bit strange and counter-intuitive, while Samsung's tweaks are less strange but more complex. Most of the new features of the S4 I probably wouldn't use much, and I can't say there's any single feature of the One that floors me, either.
My son's decision? For his needs, neither of the new phones is worth the price premium over the S3. Especially not the S4, at $250 vs. $200 for the One and $99 for the S3. I think I'd reach the same conclusion if I were upgrading today. Until Google introduces a new version of Android with some truly significant new features, today's phones are more similar than they are different. The current generation of Android phones are a pretty mature product, and efforts to differentiate them amount to details around the edges, not fundamental distinctions.
My 2 cents worth.....
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