HTC One or Galaxy S4

[omniusovermind]

The vitriol being spewed over the Galaxy S4 is extremely amusing. Yes, the HTC One is more than likely going to feel better in the hand. While that plays a big part, I'm inclined to think that what my phone can actually -do- means a tad bit more. It seems to me that the improvements made to the S4 from a hardware standpoint are being grossly overlooked. The battery of the HTC One has been reported to be on par with the Droid DNA. I've used the DNA and while it wasn't god awful, it wasn't that great, either. The S4 has made a pretty large jump in the battery department, one in which, coupled with the Octa Core Exynos, could be a big difference maker. That is a huge, huge part of how we judge a phone and I've rarely seen anyone even mention this advantage for the S4. The Octa Core Exynos on it's own is an exciting prospect, especially since the benchmarks looked extremely impressive at 1.8ghz. I would imagine underclocking it is only going to aid the battery and still provide world-beating performance. While it hasn't been tested yet to see the quality, the camera has the potential to be extremely good given the software accompanying it. Storage is still a massive advantage given the microSD support. Global LTE support, if it means I can grab an international version with the Octa Core Exynos and use it with AT&T LTE, is going to be a really huge deal for a lot of people.

So then it really boils down to screen (pentile) and the plastic build. Half the people that complain about pentile complain because they hear other people complain. "It'll be grainy" is so damn hilarious. This wasn't much of an issue at 720p; unless you've got a microscope you use to look at your screen all the time, you're not going to notice it on this 1080p display. If you don't like AMOLED (I actually prefer SLCD3), then that's cool, but don't throw the pentle thing in there. It's ridiculous. When it comes to build quality, there is no question that the HTC One feels more premium. Part of that is the unibody design that doesn't allow for a removable battery. Not a big deal to some; point of contention for me. I don't care how good my phone looks if I can't use it all day.

There's nothing wrong with preferring the HTC One, but the fact that the S4 has garnered all this hate is astounding. It's literally people who choose to forget the huge improvements in both hardware and software and think because it's plastic that it sucks. I've chosen my horse in this race because Samsung caters to what I need; easy rooting, the world's largest dev support for Android, battery life, and functionality all while keeping pace/surpassing in other key areas. The Galaxy is definitely in iPhone territory now; hated for the sake of hating.

IIRC root and bootloader unlock have already been attained on the HTC One

 

[Eric Kane]

Until they update, in which they'll need to do it again. Much easier to do these things on a Samsung phone.

 

[ljbad4life]

Now after seeing and comparing the HTC One and the Samsung Galaxy S4 I've come to these conclusions:

Design is more than just materials. Design is function too. I will say for right now I will say they both are tied in this department in both ways. HTC uses metal which is great, but design choices after that aren't as nice as they are being portrayed. The front speakers are nice, provide great sound BUT add a enormous Bezel to the front of the device. Just eyeballing it, the bezel on the one takes up a little bit less than a 1/4 of front space of the device. HTC choice of going with 2 buttons instead of 3 or on screen buttons, makes the One harder to use and is not standard to how Jellybean functions and what users are accustomed to. The HTC One is also thick, and heavy. Some users do appreciate the heft. I don't

Samsung is plastic, cheap but the trade off is it's incredibly thin and light. Having the speaker on the back allowed for Samsung to jam a 5 inch screen in a device the same size as its predecessor. Great design choice for me. The the physical home button I could take it or leave it, but it's a sure fire way for me to light up the screen and navigate through 100% of the time. I find that capacitive buttons aren't 100% all the time.

People are calling the S4 gimmicky, the One is just as gimmicky. Honestly how many times a day does a person listen to music through the phones speakers? compare that to how many times a day does someone use their screens? So the screen size is a boon for me, maybe different for other people.

I will definitely buy a S4 when my contract is up. The One is my second choice, but a close second.

 

[omniusovermind]

Until they update, in which they'll need to do it again. Much easier to do these things on a Samsung phone.

Not according to what I hear the S3 guys saying over at XDA. There's just as much grumbling from them over how long it takes to unlock it as I've seen anywhere else. Sony are the only OEM the devs at XDA always have a sweet spot for because they're the only OEM that officially supports bootloader unlock. They even publish the method on their support website and even link to XDA.

The only area your argument holds is the total number of ROMs being created for the S3 compared to the rest. But as far as real life function goes, Sammy hasn't made it any easier than anyone else, and while there may not be as many custom ROMs for the others, there are still more than enough AOSP ROMs for all intents and purposes.

 

[omniusovermind]

Now after seeing and comparing the HTC One and the Samsung Galaxy S4 I've come to these conclusions:

Design is more than just materials. Design is function too. I will say for right now I will say they both are tied in this department in both ways. HTC uses metal which is great, but design choices after that aren't as nice as they are being portrayed. The front speakers are nice, provide great sound BUT add a enormous Bezel to the front of the device. Just eyeballing it, the bezel on the one takes up a little bit less than a 1/4 of front space of the device. HTC choice of going with 2 buttons instead of 3 or on screen buttons, makes the One harder to use and is not standard to how Jellybean functions and what users are accustomed to. The HTC One is also thick, and heavy. Some users do appreciate the heft. I don't

Samsung is plastic, cheap but the trade off is it's incredibly thin and light. Having the speaker on the back allowed for Samsung to jam a 5 inch screen in a device the same size as its predecessor. Great design choice for me. The the physical home button I could take it or leave it, but it's a sure fire way for me to light up the screen and navigate through 100% of the time. I find that capacitive buttons aren't 100% all the time.

People are calling the S4 gimmicky, the One is just as gimmicky. Honestly how many times a day does a person listen to music through the phones speakers? compare that to how many times a day does someone use their screens? So the screen size is a boon for me, maybe different for other people.

I will definitely buy a S4 when my contract is up. The One is my second choice, but a close second.

Which basically sums up my stance that neither phone is "better", which is what some people in either camp are trying to claim.

 

[Eric Kane]

Not saying you can't root/unlock the HTC One; just always found it easier to root any Galaxy phone I've had as opposed to the Rezound/One X/One X+ that I've owned. I wouldn't be in tears if all I had was an HTC One, but I prefer the Galaxy S4.

 

[Jaimeg123prmt]

for me what it ultimately comes down to is screen size. If the HTC One would have had a bigger screen,I might have gone with that phone. I have the s3 and I am debating whether I should wait another year for the note 3 or go with the s4.

 

[ljbad4life]

Which basically sums up my stance that neither phone is "better", which is what some people in either camp are trying to claim.

I 100% agree. They are both great phones. It comes down to personal preference. A single phone can't have it all, something is sacrificed for something else (screen size for speakers, metal for plastic, etc)

 

[thelaststraw05]

Which company (HTC or Samsung) has been better about updating the software on their phones?

I'm going to be updating from a 16 month old Motorola where I'm still stuck on Gingerbread.

 

[omniusovermind]

Which company (HTC or Samsung) has been better about updating the software on their phones?

I'm going to be updating from a 16 month old Motorola where I'm still stuck on Gingerbread.

That's not easily answered. Go to older HTC forums and they'll complain that HTC are the slowest. Go to Samsung forums and they'll complain the exact same thing. Same for Motorola, Sony, LG etc.

I haven't even mentioned carriers yet...

Want a good rule of thumb for any android phone besides a Nexus? Expect to get OS updates for about 1 year. After that they will ALL want you to buy their newest phone and will let your 1 year old phone go pretty much forgotten.

 

[thelaststraw05]

Expect to get OS updates for about 1 year. After that they will ALL want you to buy their newest phone and will let your 1 year old phone go pretty much forgotten.

I get the business side of it, I guess my question really focuses on how HTC has been doing recently with upgrades. Obviously Samsung is going to want to update the GS4 to Key Lime Pie as quickly as possible and they did that this past year with ICS.

 

[TabGuy]

Here are my desires for a phone(I'm coming from a Galaxy Nexus, rooted and ROMed) and how it plays in the S4 vs ONE.

I like having no physical buttons on the front of the phone. +1 for the ONE
I like listening to music in stereo. Front facing speakers is a big plus. +1 for the ONE
Pretty is nice, but not a decision point for me.
If I have a phone with 32 gig of memory I'm fine. But a phone with 16 gig MUST have an SD card. That's a toss up.

Alas, a removable battery is a big deal to me. I do a lot of wifi tethering to my Galaxy Tab 10.1 and I can run a battery down on my phone in a couple of hours. That pretty much leaves me with Samsung, I'm afraid.

 

[fantom305]

so i have an upgrade im looking towards using, the HTC one is a beautiful phone thats really growing on me, but I would love to get a GS4 at the same time, so what do you guys think? hold out till possibly may to get the Galaxy S4 or wait another 2 weeks and get the HTC One? decisions decisions

It's depends on what is your preference about removable battery and SD card.

 

[AndroidS3]

Galaxy s4!

1.Faster Snapdragon 600 (200mhz quicker) And Exynos Octa
2.bigger battery
3. I love AMOLED displays
4. Faster gpu (in the octa)
5. More features
6. Looks better


Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

 

[croppz]

OP, I am using sense 5 right now. It is a great skin, much better than 4+ imo.

Sent from my HTC6435LVW using Android Central Forums

 

[smooth4lyfe]

Here is a pretty fair comparison between the two

Samsung Galaxy S4 vs. HTC One

 

[xlDeMoNiClx]

Galaxy s4!

1.Faster Snapdragon 600 (200mhz quicker) And Exynos Octa
2.bigger battery
3. I love AMOLED displays
4. Faster gpu (in the octa)
5. More features
6. Looks better


Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

1) You probably won't notice unless you put them side by side and honestly the difference will probably be negligible if there even is any and even if there is who cares? Both will be super fast.
2) Doesn't always mean better battery life.
6) That's subjective. But I like how it looks too.

 

[beef5stew]

As I recall, and my memory isn't what it used to be, HTC One isn't coming to Verizon. If that's true, it's a deal-breaker for me. I get Verizon service discounts through work that are significant enough to keep me on Verizon.

 

[BoomBoomPAP]

Just inserting my 2 cents, and I do understand I saw things through a very narrow scope...

I worked for a national cell carrier for years, and there were so many issues with the HTC One that it was just embarrassing to say the least. Constant WiFi disconnections, battery completely draining and needing to be "jumped" essentially, terrible multi-tasking (you couldn't even keep 3 apps open without one of them having to completely close), all kinds of glitches.

I wish I still worked there so I could show you guys a screenshot of the known issues in the technical support section of our internal network's site, but there were PAGES. The Galaxy S3 had about 10 trouble items which were usually just software related anyways. I'll never buy HTC again, and it's no coincidence that they're hurting. It's not because Samsung is that much better, it's just the HTC are just terrible. Sure they look good, but that novelty wears off when your phone doesn't even work like it's supposed to.

We can talk about specs all day, but there's no spec for likelihood of phone not working like it should.

Again, this is just a limited scope, but it was enough for me.

edit: Oh, and lack of Menu button is inexcusable. Hunting down the menu button in each app because all the developers put them in different spots is for the birds. I know the menu button is not part of the Android 4.0+ spec, but from a usability standpoint it's still superior IMO

 

[Chris8414]

everyone keeps talking about better battery life for the s4? I don't really see much of a difference its going to make considering all of the new features and with the new 1080p screen.... You will be lucky to get 10-15 percent more battery. so what is that? 1-2 hours more? I want an s4 but i'm not ready for an upgrade until December 2014 because i Just got the s3 LOL. But im happy with my s3!!!