My HTC 10, S7 edge, Nexus 6P and iPhone 6s Plus Comparison (yup)

[HighTechToid]

Alright, so it's been a minute since I've done one of these, but people seemed to enjoy some of my other comparisons so I figured I'd do another one.

What's different about this comparison compared to others?
I don't really compare specs, benchmarks, etc. This is really a "real world" comparison in regards to how I use my phones. I'm an incredibly picky customer with specific needs (hardly anything matches my standards/needs perfectly). Because of that, I can change phones/platforms on a whim and I have no problems switching to whatever suits my needs at that time. These are meant to help others who are like me who perhaps have specific needs and testing something out in a store just really doesn't help you decide what works best for you.

This post will be updated regularly as I come across new things in my daily usage with the devices.

What kind of user am I?
For the most part I use my device for reading/studying with a specific set of apps. After that I browse the web utilizing ad-blocker software or a browser that has built in ad-blocking, I play games casually and I text message and use video chat services often. I consider myself to be a medium-to-heavy user depending on the day. To give you an idea of my usage, I can pretty much make it through the day on a single charge on most days using any of the devices in this comparison. One thing that sets me apart in terms of battery life is that I DO NOT use any social networking services (the biggest battery drainers of them all). I believe heavily in convenience, so most services that I need I keep on 24/7, such as Wi-fi, Bluetooth, and auto brightness because I do not want to have to keep remembering to turn these on/off. The way I see it, if you have to turn things off to use your smartphone or make it through the day, then get another smartphone where you don't have to do those things. That's not the point of it.

For the past two years I've been with an iPhone 6 Plus and an iPhone 6s Plus. Prior to that I was Android and Blackberry (when in their prime). I'm doing this comparison now because my main reason for switching to iOS (iBooks) is no longer a big deal, as my main studying app has integrated a great reader app built-in, rendering my need for iBooks null and void.

What's being test and what's the setup on each?

1. iPhone 6S Plus (my current main device)
2. S7 edge
3. Nexus 6P
4. HTC 10 (Unlocked version)

All devices are T-Mobile versions (carrier is also T-Mobile) with the exception of the Nexus 6P and HTC, which is the unlocked version.

All devices have the following always turned on:

1. Wi-fi
2. Bluetooth
3. Auto brightness

All have the same apps with the same configuration (as close to as possible in the case of the iPhone 6s Plus, since it's iOS). Meaning, the same apps that I allow to push notifications are pushing notifications on all other devices and the same apps I denied push or background services are denied on all other devices.

For Android, I'm using the following added software:

• Nova Launcher Prime w/ Elos Icon set
• Textra SMS
• Cloudmagic email instead of Gmail (it's better on battery life)
• Opera browser w/ Data Saver turned on (mostly for Adblock)
• Lux auto brightness for the HTC 10 (because the HTC 10 auto brightness sucks)

1 WEEK WITH S7 edge
So, the first thing I did was take my main sim out of my iPhone 6s Plus and swapped it to the S7 edge. First impressions are:

• The screen is phenomenal (no shocker)
• Apple needs to put the iPhone 6s Plus on a weight and size diet, as the S7 edge with a Speck Candyshell Grip case is quite possibly the most comfortable smartphone I've ever held. Great screen to body ratio and large display size in a compact package.
• The phone is terrible to hold without a case. Your hands accidentally press things on the edges of the screen. The edge software shortcuts are kind of terrible, in that they are slow loading and not really that useful to me.
• The software is leaner than Galaxy's of the past, but it's still Touchwiz.
• It performs better than past Touchwiz versions, but as you start loading up your custom apps and customizations it begins to lag noticeably. It's definitely meant to be used as they designed it and Touchwiz features often interfere or override notifications from other apps
• The Always on Display is more useful than I thought it'd be, especially since I often do not wear a watch.
• Battery life is great, perhaps an hour longer than the iPhone 6s Plus, which was a champ on battery for me.
• Quick Charging is addictive, even though I don't have to use it often. But, when you do use it, it's awesome.
• The phone started to lag as I put more apps on it and I found myself enabling developer settings, reducing animations down to 0.5x and turning on gpu hardware acceleration. It's sad that I had to do this on a device in 2016, but it's necessary unless you use it pretty much as is. If you start replacing apps, such as text messages, dialers, launchers, etc. the S7 begins to bog down.
• It kills apps in the background quicker than it should. Uses a lot of ram when seemingly there isn't much running.

1 WEEK WITH NEXUS 6P

• Device size is questionable. The ergonomics are just wrong. It's too square'ish. Could be a little narrower
• Great build quality for a Nexus, but even though it's metal, not quite up to par with other metal devices, such as HTC 10
• Screen is good, but noticeably more muted than say the S7 edge. It's not a bad screen, though. It just lacks the "pop" the S7 has. Could perhaps be tuned to deliver that.
• Performance is smooth and it runs great when adding more apps and customizing it.
• Battery life seems to be weaker than the iPhone 6s Plus, S7 edge and possibly even the HTC 10. Seems to drain faster than I'd like. But, it still lasts me mostly through the day.
• Camera is just OK. Not up to par for a device at this price. This would have sufficed maybe 2 years ago when Nexus' were less expensive.
• Fingerprint scanner is reliable. Placement is a "your mileage may vary" type of affair.
• Auto brightness is aweful, as has always been the case with Nexus smartphones it seems.
• Stock android really feels very "beta" still. So many basic things that it's lacking. Volume controls are horrible, auto brightness horrible, lots of missing shortcuts that are standard on OEM android smartphones, camera controls are basic. I'm not a huge fan of the stock android color tones. It's not user friendly. It's developer colors. It's not horrible and you easily forget about it, but you can't help but see that Google is a company full of tech nerds and not average users, because it shows in their UI desgin and color choices.
• I found myself adding so many extra customizations and apps to the Nexus that it affected the battery life in a negative way, which is just logical (more apps running = less battery life). Because of that, it really just made me wonder why I shouldn't buy a good OEM Android smartphone in the first place.
• Looking forward to Android N, as they addressed many of my "beta feeling" issues. This year's Nexus might be the best one to get, as it'll finally be more consumer friendly and may need less things running to make it "whole"

2 DAYS WITH THE HTC 10

• Smooth, premium build (I have the Alumunium silver color)
• Screen to body should be better. It's almost the same physical size as the S7 edge, which has a 5.5" display compared to the 5.2" display on the HTC. That 0.3" is pretty noticeable too.
• Sharp, probably more "accurate" display
• PERFORMANCE IS BASICALLY NEXUS. In fact, this outperformed the 6P in many apps.
• Absolutely no reason to enable developer settings to speed it up. It runs smooth. HTC has always been the best in the Android camp in terms of smoothness and the HTC 10 even gives the 6P a run for its money. Great job HTC.
• The off centered home button (it's lower than it looks like it should be) and the nav buttons are annoying. I had to enable the backlight for the buttons to be on when the screen is on because I found myself pressing in the center (where it should be) to press anything and realizing I was missing the button). Why HTC did this, who knows.
• When you take a close look at the design of the HTC 10 you can see that they wer every inspired by that one leak that came out for the M9. The front is virtually the same.
• The camera is... hmm... questionable. It's hit and miss. Couple times I got "laser auto focus is blocked" errors for no reason and sometimes pictures will just look grainy despite excellent lighting conditions. Haven't figured out why. Overall, when it does take a great shot, it's better than the iPhone 6s Plus and 6P, but not as good as the S7 edge.
• Battery life is surprisingly good for how I use it. It matches my iPhone 6s Plus and perhaps just falls slightly short of the S7 edge. Outpaces the Nexus 6P easily.
• Fingerprint scanner is fast. I like that it activates the screen and works more closely to how the iPhone Touch ID works. Samsung's implementation is fast, but not always accurate at reading and it doesn't activate the screen on touch.
• Auto brightness...is...horrible. Basically, it doesn't work. My assumption is that it's using Google's software for this, as it works just as terribly as the 6P. Downloaded Lux and that fixed it perfectly.
• HTC's dialer is still the best in the business. Cleaner design, better performance and features that matter. Everyone else, pay attention. HTC has been doing this since the M7.
• The only thing I had to disable on the HTC 10 was Facebook and Instagram. Not bad. Most people won't disable those. I just don't use. In other words, there's no bloat here.
• Seriously, the speed of this thing is amazing. It's in a league of its own on performance.

IMPRESSIONS SO FAR
If I were to drop my iPhone 6s Plus right now, I'd go to the HTC 10. While it did not have the camera of the S7 edge, it's still quite good and it's better than the iPhone 6s Plus, which I already thought had a great camera. I would like the screen to be a little bigger, but it's comforting having a phone that you can one-hand. What I still like about the iPhone 6s Plus is that apps are just of higher quality. Android gives more features and for the most part all of the apps I use on iPhone are available on Android, but the iOS versions tend to perform better and often have new features first. With that said, though, the Android versions aren't behind enough to be a deterrent.

HTC 10 feels the most polished of all devices. I found myself disabling more and more things on the S7 edge because of Touchwiz and having to tinker with Developer settings to improve performance the more I downloaded to it. The Nexus 6P had the opposite affect and I had to download a ton of things just to make it match functionality of the OEM vendors. With the iPhone 6s Plus I'm mostly a little annoyed by its closed system and the fact that it still needs a Macbook or laptop to connect to iTunes to do basic things. I don't jailbreak or root my devices (don't think you should have to in order to use a product properly) and with Apple I'm finding myself needing to use too many apps and added workarounds to get what I need done. That, or I just have to give in to Apple and use iTunes. Their platform is still the most user friendly and fluid in performance.

Looking towards the near future...
iOS 10 is 'meh' in that it didn't really add anything I care about other than the "widgets" on 3D Touch home screen. I feel they took a few steps back, though, by removing the lock screen widgets, as I felt that was the smartest of all platforms in terms of implementation without being overbearing. Their Palm OS style widgets is also a questionable decision in terms of design. I feel it looks better now, but I'm sure it would grow on me.

Android N basically is finally making Android more pretty, as it should. I love the animations Google implemented and they finally added more standard features that OEM's have had for years. This will mean less things needing to be downloaded to add those functions, which in turns means better performance. I'm looking more forward to Android N than I am to iOS 10. It's enough to make me hope than either HTC updates the HTC 10 really quickly (if I decide to keep it) or that the next Nexus checks all the right boxes.

I'll continue to update this...

 

[B. Diddy]

Wow, fantastic writeup!

 

[grover5]

Wow, fantastic writeup!

It's long. I don't think I'd call it fantastic though.

 

[leops1984]

TIL about Lux.

 

[isdaako]

@HighTechToid. How did you obtain the phones for your review?

 

[VagrantSaint]

Yeah I'm not reading that

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[NEXUS_HTC_PS]

It's long. I don't think I'd call it fantastic though.

I mean, anytime anyone takes the time to write something this long it is beneficial to prospective consumers. The mere fact that he took the time to do an in depth comparison/review is, in itself, fantastic. I applaud his effort for doing so.

From me to you by the Power Cosmic

 

[HighTechToid]

@HighTechToid. How did you obtain the phones for your review?

Purchased directly from the OEM. The S7 edge I got for free via T-Mobile bogo deal. So, the S7 edge I own and will likely keep as a secondary device regardless since it's free and the others may get returned through Buyers Remorse.

 

[neo905]

Alright, so it's been a minute since I've done one of these, but people seemed to enjoy some of my other comparisons so I figured I'd do another one.

What's different about this comparison compared to others?
I don't really compare specs, benchmarks, etc. This is really a "real world" comparison in regards to how I use my phones. I'm an incredibly picky customer with specific needs (hardly anything matches my standards/needs perfectly). Because of that, I can change phones/platforms on a whim and I have no problems switching to whatever suits my needs at that time. These are meant to help others who are like me who perhaps have specific needs and testing something out in a store just really doesn't help you decide what works best for you.

This post will be updated regularly as I come across new things in my daily usage with the devices.

What kind of user am I?
For the most part I use my device for reading/studying with a specific set of apps. After that I browse the web utilizing ad-blocker software or a browser that has built in ad-blocking, I play games casually and I text message and use video chat services often. I consider myself to be a medium-to-heavy user depending on the day. To give you an idea of my usage, I can pretty much make it through the day on a single charge on most days using any of the devices in this comparison. One thing that sets me apart in terms of battery life is that I DO NOT use any social networking services (the biggest battery drainers of them all). I believe heavily in convenience, so most services that I need I keep on 24/7, such as Wi-fi, Bluetooth, and auto brightness because I do not want to have to keep remembering to turn these on/off. The way I see it, if you have to turn things off to use your smartphone or make it through the day, then get another smartphone where you don't have to do those things. That's not the point of it.

For the past two years I've been with an iPhone 6 Plus and an iPhone 6s Plus. Prior to that I was Android and Blackberry (when in their prime). I'm doing this comparison now because my main reason for switching to iOS (iBooks) is no longer a big deal, as my main studying app has integrated a great reader app built-in, rendering my need for iBooks null and void.

What's being test and what's the setup on each?

1. iPhone 6S Plus (my current main device)
2. S7 edge
3. Nexus 6P
4. HTC 10 (Unlocked version)

All devices are T-Mobile versions (carrier is also T-Mobile) with the exception of the Nexus 6P and HTC, which is the unlocked version.

All devices have the following always turned on:

1. Wi-fi
2. Bluetooth
3. Auto brightness

All have the same apps with the same configuration (as close to as possible in the case of the iPhone 6s Plus, since it's iOS). Meaning, the same apps that I allow to push notifications are pushing notifications on all other devices and the same apps I denied push or background services are denied on all other devices.

For Android, I'm using the following added software:

• Nova Launcher Prime w/ Elos Icon set
• Textra SMS
• Cloudmagic email instead of Gmail (it's better on battery life)
• Opera browser w/ Data Saver turned on (mostly for Adblock)
• Lux auto brightness for the HTC 10 (because the HTC 10 auto brightness sucks)

1 WEEK WITH S7 edge
So, the first thing I did was take my main sim out of my iPhone 6s Plus and swapped it to the S7 edge. First impressions are:

• The screen is phenomenal (no shocker)
• Apple needs to put the iPhone 6s Plus on a weight and size diet, as the S7 edge with a Speck Candyshell Grip case is quite possibly the most comfortable smartphone I've ever held. Great screen to body ratio and large display size in a compact package.
• The phone is terrible to hold without a case. Your hands accidentally press things on the edges of the screen. The edge software shortcuts are kind of terrible, in that they are slow loading and not really that useful to me.
• The software is leaner than Galaxy's of the past, but it's still Touchwiz.
• It performs better than past Touchwiz versions, but as you start loading up your custom apps and customizations it begins to lag noticeably. It's definitely meant to be used as they designed it and Touchwiz features often interfere or override notifications from other apps
• The Always on Display is more useful than I thought it'd be, especially since I often do not wear a watch.
• Battery life is great, perhaps an hour longer than the iPhone 6s Plus, which was a champ on battery for me.
• Quick Charging is addictive, even though I don't have to use it often. But, when you do use it, it's awesome.
• The phone started to lag as I put more apps on it and I found myself enabling developer settings, reducing animations down to 0.5x and turning on gpu hardware acceleration. It's sad that I had to do this on a device in 2016, but it's necessary unless you use it pretty much as is. If you start replacing apps, such as text messages, dialers, launchers, etc. the S7 begins to bog down.
• It kills apps in the background quicker than it should. Uses a lot of ram when seemingly there isn't much running.

1 WEEK WITH NEXUS 6P

• Device size is questionable. The ergonomics are just wrong. It's too square'ish. Could be a little narrower
• Great build quality for a Nexus, but even though it's metal, not quite up to par with other metal devices, such as HTC 10
• Screen is good, but noticeably more muted than say the S7 edge. It's not a bad screen, though. It just lacks the "pop" the S7 has. Could perhaps be tuned to deliver that.
• Performance is smooth and it runs great when adding more apps and customizing it.
• Battery life seems to be weaker than the iPhone 6s Plus, S7 edge and possibly even the HTC 10. Seems to drain faster than I'd like. But, it still lasts me mostly through the day.
• Camera is just OK. Not up to par for a device at this price. This would have sufficed maybe 2 years ago when Nexus' were less expensive.
• Fingerprint scanner is reliable. Placement is a "your mileage may vary" type of affair.
• Auto brightness is aweful, as has always been the case with Nexus smartphones it seems.
• Stock android really feels very "beta" still. So many basic things that it's lacking. Volume controls are horrible, auto brightness horrible, lots of missing shortcuts that are standard on OEM android smartphones, camera controls are basic. I'm not a huge fan of the stock android color tones. It's not user friendly. It's developer colors. It's not horrible and you easily forget about it, but you can't help but see that Google is a company full of tech nerds and not average users, because it shows in their UI desgin and color choices.
• I found myself adding so many extra customizations and apps to the Nexus that it affected the battery life in a negative way, which is just logical (more apps running = less battery life). Because of that, it really just made me wonder why I shouldn't buy a good OEM Android smartphone in the first place.
• Looking forward to Android N, as they addressed many of my "beta feeling" issues. This year's Nexus might be the best one to get, as it'll finally be more consumer friendly and may need less things running to make it "whole"

2 DAYS WITH THE HTC 10

• Smooth, premium build (I have the Alumunium silver color)
• Screen to body should be better. It's almost the same physical size as the S7 edge, which has a 5.5" display compared to the 5.2" display on the HTC. That 0.3" is pretty noticeable too.
• Sharp, probably more "accurate" display
• PERFORMANCE IS BASICALLY NEXUS. In fact, this outperformed the 6P in many apps.
• Absolutely no reason to enable developer settings to speed it up. It runs smooth. HTC has always been the best in the Android camp in terms of smoothness and the HTC 10 even gives the 6P a run for its money. Great job HTC.
• The off centered home button (it's lower than it looks like it should be) and the nav buttons are annoying. I had to enable the backlight for the buttons to be on when the screen is on because I found myself pressing in the center (where it should be) to press anything and realizing I was missing the button). Why HTC did this, who knows.
• When you take a close look at the design of the HTC 10 you can see that they wer every inspired by that one leak that came out for the M9. The front is virtually the same.
• The camera is... hmm... questionable. It's hit and miss. Couple times I got "laser auto focus is blocked" errors for no reason and sometimes pictures will just look grainy despite excellent lighting conditions. Haven't figured out why. Overall, when it does take a great shot, it's better than the iPhone 6s Plus and 6P, but not as good as the S7 edge.
• Battery life is surprisingly good for how I use it. It matches my iPhone 6s Plus and perhaps just falls slightly short of the S7 edge. Outpaces the Nexus 6P easily.
• Fingerprint scanner is fast. I like that it activates the screen and works more closely to how the iPhone Touch ID works. Samsung's implementation is fast, but not always accurate at reading and it doesn't activate the screen on touch.
• Auto brightness...is...horrible. Basically, it doesn't work. My assumption is that it's using Google's software for this, as it works just as terribly as the 6P. Downloaded Lux and that fixed it perfectly.
• HTC's dialer is still the best in the business. Cleaner design, better performance and features that matter. Everyone else, pay attention. HTC has been doing this since the M7.
• The only thing I had to disable on the HTC 10 was Facebook and Instagram. Not bad. Most people won't disable those. I just don't use. In other words, there's no bloat here.
• Seriously, the speed of this thing is amazing. It's in a league of its own on performance.

IMPRESSIONS SO FAR
If I were to drop my iPhone 6s Plus right now, I'd go to the HTC 10. While it did not have the camera of the S7 edge, it's still quite good and it's better than the iPhone 6s Plus, which I already thought had a great camera. I would like the screen to be a little bigger, but it's comforting having a phone that you can one-hand. What I still like about the iPhone 6s Plus is that apps are just of higher quality. Android gives more features and for the most part all of the apps I use on iPhone are available on Android, but the iOS versions tend to perform better and often have new features first. With that said, though, the Android versions aren't behind enough to be a deterrent.

HTC 10 feels the most polished of all devices. I found myself disabling more and more things on the S7 edge because of Touchwiz and having to tinker with Developer settings to improve performance the more I downloaded to it. The Nexus 6P had the opposite affect and I had to download a ton of things just to make it match functionality of the OEM vendors. With the iPhone 6s Plus I'm mostly a little annoyed by its closed system and the fact that it still needs a Macbook or laptop to connect to iTunes to do basic things. I don't jailbreak or root my devices (don't think you should have to in order to use a product properly) and with Apple I'm finding myself needing to use too many apps and added workarounds to get what I need done. That, or I just have to give in to Apple and use iTunes. Their platform is still the most user friendly and fluid in performance.

Looking towards the near future...
iOS 10 is 'meh' in that it didn't really add anything I care about other than the "widgets" on 3D Touch home screen. I feel they took a few steps back, though, by removing the lock screen widgets, as I felt that was the smartest of all platforms in terms of implementation without being overbearing. Their Palm OS style widgets is also a questionable decision in terms of design. I feel it looks better now, but I'm sure it would grow on me.

Android N basically is finally making Android more pretty, as it should. I love the animations Google implemented and they finally added more standard features that OEM's have had for years. This will mean less things needing to be downloaded to add those functions, which in turns means better performance. I'm looking more forward to Android N than I am to iOS 10. It's enough to make me hope than either HTC updates the HTC 10 really quickly (if I decide to keep it) or that the next Nexus checks all the right boxes.

I'll continue to update this...

The fact that you dropped this in the HTC 10 forum demonstrates some bias here. You said;

"Camera is just OK. Not up to par for a device at this price. This would have sufficed maybe 2 years ago when Nexus' were less expensive."

Dude, I have had the 6P for 2 months now. The images themselves have been outstanding. The speed that the app opens is an issue at times and the lack of manual controls are limited. But all I want to do is point and click and get a great picture and it does this the majority of the time. Also, price is relative. The HTC 10 is $300 more than the 6P for me so not up to par to what exactly. Even in the US there is at least a $200 difference. The Nexus even at the original price is significantly less than the HTC 10, S7 Edge and iPhone 6+.

 

[B. Diddy]

It's long. I don't think I'd call it fantastic though.

The reason I think it's good is that there are quite a few useful real-world details, in a readable format.

Sure it's long. But would a short review be helpful, if you want details?

 

[B. Diddy]

Yeah I'm not reading that

Posted via the Android Central App

Why post, then?

 

[libra89]

This was great, thank you! Appreciate this. Who cares if it's long? It's very helpful to see comparisons against all of these devices at once.

 

[D13H4RD2L1V3]

Always interested to see how different users experience a particular device. OP, I salute you for writing up a long but well-laid out article detailing your personal experiences.

One question. Since you mentioned that you got the S7e from T-Mo's BOGO deal, I'd assume it's running on a Snapdragon 820, right?

I've used the Exynos version for a bit and it seems to perform better than the 820 variant when I use it regularly, potentially due to better optimization. Seems like Samsung hasn't fully optimized their stuff for the 820 yet, as other phones with the same chipset perform brilliantly.

 

[HighTechToid]

Always interested to see how different users experience a particular device. OP, I salute you for writing up a long but well-laid out article detailing your personal experiences.

One question. Since you mentioned that you got the S7e from T-Mo's BOGO deal, I'd assume it's running on a Snapdragon 820, right?

I've used the Exynos version for a bit and it seems to perform better than the 820 variant when I use it regularly, potentially due to better optimization. Seems like Samsung hasn't fully optimized their stuff for the 820 yet, as other phones with the same chipset perform brilliantly.

Yup, it's the SD 820. I've heard that myself in regards to performance between the two. Samsung should have sold the S7 as an unlocked, carrier-bloatware-free option with the Exnyos chip. Would be hot.

 

[HighTechToid]

Couple More Days, Couple More Updates

So, the Nexus 6P has been taken off the table as an option for me. While I appreciate the no-nonsense, pure Android experience, it also has a lot of drawbacks for me. Too many standard software features missing that are on every other android smartphone that simply just kill the experience. Having to add extra apps to do/show basic things just bogs down the experience. It's nice to be able to do so much to a device, but it also becomes annoying when you have to do "too much" to a device just to make it functional/convenient. I will say, though, that after looking at Android N many of my gripes are being addressed directly by Google. As such, I'll likely be testing out the next Nexus with Android N when it's released.

I might have found the culprit that was slowing down performance on the S7 edge. Interestingly, it seems to be my favorite keyboard, Fleksy. Sigh. I removed it after I saw some stories about the developers of Fleksy being snapped up by Pinterest and that the app is now officially in limbo with no real plan to update it going forward. While I love the keyboard, I see no point in continuing to use it when it's not likely to be supported going forward. After removing the keyboard, I noticed a nice speed boost from the S7 edge. Perhaps Touchwiz and Fleksy didn't play nice togeher /shrug. Didn't have any issues with Fleksy on iOS or on the HTC 10 or Nexus, but I definitely got a noticeable performance boost when removing it from the S7 edge. Now, things are flying pretty smoothly overall, as I expect a high-end device in 2016 to perform. Once again, I cannot express how "perfect feeling" the S7 edge is to hold (** WITH A CASE ON IT **). Without a case it's pretty terrible; super slippery, palms will accidentally touch the edges and interfere with onscreen commands, etc. But, with the right case, it's pretty flawless. Again, I'm using a Speck Candyshell Grip and I honestly feel this is the nicest phone to hold with that case. I'm a short guy at 5'4" with small'ish hands and this is simply perfect to hold. It's addicting (ha?) to hold and just makes everything else feel awkward in comparison. Loaded up more apps and turned on more push notifications from more apps to test out the battery. So far, so good. Very negligible impact to battery. Samsung has a champ on their hands. As a reminder, I leave wi-fi and bluetooth turned on all the time, even if not connected and screen brightness on auto (I like to go against the grain of how many people say you're "supposed to save battery"). I've been a pretty avid Samsung hater for quite some time due to the craptacularness that has been Touchwiz, but the more and more I mess around with the S7 edge, it's hard to deny this is a solid built phone by Samsung. Perfect? No. Arguably one of the best smartphones out right now? Definitely.

Oh HTC 10...where do I continue with you? Your performance is still stellar. Nearly flawless even. In fact, you outperformed Android at being Android in some ways, beating even the Nexus 6p running stock software in many performance areas. Yet, I'm feeling more and more lost with you as I continue to use you. I got a camera update through Google Play, which doesn't seem to have fixed the hit or miss camera. Seriously, this camera is moody when it comes to taking pictures. Sometimes it's great and sometimes it's not and often times when I rotate you between portrait and landscape I get "laser auto focus error". The audio is good, but HTC was crazy for removing the two front-facing speakers. As a person who owned several HTC smartphones, including the M7, M8 and M9, removing those speakers was the most questionable decision HTC made. And, no...the new speaker setup is not even close to the old ones. I haven't tried headphones yet, but speaker quality took a hit. It has decent volume, but it's no front-facing stereo speakers. Even funnier of a decision for them to remove it while many of their competitors are adding it. What I'm beginning to notice about HTC is that while it's a great iteration of their product line, it's somewhat lacking in comparison to other devices in the same price range and THAT is where it loses some of its appeal. If you never look at the S7 edge or anything else like that, the HTC 10 is rock solid. But, if you do compare, then you start to feel like you're missing some things. For starters, at nearly the same physical size of the S7 edge, you're getting a lot smaller screen. From there, the LCD display just doesn't compete against the Amoled from the S7 edge, especially when outdoors. Battery life is solid, but I feel like I'm getting just a smidge more on the S7 edge. Camera is solid (when it wants to be), but not as solid as the S7. What the HTC 10 does have going for are things like the USB-C, which is just simpler to use, theme customization (it's pretty intense), adoptable storage, pretty solid front facing camera if you're a selfie lover (I'm not), and HTC Uh Oh Protection. All of which are strengths in their own right. But, most of those are also very niche aspects of a smartphone. Not everyone will care about USB-C, especially when you might only have 1 cable (the one it comes with) for it. Not everyone will tinker will HTC's theme tools and might instead opt for something like a replacement launcher/theme. Adoptable storage is great IF you have a super fast card for it and if you don't upgrade often enough to make not being able to swap memory cards an issue. The front-facing camera is only important if you take tons of selfies and lastly HTC Uh Oh Protection is something that everyone can benefit from IF you damage your device (I think I've cracked one screen in my life). Really, what HTC is lacking are features that a wider audience would use. I still think this is a great device, but as I switch back and forth between it and the S7 edge I'm finding myself leaning more towards the S7 edge.... interesting....let's see where a few more days takes me!

 

[sydneycooper1979]

Thanks for the update! I have enjoyed reading your views!

 

[BigDinCA]

I got a camera update through Google Play, which doesn't seem to have fixed the hit or miss camera. Seriously, this camera is moody when it comes to taking pictures. Sometimes it's great and sometimes it's not and often times when I rotate you between portrait and landscape I get "laser auto focus error".

Just an FYI, the PlayStore updates to the HTC camera app are just that: updates to the app. They aren't updates to the camera firmware itself. You won't see the improvements people are talking about until you get the OTA from TMo.

 

[HighTechToid]

launcher or No Launcher
So for no reason other than experimentation I removed Nova Launcher to see how the S7 edge would perform since I literally installed it right out of the box (as I always do).

While I didn't get any speed enhancements I definitely noticed that fewer apps are being taken out of memory. Before my apps would reload relatively quickly as a result of Samsung's aggressive memory management. Now, it only happens every now and then. I never viewed Nova Launcher as being memory intensive and I didn't even activate the aggressive desktop/memory mode. But it seems it takes enough memory from the edge to force other apps to close more often. I suppose the s7 is at least prioritizing the launcher over other apps (good) because I never had issues with launcher performance or reloads.

On another note, the S7 now stops disabling my MSAA 4X mode that I enabled in developer settings. When Nova was installed it constantly turned it off for some reason.

HTC is definitely faster
I have used the HTC 10 long enough to definitely confirm that it is significantly faster than the S7 edge in every day performance. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind. The S7 edge just simply takes a little longer to load apps until it begins to settle in and even then it does not launch things as quickly as HTC does and it often kills the apps a lot quicker before HTC does as well. That's not to say that the edge isn't quick - it definitely is. HTC is just faster (at least with the snapdragon version of the edge). HTC definitely tweaked their software better with the snapdragon. But, that speed difference isn't necessarily enough to overcome some of rhe other shortcomings of the device I mentioned in earlier posts, especially because it's not as if the S7 edge is slow. It's like comparing a Ferrari to a McLaren. One is definitely faster, but would you complain about having either? Nope.

 

[murphcid]

Thank you.

 

[jlczl]

Love this thread. I have an almost identical situation with my smartphone needs. I even had an S7 Edge and an HTC 10 to compare at the same time. I also had the 6s and 6s+ as I am not a fanboy of anything other than a good smartphone experience.

I saw and agree with many or maybe even all of your conclusions. I could not decide if the HTC or the S7Edge was a better fit for me so I actually ended up with a different device that I feel brings to the table the best of both worlds............an S7 Active. I bought it at AT&T and unlocked it to work on T-Mobile.