Seriously torn between HTC One and Galaxy S4

[MrCGym]

I'm eligible to switch today. I'm going from iPhone 4S. I want either HTC One or Galaxy S4.

WHICH one do I go with?

Considering S4 for removable battery and SD card. Like HTC One for speakers though.

Thoughts??

 

[madlaw1071]

I'm eligible to switch today. I'm going from iPhone 4S. I want either HTC One or Galaxy S4.

WHICH one do I go with?

Considering S4 for removable battery and SD card. Like HTC One for speakers though.

Thoughts??

Try them both for a week, see which one fits your needs and uses the best.

 

[MrCGym]

Great idea but AT&T bangs you $35 to "restock" the phone. So it could potentially cost me $70 to do that.

 

[pjniez]

For me, being able to see the screen outdoors in direct sunlight made it an easy decision.

I've read that the S4 is tough (impossible even?) to read in direct sunlight. I can see the screen on my One in bright sunlight even with my sunglasses on!

Oh... And I absolutely love the stereo front facing speakers too!

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 2

 

[TheyStoleMyName]

I like the one over the s4. I dont need all the no touch and air view features. The one is a lot faster with its ui. Camera is great. The battery is not a big deal since its a lithium ion polymer a good recharger capacity and good life out of it. Sd card slot is not a big deal fr me because 32 is a lot. But its what you like the best. The screen brightness is a lot a big plus.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Android Central Forums

 

[colonel]

I have been looking for a phone to upgrade from my iPhone 5 for sometime.

On paper the S4 has a slight advantage in some areas but this is mostly illusory as the differences are so slight there is no real world impact.
I applaud HTC for trying to end the pointless pixel war. As a amateur photographer I can say that all mobile phone cameras are cr@p so why have bigger files which just waste space ?

However once the phones are in your hand it's another story. The One is just beautiful. It it a phone you really want to just pickup.

I went to buy a S4 and came out with a One, for pretty much the same price.
The S4 is not only plastic fantastic but the design is still stuck in the iPhone 3 groove which Samsung originally copied.
The S4 is a great phone, but for me the One is almost perfect. The screen size and weight, the design, the georgeous screen, the software, the speed.

Sure, nothing is perfect, the One get a bit warm in use, it would be nice to have a SD card slot, a polishing cloth would be nice in the box etc. but this really feels like sniping.

 

[TimmyB]

CGym, I agree with the others. It boils down to your gut feelings.

If it helps, I was in the same place a week ago. Holding the two phones side-by-side at the ATT store left NO doubt in my mind. The One feels and looks fabulous; the S4 (opinion, only) felt very plastic and cheap. That saddened me, because I was hoping the S4 would impress me a little more than the S2 did 18 months earlier. It just didn't feel like something I wanted to hold, day in, day out.

Either way, good luck with your decision. They are BOTH great phones; you just have to flip the coin!

 

[MrCGym]

ALL great information and opinions....thanks.

The problem I also have is Samsung seems to be coming out with slight variants of their Galaxy series. This mini, mega, zoom, and active. I like the sound of the Active version in metallic orange and dust/water resistant. But the device is likely the same as all the S4s.

I fear that there isn't yet a sturdy enough case for the One though. I wish that Otterbox had an Armor Series case available for the One.

 

[sel1965]

I'm one who now has tried both phones, I had the one for about a week and now have the S4. I agree both phones are fantastic, i do like the one's design but the S4 does have more features and I find myself using most of them on a daily basis. The one is a great phone and HTC did it right but it appears my preference will be the S4, I have had zero trouble seeing the phone in sunlight so that isn't an issue. I have a 64 gig sd card so room for pics is not an issue. The One does do low light pics better but not much to sway me in that direction. The S4 normal light pics are out of this world and the ability to zoom makes a big difference as well. So like I said I have used both and it appears I have chosen the S4 for my daily use. My wife now has the one so it's still in the family.

 

[MrCGym]

I also just found a comparison chart. The S4 has 8 Cores while the One has 4 Cores. I'm guessing that this doesn't necessarily make a difference?

And I'm not fully understanding the idea of the 4 megapixel camera of the One over the 13 megapixel camera of the S4.

Any thoughts on those 2 things?

 

[slab0meat]

There's a lot of threads covering that stuff... just look in forums.

 

[karmamule]

The point I've made before when people are having trouble deciding is to come up with a series of real-world tasks you'll be doing every day, and then try doing each of those tasks on the 2 phones, and see which one has the better workflow for you.

 

[ecb1171]

The AT&T S4 variant is a quad core processor. The international version has the 8 core processor

 

[scorpiodsu]

Just picked up an S4 yesterday to run a long with the One. As most as stated, both are very good devices. Both are fast. Both have some great features as well as some head scratchers. I like HTC's keyboard, messaging, music and contacts app better but I like Samsung's gallery, calendar and camera app better. Of course this can be remedied by using 3rd party solutions but I prefer to use to stock apps for these things. HTC Sense is too obtrusive at times and so is touchwiz. Touchwiz is crazy bloated and it's because of all the "features". I have really had the chance to use any yet but I'll see over the next week or so. S voice is useful (when it works) I didn't like on the One how your options to share in certain apps were limited. For instance, on a webpage, if I wanted to share facebook or messages were not available. I don't like the duplication of apps that comes on the S4 with samsung trying to offer their stuff as well as google and some other 3rd parties. More to come as I have more time with it......

 

[SeanBlader]

You can't go wrong with either, but here's a pretty fair video that compares them if you have a half hour to spare:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYkORsXuC40

If you really want to get to some very nitty gritty specifics read both Anandtech.com articles, that's a few hours of time invested and some very technical specifics that were over my head. The articles here on Android Central are a little more layman for us normals.

Overall, it seems like a lot of reviewers are going with the HTC One, I believe Phil and Jerry are using it as their daily's, and that usually comes down to build and sound quality. If you absolutely must do a daily battery swap you'll need the Galaxy. If you have more than 64 gig of data you want to carry around, then the external SD card feature of the Galaxy is for you. Really those are the major differences that seem to drive people one way or the other.

 

[Topgonzo]

When you ask opinions on what phone to get in a forum be prepared to hear most people recommend the phone whose forum you are in. In the end our reasons for choosing the one could be different for your needs. Once you yourself play with the phone and read about features then you have the tools to make a educated purchase. Maybe the one is the phone for you..I love it. Maybe the s4 is better for you and its a great device. Having choices is great when both are a win, win.

Sent from my HTCONE using Xparent BlueTapatalk 2

 

[ectoren]

Maybe the s4 is better for you and its a great device. Having choices is great when both are a win, win.

Agreed.

This is the cool thing so far this year. There are more options that have parity of quality. You can't go wrong with either phone. Also, why make it a binary choice. You may also want to consider the Oppo Find 5. /www.oppousa.com/

Make a mental list of your must-have's. See which phone meets most of them. Choose. And you will be fine. Both phones are win-win for
Android users.

 

[madlaw1071]

Agreed.

This is the cool thing so far this year. There are more options that have parity of quality. You can't go wrong with either phone. Also, why make it a binary choice. You may also want to consider the Oppo Find 5. /www.oppousa.com/

Make a mental list of your must-have's. See which phone meets most of them. Choose. And you will be fine. Both phones are win-win for
Android users.

Oppo has no LTE, runs 4.1.1 with support and updates totally unknown.

 

[colonel]

I also just found a comparison chart. The S4 has 8 Cores while the One has 4 Cores. I'm guessing that this doesn't necessarily make a difference?

And I'm not fully understanding the idea of the 4 megapixel camera of the One over the 13 megapixel camera of the S4.

Any thoughts on those 2 things?

there are two versions of the S4
one has 4cpus at 1.9ghz (9505) with 4G.
the other has two sets of four at 1.6 and 1.2 (9500) and no 4G. The second set is switched in when lower power consumption is required. so its not an 8 core cpu

Seems like over-engineering to me, whats wrong with just stepping down your cpus ???

 

[MrCGym]

I was unable to see the video you posted. I'd love to though