compare Which do you prefer - Galaxy S4 or HTC One?

[Ambroos]

You were always a fan of anything with SONY written on it. :rofl:

Maybe :p But it's not blind love, I really like what they're doing with pretty much all of their products.

[sanctified Veteran]

If design is more important than functionality, then this is making the HTC One looks like pure junk: http://www.vertu.com...s/vertu-ti.aspx

Ever heard the expression 'over designed'? If you think design is about adding more then I have nothing more to say.

P.S. in case you dont get it, the Vrtu phone is horrible.

Yeah, there are many reasons for it, like i have pointed out already :)

The problem with people like you: You think your reasons for liking your phone (great for you) must be taken as reasons to dislike other phones. It's a frigging tool, not a moral choice.

[The Norwegian Drone Pilot]

Ever heard the expression 'over designed'? If you think design is about adding more then I have nothing more to say.

P.S. in case you dont get it, the Vrtu phone is horrible.

Earlier you said this.......

I dont care about extra features. I want a phone that is smooth, good looking and fast in it's core functions like quick browsing for references, email and phone capabilities.

The Vertu phone does all of that very well while looking very nice.

The problem with people like you: You think your reasons for liking your phone (great for you) must be taken as reasons to dislike other phones. It's a frigging tool, not a moral choice.

Bingo, you nailed it. A smartphone is a tool and not a sexy fashion jewelry.

[Open Minded]

Personally I prefer the HTC One, just feel like a better phone. I don't like the plastic of the Galaxy series

I don't mind plastic at all. I've got the Captivate and it's still going. However, I don't think this phone feels cheap, it feels fragile. If that makes sense.

(GS 4 owner)

[sanctified Veteran]

Bingo, you nailed it. A smartphone is a tool and not a sexy fashion jewelry.

Bad analogy, industrial design exists to make tools and everyday objects look good and rational.

However I know get you now.

That's all for me in here, have fun.

[The Norwegian Drone Pilot]

Bad analogy, industrial design exists to make tools and everyday objects look good and rational.

However I know get you now.

That's all for me in here, have fun.

Ofc things have to look good. But when the looks gets to much and in the way of other good functionalities, then i rather have a tool that works really good with an alright design / look.

[AJerman]

HTC One, without question. As said before, the only real "advantages" the GS4 has is a removable battery (that I don't want), and a microSD card slot (that I don't need, but wouldn't mind of course). The One has a better build (aluminum unibody vs multi-piece plastic), better screen (higher pixel density, non-pentile), better speakers (really stunningly good). Plus you don't have to deal with Samsung's bloated gimmick filled software (I mean, I'm gonna wipe and put CM on it anyway though). The HDR mic's are also incredible while you can get them (thanks Nokia!).

As some of you may know, I'm a bit of a phone nerd, but I'm typically pretty fair and unbiased. I had the Captivate (GS1), the Infuse, then the One X and now the One. Just like the last round, I feel that both phones, the One X and GS3 then and the One and GS4 now, are fantastic top of the line devices, but I feel that HTC has taken the edge on both. Samsung just has the money for the marketing to push the Galaxys harder.

I see it a little like this. I don't know how many of you were around Android in the beginning, but when Sense first came out, you wanted Sense. You didn't want the stock Android experience which was ugly and desolate compared to Sense's added looks and extra features. This lead to HTC becoming big in the Android market, and because of that they just kept adding more and more and more junk until Sense was so bloated it made phones unusable (around the Inspire and Thunderbolt timeframe). Meanwhile Samsung was offering Touchwiz as a light skin on top of Android and a good alternative to the bloat plaguing Sense. Fast forward two years and now Touchwiz is following the same path Sense did. Everyone keeps saying "What's wrong with extra features, just don't use them", but all of that adds up and you end up with issues like they have now where the OS needs massive amounts of space on the phone. Only difference is now phones are far more powerful and can handle more bloat without slowing to a crawl, but even then it was noticible for a little while there before Samsung pushed a quick OTA to smooth the GS4 UI. Regardless, the GS4 may have more "features" than the One, but most of those features I'd only use to show off to other people. The One offers refinement instead and a much better overall package, in my opinion.

Also, though I'm not a 3d gamer or anything on my phone, my One rarely gets very hot. I've done things like heavy benchmarking before and warmed it up though and it does heat up a bit, but I fail to see much issue there. It's no where near uncomfortably hot, and if anything, the aluminum casing helps transfer heat far better and is beneficial to cooling of the device. All phones warm up a bit when you push them. That's just kind of silly to make an issue out of unless it's burning your hand or actually overheating or something.

Oh, and you may notice I don't ever mention the camera. I don't really see the big deal either way. They all still look like camera phone pics. Both the One and the S4 take perfectly acceptible pictures for a phone. If you want to nitpick the cameras enough to see major differences between the two, then you should probably get a real camera.

[Raa]

I have a HTC One, and I really enjoy it.

Was very torn between the S4 or this, and I feel I've made the right call. No pun intended!!

For those interested : http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/andyfei/mini-microsd-reader-for-android-smartphones-and-ta

(This made my decision easier)

[AJerman]

I have a HTC One, and I really enjoy it.

Was very torn between the S4 or this, and I feel I've made the right call. No pun intended!!

For those interested : http://www.kickstart...rtphones-and-ta

(This made my decision easier)

Just grab a USB OTG cable from Monoprice for a few bucks and you can plug any USB drive you want into your One.

[astropheed Veteran]

I've been keeping tabs on both phones as I'm due for an upgrade any day now and this is my completely unbiased analysis:

Design: One Wins I'm not a fan of the aluminum but it's one sexified phone.

Screen: One Wins Higher DPI, easier to view outside, important in australia

Speed: One Wins it's slightly faster and speed is important to me.

Audio: N/A I haven't heard either in person, I've heard HTC One is better but I'm holding reservation on this.

Storage: S4 Wins expandable memory, if this is of no interest to you, that's fine, but to me it's a massive deal.

Battery: S4 Wins removable battery means I can carry several around with me, no worries on long trips with no power.

Camera: S4 Wins it's absolutely amazing, the One is alright but I notice the difference.

UI: Neither they are both running their special little UI and Nexus 4 or Xperia Z are much better alts

Conclusion for me: S4 Wins I'm slightly shifted towards the expand-ability of the S4, although design is very important when showing off a phone and One also has a better screen. If I were asked right now to definitely pick one or the other I'd likely go with the S4. Although the One is faster, and has a better display in the end the capacity and battery capabilities of the S4 win.

Keep in mind I am currently a S2 owner, I love it. Best phone I've ever had, so I do leave room for plausible bias, but I truly do want to approach this with objective analysis. I just wish the One has at least either SD storage or removable battery.. if it just had one of those two, it'd win hands down.

Edit: On audio: I'm not going to lie, I don't care about Speaker quality. I only ever use headphones on it.

[AbandonedTrolley]

I've gone from an Xperia S to the HTC One, I had a choice between the Xperia Z, HTC One and the Galaxy S4. I ordered both the Z and the One after knowing that given the awful overlay that is Touchwiz I wouldn't be wanting that. I had felt the S3 and it just felt light and cheap and reading the reviews not much changed in the S4.

After holding them and using them I decided against the Z as it felt too sharp for my likings, I simple love the design of the One and everything just flies on it. It does get rather hot after extended use but I put that down to the casing. I gave the Z to the gf and within 2 days she had dropped it in the bath fully testing it's claims of water proofing.

[Bryan Riztama]

So design is more important than features?

If ihad to choose between the Galaxy S4 and the HTC One, it would be the Galaxy S4 by a long mile. Or not really since i already have the Samsung Galaxy S4 :D

There are many reasons why i did choose a Galaxy S4 over a HTC One. And i'm gonna write them down, so this post might get pretty long.

1. Polycarbonate body. Since this Polycarbonate body is made out of some kind of plastic, it doesn't spread the heat around your whole hand when the phone gets hot. Yes, alumininum looks great, but it have a negative side because aluminum spreads the heat way more then plastic does. Therefor, the HTC One will spread the heat to your whole hand instead of having the heat on one place only when it gets hot, like it is on the Galaxy S4.

2. HTC One gets hotter than the Galaxy S4 according to NordicHardware's test of the Galaxy S4. And therefor my reason number 1 is pretty valid.

3. It have a microSD card slot. So yeah, i'm currently using a Samsung MicroSDXC Pro UHS-1 64 GB Class 10 card in my Galaxy S4 witch is great. Taking tons if pictures and recoring alot of videos when you are on a vacation is going to take a HUUUUUGE amount of space. And not to mention that 1080p movies are needed when you have a 1080p screen. And those 1080p movies can take huge amount of space to. Same with alot of mp3 files / musics.

4. It have a removable battery witch means you can change out to a fully charged battery when you are out of battery on your main battery in 10 seconds. This allows you to keep doing what you are doing without having a big massive brick of a battery pack with you witch will be in your way.

5. It have a cleaner and better design than the HTC One. This is my opinion.

6. 5 inch screen is better than 4.7 inch screen. Specially when the Galaxy S4 are smaller in size than the HTC One.

7. The Super AMOLED screen on the Galaxy S4 is way better than the IPS LCD screen on the HTC One, because you can choose if you want the colors to really pop or if you just want to have perfect color accuracy (thanks to the Adobe RGB mode) on the phone.

8. It have Android 4.2.2 witch is better than Android 4.1.2 that the HTC One have.

9. It have alot of sensors witch i find great. No other smartphones have this many sensor inside a phone.

10. It have tons of cool and handy features witch i mean is there to bring the development of the current smartphones forward rather than just updating something you already have or just stand still like the iOS have done since 2009. Some of the features the Galaxy S4 have doesn't really works optimal yet, but i still think it's pretty nice to have those features. It's always handy to have WHEN you need itand when you want to use them.

11. It's lighter and thinner witch makes it more pocket friendly. Not only that, but the backside of the phone is more flatter witch makes it better to use on a flat surface.

12. The camera on the Galaxy S4 are WAY WAY better than the HTC One in light situations. The sound quality when you are recording videos are also better than the HTC One's sound quality. The proof is here:

Here are some pictures i have been taking with my Samsung Galaxy S4. Remember that those pictures under are BIG, also in full 13 Mpix resolution.

[MANY PICTURES]

So, as you can see, those pictures are incredible. HTC One have nothing to show off to the Galaxy S4 in light situations.

What do you think of my reasons for buying the Galaxy S4?

Ok, your post is too long i have to remove some images

1st, you post the exact same post on XDA, and i surprised to find it here.

2nd, i have Galaxy S4 with a bundling package from my Country's carrier, so i know what i'm talking.

3rd, let me state that some of your statements are wrong and biased.

-point 1) and 2) no, big no, Aluminium dispatches heat better than plastic, and so the heat DOESN'T accumulate on the metal body, thus, it is cooler than S4

-point 3) well maybe right SD card is indeed, useful, BUT, can you load apps on your SD? no.

-point 4) no. removable battery is always and always will be the worse option than power banks. go read this: http://android-revolution-hd.blogspot.com/2013/03/removable-battery-do-we-really-need-it.html

-point 5) is purely your opinion, HTC One design got more class and not like a cheap toy, this is also my opinion. so ignore it.

-point 6) S4 screen is too big to be comfortable, if you want a big screen, go buy Note series. But still it feels light in hand, but slippery.

-point 7) not all. It was measured that overall, HTC One has the most accurate screen. The whites is inferior to S4, but everything else (greyscales, primary, secondary, and the rest) are more accurate (go see AnandTech test). S4 also 30-40% dimmer when browsing and can go crush blacks on some occasions. go see this XDA thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=2268937

-point 8) it was pointed out by many devs that 4.2.2 has more features, AND also bugs, than 4.1.2.

-point 9) air sensors? it can't detect some faces correctly, it works on my friends and my dad, but not on me and my little brother. So i ended up not using it, and it becomes a gimmick that drains battery.

-point 10) One also have alot of features, both software AND hardware, blinkFeed, HTC BoomSound, HTC Zoe, Sense 5, it's all better than TouchWiz. I'm being objective. I don't see rapid changes from S3 to S4 in terms of software. Kudos to the hardware.

-point 11) i have to agree on this. S4 is slippier it's easy to drop it from your hand if it's moist.

-point 12) i also have to agree on this as well. But it comes to you, do you hangout often, or do you outdoor often?

So yeah S4 is over hyped, i should've waited for the One instead..

[The Norwegian Drone Pilot]

As said before, the only real "advantages" the GS4 has is a removable battery (that I don't want), and a microSD card slot (that I don't need, but wouldn't mind of course).

The Galaxy S4 have way more advantages than that :)

The One has a better build (aluminum unibody vs multi-piece plastic)

Yeah, until you miss it down on the asphalt or the ground, then it's not that good anylonger in looks and build quality.

better screen (higher pixel density, non-pentile)

Let me say this cleary to you. You can't see the differences between 441 and 468 PPI with the naked eye. It's impossible. You have to take both of the screens under a microscope to see the differences.

And when it's about the Pentile technology on the Galaxy S4's screen, then it's a totally new Pentile technology in the Galaxy S4 screen compared to the Pentile technology in the Galaxy S3 screen. The new Pentile technologyin the Galaxy S4 are as good as the RGB stripes screens (IPS LCD) on the HTC One and iPhone 5.

If you don't believe me, then just read this to see that i'm actually telling the truth: http://www.displaymate.com/Galaxy_S4_ShootOut_1.htm

better speakers (really stunningly good).

I can agree to that.

Plus you don't have to deal with Samsung's bloated gimmick filled software (I mean, I'm gonna wipe and put CM on it anyway though).

The thing here that most of you don't seems to get is that if you don't like the extra Samsung stuffs that are on the Galaxy S4, then turn those features off for christ sake. It's not that hard to do. No one is forcing you to have those features on.

If the Galaxy S4 have gimmicky and bloated stuffs, then HTC One also have that to.

The HDR mic's are also incredible while you can get them (thanks Nokia!).

Yeah the microphone on the HTC One are great, but i'm afraid the microphone on the Galaxy S4 are a little better. Just watch this and decide for your self.

Oh, and you may notice I don't ever mention the camera. I don't really see the big deal either way. They all still look like camera phone pics. Both the One and the S4 take perfectly acceptible pictures for a phone. If you want to nitpick the cameras enough to see major differences between the two, then you should probably get a real camera.

For those who cares about really good quality, or for those who are more professional photographers will most likely use a DSLR camera. But for the normal peoples that want a camera on their phone and on top of that want to have a pretty alright quality, will choose the Galaxy S4 anydays over the HTC One.

When it's about camera quality in light environments the differences from the Galaxy S4 to the HTC One are like day and nights.

[AJerman]

Yeah, until you miss it down on the asphalt or the ground, then it's not that good anylonger in looks and build quality.

Uhh.... yeah. I suppose if you break it then the S4 is nicer, yes.

Let me say this cleary to you. You can't see the differences between 441 and 468 PPI with the naked eye. It's impossible. You have to take both of the screens under a microscope to see the differences.

And when it's about the Pentile technology on the Galaxy S4's screen, then it's a totally new Pentile technology in the Galaxy S4 screen compared to the Pentile technology in the Galaxy S3 screen. The new Pentile technologyin the Galaxy S4 are as good as the RGB stripes screens (IPS LCD) on the HTC One and iPhone 5.

If you don't believe me, then just read this to see that i'm actually telling the truth: http://www.displayma..._ShootOut_1.htm

I hear you clearly. You said the One screen was better. I didn't say the S4 screen was terrible, I said the One screen was better. And it is.

The thing here that most of you don't seems to get is that if you don't like the extra Samsung stuffs that are on the Galaxy S4, then turn those features off for christ sake. It's not that hard to do. No one is forcing you to have those features on.

I'm proud of myself for having already written a reply to your reply in my original post. How's that for covering my bases? :laugh:

Yeah the microphone on the HTC One are great, but i'm afraid the microphone on the Galaxy S4 are a little better. Just watch this and decide for your self.

I haven listened to that. Listen to these parts and compare: 9:10 vs 15:50. Make your opinion as you will, but the One to me sounds better. Not as loud, but better. The S4, at many times, gets close to the level of distortion in it's video recording.

I've looked for, but have yet to find a video recording from a GS4 in a loud environment where I can guarantee the One absolutely obliterates the GS4 in audio recording. Here's an example from the Rush concert a few weeks ago:

This was a "quickdraw" recording meaning the fireworks started and I grabbed it out of my pocket, unlocked it with the camera icon, and hit record immediately, that's why the focus is way off at the beginning then it refocuses, and it's about worst possible lighting conditions as well, so it's not an example of picture quality, but I was in row A for that show, about 30 feet from some speakers, and that explosion at the end of the video was loud enough to leave my ears ringing for a few seconds. I've had a lot of phones and not one could even begin to compare to the audio recording on the One in loud environments. Quite curious to see how the GS4 performs though.

For those who cares about really good quality, or for those who are more professional photographers will most likely use a DSLR camera. But for the normal peoples that want a camera on their phone and on top of that want to have a pretty alright quality, will choose the Galaxy S4 anydays over the HTC One.

When it's about camera quality in light environments the differences from the Galaxy S4 to the HTC One are like day and nights.

I think most normal people are clueless about photography unless the pictures are absolutely awful. The camera was one of the biggest disappointments when hearing the announcement of this phone. I like the thought of , but 4 MP is just too low, and the improvement is questionable being that it's still a pinhole sized camera and still will look like a camera phone pic regardless. I'll give the camera to the S4, I just don't see it as that important on a phone. Both are plenty good enough for Facebook photos which is about all I'd ever use my phone for (same as most of the normal people you mention I'd expect).

Despite all of that, aside from obvious gains with higher resolution, the One still beats the GS4's camera in a lot of ways. Faster response, faster shutter, optical image stabilization, and Zoe is a surprisingly good add-on.

Like I said, they are both fantastic phones, and which one you prefer is largely up to opinion. My opinion is that the HTC One is a far more solid phone and the S4 is more like a toy with bells and whistles to make people go "ohh and ahhh".

[alucke]

i prefer the HTC One. I had several Samsung phones, and they were POS's.