Google Edition phone; Samsung S4 vs HTC One

limitedaccess said:
The issue is how you define build quality and what factors are important to you.

When people say the HTC One has good quality they are focusing on how it looks and feels more like a premium device externally. If you knew nothing else about the S4 and HTC One other than being able to see and hold them which one would you assume is the more expensive and premium device?

If you value how the internals are organized and/or durability (especially in terms of impact) than what you are looking for in the build of a device would be different.

I think at this point generally build quality is more directed at how premium a device feels externally (oriented to most consumers) and durability especially would be another category.
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Essentially all we are arguing is looks and durability.

I honestly do feel both phones are great, they both come with cool ' gimmicks' but I don't find either gimmicks purchasing points though. I am waiting for the new phablets, particularly htc/samsung, I hope that htc doesn't cut corners on their h6 as I would love to go htc this year.
 
What you guys are forgetting is that majority of the authors of those reviews know all this too. And yet the HTC One won by a landslide while having inferior parts inside. Do you really not believe they know what is "perceive" vs "real" ? They did benchmarks on the S4, did they not? They opened the battery cover, and played with the microSD, didn't they? They've held both in their hands and compared them, I should hope.

If the consensus of the reviews are highly contested, you guys may have more of a point. Need I remind you... LANDSLIDE.

Heck, typically only Apple would get away with something like this. Sell inferior hardware, and yet "be the best" just due to design and build. And HTC is nowhere near Apple, where they could just throw the logo on a pile of manure and people would love its smell.
 
Yes, there are also reviews out there that point out that the S4 is put together better, however with what some consider inferior materials. I am not defending Samsung using plastic, however their actual quality is better. Most of the reviewers did not open the phone up in its entirety, the remarks earlier I believe were aimed at the actual internals, and that the S4 is "cleaner" internally than the One. Just saying ;)
 
Trimlock said:
This is what we are responding to, so again, you are wrong wabbitseason. Thanks for adding nothing.
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Worry about your own contributions. Your snide, factually-incorrect, and totally unsolicited initial comment here, just for reference. /Ignore.
Trimlock said:
Actually, he was stating his opinion before someone told him his opinion was wrong.
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On topic: the One is the better phone in every respect save two: removable battery, and microSD. Kind of big deals, but to scoff at the vast material/build quality differential? Unbelievable.
 
limitedaccess said:
When people say the HTC One has good quality they are focusing on how it looks and feels more like a premium device externally. If you knew nothing else about the S4 and HTC One other than being able to see and hold them which one would you assume is the more expensive and premium device?
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Thank you for confirming this. I didn't expect my argument to go as far as it did involving build quality, but this was exactly my point. When people say "build quality" they mean it feel premium and looks pretty. But really, I would have a more easily fixable and functional device so I can swap out memory cards and replace the battery. And again, once you put the phone in a case... which 95% of the people I see walking around with smartphones has one, then looks go out the window. People want to protect their investment for 2 years... not risk having to buy a phone off contract because they didn't put their 5" screen device in a case and could have avoided the breakage. That's why I hate the iPhones so much. I had a 64GB iPhone 4S for 6 months before I dropped it IN A CASE and the whole fucking thing was completely destroyed. My fiance has a iPhone 4 and her back of the iphone got cracked while inside a Lifeproof case.

Remember "antennagate?" How Apple was giving out free bumpers because of their stupid design? They were giving out cheapo plastic bumpers to a "premium feeling device akin to a old Leica camera." Well there goes the premium look out the window.

I don't care at the end, but it's frustrating when people will accept a "premium" looking device like the HTC One without thinking about how having the device for 2 years+ will be). What if your battery is faulty? You have to send the whole damn phone to HTC, then hopefully you'll have a backup phone.There are significant disadvantages to having this kind of design that the iPhone made popular. As pretty as it is, the disadvantages to me vastly outweigh it's usefulness and longevity.

I'm done.
 
My vote is for HTC One GE. The whole phone is beautiful and i'd love to hear those speakers.. also I'm just tired of Samsung.
 
blinx said:
My vote is for HTC One GE. The whole phone is beautiful and i'd love to hear those speakers.. also I'm just tired of Samsung.
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I think that is good enough reason to go with the one. There is no problem supporting the under dog especially if they have a good product.
 
wabbitseason said:
Worry about your own contributions. Your snide, factually-incorrect, and totally unsolicited initial comment here, just for reference. /Ignore.



On topic: the One is the better phone in every respect save two: removable battery, and microSD. Kind of big deals, but to scoff at the vast material/build quality differential? Unbelievable.
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Now I don't have to worry about you responding to me telling me my opinion is wrong.
 
That's a confirmation?!?

Like I said, if you believe you know more about the phones inside and out than majority of those reviewers, hey, more power to you. Brian Klug must be a total noob compared to you.
 
CHANG3D said:
That's a confirmation?!?

Like I said, if you believe you know more about the phones inside and out than majority of those reviewers, hey, more power to you. Brian Klug must be a total noob compared to you.
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klung doesn't own phones for build quality.

Anyways, to say there is a drastic build quality difference between the two is a bold step. Both get praises for the build quality, samsung gets negatives for their 'feel' and htc gets a plus for their 'feel'. Both are subjective. Plus htc has let some pretty shoddy phones get out the door. ATT for some odd reason loves to display them in their stores over here in phoenix.
 
"Build quality" is subjective and could mean many different things. And my opinion (keyword, opinion) is as follows;

In build materials, the HTC One uses materials that look and feel superior. Polycarbonate doesn't permanently warp as easily as aluminum does in certain conditions, but aluminum won't crack as easily. Overall, I'd take the HTC one in choice of materials.

In build quality, I'm going with the S4. After holding both way too extensively, I've noticed just how well the S4 is assembled. The One has too many gaps and ridges. It feels like they literally just glued a few layers together, whereas more precision was used in aligning the parts on the S4. It may be made of cheaper materials, but it is built better inside and out.

Lastly, there's engineering. Choosing a better material isn't an engineering feat. Getting a 5" display into a device with a similar height/width as a device with a 4.7" display, and still having the room needed for a physical home button flanked by capacitive buttons, now that's an engineering feat. To be fair, most of the One's upper and lower bezel is due to the front-facing speakers. But again, it comes down to how the components were designed to mesh together. I believe that the S4 was a better engineered device.

Again, this is all one nerd's opinion. Ultimately, as has been mentioned before, most of this is moot as we're going to be throwing these phones into our favorite types of cases (TPU for me!). So everything there becomes irrelevant except for your choice of 5" AMOLED display versus 4.7" IPS display with front-facing speakers. It's YOUR call which you prefer between the two. And to be honest, for the Google Editions, these are the biggest user-facing differences. Storage is a push (16GB + MicroSD vs. 32GB internal) depending on need, radios are similar (minus lack of AWS HSPA+ on the One), and cost is close enough. Both cameras are so good that you can easily find a camera shootout where either wins (common theme being that one is better in the day and the other better for low light).

If build material ends up being the primary difference for someone, I can respect that. However, people that forego a case are rare, and the build material is pointless when inside a case. If I see a person put an HTC One inside an Otterbox but then say they bought the One because of better build materials, I'm just going to laugh. If build quality was the primary reason to buy the phone, you an an Xperia Z, not an HTC One.
 
Trimlock said:
I really should get my hands on the xperia, I haven't yet.
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It's a beautiful device. The reasons I avoided it were obscene cost when first announced compared to other flagships, no proper US LTE support (except on the ZL), and Sony's update support. I'm not sure a Google edition in July/August makes sense for this given the relative age and hardware, and that we're expecting their sequel in October/November.
 
Medion said:
It's a beautiful device. The reasons I avoided it were obscene cost when first announced compared to other flagships, no proper US LTE support (except on the ZL), and Sony's update support. I'm not sure a Google edition in July/August makes sense for this given the relative age and hardware, and that we're expecting their sequel in October/November.
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It isn't unheard of to release something only to be replaced a month later. I'm sure if they do release the ge variant it will be to test the waters.
 
To me, the better phone, by a landslide is the GS4...

SD card support (this is major), better camera in most light, removable battery, excellent repairability, and much more durable plastic shell make the GS4 a much better buy for me.

Sure, it isn't as pretty as the One, but the screen dominates 95% of what you see anyway, and the GS4 has a beautiful screen.

Hands down, GS4, worth the $50 premium.
 
I've never had someone compliment my phone until I picked up the One. Friends and strangers alike are coming up to me asking about the phone.

Important if you are into the chic factor and want attention.
;)
 
brucedeluxe169 said:
To me, the better phone, by a landslide is the GS4...

SD card support (this is major), better camera in most light, removable battery, excellent repairability, and much more durable plastic shell make the GS4 a much better buy for me.

Sure, it isn't as pretty as the One, but the screen dominates 95% of what you see anyway, and the GS4 has a beautiful screen.

Hands down, GS4, worth the $50 premium.
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I agree with most it except the screen part, it looks terrible and over saturated for the most part.....

Screen is one of the main thing that push me away from S4...

PS: I wish ASUS have PadFone Infinity for US... That is what I call "BUILD QUALITY".
It's the real landslider out of all phones.....
 
Are people still fucking arguing about specs, build quality, gimmicks and other crap? Go to the phone store and play with both phones, the phone that you like the most IS THE BEST PHONE IN YOUR OPINION. If you are happy with the phone that is all that matters.
 
Regarding the cover/case issue has their ever been a larger study or data set on actual usage of cases? I'm wondering if you guys may be overstating the actual use of cases. Also a lot of people get cases for customization and appearance as well as opposed to protection. I would say aesthetics are still important factor many users and shouldn't be outright dismissed as a generality. I for one rather dislike the black S4 just due to aesthetic reasons but I find the white S4 to actually be fairly good looking by comparison and that just in terms of color change.

In terms of anecdotal experience I do not use a case. The people I know with iphones do not seem to use cases either while those with Samsungs do :p

Verass said:
Are people still fucking arguing about specs, build quality, gimmicks and other crap? Go to the phone store and play with both phones, the phone that you like the most IS THE BEST PHONE IN YOUR OPINION. If you are happy with the phone that is all that matters.
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You are forgetting the psychological issue that people often need validation for their purchases (or decisions) :p

But I agree in the sense that there isn't really a best phone for everyone. Every device has trade offs that each person should weigh for themselves. They should however be aware of and make informed decisions. Don't just get the S4 because other people like the removable battery, don't just get the HTC One just because other people like the build in terms of feel and looks.
 
blinx said:
The whole phone is beautiful and i'd love to hear those speakers.
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If there's one thing the One did right it's those speakers. I'm so glad to finally have a tablet with front facing speakers. I'm shocked everybody isn't doing it on phones now.
 
Padfone is one if the premier phones I've wanted for a while. I have a feeling because of pressure from the us vendors we aren't able to get it.
 
I had intended to sell my HTC One and get the Google version as I love stock Android on my N4 but after using the One for a week as my daily driver I don't see the need. Running stock Sense is great and the phone is every bit as quick as the N4. Tried out the S4 for a week but kept going back to the N4. Sold the S4 and bought the One. Now I don't feel the need to go back to the N4. Plan to keep both the One and N4 to see if my opinion changes when the next Android update pushes through from Google but right now the One is the One. Awesome ask the way around, even running stock.
 
Well this is going to be a toss up for me then because I have a HTC Vivid 4g right now in a ballistic case, drop this sum bitch a few times and NO issues yet. I am torn on this. I dislike the video on thegaurdian I saw about the HTC One's main screen having all that BS about news or what ever. That I do not like, I want a stock screen like I have on my Vivid...Plus the quality to me won't matter much because I will get another ballistic case. I want a phone that will run smooth and do what I want. I guess I need to go in and play with them. Anyone know if you can get rid of that news screen on the ONE? Looking at them on websites I am leaning to the S4. To be honest I hardly use my phone but when I do I play lots of music and use IRC.
 
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bigdaveberg said:
I dislike the video on thegaurdian I saw about the HTC One's main screen having all that BS about news or what ever. That I do not like, I want a stock screen like I have on my Vivid...Plus the quality to me won't matter much because I will get another ballistic case. I want a phone that will run smooth and do what I want. I guess I need to go in and play with them. Anyone know if you can get rid of that news screen on the ONE?
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Took me a second to realize what you're talking about, hah. The "news BS" you're referring to is Blinkfeed, I think. You can remove it by using a different launcher (like Nove, Apex, Go Launcher, etc.). You can't remove it on the stock/Sense launcher though.

If you play lots of music on your phone, esp. without headphones and through the speaker(s), then there is no better phone than the One with its dual front facing speakers. If you use external speakers/headphones though, then it doesn't matter as much.
 
bigdaveberg said:
Well this is going to be a toss up for me then because I have a HTC Vivid 4g right now in a ballistic case, drop this sum bitch a few times and NO issues yet. I am torn on this. I dislike the video on thegaurdian I saw about the HTC One's main screen having all that BS about news or what ever. That I do not like, I want a stock screen like I have on my Vivid...Plus the quality to me won't matter much because I will get another ballistic case. I want a phone that will run smooth and do what I want. I guess I need to go in and play with them. Anyone know if you can get rid of that news screen on the ONE? Looking at them on websites I am leaning to the S4. To be honest I hardly use my phone but when I do I play lots of music and use IRC.
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HTC One Watch Thread

You're thinking of the HTC One. This thread is about Google Edition phones. If you purchase the HTC One variant that is referenced in this thread, you won't have Blinkfeed. It's stock Android. However, if you click the link that I provided above, that will take you to the thread about the HTC One with Sense, which has Blinkfeed.
 
Ah I see. Okay I got them confused then. But as for the music I normally have headphones in or hookied up to the 3.55mm input on my truck head unit. Viewing that link now. Still these phones look nice.
 
bigdaveberg said:
Ah I see. Okay I got them confused then. But as for the music I normally have headphones in or hookied up to the 3.55mm input on my truck head unit. Viewing that link now. Still these phones look nice.
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If you listen out of the speakers (which apparently some do), the HTC One has dual-amps internally, one for each speaker. These speakers will put out significantly better audio than any other smartphone's speakers, better even than ye olde HTC Surround. However, those amps are directly connected to the speakers and supposedly offer nothing for the headphone out. At that point, you're limited to the DAC (same as on any other Snapdragon 600 device, like the S4), and any software audio enhancements (Beats on the HTC One, nada on the Google Edition).
 
bigdaveberg said:
Well this is going to be a toss up for me then because I have a HTC Vivid 4g right now in a ballistic case, drop this sum bitch a few times and NO issues yet. I am torn on this. I dislike the video on thegaurdian I saw about the HTC One's main screen having all that BS about news or what ever. That I do not like, I want a stock screen like I have on my Vivid...Plus the quality to me won't matter much because I will get another ballistic case. I want a phone that will run smooth and do what I want. I guess I need to go in and play with them. Anyone know if you can get rid of that news screen on the ONE? Looking at them on websites I am leaning to the S4. To be honest I hardly use my phone but when I do I play lots of music and use IRC.
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You can't remove the Blinkfeed screen, but you can turn off all of the feeds and assign a different home screen so that you don't have to go to it. I did that and it's just like having a blank screen to the left of your home screen so it does not bother me. There are no feeds so you just have the clock/weather on the top and blue fields below that you could enable if you wanted.
 
I think my carrier uses CDMA. Will either of these phones work on that type of network?
 
Skillz said:
I think my carrier uses CDMA. Will either of these phones work on that type of network?
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None of the Google Edition or Nexus devices on the Play Store will work with any purely CDMA network.
 
Well that's another good reason to leave my current carrier. I hate them so much.
 
My suspicion is that we're not far from an OEM making two variants, one with the radio setup of the S4 GE (all 2G/3G/LTE frequencies of AT&T and T-Mobile), and another one that supports the 700mhz b-block (would then support all T-Mobile frequencies and ONLY Verizon LTE frequencies). With Verizon's LTE buildout and eventual VoLTE, we're a year (tops) away from not needing CDMA for their network. There is a provision that says that Verizon cannot disallow unlocked devices on their 700mhz LTE network.
 
Ordered my HTC One Stock, July 9th ship date is discouraging though :/
 
The Galaxy S4 GE page has/had some typos. Originally, the specs listed (when it went up earlier today) were;

CPU - Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro (since corrected to 600)
Network - no mention of AWS HSPA+ support (hope this is a typo)
Memory - no mention of MicroSD support

They had typos when the Nexus 4 launched as well, which were corrected within the week.

EDIT: Called Google. They acknowledged fixing the CPU error, will update with the proper bands and MicroSD support. Acknowledged that the S4GE supports T-Mobile HSPA+ 42 and refarmed HSPA+21, while the HTC One GE only supports refarmed HSPA+ 21. Going forward, this won't be an issue, as T-Mobile network will be LTE with HSPA+ being the fallback. But for today, the S4 is better equipped for T-Mobile's network than the One.
 
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Welp not sure why I expected these phones to be much different performance wise but I'm a little shocked theres not much more of a difference with all this "bloat" everyone is raving about now gone.

Either way, it just goes to show you these are good developer phones or good for people who want updates directly from Google.
 
Reading up on the news, and it's as I feared. Updates will be pushed as follows;

Sources go from Google to OEM. OEM makes modifications, sends back to Google. Google releases. It is highly unlikely that updates will be as fast as the Nexus devices, and more likely that updates will be around the same time as their skinned variants (IE, Samsung doesn't send their "GE" software to Google for Android 4.3, until they're about ready to roll out 4.3 on their main devices). That is, of course, a worst-case scenario.

Really curious to see how these devices lag with the 4.3 update.
 
Well that is terrible news. GE variants are a cool concept but I don't think this offering will survive.
 
Trimlock said:
Well that is terrible news. GE variants are a cool concept but I don't think this offering will survive.
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Yep, not being updated directly by Google, kills the whole point of these phones in my opinion. May as wlel just get the subsidized cheaper priced carrier versions, root it and install CM10.1

Much better options in just a few short months;

- Nexus-Five with Snapdragon 800, and 3,000mAh battery, running Android 5.0, for like $399
- Galaxy Note 3 with Snapdragon 800, and removable 4,000mAh battery
 
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