Need help choosing between Galaxy S4 and HTC One

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guitarguy6

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Oct 29, 2007
Messages
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I'm looking to pick up a new phone today and am trying to decide between the S4 and HTC One. To be honest I use my phone more as a mini tablet than a phone. Both are on promo for $0 on a 2 year contract. Main use is e-reader, internet browsing and youtube. Both phones have great reviews and I have to decide to day which is why I made this post.

Is the speaker system on the HTC One really as good as reviewers claim? I will often load up a youtube song and play it through the phone so I can learn it on my guitar when I'm not at home so having a decent speaker system is a plus. Is the screen on the One much better than the S4 when viewing outside in sunlight? Most reviewers claim the One has a better build quality than the S4, is that the case? The cameras look good enough on both so that's not a concern. Does one or the other have a better GPS? I have a few friends with the S4 who are happy with it but I don't know anyone who owns the One. Any insight appreciated.

Thanks
 
I just got the S4 and so far I really really like it...though for all the reasons you stated (guitar playing, youtube music etc) I would recommend the HTC One for you. Mainly due to the dual front facing speakers of the HTC One.
 
I am on my second Samsung phone, the S3. Before that I had the Droid Charge. My wife had the HTC Droid Incredible followed by the HTC Droid DNA.

The quality and performance of the HTC phones was a lot higher than the Samsungs. My impression is that Samsung spends money on features and marketing while HTC is more focused on QA.

Most people prefer HTC Sense over Touchwiz, me included.

In case you can't tell I am unsatisfied with Samsung. HTC One all the way.
 
I had the HTC One before my Nexus 5. (I left the phone overseas on purpose.) I can tell you this. I miss it a lot. It's just as smooth as the Nexus 5 and the audio speakers are unmatched. I watch a lot of videos on my phone and the N5 sucks on sound quality.
 
HTC One. Although the Samsung Galaxy S4 is light..... the HTC One has stunning results.
 
Enilder said:
I would've made the same choice if I was a sound guy. You wrote that you will use it as if it's a tablet. Why not get an LG G2?
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I'm not a huge mobile phone guy and I honestly never heard of the LG G2. I did end up getting the HTC One and am not regretting it one bit. This phone is so fast and fluid compared to any other smart phone I've used. The screen is gorgeous, battery life is great, camera is much better then my iphone 4, the front speakers are just as good as I'd hoped, the call quality so far has been amazing I don't know what HTC did but voices come through clearer than I've heard on any phone before. My only complaint isn't the phones fault. Apple still has me listed in their database as an iphone user so all my iphone friends sending me text messages are going to imessage. I did some research and found out I had to disable imessage on my old phone and Ipad. Now some of my apple friends texts come through and some don't. Hopefully this issue resolves itself otherwise I'll have to call apple and ask them to take me off the imessage servers.
 
guitarguy6 said:
I'm not a huge mobile phone guy and I honestly never heard of the LG G2. I did end up getting the HTC One and am not regretting it one bit. This phone is so fast and fluid compared to any other smart phone I've used. The screen is gorgeous, battery life is great, camera is much better then my iphone 4, the front speakers are just as good as I'd hoped, the call quality so far has been amazing I don't know what HTC did but voices come through clearer than I've heard on any phone before. My only complaint isn't the phones fault. Apple still has me listed in their database as an iphone user so all my iphone friends sending me text messages are going to imessage. I did some research and found out I had to disable imessage on my old phone and Ipad. Now some of my apple friends texts come through and some don't. Hopefully this issue resolves itself otherwise I'll have to call apple and ask them to take me off the imessage servers.
Click to expand...

I also had iPhone 4 since VZW offered it for the first time, and I am not a mobile phone guy neither (heck, I don't even own a tablet). I was researching for my next phone, and I knew for sure that I needed something with a bigger screen. That's when I found about LG G2 (5.2" screen). In terms of performance, LG G2 blows everything out the door. If the phone had 5" screen with buttons positioned in the normal spots, I would've gotten it. A lot of people seem to be complaining about the software but coming from iOS, I have to learn how to use droid anyways so it didn't matter.

Not that this matters but thought I'd share. One thing that I am jealous of is the sound of One. Also, I think it's the best phone in terms of aesthetics.
 
guitarguy6 said:
I'm not a huge mobile phone guy and I honestly never heard of the LG G2. I did end up getting the HTC One and am not regretting it one bit. This phone is so fast and fluid compared to any other smart phone I've used. The screen is gorgeous, battery life is great, camera is much better then my iphone 4, the front speakers are just as good as I'd hoped, the call quality so far has been amazing I don't know what HTC did but voices come through clearer than I've heard on any phone before. My only complaint isn't the phones fault. Apple still has me listed in their database as an iphone user so all my iphone friends sending me text messages are going to imessage. I did some research and found out I had to disable imessage on my old phone and Ipad. Now some of my apple friends texts come through and some don't. Hopefully this issue resolves itself otherwise I'll have to call apple and ask them to take me off the imessage servers.
Click to expand...

That's the most messed up story I have ever heard. So apple essentially corrupted text messaging their should be a major law suit on that. This is exactly what MS was nailed for in previous anti trust investigations.
 
guitarguy6 said:
I'm not a huge mobile phone guy and I honestly never heard of the LG G2. I did end up getting the HTC One and am not regretting it one bit. This phone is so fast and fluid compared to any other smart phone I've used. The screen is gorgeous, battery life is great, camera is much better then my iphone 4, the front speakers are just as good as I'd hoped, the call quality so far has been amazing I don't know what HTC did but voices come through clearer than I've heard on any phone before. My only complaint isn't the phones fault. Apple still has me listed in their database as an iphone user so all my iphone friends sending me text messages are going to imessage. I did some research and found out I had to disable imessage on my old phone and Ipad. Now some of my apple friends texts come through and some don't. Hopefully this issue resolves itself otherwise I'll have to call apple and ask them to take me off the imessage servers.
Click to expand...

Are any if them still using iOS 6? I think this is happening because people manually set you as an iMessage user on their phones. Back when iMessage first came out, people did this to get it to work (now it figures it out automatically).
 
rudy said:
That's the most messed up story I have ever heard. So apple essentially corrupted text messaging their should be a major law suit on that. This is exactly what MS was nailed for in previous anti trust investigations.
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it's not messed up at all, you turn on imessage and it is registered with apple and you can receive imessages. If you never turn off imessage and get rid of your idevices how is apple supposed to know you don't have them anymore and that they should remove you from imessage?
guitarguy6 said:
Apple still has me listed in their database as an iphone user so all my iphone friends sending me text messages are going to imessage. I did some research and found out I had to disable imessage on my old phone and Ipad. Now some of my apple friends texts come through and some don't. Hopefully this issue resolves itself otherwise I'll have to call apple and ask them to take me off the imessage servers.
Click to expand...

Just call Apple and ask to have your number deactivated from imessage. It should only take about 5 min to call in. It may or may not resolve itself since you didn't turn off imessage on your devices (it sounds like it at least, its unclear) apple doesn't really have a way to know that you don't have them anymore so it keeps your number listed in imessage.
 
I did turn off imessage on my Ipad and Iphone but my texts still weren't coming through. How can Apple not have something in place where if the imessage doesn't go through it resends as a text?
 
It was down to the One and GS4 a while back when my wife was deciding too. It was a touch choice, but she went with the GS4 mostly because of the camera and has been completely happy with it; though I think should would have been happy with anything coming from the craptastic Rezound, which is kinda what swayed her from getting another HTC phone too. Though I tried to convince her that the One would be much different than the Rezound since it's on every carrier and will get continued support for at least a year or two before forgetting about it, unlike the Rezound which Verizon/HTC forgot about after 6 months or so and ruined the phone with ICS.

They both have their trade-offs. If you want the versitility of external storage, removable/upgradable battery and a better overall (excluding low-light) camera, get the GS4. If you want better build quality, aesthetics, nice/loud front speakers and a slightly smoother UI experience, get the One.

Edit: Opps, just saw that you already picked up the One, hah. Oh well, enjoy it as I know it's a great phone. ;)
 
I bought the HTC One developer edition straight up. Love it. Technically it is stunning, They delivered Android 4.3 when they said they would. I cleaned out all the stuff I don't need and trimmed the software down so it is lean and mean. The video and audio are stunning, I settled on the Speck hard cover and feel comfortable and safe, even with the One's large size. Battery life is good, though using it on long trips as Nav I do keep it plugged in the cig lighter.

People like the results of the camera, even though it's HTC's "other" camera theory of sensitivity over resolution. I'm happy with it for photos and video.

Things I might want different aren't HTC's fault, but rather Android and Googles issues. They seem to be improving each release, so I'm optimistic the phones will all be easier and smoother to use over time.

The only practical worry I have is the power button wearing out... so I want to alter the boot rom to allow wakeup no hitting the power button all the time, and the power connector, I just worry about plugging/unplugging everyday for years, will the little micro usb connector hold up long term.

Eventually the battery will need to be replaced, I'm hopeful someone will figure out a way to take it apart by then. I'm leaning toward a heated vacuum fixture, that heats the metal back to make it expand, while holding top and bottom firm with vacuum, and then lift the screen out easily.... and to reverse after the new battery is in. Hopefully by then we'll have a 4000ma battery in the same form factor.

I give it a 9/10 and am a very happy customer.
 
munkle said:
it's not messed up at all, you turn on imessage and it is registered with apple and you can receive imessages. If you never turn off imessage and get rid of your idevices how is apple supposed to know you don't have them anymore and that they should remove you from imessage?


Just call Apple and ask to have your number deactivated from imessage. It should only take about 5 min to call in. It may or may not resolve itself since you didn't turn off imessage on your devices (it sounds like it at least, its unclear) apple doesn't really have a way to know that you don't have them anymore so it keeps your number listed in imessage.
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UM if they freaking have a text sitting in the system more than 1 minute they need to let it go off to the carrier. Not really brain surgery. The fact that you have to call a company to deactivate something they took over, and I will suspect them taking it over was not an active part for their users is pretty jacked up. For people who are not tech savvy they could be screwed for years, and apple will like that wont they?
 
If you want good battery life in a slim design, then the S4 is the phone to go with. However, if you are more into the the feel of the phone, I would go with the One. The S4 is a great phone; however it's quite laggy. Probably the only pros I found on the phone was the battery life and the DAC.
 
rudy said:
UM if they freaking have a text sitting in the system more than 1 minute they need to let it go off to the carrier. Not really brain surgery. The fact that you have to call a company to deactivate something they took over, and I will suspect them taking it over was not an active part for their users is pretty jacked up. For people who are not tech savvy they could be screwed for years, and apple will like that wont they?
Click to expand...

Some of you are being drama queens about this. People switch from iOS to Android all the time and the vast majority of them have zero problems with receiving SMS messages on Android after the switch.
 
don't you know? this is the we hate all things apple forum, where we will question every design choice made by apple and worship samsung for "innovating" upon the designs...

All jokes and sarcasms aside, if Apple can patent "icons on a mobile device" and call it innovation, I suppose Samsung can also call whatever they're doing innovations as well.
 
You made it sound like the HTC One wins easily for your uses, here are the pros for the S4 over the One

Removable battery/memory and a better camera.
 
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