HTC One vs Samsung Galaxy S4

[ThePoundDollar]

So I know that there's probably going to be tones of these threads so I might as well kick start it. I'm up for a contract renewal soon and I'm willing to wait for both of these phones. But which is better? I love the HTC One's design but the Galaxy has so many cool features. Any opinions?

Don't forget to vote in the poll

 

[ouch1976]

Like you mentioned, the design on the ONE is amazing...probably the best phone I've ever seen. But, I wasn't a big fan of the user interface on the DNA so I'm not optimistic for the customizations on the ONE.

The S4 on the other hand, will have some nice features, but alot of it seems gimmicky to me. In fact, alot of the software features on the S3 are left turned off because they are imperfect.

If I had to choose between the two (and ultimately I will), I'm going to go with the ONE. That design is just so kick-ass.

 

[Slug]

which is better?

The only way to decide that is get both in your hot sweaty hands and try each one out. The only true comparison between any two devices is a side-by-side one.

 

[ThePoundDollar]

Yeh I totally agree with you. I'd have to say that the design of the One is amazing but it seems to be lacking the features that the galaxy has. But then again these features are a little "gimmicky". Hovering over the screen defeats the name 'touchscreen'.

What about the features of the two phones though? A comparison would be nice. What does one phone have that the other doesn't (aside from all the smart stay and stuff)? What about the camera features and the audio features?

 

[Slug]

What about the features of the two phones though? A comparison would be nice.

Well, there's this posted over on Phandroid:

 

[ouch1976]

Front facing speakers should be standard on all devices going forward.

Cameras will have to be tested before I can make any judgement, but from my experience, HTC always has great cameras. My S3 takes good enough pics, but it's not great. I think all phone cameras can improve. But I agree with HTC not battling the megapixel war, because most of the pics that I take I usually want to text, post, etc and it's a waste/pain to have such a large file.

Signal in my area was surprisingly better with the DNA, so I'm hopeful the ONE will be just as good. Only time will tell.

The one thing I actually missed while using a DNA instead of my S3 was s-voice. Although it's still not great, there are times that speaking a command is much easier. And it's alot more accessible than google voice actions.

 

[ThePoundDollar]

Front facing speakers should be standard on all devices going forward.

Cameras will have to be tested before I can make any judgement, but from my experience, HTC always has great cameras. My S3 takes good enough pics, but it's not great. I think all phone cameras can improve. But I agree with HTC not battling the megapixel war, because most of the pics that I take I usually want to text, post, etc and it's a waste/pain to have such a large file.

Signal in my area was surprisingly better with the DNA, so I'm hopeful the ONE will be just as good. Only time will tell.

The one thing I actually missed while using a DNA instead of my S3 was s-voice. Although it's still not great, there are times that speaking a command is much easier. And it's alot more accessible than google voice actions.

What about the audio on the phones? I'm a bit of an audiophile when it comes to music so...
Does the 'Beats' integration and 'BoomSound' give the One the edge. Or does Samsung have just as good a speaker along with their 5.1 surround sound?

What about HTC Zoe. Is it really that unique? I love the fact that it livens up the gallery; I love the BlinkFeed as well but for my homescreen, no thanks. I know you can choose which page is your homescreen and for that reason I think the BlinkFeed will be more like a widget for me.

It seems to me Samsung is all about 'Smart' and HTC about 'Casual'. Anyone agree?

 

[ouch1976]

In my opinion, it's all gimmicks...you really can't expect booming sound from a device that is 8mm thick...blinkfeed seems annoying to me, but I like to keep things segregated...hotmail is hotmail, gmail is gmail, facebook is facebook, twitter is twitter...I hate commingling everything, but that's just me.

 

[Android26]

I decided to vote for the HTC One (to me it's no landslide) and here's the way I see it based on all the youtube videos I've seen reviewing these phones and my own speculation.

Screen - GS4
Phone Dimensions - GS4
Buttons - GS4
Android version - GS4
Battery - GS4

Price - tie
Memory - tie
Performance - tie

Design - One
Materials - One
UI - One
Sound - One
Camera - One

For reference to my thinking:

Price (13) > Screen (12) > Performance (11) > Design (10) > Materials (9) > Android Version (8) > Battery (7) > Camera (6) > UI (5) > Sound (4) > Memory (3) > Buttons (2) > Dimensions (1)

Galaxy S4 - 45.5 (A-)
HTC One - 47.5 (A)

 

[ouch1976]

I decided to vote for the HTC One (to me it's no landslide) and here's the way I see it based on all the youtube videos I've seen reviewing these phones and my own speculation.

Screen - GS4
Phone Dimensions - GS4
Buttons - GS4
Android version - GS4
Battery - GS4

Price - tie
Memory - tie
Performance - tie

Design - One
Materials - One
UI - One
Sound - One
Camera - One

For reference to my thinking:

Price (13) > Screen (12) > Performance (11) > Design (10) > Materials (9) > Android Version (8) > Battery (7) > Camera (6) > UI (5) > Sound (4) > Memory (3) > Buttons (2) > Dimensions (1)

Galaxy S4 - 45.5 (A-)
HTC One - 47.5 (A)

I don't know if I agree with giving the S4 the better score for the screen. It seems that some reviews give the nod to the ONE. And I think that HTC has been developing better screens than Samsung for the past few phones (Rezound vs GNex, DNA vs. Note 2/S3).

But in all honesty, either screen is going to be amazing so I wouldn't make that your deciding factor. And I think the same goes for performance. Design and OEM software support are more important to me. Unfortunately, HTC is better in design and Samsung is better at supporting their devices, in my opinion.

 

[lightsleeper23]

To me, the only things about the S4 that are better would be the larger screen, and the fact you can use it with gloves on. But some people would rather have a 4.7 inch screen than 5.0, so that's preference.

The HTC design is stunningly gorgeous, and with it being all aluminum, much more of a high end feel in your hand. Sense 5 looks much better than the older versions, even though I don't like sense, but it looks a lot better than Samsungs touch wiz crap. I had high hopes for the S4 and even had it above the ONE in another thread, but after seeing it... its really MEH. Same old same old. Just a slightly bigger S3 with more useless gimmicks.

 

[ThePoundDollar]

Has anyone had a hands-on with the camera on the One? I hear that it doesn't produce the best of photos in normal light conditions. I understand it does great in low light but produces quite a lot of noise.

 

[Jerryada]

The processor and the removeable battery of S4 are both better than HTC One, and the cool features like smart scroll/pause are really fancinating.

HTC One owns the high specs and its own special features. But for me, S4 is more attractive.

 

[Bob327]

Right now The ONE is my choice ... The S3 just feels cheap in my hands and I know the S4 will also... Just have to wait until I can get my hands on both ...BUT my contract expires in 9 more days (April Fool day of all days) so I may have to wait until both hit the stores before I upgrade...

Everyone in my family run iPhones BUT I just can't go that route...

Bob G

 

[Lacit1707]

So, was going to pick up the Galaxy S3 this weekend when a friend of mine informed me that the 4 was coming out soon. I had no idea about this so started researching etc.

Was dead set on getting the S4 in May but have been reading a lot of comparisons etc to the HTC One.

I dont believe the One is out yet either but what seem to be the biggest differences between each phone and which in your opinion is better?

 

[Hadron]

Whether the One is out of not depends on where you are. Some places have them in the UK, for example. Check our HTC One and Galaxy S4 forums for more info.

The obvious differences are that the One has a metal unibody design, fixed battery and storage, more powerful front-facing speakers, and has reduced the megapixel count of the camera to gain in light-gathering capabilities (so better low-light performance, less ability to zoom/crop in in good lighting). The S4 has a larger display, removable battery and SD slot, plastic construction (early reports say it feels more solid than the S3), and has bumped the camera to 13Mpix (few photo samples available so far).

The two are similar sized. Whether you prefer LCD or AMOLED screens is personal. Both have skinned versions of Android - again, which you prefer is personal. The S4 has more software features added, but you may regard them as gimmicks. There's information available on the One's performance - a number of reviews are out there, and there is real user experience over in the One forum - whereas it's too early for that with the S4.

Which is better? At the end of the day, whichever is better for you is the better one. They are both extremely capable phones. My advice would be to wait until you can handle both, and see whether you like one better than the other - if you do, that's the right one

 

[iTzKPanda]

I'm on mobile atm so I can give you a light explanation but I'll go more in depth when I get home.

"Samsung Galaxy S4: Samsung unveiled its latest flagship smartphone very recently after months of speculation. The Galaxy S4 has a 5-inch full HD screen with a resolution of 441 ppi and comes in two versions – one with Samsung’s own 8-core Exynos 5 processor and another with a quad-core 1.9 GHz processor. Both of these versions have 2 GB of RAM, making this one of the most powerful phones out in the market yet. There’s a 13 MP rear camera with a lot of new camera features as well to keep the shutterbugs happy.

HTC One: HTC unveiled quite a pleasant surprise with its HTC One flagship smartphone. Sporting a 4.7-inch full HD screen with a very high resolution of 468 ppi, it’s powered by a quad-core 1.7 GHz processor and 2 GB of RAM. What makes this phone even more exciting is the Ultrapixels camera offering more 'true-to-life captures'."

Comparison: (just a rough comparison)
PPI = One
processor = S4
Camera = I haven't seen a review for the S4's camera, but I think that the ultrapixel from HTC was overhyped.
Build quality = One
Software = I say S4 because I'm not a fan of Sense


If you can, wait until you can try them out at a store and decide for yourself. Both are solid phones and you can' t go wrong with either.

 

[toad6386]

You know, it's not surprising that the vote is close. Both are top end phones, and reasonably close on specs, or close enough where mere mortals can't really distinguish. It's all going to come down to preference.
If you did a sub poll with those favoring the S4, I'd bet the major reason is the lack of removable batt/stor. Sure it would be nice to touch the phone with gloves on, but I live in So Cen TX and only where gloves to work, or those 3 days of the year where it's really cold! :smokingsomb:
I like Sense and don't care for TW (my daughter has an S2).
So, no knocks against the S4, I just prefer the One better.

 

[Hadron]

One thing I like about the One is that like recent Motorolas, and unlike the preceding One X, it has antenna diversity (2 cellular antennae it can swap between to optimise reception). Not seen an FCC submission for the S4 yet so don't know about that.

Maybe that's a nerdy thing to concern myself with, but hey, this is AF

 

[Pep]

Lack of expandable memory is a huge problem for me. I really can't believe that HTC has gone that way again on their flagship phone.

Pep

 

[Lacit1707]

Yeh I totally agree with you. I'd have to say that the design of the One is amazing but it seems to be lacking the features that the galaxy has. But then again these features are a little "gimmicky". Hovering over the screen defeats the name 'touchscreen'.

What about the features of the two phones though? A comparison would be nice. What does one phone have that the other doesn't (aside from all the smart stay and stuff)? What about the camera features and the audio features?

the "hover" feature is to be used when you have "messy" fingers etc....

but yea, i agree, there are a few features i will probably use at first just use but not in the long run of thigns.....

Hover feature, mvoing the screen with my eyes...just seem like cool technology but pointless

 

[CafeKampuchia]

Here is a thorough and unbiased comparison of the HTC One and Samsung GS4:

Samsung Galaxy S4 vs. HTC One: Army of two - GSMArena.com

 

[Hadron]

There's another comparison here: Samsung Galaxy S4 vs HTC One

 

[ironbrewer]

I'm probably not buying a new phone this year, but non removable battery added to no micro sd slot makes the one a no go for me.

 

[Hadron]

It's curious how different reviewers come to different conclusions. GSMArena say that the S4 is more visible outdoors, PhoneArena say the exact opposite. Guess the moral is that the only answer is to see for yourself rather than rely on the web to give you all of your answers

BTW if you like to look at screens under a microscope, PhoneArena have posted a multi-phone screen comparison here. The microscope shots make the iPhone look quite bad, so remember what that screen looks like in reality in order to put all of this into perspective.