Help Why did you buy an M8 instead of an S5?

punishedsnake · Jun 5, 2014

Tired of touchwiz and gs5 GUI looked kiddie

trainerman · Jun 5, 2014

For me it was the substantial quality feel and now I have had it I can definitely say the far superior battery life.

desmofan · Jun 6, 2014

rvonder said:
After finding an easy way to buy an upgraded phone without losing my Verizon unlimited data plan, I had no interest in switching carriers.

How did you upgrade to the M8 without losing your unlimited data. Keeping unlimited is why my past two "upgrades" have been through buying used phones. My S3 is driving me crazy, and the used M8s are still pricey.

KOLIO · Jun 6, 2014

desmofan said:
How did you upgrade to the M8 without losing your unlimited data. Keeping unlimited is why my past two "upgrades" have been through buying used phones. My S3 is driving me crazy, and the used M8s are still pricey.

Might wanna give this a read & ask questions from the members who've posted,if necessary:

http://androidforums.com/verizon/844803-upgrade-your-device-maintain-udp-using-best-buy.html

trainerman · Jun 6, 2014

I moved from an HTC hero, since that phone I've had a Samsung galaxy s2, s3, s4 and lastly galaxy note 3 all of which were good in there own right. But the galaxy s range has become stagnant and slow due to the bloat installed. The notecase good except for the speaker / sound, this was diabolical for such a premium phone. I have just bought the m8 to replace the note and have no regrets at all. It feels so superior, the camera is so fast, there is no lag as on all of the Samsungs in all aspects. And finally the battery life is fantastic a full day from 5am through to 6pm when I'm either home or at hotel and still 80% charge left, the Samsung were always down around 30%. No I've not got it on the extreme power saver mode.
Yes I'm happy with my choice and I've now got super clear sat nav instructions which I can hear over the car stereo as well.

mauiblue · Jun 7, 2014

I had my Motorola RAZR MAXX for about three years now and the battery wasn't holding it's charge. I researched a bit and got the HTC One Max a week ago and tried it out last weekend. I didn't like it and the battery didn't last very long. This past Monday I went to the local Verizon Wireless store and exchange the One Max with the One M8. I've been using it the last several days and I love it.

BTW, I didn't consider the Samsung Galaxy S5 because a couple coworkers have the Samsung S series phones and the Samsung didn't look and feel as nice as the M8. I also didn't like all the apps on the Samsung. I used to own a HTC Droid Incredible and it was a good phone.

Caesars · Jun 7, 2014

The m8 looks amazing, I opted for the s5 but I'm very close to jumping just to see the m8 in action. I've never had an htc android and would love to get away from Samsung bloat.

Is the htc full if htc apps like Samsung (besides the obvious gui)?

recDNA · Jun 7, 2014

I like multicolor led notifications. May be gimmicky to most but I had an htc phone and changed to sammy to get multicolor Led Back.

A question for M8 users. When you misspell a word is it underlined in red? It is a native android function that LG still has but Samsung had to drop due to Apple lawsuit. I had to root my note 3 to get it back. Since vzw is close to blocking all possibilities of rooting I need the native red underlining of spelling errors. I will include a screenshot of what I mean.

Granite1 · Jun 10, 2014

I believe the M8 does this natively. Mine does it now, but I'm not on a stock rom.

Scifigeek4life · Jun 11, 2014

I had the S5 for almost a month and took it back, coming from an S4 I was like this shit sucks! bigger bezels annoying hatch at the bottom.. felt like no upgrade at all and it was uglier than my S4, I did not like touchwiz and was still upset about the lag that I still got on the S5, its improved from the touchwiz on the s4 but its still clunky. NOW for the M8, beautiful the boomsound is incredible not just showing family and friends youtube videos and such but the call quality is WAY better than on my S5, speakerphone calls are excellent sounding as well and very loud and clear the knock on feature on this phone is the titts, as the power button ontop of the phone is hard to get to but with knock on it does not matter, zoes is amazing, even with just the 4 ultra pixel camera the pictures are GOOD enough and the zoes highlights is simply amazing, I have made so many fun picture highlights from it. The M8 comes with 32 gig not 16 like on my s5 and I slapped in another 128gig card and half my music collection on it, the new sense 6 is fast and clean without bloat except tmobile crap which is nicely put it its own folder, its all about attention to detail on this phone and it shows, also my battery feels like it lasts longer than on my S5, not sure why this is since the S5 has a bigger battery but I got longer use out of my m8, also if your into selfies or video calling the M8 has a 5 pixel front facing camera that looks great, not sure if any phone has a 5 megapixel for the front right now. The only downside as I have the brush metal m8 is im terrified of scratching it, a nice thin case is probably a must unless you get like an invisishield for the front and back to show off your shiny phone and keep it safe from scratches.

SolApathy · Jun 11, 2014

recDNA said:
I like multicolor led notifications. May be gimmicky to most but I had an htc phone and changed to sammy to get multicolor Led Back.

A question for M8 users. When you misspell a word is it underlined in red? It is a native android function that LG still has but Samsung had to drop due to Apple lawsuit. I had to root my note 3 to get it back. Since vzw is close to blocking all possibilities of rooting I need the native red underlining of spelling errors. I will include a screenshot of what I mean.

It is a native function under language and keyboard "Spell checker".

Wowmail · Jun 13, 2014

I was on an old Motorola Triumph while waiting for disability to be settled. My sisters , brother, nephew all had S3 or S4's. I was totally set on an S5. I started reading reviews, and they all said " Almost the best .... next to the HTC" I looked up the HTC One M8 and it had amazing features and build quality. I love the fact I can tune in FM stations, and Sense is so lite, the phone is amazingly fast. I Just received my M8 from the HTC web site, and WOW It is amazing. The build quality blows away the S5, the sound is amazing. This is a dream phone!

I am happy as a clam

recDNA · Jul 10, 2014

SolApathy said:
recDNA said:

I like multicolor led notifications. May be gimmicky to most but I had an htc phone and changed to sammy to get multicolor Led Back.

A question for M8 users. When you misspell a word is it underlined in red? It is a native android function that LG still has but Samsung had to drop due to Apple lawsuit. I had to root my note 3 to get it back. Since vzw is close to blocking all possibilities of rooting I need the native red underlining of spelling errors. I will include a screenshot of what I mean.

It is a native function under language and keyboard "Spell checker".

Click to expand...

You understand I don't mean CORRECTING spelling errors, just underlining them so I can DECIDE whether to correct them?

Granite1 · Jul 10, 2014

recDNA said:
You understand I don't mean CORRECTING spelling errors, just underlining them so I can DECIDE whether to correct them?

Yup, mine does this. I'm on a custom rom (Viper), can't remember if it's included in the stock rom or not. It underlines misspelled words in red, and words with alternate suggestions in blue. I like it.

Demache · Jul 10, 2014

Granite1 said:
Yup, mine does this. I'm on a custom rom (Viper), can't remember if it's included in the stock rom or not. It underlines misspelled words in red, and words with alternate suggestions in blue. I like it.

Yes it is in the stock ROM. Mine does at least and I'm using the stock HTC keyboard.

GTCC · Jul 12, 2014

I tried the S5(I had an S4 and all three Notes) and the Xperia Z2(I had the Xperia Z and Z1)

The S5 was a big disappointment for two reasons, the main one being the stutter but also is felt cheap. Having had an S4 and the notes I wasn't expecting it to be fantastic or even great but it was worse.

The Xperia Z2 was very nice but didn't feel as nice in the hand as the Z1 but better than the Z, someplace in between. The screen was fantastic and but no so the speakers. Very smooth with only the very rare hiccup.

Then I got the M8 and it is better in every way and my biggest surprise is the battery, over 5 hours SOT and only used 50% of the battery. The build of the phone is something I love, especially the look(gunmetal) and how it is cold to the touch when you pick it up. I even put it in the wine cooler for 10 minutes to see what it will be like in the winter. Screen and its colour representation, speakers, BlinkFeed and the admiring glances from Samsung owners are other things I love as well.

I keep changing between BlinkFeed and Apex but the last few days I'm on BlinkFeed because I find it so handy to have all my interests in one place.

I don't root my phones because of my lack of knowledge about it so the only thing I did was to change to ART

dan55 · Jul 13, 2014

good post GTCC - i like mine a lot too

...mine is now rooted and running viper 1.8 - so is even better now

enjoy

jtc303 · Jul 13, 2014

GTCC said:
I tried the S5(I had an S4 and all three Notes) and the Xperia Z2(I had the Xperia Z and Z1)

The S5 was a big disappointment for two reasons, the main one being the stutter but also is felt cheap. Having had an S4 and the notes I wasn't expecting it to be fantastic or even great but it was worse.

The Xperia Z2 was very nice but didn't feel as nice in the hand as the Z1 but better than the Z, someplace in between. The screen was fantastic and but no so the speakers. Very smooth with only the very rare hiccup.

Then I got the M8 and it is better in every way and my biggest surprise is the battery, over 5 hours SOT and only used 50% of the battery. The build of the phone is something I love, especially the look(gunmetal) and how it is cold to the touch when you pick it up. I even put it in the wine cooler for 10 minutes to see what it will be like in the winter. Screen and its colour representation, speakers, BlinkFeed and the admiring glances from Samsung owners are other things I love as well.

I keep changing between BlinkFeed and Apex but the last few days I'm on BlinkFeed because I find it so handy to have all my interests in one place.

I don't root my phones because of my lack of knowledge about it so the only thing I did was to change to ART

You should set Apex as your default and create a gesture or widget to open BlinkFeed..the best of both worlds... Take a look at mine, the bottom left hand corner where it says HTC m8 is actually a zooper widget that opens BlinkFeed

blenky · Jul 13, 2014

GTCC said:
I don't root my phones because of my lack of knowledge about it so the only thing I did was to change to ART

Enabled ART?! Do you have the GPE?

GTCC · Jul 14, 2014

blenky said:
Enabled ART?! Do you have the GPE?

No it's not GPE

blenky · Jul 14, 2014

GTCC said:
No it's not GPE

OK so please tell me how you enabled ART?

Cheers.

GTCC · Jul 14, 2014

blenky said:
OK so please tell me how you enabled ART?

Cheers.

No problem. First go to:-

Settings

Power

Turn off 'Fast Boot'

Back to settings and scroll down to-

About

Software information

More

Then keep tapping 'Build Number' until you get the message to say your a developer.

Then go back to settings and you will see a section towards the bottom of the list named 'Developer Options' tap that and you will see 'Select Runtime' tap that and then tap 'Use ART'

The phone will restart and adjust the apps for using ART and when it is finished I would suggest doing another restart.

You can then turn Fast Boot back on if you want it on.

Hope this helps.

blenky · Jul 14, 2014

Doh! Of course setting developer options! Somehow completely missed that with this phone even though set on my tablet!

Thanks for the reminder!

loomer · Jul 18, 2014

I am a little late to the party, but wanted to chime in and say how happy I am that I chose the ONE M8 over the S5 this upgrade. I had it certainly narrowed down to those two phones. I am coming off the S3, and really enjoyed it. However, the M8 kept catching my eye. I really love the build, and weighted feel. The speakers in the front of the device was certainly a heavy factor in the decision. Plus, I figured through Verizon, I could try it out for a couple weeks. If I didn't like it, I could always bring it back and exchange for the S5 (minus re-stocking fee). I have been very pleased thus far, today being my 3rd day with the phone. I love how quick, and responsive it is. That quad core snapdragon is really kickin' it! Screen is great, and the sound is absolutely fantastic through those speakers. Don't think I'll be taking it back and exchanging.

kratos · Jul 19, 2014

I had a VZW GS4, purchased at the beginning of April, which updated to KitKat at then end of April. Since the update, I was having almost constant Failed SMS issues (you can read all about these in the GS4 forum and the thread I started).

Long story short, after taking to 15 "Technicians", 3 supervisors, 3 Samsung Techs, and receiving 3 replacement phones, I finally went to my local VZW shop. They actually took care of me. They gave me the option of getting a brand new GS4 (fair trade), a brand new Motorola Droid Maxx (fair trade), or an HTC One M8 via Edge.

I absolutely refused the GS4 as I know it was a software radio issue and not just bad hardware. I didn't think the Moto Droid Maxx was a fair trade as it didn't have a removable battery OR a Micro SD card slot (the Micro SD Card was really the killer).

So I decided to go with the HTC One M8 as I have had multiple HTC phones in the past and really love them! So as I was checking out, the manager informed me that not only was she going to get me a phone that would work (HTC M8), but she would also do me one better since I had so many issues over 2 months and give my account a credit that would equal the $5 out of pocket charge over about a 1 1/2 year period. Since I already have the 10GB Family plan, I already received a $25 credit.... Make sense??

So now I have a phone that works 100%! Even though it doesn't have a removable battery, I honestly never really had to remove my battery before (save for bootloops when rooted and editing the wrong file, etc) so that isn't a big deal to me.

So now on to why I went with the THC M8 instead of the GS5. The manager offered me either the GS5 or the M8 and I'm sure I would've gotten the same credit to the account with either. Therefore, it was really all about which phone do I want?

The GS5 has a much higher MP camera, Fingerprint Scanner, Pulse Reader, and TONs of crazy cool software/hardware tweaks. However, my coworker has a GS5 and said the Fingerprint Scanner is a joke. Between the way you have to hold the phone to use it and the fact it doesn't register more than half the time, he doesn't even have it activated anymore. Next, I have no use for the Pulse Reader as I didn't even like the Samsung Fit app anyway. Yea, I did like all the cool software features, such as hover to zoom, hover to preview, etc. However, what it really came down to was the following:

My GS4 DIDN'T work properly after the KitKat update.
Verizon wouldn't do a darn thing about it (save for a ton of repeated troubleshooting and like new replacements).
Samsung refused to do anything about it (save for offering to have me send in my phone to get it looked at, which would take 3-5 weeks).
I have never had an issue like that with an HTC phone.

So, there you have it. I had a horrible experience with the one and only Samsung phone I have ever owned and likely will never give them a second chance!

Kratos

Help Why did you buy an M8 instead of an S5?

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