Samsung Galaxy S3 or HTC One X

[angelus97]

Hi guys, apologies if this has been covered before but could anyone give me any advice regarding choosing either an S3 or One X?

I've read the specs and honestly can't see that much difference between the two (aside from the HTC doesn't have a microSD slot, which doesn't bother me and that the HTC's build quality is slightly better).

I'm coming from an iPhone and I'll be waiting until the new iPhone announcement next month just to be safe but I'm sure I'll move to Android. I like the customisation it allows and the widgets and personalised home screens look cool.

One final question about these two phones. I realise that bigger phones are becoming the norm now, but how easy is it to get used to the larger phone in your hand (especially using it one handed)? I realise that the iPhone's small screen gives off the impression that it is much smaller but with its large bezel the size difference isn't actually that huge.

 

[chanchan05]

Once you go bigger, you don't want to go back is my experience. LOL. I just realized how off that sounds.

You can't go wrong with either but I'd prefer Samsung for the removable battery cover and expandable storage. And well, moving to a Samsung would be easier for you since as Apple is trying to prove at court, Samsung's UI is a bit iPhone-like.

 

[Wilkas]

As chanchan said you get used to it quickly then an iPhone will look like a toy to you, you'll never get a small screen phone again.

Both are great powerful phones with the latest features and both are pretty much future proof certainly for the next two years.

I own the One X and my wife has the S3 so I've had a lot of time with both of them and I honestly think the One X blows away the S3. The S3 has some cool features but the screen is awful, the UI makes it look like an older version of android and the phone is ugly, better looking in person than in pics of it but still nothing on the One X and it feels cheaply made.

Camera and audio quality are better on the One X (apparently made even better with the new 4.0.4 update and 4.1 sense) and the much maligned battery life is ok now after the two previous firmware updates although I do think the battery life is better on the S3, it could just be I use my phone more than my wife uses hers.

Really excited about the new update coming to my phone within the next week or two, it is the polish on a great phone, ironing out the last of the kinks to make it (as long as you aren't bothered about removable battery or SD cards) a perfect phone and in my opinion the best phone on the market currently.

Check both out and see what you think, either way you'll be getting a great phone.

 

[chanchan05]

Battery life is indeed better on the S3, based on GSMArena battery ratings, its good for 10hrs more than the One X (based on GSMArena tests).

You may want to take a look at this. Feels unbiased reporting to me:

http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_galaxy_s_iii_vs_htc_one_x-review-759.php

 

[Wilkas]

I get around 30hrs on a full charge with medium use (without any tegra 3 games being played), it's always still in the green when I put it on charge but while I don't think the S3 would get 10 more hours with the same use. I don't really put a lot of stock into those benchmark tests, they don't take into account firmware upgrades as they are usually tested out of the box... when the battery is at its worst.

 

[chanchan05]

Yes, but you have to remember that the SIII does have a bigger battery capacity, so even with improved battery life due to firmware upgrades from HTC, the SIII may still have better performance. Plus you yourself said that its tested out of the box with the battery not at optimal performance.

 

[Wilkas]

It does have a bigger capacity but tegra 3 has a power saving core that the S3 doesn't have, that is even mentioned on the link you put.

EDIT: To clarify I'm not saying the One X has a better battery life, I just don't think there's as much in it as 10hrs and it can get you through a full day easily, I think if you can live without having to remove the battery then you get the plus point of the amazing unibody of the HTC which is a far nicer looking handset.

In performance you would need a lab to separate these phones, things that generally take low power run quicker on the S3, high power apps run quicker on the One X. The stock browser is a little better on the S3 but Chrome is around the same depending on what you've got multitasking on either phone.

What it comes down to is looks, the UI, expandable storage and removable battery. The One X takes the first two, the S3 takes the second.

 

[350X]

Samsung is the leader, the rest are just followers.

 

[Stuntman]

I just swiched to a SGS3 from an HTC Desire Z. I'm actually disappointed in the SGS3. I miss a lot of things on my old DZ that isn't available on the SGS3 or requires me to do extra work to get something similar and yet not quite as good.

The first thing that I noticed is that on my DZ, all contacts from multiple sources get merged into one contact in my phone book almost automatically. The DZ would ask me periodically if certain contacts should be merged. It took no time to merge them and almost no effort from me. On the SGS3, this process is not so automatic. I have to manually merge all of the contacts from different sources. I did one and got fed up. I hear there are apps that would do this for me, but I haven't looked into it yet. I just left my contacts as is for now.

Second, on my DZ, when I copy my music from my PC to my phone, all of the album cover art gets copied over as well. On the SGS3, none of the cover art gets copied over. Instead, I had to download another app to get the cover art. I spent a lot of effort on my PC getting the cover art for my music. With the SGS3, I have to do this all over again.

The DZ has an HTC Facebook and HTC Twitter app that is better than the standard apps available on Android. I really miss them. The HTC Facebook integration is better with more features. The HTC Twitter app has one of the best widgets of all time. Friendcaster Pro is a poor substitute. I found a widget similar to the HTC Twitter one, but it is not quite as good.

The dialler on my DZ was better. The smart dialling required one fewer key press. It listed a number of contact to choose from on the screen instead of just one on the SGS3. I have to tap on the expand button to list multiple contacts while doing a smart dial.

The DZ had way more widgets included. On the SGS3, I had to find and download them.

Rearranging icons on the home screens are so much easier on my DZ. If I want to swap the position of 2 icons, I move one icon over top of the second and they swap places. If my home screen is filled, I do not need to delete any icons or objects on the home screen to rearrange it. On the SGS3, I have to delete objects if my home screen is full or move them to a different home screen before I start rearranging things.

These differences have more to do with HTC Sense vs. Samsung TouchWiz. So far, I haven't seen anything in TouchWiz that I would have wanted when I was using Sense on my DZ. I'm also comparing the DZ on an old version of Sense running GB with the SGS3 running the latest version of TouchWiz on ICS. You would think that the SGS3 would have some things that would really impress me, but other than newer, faster hardware internals and 32GB of storage, I'm just disappointed in the SGS3.

 

[damewolf13]

Moved into the "device comparison forum".