Current phone: nokia 7500 smart phone exp: 0 reason for getting: time for an upgrade and this https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.epsxe.ePSXe bad boy. Im looking for some hard reviews hates/likes, also battery life, phone life. You can also sugjest/recommend a (adroid)phone. Thanks in advance.
My experiance with HTC hasn't been good lately due to the port charger ports they have on their phones
The S4. Hell, I'm considering selling my Oppo Find 5 and getting the S4 instead. But here's a few reasons to get the S4 over the One:
Removable back cover - meaning you can swap out batteries or get a bigger battery, or easily replace your battery if it ever goes bad.
Expandable storage - even though both phones come in 32 gig versions, adding another 32 gig SD card, or even a 64 gig one will definitely help if you have a lot of media.
SAMOLED display - this on might be debatable, but I think the positives outweight the negatives. SAMOLED displays have very saturated colors (both positive and negative), very deep blacks, can be very battery-efficient, but they have some washed out whites.
Hackability - HTC is somewhat notorious around the Android hacking scene as a pain in the ass to work with when trying to root or flash custom ROMs, kernels, or recoveries. Granted, the S4 is not exactly as mod-friendly as a Nexus device, from what I've seen and read, it's much easier to work with.
Features - the original S4's, not the Google Play editions, are loaded with a shitload of features. Granted, most of the features might be gimmicks, but they are there if you ever want them.
Camera - even though HTC might boast about their Ultra Pixel bullshit, the photo quality is inconsistent. Low-light and night shots look great but day time photos look average at best. The S4 has an all around great image quality.
The only reasons I see to get the One are front-facing stereo speakers, which by all accounts are amazing, and if you want superior build quality. The S4 is about as generic as a phone can get when it comes to build quality and design.
SAMOLED display
A phone of the size of S4 can be used as an ebook reader but AMOLED is way worse than IPS for reading. You can't read black text on a white background because it's way too bright and to be able to read at night you need to set background to black and text color to dark grey.
Hackability
Rooting Samsung phones is easier than Nexus 4. With Samsung phones you don't have to unlock bootloader and the process of flashing is easier and doesn't involve android SDK.
giving a + 1 for the htc here.
Over the years ive had a few. and they have been crap. software and hardware. This one for me is the exception.
Great build quality, very very sturdy phone. I do not feel like it will break anytime soon. My missus galaxy on the other hand. Feels like a much cheaper phone.
Unlock the bootloader is a piece of cake. Install custom recovery easy as pie. Flash a new rom. (htc one google play edition 4.3) Now your jamming.
Battery life is stunning. No joke. 2 days 15 hours my highest. I listen to music on the bus to and from work. 2 hours or so a day. At least 2 hours of calls and some random texts. Maybe some youtube on my breaks. Great battery
I wish the screen could have been better. Its nice. 1080 is nice. But i do feel the galaxys screen is better. I like the way the colors pop on it.
The camera is shit tho. Everyone raves about it. Personally, taking pics with it for me is a pain in the ass. Unless there close up. Like macro type pic. They just dont seem to look as nice for me.
The speaker. Absolute beast. Great sound great base. Couldnt recomend them anymore. There that good.
Anyhow my 2 cents. Both good phones. Prefer the build of the htc for me.
If you run stock android or the google edition ROM the main differences would just be the look of the phones. So just pick the one that looks best to you.
You would be happy with either one.
I chose the HTC One because of the build and the design of it.
Brightness of AMOLED displays is irrelevant since you can adjust that. You can make an argument for the shitty washed out whites on SAMOLED displays, but saying they're too bright doesn't make sense.
I don't know about the Nexus 4, but with all of the Android devices I had (Nexus S, Galaxy Nexus, Oppo Find 5, Nexus 7, and the new Nexus 7) I have NEVER had to use Android SDK. I don't even have it installed. All I needed was a custom recovery since the process of flashing ROMs and kernels is pretty much the same across the board - enter CWM or TWRP recovery, then factory reset, wipe cache, wipe Dalvik cache, flash ROM and/or kernel, reboot. Done. Don't know what you need the Android SDK for.
Depends on what you want. Both are immensely powerful full 1080p devices. Both will suitably run whatever androind app you intend to challenge it with. The one major deciding factor is this: can you get the Samsung Galaxy S4 Active with your provider? If not, maybe you should look into the HTC One. I mean, the Samsung Galaxy S4 is a beautiful device (and I do love any phone that employs actual hardware buttons) it is a little flimsy in its standard format. It provides expansion options (which are often much slower to read and write from, but you can get around that by spending copious amounts on high-speed microSD cards) and a larger, brighter display (which can often seem a little too "flourescent" or overly saturated or bright. The HTC One, on the other hand tends to look like a demo phone because its picture quality is about as good as looking at a professional glossy photograph.) The HTC One is supposedly quite the challenge to root, while the Samsung Galaxy S4 appears to require less technical skill to do so. I do, however, recommend rooting and flashing either device with a stock version of Android, or whatever other Distro you like. Samsung cannot make a UI to save their life, and Sense 5 on the HTC One is a little discombobulated and... ...weird. As is getting used to how you access your recent apps (tap the home button twice.) All in all, it really depends on what feels better to you. If you have large hands, the Samsung Galaxy S4 will be an easy enough fit, otherwise the HTC One may be a better decision. If you are a serious photographer, the Samsung Galaxy S4 has a particularly impressive sensor for ordinarily lit settings, but the HTC One has a better sensor for low-light scenes.
Personally, I'm using an HTC Droid DNA and it amazes me every day when it is on its home screen and I set it down, because it looks just like a demo phone, too perfect. The same specs as the HTC One, but with a larger display and a plastickey body. But I'm okay with that because Verizon sold their soul and still hasn't gotten the HTC One, and they didn't have the Samsung Galaxy S4 out at the time. Not that it would have mattered anyway, I don't like their pixel arrangement. It's like a television's: offset. It's difficult to see, but given how much I read on my pocketable device, it is quite important. the screen on my HTC Droid DNA has a perfect alignment, like a computer monitor. I adore this device and often wonder how I managed to live without it.
Brightness of AMOLED displays is irrelevant since you can adjust that
No matter how you adjust it, you can't read from AMOLED at night without making the text very dark grey. Minimum brighness of AMOLED in total darkness is a freaking spotlight.
Pretty much the same during the day, if you use white background, it's hard to look at while it's easily readable so you have to use black backgroud with white text.
I don't know about the Nexus 4, but with all of the Android devices I had (Nexus S, Galaxy Nexus, Oppo Find 5, Nexus 7, and the new Nexus 7) I have NEVER had to use Android SDK
Don't know what you need the Android SDK for.
I had to use android SDK to unlock bootloader and then to flash custom recovery. Most phones as far as I know don't have locked bootloader by default. And then while for example Samsung has Odin for (initially) flashing stuff, with Nexus I had to use android SDK. After first root of course you flash everything using recovery.