HTC One vs Samsung Galaxy S4 vs Nexus 4

[blairharrington]

If you were on iPhone's in the past, how does it freak you out? Just get the biggest model 64 GB, how is 64 GB not enough space for all the things you need. Do you really need to carry around your whole collection of music? My collection is 500+ GB so that wouldn't be possible any way. You can always keep enough music for hours and hours of listening.

Uh, did you not read the part where I said I'm getting the Optimus G Pro? That has 32 GB internal with support for a 64 GB SD card.

My music collection is 51 GB. And yes, I want that music with me at all times. So back to my original concern.

 

[blairharrington]

Why would this freak you out? MicroSD cards are more than fast enough for media.

It was just disconcerting to hear the guys trash SD cards on the podcast. I don't have any experience using SD cards with a smartphone but am planning to soon. So when I hear smart guys trash them I got a little worried.

 

[ChronoReverse]

One real issue is that the AT&T GS4 is definitely bootloader locked so while you can root, there's no custom recovery available.

From all reports, the AT&T One can be unlocked at HTCdev (no s-off but not necessary for the One).


This is actually a way huger issue for me than anything else. If the Canadian version (which is the SGH-i337m vs the AT&T SGH-i337) is also locked that's automatically a no-sale for me. I'll have to look into getting the Developer's Edition of the One since I'd need 64GB to forgo removable storage.

 

[hawtdawg]

Ok, so I've been reading everything I can about the One and the S4 for the last month solid, and I couldn't for the life of me decide which one I wanted. Most of this indecision was caused by thinking that the 2 screens were very comparable, save for the S4's being a tad bigger.

So I went to the AT&T store today to finally get a look at them in person. Let me just say, that anyone pretending like the One's screen is anywhere near as good as the S4's is smoking crack.

I picked up both phones together, turned the brightness all the way up on both, and played with both for a minute or so. The S4's is so much better that it's not even a contest. It's twice as bright, and the blacks are pitch black. The One's screen looked dull and washed out in comparison. It was enough of a difference that I didn't even care about comparing anything else about them at that point.

I'm also a lot less put-off by the Samsung interface than I figured I would be. My only complaint about it is that it just feels kind of cheap in your hand. I upgraded from an Inspire 4G, and the Inspire feels like a solid piece of machinery that could be abused (and it has been, I've dropped the living shit out of it more times that I can count), and the S4 feels like a thin piece of plastic that you could break in half if you aren't careful. Maybe I just like the solid feel of the Inspire, and don't care about how heavy it is, but the feel of it definitely eases any worries that you might break it.

 

[QueBert]

Ok, so I've been reading everything I can about the One and the S4 for the last month solid, and I couldn't for the life of me decide which one I wanted. Most of this indecision was caused by thinking that the 2 screens were very comparable, save for the S4's being a tad bigger.

So I went to the AT&T store today to finally get a look at them in person. Let me just say, that anyone pretending like the One's screen is anywhere near as good as the S4's is smoking crack.

I picked up both phones together, turned the brightness all the way up on both, and played with both for a minute or so. The S4's is so much better that it's not even a contest. It's twice as bright, and the blacks are pitch black. The One's screen looked dull and washed out in comparison. It was enough of a difference that I didn't even care about comparing anything else about them at that point.

I'm also a lot less put-off by the Samsung interface than I figured I would be. My only complaint about it is that it just feels kind of cheap in your hand. I upgraded from an Inspire 4G, and the Inspire feels like a solid piece of machinery that could be abused (and it has been, I've dropped the living shit out of it more times that I can count), and the S4 feels like a thin piece of plastic that you could break in half if you aren't careful. Maybe I just like the solid feel of the Inspire, and don't care about how heavy it is, but the feel of it definitely eases any worries that you might break it.

Blacks might be a lot better, but your "twice as bright" to me it looks overblown, the One might have a duller screen. But imho duller's better than way over-saturated colors. Most of my neigbors think my old Sony CRT monitor looks washed out, but it's the best calibrated screen with the most accurate colors on my block.

 

[ChronoReverse]

Maybe it's the saturated colours and the contrast that made it look brighter? The One definitely has a brighter screen (but too blue at 8000k).

 

[krumme]

It was just disconcerting to hear the guys trash SD cards on the podcast. I don't have any experience using SD cards with a smartphone but am planning to soon. So when I hear smart guys trash them I got a little worried.

The rant was both very fun, and a also a little pathetic - and thats where the taste of sour grapes came from.

I mean, think of all the cameras in this world, used by pros, using the same memory - as said in the podcast. The rant about the quality is idiotic. Yes its far lower quality nand than ssd - but what is the effect? Of the 30 or so sd cards i have had in my life i have not had a single error. And of the 15 ssd i have had in different computers, i have had 25% failure rate. Its not the sd cards crashing its the nand in the ssd. The ssd nand is used in a completely different manner than storing fx. pictures and videos. The argument came out some nerdish it was funny.

And what happened for Brian. The first thing he does is plug his sandisk 64Gb ultra into the S4. Like the rest of us. Ofcourse. Its a no brainer.

And the rant against sd cards also came about a little irational because it came after praising the aluminium to plastic. Aluminium that from a rational and engineering point of view, is just the most stupid choice. Talk about lack of consistency.

I liked the podcast btw. It sounds like girls talking, and then its just nerds going crazy into tech

 

[thecapsaicinkid]

Reading reports from various tech writers and owners of the S4/One, it seems the Nexus 4 is still the best performing Android device on the market.

 

[Fingolfin269]

Uh, did you not read the part where I said I'm getting the Optimus G Pro? That has 32 GB internal with support for a 64 GB SD card.

My music collection is 51 GB. And yes, I want that music with me at all times. So back to my original concern.

Wow. Hoarders needs to branch out to include digital hoarding.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Wow. Hoarders needs to branch out to include digital hoarding.

51gb of music is not hoarding. My 15tbs of HD movies is hoarding.


What kills me about a lack of a SD slot is the lack of phone size growth. Didn't the iPhone 1 or 3G have a 64GB option? Like batteries, no progress since then.

Put 128gb in a phone and I dont care for a micro SD alot.

 

[blairharrington]

Wow. Hoarders needs to branch out to include digital hoarding.

Uh, no. Having all my music with me is invaluable in many scenarios. Especially when I don't have to use any data to access. I'm going to dismiss the negative words about SD cards on the podcast and get a quality one for the G Pro.

 

[thecapsaicinkid]

Streaming is progress, not large local storage.

 

[Red Storm]

Streaming is progress, not large local storage.

Having both is progress. Local storage does not inhibit streaming in any way, shape or form.

Anyhow after looking over the actual prices of these phones, I see the 64GB One is actually pretty close to the 16GB S4, so that's not bad at all. You could still easily pop in a mSD with the S4 to surpass the One but kudos to HTC for going below the typical price gouging.

Oh and just a heads up, I went to my local AT&T store and they told me that they would unlock the One if I bought it there. The T-Mobile near me also said the same thing.

 

[blairharrington]

Streaming is progress, not large local storage.

Both are of equal importance. Locally stored music means I don't need a wi-fi/cellular connection plus I don't use up data when away from wi-fi.

 

[openwheel]

people who say they need 51gb of music with them at all times probably need to experience the real World once a while. For those people, there will never be enough storage even if 10tb is available. They'll want 20tb.

The real probably is not "lack of mSD card". The real problem is "lack of unlimited data plans" and "lack of decent network".

 

[blairharrington]

people who say they need 51gb of music with them at all times probably need to experience the real World once a while. For those people, there will never be enough storage even if 10tb is available. They'll want 20tb.

The real probably is not "lack of mSD card". The real problem is "lack of unlimited data plans" and "lack of decent network".

What kind of nonsense is this really? Why are so many forum members such a**holes to each other? Jesus Christ.

I find it invaluable to have all my music with me at all times. There have been moments in my life where I don't have access to wi-fi/cellular data or have simply wanted to avoid streaming music to not touch my monthly data. Even if I had unlimited data (meaning hypothetically more than 5 GB) I would still find myself in positions where I don't have wi-fi/cellular.

The snark on this forum is just amazing at times. Can't some of you just chill out and stop attacking how others choose to consume their media? I've already stated how I choose to move forward. I've had all my music with me since getting an iPhone 5 and I'll never give up that opportunity to have that freedom in the future. Because that's what works best for me. And as long as they keep putting SD card slots in phones, I won't have to.

 

[hawtdawg]

Blacks might be a lot better, but your "twice as bright" to me it looks overblown, the One might have a duller screen. But imho duller's better than way over-saturated colors. Most of my neigbors think my old Sony CRT monitor looks washed out, but it's the best calibrated screen with the most accurate colors on my block.

That's just dynamic mode. Movie mode is actually more accurate than the HTC.

 

[Oyeve]

people who say they need 51gb of music with them at all times probably need to experience the real World once a while. For those people, there will never be enough storage even if 10tb is available. They'll want 20tb.

The real probably is not "lack of mSD card". The real problem is "lack of unlimited data plans" and "lack of decent network".

But until those things happen lack of a msd is stupid. Real stupid.

 

[poofyhairguy]

people who say they need 51gb of music with them at all times probably need to experience the real World once a while. For those people, there will never be enough storage even if 10tb is available. They'll want 20tb.

I get by on 128GB in my laptop. I could do the same with a phone.

 

[thecapsaicinkid]

Both are of equal importance. Locally stored music means I don't need a wi-fi/cellular connection plus I don't use up data when away from wi-fi.

This conversation is silly, removable storage is obviously not important to the majority. These companies aren't leaving options out on a whim. Removable storage makes a device more expensive and is something else to go wrong, if your research shows people aren't using them, then why include them?

 

[Dari]

Uh, no. Having all my music with me is invaluable in many scenarios. Especially when I don't have to use any data to access. I'm going to dismiss the negative words about SD cards on the podcast and get a quality one for the G Pro.

I'm going to get that phone too. But I've heard speculations that LG may mess with the resolution for the US version. I hope it's not true.

 

[Red Storm]

This conversation is silly, removable storage is obviously not important to the majority. These companies aren't leaving options out on a whim. Removable storage makes a device more expensive and is something else to go wrong, if your research shows people aren't using them, then why include them?

You said local storage.

Where is your research that removable storage isn't being used when offered?

 

[blairharrington]

This conversation is silly, removable storage is obviously not important to the majority. These companies aren't leaving options out on a whim. Removable storage makes a device more expensive and is something else to go wrong, if your research shows people aren't using them, then why include them?

Well you need to provide the consumer with sufficient internal storage OR an option for removable storage. A big issue with the One X last year at AT&T was that it came with 9 GB of internal storage with no SD card slot. Some people like to counter that you can just use the cloud but that really isn't a perfect solution.

 

[blairharrington]

I'm going to get that phone too. But I've heard speculations that LG may mess with the resolution for the US version. I hope it's not true.

Absolutely not true. There currently is confusion because they are using different wording, allegedly, for the IPS panel that is coming to the States. They won't mess with the resolution itself. Expect 401 ppi. (1920 x 1080)

 

[QueBert]

Well you need to provide the consumer with sufficient internal storage OR an option for removable storage. A big issue with the One X last year at AT&T was that it came with 9 GB of internal storage with no SD card slot. Some people like to counter that you can just use the cloud but that really isn't a perfect solution.

Google's cloud is horrible, when i got the One X I uploaded all my music so I could access it from it. I then found out that the only app that can be used is the Google Music one, which is pure trash. A year later I see nothing has changed. Google wants everyone to use the cloud, but they don't want to open the API's for it so other developers can make apps that can utilize it. And people carry on about how open Android is lulz.