Thinking of switching from iPhone 5 to Android - HTC One or Galaxy S4

[aphex]

Anyone recently made the switch? Been a longtime iPhone user with a nearly all Apple household (Hackintosh, two iPhones, iPad and Apple TV), but alas i'm getting bored with my iPhone and the larger screens and different OS to tinker with has me interested. I use Spotify to steam music and Skydrive to sync my photos/videos, so the only thing i can see i'll lose is FaceTime and the universal apps. Take lots of photos/videos of my daughter on the go, so picture quality is impt.

Was going to go to an AT&T store tomm to check out the HTC One and Galaxy S4 to see how they feel in person. Thoughts from anyone who switched?

 

[vshah]

facetime can be replaced with g+ hangouts, skype, or gchat video. skype is probably the most universal.

both the one and the gs4 have excellent cameras, but they have very different strengths. the One is great indoors/in low light, while the GS4 is a better outdoors.

the speakers on the one are indeed awesome. loud enough to use in a friend's car, for example, if they don't have bluetooth/aux input.

 

[Crono]

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the speakers on the one are indeed awesome. loud enough to use in a friend's car, for example, if they don't have bluetooth/aux input.

Agreed. The output on the One is good, too, it amplifies a little bit on the aux in line in my car. Improved the bass and mid range versus my old phone. I use Spotify a ton, in addition to stored music, so audio quality via headphones and speakers matters a lot to me. The speakers are great when I'm getting ready for work - I crank the volume to max and can hear the music even when I'm taking a shower (note: don't take it IN the shower unless you want to kill the phone).

I didn't switch from iPhone, though, was a Windows Phone user before. I think a lot of people are worried about switching from one OS to another, but so long as you are flexible with what universal or platform-specific apps you use, you should be fine. iOS, Android, Windows Phone all work pretty well now even if they all don't have the same apps. I have to try BB10 to complete my personal experience of mobile OS'...

Anyway, I use Skydrive on Android, Windows Phone, and desktop. Works on Android exactly like you would expect, so I see no problems switching in that regard, OP.

 

[bearxor]

I wasn't that impressed with the speakers on the One. They seem to crank up to the same level of volume as my iPhone 5.

If I were you, aphex (and I was last year), I'd buy a Nexus 4 or a used Galaxy Nexus. This will let you spend a couple of months on the platform without committing to a new contract and will let you see how well it could replace the iPhone in your lifestyle. This would also tide you over until you see what Apple might be up to in iOS 7 so that you can take that in to consideration too. And the Nexus devices hold their value well, so of you decide to sell it to get a flagship android phone or go back to iPhone you'll recoup most of your investment in it.

 

[Yuriman]

Nexus 4 - no contract, lowest price

One - best "feel" and build quality, great low light camera

S4 - uSD slot, fastest hardware

^ All 3 are great phones with different strengths. I'd be pressed to choose - personally I want a "Nexus" off contract with a great low light camera and a uSD slot.

 

[vshah]

I wasn't that impressed with the speakers on the One. They seem to crank up to the same level of volume as my iPhone 5.

one thing I noticed was that, depending on the track, having beats enabled can severely diminish the volume. I leave it off for everything, it's much more consistent & natural to me. beats was just compressing everything and accentuating the vocals/midrange.

 

[lothar]

Neither. I'm not impressed with either of the two phones.
Wait for Google I/O for any possible announcement before buying any phone. Consider getting a Nexus 4(if LTE isn't important for you) or wait for the Nexus 5 if you can.

Buy a Nexus 4 for $299-350 from the Play Store and you can sell it when the next Nexus comes out if you want. Nexus phones hold their value pretty well as mentioned earlier in the thread.

 

[lothar]

one thing I noticed was that, depending on the track, having beats enabled can severely diminish the volume. I leave it off for everything, it's much more consistent & natural to me. beats was just compressing everything and accentuating the vocals/midrange.

You mean Beats audio isn't all that despite Quebert's and HTC's assertions?
Color me shocked.

 

[Aganazer]

the speakers on the one are indeed awesome. loud enough to use in a friend's car, for example, if they don't have bluetooth/aux input.

My wife has the One and I have the S4. The One has a little mid-bass that makes it sound better overall, but the S4 is about as loud as the One. That one speaker on the back really does move some air. I haven't compared the S4 side by side with and iPhone 5, but I bet it compares favorably.

Take lots of photos/videos of my daughter on the go, so picture quality is impt.

My wife's One seems to take more consistently good pics, but the S4's best pics are still better than the One's best pics. Its just harder to get good pics with the S4, but when you do they are great.

I wouldn't underestimate Zoe either. The 4 second videos are nicely integrated into the gallery. Its the #1 feature that I wish my S4 had. It doesn't sound like it would be a big deal, but it really is in practice.

 

[bearxor]

one thing I noticed was that, depending on the track, having beats enabled can severely diminish the volume. I leave it off for everything, it's much more consistent & natural to me. beats was just compressing everything and accentuating the vocals/midrange.

Thats a good thought. I might try that the next chance I get.

 

[lokiju]

Hey there fellow old timmer!

I was in the exact same boat as you. I've been a iPhone and Mac user for years now. I did own a Moto Droid 1 for about a year and a half before switching back to iPhone (had iPhone prior) at back then felt like Android was to much of an unfinished product for my taste.

But I too was really feeling like I couldn't justify sticking with iPhone any longer with so many awesome phones on the market. I pre-ordered and received a day before the "official" launch two Samsung Galaxy S4's, one for myself and one for my wife. I switched carriers in the process as well from Verizon to Sprint as I couldn't upgrade my device and get it subsidized and keep my unlimited data. Figured why fight to keep a carrier and my unlimited data AND pay more than all the other carriers in the process? No regrets on any of it! Of course it's very different and takes a bit of time to retrain your brain on when using Android. But I can say that Android 4.2.2 is a big improvement over whatever the Moto Droid 1 was running.

The S4's AMOLED 5" 1080P screen is amazing. So freaking crisp and bright. Can't get over how amazing the screen alone is.

The phone is so light and slim that going from my 4s to the S4 (just realized those are just the reverse of each other!) I don't even notice the phone in my pocket most of the time. I was concerned the 5" screen might be an issue in the dress slacks I wear for work but it's been a nonissue.

I never felt like the 4s was a slouch or anything but I realized it was much slower at doing some every day things. The biggest thing was when I was neffing and killing time on the 4s, I would almost never bother trying to load up a .gif as it'd take forever and sometimes crash Safari. This wasn't due to the slower 3G data either, was an issue when on wifi as well. On my S4, .gifs load just as fast as if I was opening them up on my Mac/PC. Night and day difference for such a little but repeat thing.

In fact, everything is amazing response on the S4, I've yet to throw something at it and it show any signs of strain or inability to keep up. It's a powerful phone.

I was debating between the S4 and the HTC One for some time. I read the reviews of every tech site I could find. For a point I was leaning towards the HTC One but a few things swayed me over to Samsung.

One big (for me) reason I went with the S4 is the near iPhone levels of aftermarket products and accessories for it. No other phones other than the Galaxy line and the iPHones have this level of available products for them. This (to me) matters as I don't want to have a very limited amount of choices for cases, docks, batteries, etc.. that causes everything to cost more money as a result.

I've experienced that in the past and it sucks paying $50 for a case that had I gone with a different choice I could of gotten something just like it for $5.

The second big reason, one of the selling points to me about Android that I've missed out on as an option with iPhones....User accessible battery and Micro-SD.

I bought my 16GB S4 for $150 (with new service at Sprint) without worry about it being 16GB as I already have a ton of Micro-SD cards. A couple 64GB cards, a couple 32GB cards all Class-10.

That's really the biggest reasons I chose the S4 over the One.

Everyone likes to put a lot of focus on the S4 having a plastic back on it, but I've always put a case on my Smartphones. They just cost to damn much to not protect IMO.

I don't use the built in speaks on phones often so while I do thing the front facing speakers on the HTC One make great sense and make me wonder why something so simple has taken so long, its in the end cool yet not very useful feature to me.

Also, maybe it's being silly but I feel more confident in Samsung as a company. HTC is a floundering company that hasn't turned a profit in a long time. While I hope they recover from the One and keep the successes going this point forward, if they were to go belly up, where are you going to get your OS updates from? What about warranty issues? Will they let things like updates and customer service drop as a way to compensate for their shaky business? Again, just me probably but something that I feel at least isn't at all a factor with Samsung as they aren't going anywhere in the foreseeable future.

Aside from the Android phones, one BIG concern/pain point I had with leaving iOS was that I had SO MUCH sunk into the iOS app store and the thought of not being able to have access to the literally thousands of bought or downloaded in the past apps wasn't something I was crazy about giving up.

While yes I have repurchased a very few select apps that I really wanted on Android, it's really not been all that many. Reality is (and became clear after the fact) that yes, I have an insane amount of apps in the Apple echo-system that I'd never have to repay for, but I only used very few apps and of the those a even smaller amount were paid for apps.

The only thing I cannot use with Android that I could with iOS is bluetooth syncing of my Nike Fuelband since Nike has decided to kill off their plans to create a Android app. Not a huge deal since I can still sync it to my Mac but still something I do wish was possible and I'll probably switch to the Fitbit Flex soon since it works with both iOS and Android.

I was concerned about my wife making the switch more than myself since she's not as tech savvy but am impressed with how quickly she's adapted.

One last comment on this much longer than intended post...

I sold my iPhone 4s's and I hadn't touched them since getting the S4 but needed to get them factory restored and cleaned up to sell and when I picked it up and turned it on I literally laughed at how comically small and toy like the 4s felt in my hand. My wife and I both have said that we'd never be able to go back to a 3.5" screen smartphone after this.

I'm happy to try and answer any questions you might have on the topic.

 

[lokiju]

My wife has the One and I have the S4. The One has a little mid-bass that makes it sound better overall, but the S4 is about as loud as the One. That one speaker on the back really does move some air. I haven't compared the S4 side by side with and iPhone 5, but I bet it compares favorably.



My wife's One seems to take more consistently good pics, but the S4's best pics are still better than the One's best pics. Its just harder to get good pics with the S4, but when you do they are great.

I wouldn't underestimate Zoe either. The 4 second videos are nicely integrated into the gallery. Its the #1 feature that I wish my S4 had. It doesn't sound like it would be a big deal, but it really is in practice.

One thing I've found most S4 owners don't realize and even the review sites don't seem to address is that there are some settings for the camera that by default are disabled but when enabled make the camera much improved IMO.

One is you can enable auto detect dim/dark environments and auto-activate the low light mode. The images in that mode are night and day.

Also there is stabilization which you can set independently for both pictures and videos and on both, by default it is not enabled.

 

[lopri]

One thing I've found most S4 owners don't realize and even the review sites don't seem to address is that there are some settings for the camera that by default are disabled but when enabled make the camera much improved IMO.

I think they do realize that but nonetheless try to compare them on an even field, i.e. "Auto."

To OP: You're going to the store anyway so you should really see them first. Personally, if you're the type who changes phone often (every 6~12 month) for whatever reason, I'd say give the One a shot. For a longer term, I'd take the S4.

 

[lothar]

The only thing I cannot use with Android that I could with iOS is bluetooth syncing of my Nike Fuelband since Nike has decided to kill off their plans to create a Android app. Not a huge deal since I can still sync it to my Mac but still something I do wish was possible and I'll probably switch to the Fitbit Flex soon since it works with both iOS and Android.

Get used to it.
As long as Timothy Cook continues to seat on Nike's board, that issue is not going to change anytime soon.