Winners

I decided on the Samsung S4 and I had to pick two winners because of how convincing their conversation was.

Winning comments

UPDATE: I compared the two in person and decided on HTC One because of the camera and build. I've been using it for almost a month and it is the best phone I have ever had. No complaints about battery and I set it up with lookout so I wont ever lose a phone again.


I lost my phone (Razr Maxx HD) last week and the battery died, so I don't know if it was taken or if its just in my car. Anyhow I need a new phone and am stuck between the HTC One, Galaxy S4, or a Galaxy Note 2. I looked into all of them and the HTC One just came out, Galaxy S4 comes out next week, and the Note is a dinosaur that came out in September.

The person who gives me the most convincing argument for one of the three gets fortix (Seriously, its fortix.)


Updates:

Reading through the comments I've decided to narrow the decision down to just the HTC One or Galaxy S4. I'll be getting the phones through T-mobile so the price is $99 (HTC One) vs $149 (S4.)

As for information about how I'll use the phone, I'll be using the device for:

  • Netflix, Youtube
  • Games
  • Tons of apps
  • Tons of pictures / videos.
  • I might use it as a hotspot

In conclusion, It needs to be fast and battery life needs to be amazing because I'll be using the phone A LOT. The phone will be in a case so cosmetics isn't important.


More updates

Looks like PhoneDog also had trouble picking one.

11 years ago*

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Galaxy S4. Because I've heard of it.

Yeah, thats all I got. I'm not really a phone person. :P

11 years ago
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I'm usually not a phone person until I go phone hunting. Then when I do go looking, I decide based on performance, battery life, then accessories such as cases.

11 years ago
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I get new phones when my family upgrades. I rarely use mine. I can make $20 worth of text messages last for a year.

11 years ago
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I was the same when I was prepaid using an oyster flip phone. Id use like 5-10 dollars in texts a month (5 cents a text). Now with unlimited though, I send out about 100-300 texts a month. Still not that much vs my friend that send out almost 1k a month which is less still to other people.

11 years ago
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I used to have a 200 text messages plan and would never go near it, until my kids started having phones of their own. Since they had no problems sending hundreds of messages every day, I had to get a better plan just to avoid getting overcharged from them texting me. (They took prepaid plans but no voice minutes, just unlimited texting)

11 years ago
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Hmm, maybe add a list of ranked priorities for you to aid people in advising you? :)

I'd go for the S4 based off of what you say alone, aside from the fact that it's the nippiest one of the bunch. It's got the fastest processor of the ones you listed (by far), and I know friends who have them and use them as productivity tools and PDA's, that are loaded with lots of running processes at any one time. Every single one I know who has it is very satisfied with it. They don't really get sluggish easily, unless you start doing more things on them at the same time than, well, you and me are likely to even do.

Also:

  • Very good screen quality / resolution (full HD) / colours
  • Very lightweight, very thin
  • Good size, fits nicely in your hand
  • Good quality accessories; all Samsung phones of the past few years include pretty damn high quality ear buds
  • Good touch-screen, very responsive and precise ('specially compared to the HTC One)

Good luck on your choice, and enjoy it, regardless of what you end up choosing :)

11 years ago
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I added some more details about how I'll use it and I'll be using it a lot.

11 years ago
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In all seriousness this is a very good choice. The s4 as Op stated hasnt even come out yet so its brand new and super powerful

11 years ago
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htc because galaxy too mainstream

11 years ago
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I'd agree, but mainstream android phones tend to have more interesting options for cases.

11 years ago
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Past few HTC phones my family has had tended to have various problems with losing signal and other various bugs that HTC knew about for many months and said they had no plan on fixing

11 years ago
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Have made really good experiences with HTC phones, Samsung = meh

11 years ago
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nokia.

11 years ago
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Oh yeah, they still exist! Kind of.

11 years ago
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If I wasn't so invested in android apps I would consider a Lumia for all the pretty colors.

11 years ago
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HTC One is nice if you want aluminum, prefer LCD over AMOLED, and don't care about replaceable battery or sd card slot.

The Galaxy S4 is better in pretty much every other area. I'd argue plastic is better for phones because it absorbs shock better. There's also an AdobeRGB mode for the screen to get rid of the oversaturated colors of AMOLED

11 years ago
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I don't really know the difference between LCD and AMOLED. I'm mostly interested in performance and I'll probably get a case for the phone.

11 years ago
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AMOLED has better contrast but can have oversaturated colors though Samsung provides an option to tweak that. It's personal choice which screen you prefer.

As for performance, they both use the same chipset with the S4 clocked slightly higher. I doubt you'll really notice the difference between them though

11 years ago
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Same chipset? Umm, no?

- Galaxy S4 stats
- HTC One stats

Galaxy S4
Chipset - Exynos 5 Octa 5410
CPU - Quad-core 1.6 GHz Cortex-A15 & quad-core 1.2 GHz Cortex-A7
GPU - PowerVR SGX 544MP3

HTC One
Chipset - Qualcomm APQ8064T Snapdragon 600
CPU - Quad-core 1.7 GHz Krait 300
GPU - Adreno 320

The S4 has dual quad core CPU's. The HTC has one. The S4 will beat the One in any kind of synthetic or real world benchmark, hands down. It's one of the the fastest phones out there at the moment, in this gen.

11 years ago
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Wrong model. The US version and 80% of the world version is the one with a Snapdragon 600

As for the dual quads, most of the time the phone will be using the A7 cores since A15 is insanely power hungry. The scheduler can't use both at the same time. But yes, when it uses the A15 cores it is a good bit faster. GL getting one though

11 years ago
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Ah, thanks for added info. about varying versions. And sure, the scheduler can't use both at the same time - but then, using the A7, power draw will be lower than the HTC phone, on a bigger battery, so longer batt. life. And like I suggest, using the A15, it will definitely be faster than the One. I was wording my shit badly. Tisk, tisk, me.

All together, I think OP should have some nice stats and info. to use as deciding factors between our two posts on the thread :)

11 years ago
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Please see my reply to AloXX for more info. on both phones' actual stats. The S4 is the faster of the two, easily. And they don't use the same chipset or CPU's.

11 years ago
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Go for the HTC One, it's the best Android phone beating the Google Nexus 4 which of course beat the other phones you mentioned.

Here are a couple of reviews.
The Verge's Review - Disregard the battery life comment. Every other reviewer has said the battery life is great.
PhoneArena's Review
Engadget's Review

11 years ago
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I originally was indecisive about the Nexus 4 and Google One and quickly decided Google One. Then I realized the Galaxy S4 comes out next week and became indecisive again.

11 years ago
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Oh wait the S4 isn't out yet? Must of confused it with another model disregard the first line then D:

11 years ago
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See my replies just above here. The S4 has better battery life, and dual quad core CPU's, compared to the One's one, based off a faster chipset.

11 years ago
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Galaxy S4, because it's a new phone, 4G support, fast processor, good camera quality, new technology, new features and it has received good feedback from public, also, it's cheap. You can get one for about $200.

11 years ago
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Where the fuck can you get an S4 for 200 bucks? I wanna go there

11 years ago
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I saw the price here

11 years ago
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2 year contract.

11 years ago
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You didn't mentioned anything about contracts. Anyways, I would still go with s4.

11 years ago
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I'm not too worried about the price of the phone since I'll be getting the phone through t-mobile and the phones cost about the same. Its $99 (HTC) vs $149 (S4) and $20 for 24 months for both phones.

11 years ago
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Well even with a contract price I would go for the S4. The Galaxy line is pretty good. It has a decent size, great screens, high power, and generally long lasting battery life. The S-beam feature is pretty nifty too, letting you easily beam certain files between two s-beam capable phones without the hassle of downloading, texting, and re-downloading files with other phones.

11 years ago
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404 Not Found

11 years ago
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Here

(The word Nokia at the end of the url was in italics because underscores _ [and *] give italic text on SG.)

11 years ago
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404 not found!!!

:'(

11 years ago
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Here

(The word Nokia at the end of the url was in italics because underscores _ [and *] give italic text on SG.)

11 years ago
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eww you called galaxy mainstream, what are you some kind of Iphone liker?

11 years ago
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Ok you got the HTC One, S4, and the Note 2. Judging by popularity, the HTC One doesn't score so well. The One has a 1.7GHz Quad, the S4 has either quad 1.6 or 1.2GHz, while the note 2 has quad 1.6GHz. So the HTC One wins in power. Now the things is, the Note 2 is getting a lil old now so if you get it. It'll be more obsolete. Both will have LTE, and speeds will be based on your carrier. PPI on the HTC One (pixel density) is 468 while the S4 is 441. Both have the same screen resolution so the One technically has a sharper display. The HTC One has 4MP camera while the S4 has 13M. So technically the S4 has a better camera, but more megapixels doesn't mean better camera. The One has a metal body while the S4 is plastic, IMO I like metal more. The S4 has a larger battery but amoled takes more battery. I'd take the HTC One.

11 years ago
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I consider these the top points =P

11 years ago
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The HTC One and majority of Galaxy S4 models use the same Snapdragon 600 chipset with the S4 having an advantage of 1.9 Ghz vs 1.7 Ghz. The other version of S4 with the Exynos 1.6 Ghz uses a different architecture that's much more powerful.

PPI doesn't matter at these sizes; it's the same 1080p resolution in a 5" or 4.7" display. The phones are both the same size physically.

You can look up camera comparisons online but the general consensus is that the S4 is better.

Metal vs plastic is personal choice. Metal looks nicer but doesn't absorb shock as well as plastic

Look up battery comparisons too. It's largely dependent on how much white space compared to black space will be on your screen but they both have similar battery life. The HTC seems to have worse standby drain though

11 years ago
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Battery Drain depends on where you are, and what you have running on your phone. Plus, it's not like there's a huge difference between both battery lifes.

11 years ago
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Standby drain, when you're running nothing intensive and the phone is idling. It's mentioned in a few reviews. And yes, I did say they have very similar battery lives

11 years ago
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My biased opinions =P

11 years ago
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One major thing IMO is that you can take out and replace the S4/Note batteries as opposed to the HTC's battery that is set in place. So while S4 vs HTC battery life is same/close, you can upgrade or buy a replacement battery for the s4 IF you need to.

11 years ago
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The S4 has gesture commands. You wave your had OVER the screen and it does things. Hover a finger over the mail icon and it shows a preview of your mail. No touching required. It also has gorilla glass 3 so it is extremely scratch/shatter resistant, has a QUAD CORE PROCESSOR, and has a display with full 1080p resolution. More detailed technical specs here. If I didn't already have the S3 (and somewhat recently purchased too), I'd for sure get it.

11 years ago
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Both have gorilla glass 3.. both have quad core processor... and both have 1080p displays... -.-

11 years ago
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3 phones -> both?
But yea, they all have quad cores so I suppose that's not as impressive, but the note 2 doesn't have 1080p or gorilla glass 3, and HTC one doesn't have gorilla glass 3 either. Source: Galaxy Note 2 - HTC one

So, instead of the quad core thing: the S4 is the lightest of all of them, and has the second biggest display (after the note 2)

11 years ago
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My bad, silly me!

11 years ago
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I'd still argue for the One

11 years ago
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I have owned several galaxy nexus and love them a lot. My wife and mother in law have the galaxy s3 and love theirs. I am not fond of its button layout personally but you might be. So imagine the S4 would be nice. I trust any of the Galaxy series to be reliable.

11 years ago
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Go get the Sony Xperia Z :P

11 years ago
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Get the one that will survive a giant explosion
Or the one that goes perfectly with your lightsaber
(All men should carry lightsabers)
Get the Note because you can use it as a shield in a pinch.

11 years ago
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Can i use it as a boomerang?

11 years ago
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Yes

11 years ago
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11 years ago
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S4 because i have an s3 and its pretty decent.

11 years ago
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+1 Same.

11 years ago
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Unless you're a girl or a tall guy, do not get the Note. It's too feminine looking. I'd go with the S4.

11 years ago
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I'm 6"3' am I tall enough for a huge phone or a small tablet?

Honestly I'm not sure about the note, it just looks like a bigger S4 and I kind of like the larger screen.

11 years ago
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YES. I'm in Asia, where people are a lot shorter, and the guys I see walking around with Notes ... it just doesn't look right. If you're 6'3", proportionately, you won't look ridiculous. This is obviously totally superficial, but still ...

If you can use a temp phone for a little longer, see whether the S4 merits the investment or if you should stick with the Note. My general take is that tech is going to be outdated one way or another soon enough. But screen sizes are constants.

11 years ago
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Note is pretty much just a bigger s4. My bud has the note 2 while I have the s3. They are exactly the same except for the screen size. At least from the bit of use Ive gotten from his n2.

11 years ago
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Software wise I would go with touchwiz (GS4 / Note 2) over sense (HTC One). If you put cyanogenmod on the phone then it more comes down to simply who has the best hardware. The One has a higher screen density 468 ppi vs the S4's 441, however the S4 is AMOLED. AMOLED is awesome on phones. Blacks appear truly black and colors pop. Plus with the S4 you get a larger screen in a smaller package.

The Note 2 is getting a bit out dated, and is on par with the S4 hardware wise. Only reason to get the Note 2 is if you have tried it in store and are not afraid of it. That thing is scary big.

If you can stand plastic over metal, totally go with the S4. I have an S3 and I can't really say I have regretted it yet.

Also, bam: http://www.theverge.com/products/compare/6963/6927

11 years ago
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S4, definitely. I have an S2 Skyrocket, which is great, and I know people who have the S3 and its even better. The 4 will probably blow the 3 away

11 years ago
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I'm going with the LG Optimus 4X HD. It's the "perfect" phone for me. It's got a 4.7 inch screen and 8.9mm thick so not too big like the Note 2. The usual 8MP camera. A monster quad core 1.4GHZ processor. Micro SD card slot for max memory(This was a deal breaker for me for a lot of phones. HTC One don't have it). You can add a 64GB SD card along with the 16GB integrated providing 80GB storage :) It has front facing camera, and yeah. Got everything I want in a phone. Oh yeah an a removable battery so you can easily replace it once the old once has reached its lifespan.

Oh did I forget it only costs $330 free shipping on amazon right now? Comes in black or white.

11 years ago
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Why not just stick with a trusty old flip phone? I have had mine for years and it's still going strong with 3-4 day battery life. Who needs all those apps when you have a computer and/or books.

11 years ago
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Maybe someone who don't want to carry the computer/book in his pockets?

11 years ago
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I just don't feel it's worth paying the extra money for a smart phone. All I do is text every now and then anyway.

Forever Alone

11 years ago
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I went back to an old Samsung flip phone for a week and had to relearn how to text. My old phone could practically read my mind.

11 years ago
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That might be a valid argument if it didnt cost the same. It only cost me 50 bucks with activation to get my S3, would have cost me the same to get a flip/slidder phone which has none of the features as the s3. I really cant imagine getting along as well with an old flip vs the s3 which is the best cellphone Ive used. Though Im not a phone-ahalic like my friend but damn is it nice to read books, surf the net, play games, watch movies, listen to my music, and pretty much do w/e I want with it vs strictly text or call people and MAYBE surf the net on some tiny screen.

11 years ago
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I had started a spreadsheet comparing the crop of 2013 phones to get a better idea of my next purchase (I'll be going with the S4)

I pretty much never truly completed it but if it's any help to you, here it is.

11 years ago
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The Experia Z is waterproof?! I have to do research.

11 years ago
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For up to 30 minutes. I forgot deep though.

11 years ago
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1 metre

11 years ago
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Thanks for the info. I've eliminated this option since I could always waterproof later.

11 years ago
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HTC One - 468 ppi (pixels per inch),LCD screen,No SD suppported,Jelly Bean, Android 4.2.1 (OS) ,2300 mAh (battery),Aluminium Body,Closed Battery

Samsung Galaxy S4 - 441 ppi , AMOLED , SD Card Supported,jelly Bean, Android 4.2.2 ,2600 mAh, Plastic Body,Open Battery

S4 offers Eye Tracking feature and some other gesture features. S4 camera is 13mp and HTCone is 4mp (ultrapixel) and comparing cameras based on megapixels is never a good comparison no matter what camera we are talking about.

The features listed might make it seem that S4 is better, but i have used both of those phones and i say you should go for HTC One, it is amazing. Samsung's Touchwiz is shitty. And the batery life runs out faster if the battery is hot, and the plastic body takes it much longer to cool down whereas HTC's metalbody will cool it down much faster. The difference in OS is negligible. HTC One doesn't support an SD card but offers upto 64 GB space, so does S4 along with SD slot. The difference in the screen, you can see it when you go to the store. Blah blah blah, HTC One is way better, end of story :)

And i didn't compare Note2 here as it stands nowhere near these phones.

11 years ago
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Deleted

This comment was deleted 3 years ago.

11 years ago
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Galaxy s4 cuz its Samsung!!
I bought S3 pretty nice Smartphone.
Galaxy notes 2 - a way to big

11 years ago
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Note, coz its big

11 years ago
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I'd suggest you get Galaxy S4, it's fast , smooth and has buiit-in "find my phone" function in case you loose it again :D

11 years ago
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Closed 11 years ago by Exactually.