HTC One vs. SGS4

[Mblaster]

It's upgrade time for me again and I've shortlisted these two phones.

Has anyone here had hands on time with them both and able to do a comparison? I'm planning to head to the EE shop tomorrow, but I have a feeling they won't have any SGS4 handsets available for me to play with. Although, I currently have an SGS3 so hopefully they have a HTC One so I can see how Sense has moved on since I last had a HTC phone (~3 years ago).

Of course the other option is to stick with my current SGS3 and get a cheap SIM only contract, but the allure of shiny new gadgets may be too much

So what's peoples' thoughts?

[Mblaster]

Well they didn't have a HTC One for me to look at but I was able to play with an SGS4. It looks like a really nice phone, but not sure it worth upgrading over my SGS3. Some of the new Samsung specific features are pretty impressive, but quite gimmicky, not sure that I'd actually use them. The only real plus points for me in upgrading would be 4G, slightly better performance, and some extra sensors (temperature, etc.).

Currently leaning towards just getting a cheap SIM only contract and sticking with my SGS3...

[butter30]

I prefer s4 due to battery and sd card

[Notorious544d]

Definitely HTC One. The S4 actually lags and feels no faster than an S3. The way I think of it is that the only thing the S4 has over the One is its daylight camera performance. Everything else I feel is in the One's favour.
No SD card slot? I don't see this as an issue due to two reasons. Firstly, Touchwiz takes up so much memory that only ~8gb from the 16gb storage is usable. No problem though since you can use an SD card right? Many people don't realise that from 4.1+, the micro SD card can only be used to store personal media, like music and videos. It CAN'T store additional apps and games!
Secondly, the HTC One comes with 32gb storage. That's more than enough for 99% of people and with 26gb usable, it has over 3X the usable storage of the S4 which can also be used to store games and apps.

Battery life between both phones are more or less the same. If removal battery is a big plus for you then you might like that feature of the S4. Personally, I don't see why people make a big deal of it and I would certainly prefer a unibody build over with a fixed battery than the S4 hardware.

Sense vs Touchwiz. Sense 5.0 is actually really pretty and the first skin I feel to abide by Android's holo guidelines. It looks beautiful and is also very functional. Touchwiz looks like gingerbread to me, is very aesthetically unappealing compared to Sense 5.0 but does come with useful functionality.

I feel both phones have useless software gimmicks, both screens are more or less equal and performance wise, the One feels more snappy IMO.

Then you have the nice aluminium build and BoomSound (which is actually awesome) and I find it really hard to recommend the S4 over the One.

Or of course, you could just stick with the S3

[Dooms]

Picked up a S4 Active last week... Something amusing of using my phone in the shower the other day

[aramil]

The has been an update for the s4 that allows apps to be moved to sd card.

Personally I am still on my s2. Got an s3 and gave it to the misses. .....

[Zaim]

I highly recommend the HTC one Or the Sony Xperia Z, both offer much better build quality, the Samsung just feel's like an expensive piece of plastic imo, the sound quality on the Sony is great, I've heard the same thing about the HTC. I currently own the Xperia Z and its a really good phone, nice and fast, interface is easy to use, feel's like a Premium phone etc.

The battery life on the Sony is pretty decent imo, if you use it constantly you'll get at least 6 hours out of it no problem, with moderate use you can double that amount easily, use the power saving modes and it's even better.

[jimborae]

Have used both phones exstensively and prefer & now own an HTC One. The only thing I dont like is the power button being on the top, even with my big hands i still find it a pain. However custom roms and wake via volume button takes care of that, also I prefer straight android to Sense so with Modaco Switch I can literally switch between the two versions.

[Ksyruz]

Even though they may have better build, as they use metal over plastic. I don't take notice as most people would buy a cover to go over the entire phone. Thus in the end they all are all leather wallets to me.

As of which phone get the Sony Xperia Z, as I'm guessing most of the time you use the phone when busy behined locked stall doors .

[rtk_13]

I hate to say it but the S4 I can't recommend a phone with a non replaceable battery and no micro sd card slot I had the HTC one X I struggled with it so much storage and battery life especially now my note 2 has a spare battery and a charger cradle to keep both the phone and the battery topped up! And I store a lot of shows on the go and internal memory already runs low. As for software android is so customisable that adding a new launcher completely refreshes the whole phone.

[SOOMRO]

I love HTC.

[razeroth]

I prefer s4 due to battery and sd card

Same here, the S4 is a brilliant phone. My friend has the HTC One though and is equally estatic about his purchase. It has a worse camrea on paper but apparently some sort of wizardy to get high quality images.

[sprite-]

I have to say, i love my HTC One. Blinkfeed is brilliant.

I had an S3 previously, i just couldn't go for an S4 due to it being close to exactly the same physically to the S3.

[Kovoet]

Had this decision last week or so. Had the s2 and htc Sensation so I went for the s4 because the screen is better quality and installed a 32gb sd card of which the htc one cannot do. They both have their good and bad points. My wife got my Sensation then looked at mine and she made her mind up quickly and got an update to the s4 as well which arrived yesterday.

[mikolaj87]

I would go with HTC due to build quality and tbh I miss some of the sense features :-P

[fallaki500]

I prefer s4