Samsung Galaxy S3 or HTC One X

[pipTheGeek]

I've been trying to decide between these two phones since just before the S3 became available, and I still can't choose! Help!

So far my thoughts have been.

I like HTC Sense (I currently own a Desire).
The HTC is slightly smaller, although, TBH, still a bit big I think.
The HTC is cheaper.

I don't like HTC's decision to make the battery non-removable and remove the SD slot. (Although I've never replaced the battery on a phone before)

However, I went and played with both of them in a shop today and noticed the One X appeared to divide its storage as internal and phone. With Apps being limited to the internal storage which is only about 2GB.

I realise it has the same ability as the desire to move some of the apps to phone (sd on the desire) storage, but this seems quite limiting. Can someone who actually owns one of these confirm this is the case? Have you found it be limiting at all? Does anyone know if the Samsung really can use all its on-board storage for apps?

And of course, does anyone have any thoughts on choosing between these two phones? Any opinions on the Samsung touchwiz?

[BerZerk]

Hey, I just received my S3.The phone is light, compared to my old HTC Evo 3D and HTC desire. The screen is gorgeous bright and clear. So far, all the apps are installed in the internal 16GB SD storage; There is option to move it to external SD card. But haven't done it yet. 16GB of internal storage is still plenty for apps.
As for the sammy touchwiz and htc sense; I dont see or feel any different at all. Rooting is also easier too.
But it is early days to find out the bad side of thing yet.

[SiM]

Both good phones. Removable sd/battery aside the only major differences are that HTC is one third cheaper and the S3 is a little more cutting edge tech... I do prefer the S3 though, but I'll wait for it to come down.

Sense/Touchwhiz is unimportant. Go launcher is better than both and not manufacturer dependent.

[Biscuit]

i have a one X and can happily put across my comments.

The storage point, i haven't even noticed to be honest. a couple of GB is a lot of storage space for apps when you consider most of them are 10~20MB and if they are much bigger then usually they will automatically put the data for it on the user storage.

The one x is so slim and light, you don't notice its size. When its in my pocket its actually less noticeable that i have it than my old desire or desire s.

The other thing about the physical side of the one x is the plastic its made from (or the coating which they have put on it im not sure :s). Its really nice and it feels pretty rugged, i have given it a couple of dings over the time and where an aluminium based phone would have dented/scratched by now, this thing is still perfect.

I love the new sense, its awesome! Just enough to improve the android environment but not enough to get annoying. HTC has been good with updates so far aswell, i think we have had 5 or 6 and its only been out a few months, admitadly a lot of that has been bug fixes but its good to see nevertheless.

[pipTheGeek]

The storage point, i haven't even noticed to be honest. a couple of GB is a lot of storage space for apps when you consider most of them are 10~20MB and if they are much bigger then usually they will automatically put the data for it on the user storage.

Yes, but when I got my desire apps where normally less than 1mb and Android couldn't move to SD! Only two years on and apps are commonly 5 times as big, and everytime the built in Facebook updates I have to uninstall another app to make room. A friend has an iPhone and has some games that are hundreds of megs. (normally complex 3d games but they still exist)
So, I'm not sure I want to risk being back in this position in a years time.

I think the reason this decision is so hard is they are both great phones, I can't see myself being unhappy with either of them.

Damn HTC. If they had left the one x with a removable battery and an SD slot I would have ordered one without a second thought.

My current thinking is that I will be taking the financial hit and going for the s3. But I'm going to wait until the 32gb version is available generally then see what prices look like. Also, my contract will have properly ended by then so I can switch network.

[dipzy]

I have tried the S3 at Westfield and i love it, definitely an improvement from the s2

[Biscuit]

Yes, but when I got my desire apps where normally less than 1mb and Android couldn't move to SD! Only two years on and apps are commonly 5 times as big, and everytime the built in Facebook updates I have to uninstall another app to make room. A friend has an iPhone and has some games that are hundreds of megs. (normally complex 3d games but they still exist)
So, I'm not sure I want to risk being back in this position in a years time.

I have games that are many hundreds of MB big and they all automatically install the data into the user data section of the phone. You need to imagine that the 32GB of storage in the phone is broken up in such a way that it emulates having an SD card in there. You are not limited to 2GB worth of apps end of story, you can still copy them across onto the user data. Its like having a 32GB SD in the phone that you just cant physically take out.
I cant imagine the S3 is that different, it would still need to partition its internal storage because of the way android works wouldnt it?

Just looking at my phone now, i have a bucket load of apps and games installed, not all of the ones that can be have been moved to the user data storage and im still only using 700MB of the application data. The issue you had with your original desire will not affect the one x, and even if it does, there will be a way, perhaps from an HTC update or perhaps by custom roms, that you will be able to reallocate the available storage.

[pipTheGeek]

I have games that are many hundreds of MB big and they all automatically install the data into the user data section of the phone. You need to imagine that the 32GB of storage in the phone is broken up in such a way that it emulates having an SD card in there. You are not limited to 2GB worth of apps end of story, you can still copy them across onto the user data. Its like having a 32GB SD in the phone that you just cant physically take out.
I cant imagine the S3 is that different, it would still need to partition its internal storage because of the way android works wouldnt it?

Just looking at my phone now, i have a bucket load of apps and games installed, not all of the ones that can be have been moved to the user data storage and im still only using 700MB of the application data. The issue you had with your original desire will not affect the one x, and even if it does, there will be a way, perhaps from an HTC update or perhaps by custom roms, that you will be able to reallocate the available storage.

I realise that apps can be moved onto the bigger partition, as I do with them on my Desire now, but I'm still constantly running out of space and this seemed like a bit of a limitation. My wife has found some articles that say this is just the way Android needs to work and not a specific limitation of the One X. But, as the S3 also has a microSD slot I wonder if it presents its entire internal storage as one big partition and the SD as the other partition?

[Biscuit]

I realise that apps can be moved onto the bigger partition, as I do with them on my Desire now, but I'm still constantly running out of space and this seemed like a bit of a limitation. My wife has found some articles that say this is just the way Android needs to work and not a specific limitation of the One X. But, as the S3 also has a microSD slot I wonder if it presents its entire internal storage as one big partition and the SD as the other partition?

I know exactly what your going though, i had the same problem with my desire!
Your comparing the measly 100MB that HTC gave the desire to 2GB though. 2GB is bucket loads of storage for 'phone only' apps and they would have to increase in size massively for it to start becoming an issue.

Honestly i understand your frustration having been there myself but i promise you this isnt something you need to worry about.

I dont know if it is the same on the samsung but i cant imagine it being any different.

[shayr1992]

The lack of microSD on the OneX is its biggest problem, otherwise it is an amazing phone and I'd recommend it over the S3. Honestly though, I've found 16gb to be more that enough, it really depends on you (I don't keep whole albums, only the songs l really like)

[pp05]

Both very capable handsets and whichever you go for you will at least recoup much of the cost should you want to change to the other.

I would go for HTC One X.

[bennyboy32]

Hey, I just received my S3.The phone is light, compared to my old HTC Evo 3D and HTC desire. The screen is gorgeous bright and clear. So far, all the apps are installed in the internal 16GB SD storage; There is option to move it to external SD card. But haven't done it yet. 16GB of internal storage is still plenty for apps.
As for the sammy touchwiz and htc sense; I dont see or feel any different at all. Rooting is also easier too.
But it is early days to find out the bad side of thing yet.

Totally agree. Swapped Sony Xperia S for Galaxy S3 - so glad. Lighter, more responsive, and soon excellent widgets and overall design. Highly recommend

[kopite]

I was in the same situation and decided to go for the galaxy s3.

I have owned a hero and desire hd before and loved sense and wasnt sure about touchwiz.

After a few days of messing I'm feeling totally comfortable with it. There are some awesome little features like tap the top of the phone to scroll to the top, Palm screen to pause stuff, palm swipe to take screenshot and loads of other cool little things.

S voice is gimmicky like siri but good for a laugh.

Face unlocking is good as well. Might not be super secure but its a good quick phone opening.

The phone will also vibrate when you pick it up if there is a missed call/text

And that reminds me if you have a contact open or a text message put the phone to yoru ear and it rings the contact without the need to actually press buttons

Also the removable battery means I can take 2 batters out with me in case one dies and there will be wireless charging available in septembet

Overall I kinda like it

[Tartanpimpernel]

I've been weighing up these two phones myself ( seems a lot of people have )

Having been an HTC user for years and years, I had expected myself to automatically progress to the OneX but because of the issues plaguing the HTC Desire mentioned above I find myself favouring the S3

The biggest issue I had by far with my last HTC was the battery, that thing would be flagging after barely a few hours.....I used to start panicking if I was out someplace for the day and it got below 40% by lunchtime. It got to the stage where I had about 5 chargers just to make sure wherever I was ( home/work/parents/gf/car ) I could top it up, without having to lump the charger or spare battery around with me.

Battery & Internal storage management were the two biggest reasons I would move away from HTC, I've also had several issues with buttons that stopped working and ports that were intermittent but seems some owners have had this whilst others havent.

As with the OneX being the next level of processing power & display its only a matter of time I feel before battery & storage issues raise their ugly head again with the drain of increased performance ( I hope I'm wrong )

I guess it depends your needs for a phone really, as some people will never have need of an SD slot for example

As pp05 said easy enough to swap over and recoup most of the cost of swapping...

[pipTheGeek]

My wife now has an s3. 'tis good, battery life is nearly 2 days, even with new-phone-usage. Text input is not as good as on the Desire though.

It does appear the s3 is partitioned like the one x. I'm still going with the Samsung though. Just need to phone o2 and get a pac.

[jyfs]

I would say go for the S3. It simply feels amazing and the screen is lag free! It's not fully ICS though but they have upped the TW interface which is a jump from the S2..