Budget Above 25K Huge Dilemma: HTC One v/s Samsung Galaxy S4

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comp@ddict

comp@ddict

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I'm quite surprised I haven't seen one of these threads already. Looking at the biggest flagship phones for this year (till now, and perhaps for the rest of the year from both HTC and Samsung), I'm looking to buy one of them. I simply don't know which one to pick.

- I love the HTC One design, though Galaxy S4's compact shell is great as well.
- I like Sense quite a lot, TouchWiz is okay. But it's the added Software tweaks by Samsung that make the experience quite amazing, if I am to believe the adds.
- The Galaxy S4 simply has a much better camera than the HTC One.
- The Super AMOLED display has it's advantages (Daydream, pure black) but the SLCD display is gorgeous as well.

As you can see, I'm pretty messed up here :D. Don't know what to do. Don't want to end up buying an UMI X2 (or a rumored Micromax Canvas A120) or something. Why would I do that?
- Priced around 15k
- 1080p display
- Quad core
- 2 GB RAM
- 13 MP cam
- Android 4.2.1 JB
 
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Why hasn't anybody said anything about the Xperia ZL?

That phone costs only 32-33k, and I personally love the small form factor (as the other phones are really too big, including Xperia Z).
 
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I recently chanced upon a friend's HTC One-S and the pics he had taken in Sikkim, my Galaxy S2 pics never could have matched it. Amazing Pics from a moving Sumo.
So between HTC and Samsung cameras I would pick HTC.
 
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quixand said:
I recently chanced upon a friend's HTC One-S and the pics he had taken in Sikkim, my Galaxy S2 pics never could have matched it. Amazing Pics from a moving Sumo.
So between HTC and Samsung cameras I would pick HTC.
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First of all that is no reason to pick HTC over Samsung, You have compared two different phones
And the OP is comparing other models.
Second i own a one-s (8mp with flash) right now, and had galaxy s(5mp noflash) before it, and i can tell you that Galaxy's camera and picture quality was far more superior to my one-s' . Even in low light !! .
@OP - But still out of htc one and galaxy s4 , i'd say go for HTC one, due to the much superior build quality
 
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You are now dictating me my terms of purchase, is it? Funny.

It's just one of the standouts that can help decide a decision, so don't tell me what to like or what not to point out.

And Galaxy S no flash has better pics compared to One S? You must be a poor photographer.
 
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quixand said:
You are now dictating me my terms of purchase, is it? Funny.

It's just one of the standouts that can help decide a decision, so don't tell me what to like or what not to point out.

And Galaxy S no flash has better pics compared to One S? You must be a poor photographer.
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Chill brother , no need to get offended .
Not a poor photographer , GALAXY'S CAMERA IS BETTER!!
 
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quixand said:
You are now dictating me my terms of purchase, is it? Funny.

It's just one of the standouts that can help decide a decision, so don't tell me what to like or what not to point out.

And Galaxy S no flash has better pics compared to One S? You must be a poor photographer.
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If he can shoot better photos with older gen phone like SGS's camera, he probably is not a poor photographer. Even I found SGS camera better than HTC One S :)
 
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Camera Quality still Nokia leads in this sector followed by Sony.
Both are not leading the market with just photos.

Now all matters is the specs, design and software.

HTC one - Good Build Quality and Great Cool Look.

Samsung S4 - Not for show off with the looks. But good specs and software when compared to HTC.

HTC one is a better choice due to the look and feel, the specs does not matter as both are going to be super fast.
 
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Its surprising people just talk about looks but don't factor in practicality. HTC One is a good phone, but I would never buy it at 43k (the rumored price), why is it that only Samsung gives users options for user replaceable battery, micro sd slot etc. Once you start watching content on your phone, or playing games 16GB is not going to cut it.

And need I stress the importance of user replaceable battery? If you are a techie (which I presume you would be), you would want to customize and tinker around a lot. Just imagine if you have a bad or incorrect flash, and the only option to remove/replace battery? Not only that but any battery's retention power reduces after a year or two. I just replaced the battery on my Note, and suddenly JB based ROM's are giving me 1.5 days usage (earlier I blamed JB to be a battery drain not realizing that the retention capacity of battery had reduced considerably from the earlier days when I used ICS or GB). It would be S4 hands down for me, that phone has everything right and it will be priced lower to HTC One for sure.

And stop this FUD, of buying Nexus for "original android experience". You have AOSP (stock Android open source project) for almost all the major phones, and CM has greatly reduced its turn around time for implementing new releases. Nexus 4 is a very capable phone, at a very attractive price, but I did not like the camera quality, and somehow I am more biased to AMOLED based screens :)

TouchWiz UI, is the best skinned UI I have used, I have tried everything from AOSP to MIUI but touchwiz without the clutter fits my taste and usage the best. I agree out of the box its full of clutter, but then again we have some very capable developers at XDA who have custom TW ROMS, without the Samsung clutter, and thats where TouchWiz really shines.

However let me also point out the things I liked about HTC One. Do read AT's review on HTC one it is very well written, and informative. I feel the design is really good, but the icing on the cake is the camera. It simply blows away the competition (except maybe Lumia 920), the low light stills are very usable with low noise. Despite the initial love for Samsung, if available later at a lower cost I might pick it up purely for the camera. Somehow I feel the new Qualcomm SOC's are more potent than Exynos especially when it comes to GPU. So if you are playing a lot of new titles on phone, you might want to consider the international version of S4, or HTC One (India will definitely get the Exynos based SOC)
 
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I am still apprehensive about spending 40-43k on a phone. my max budget really is 30k, 32k perhaps.

I'm actively looking for a ZL deal on HS18 below 30k (pray to god!). I read the AT review of the HTC One when it was published and fell in love with the One.
I don't like the UGLY green toggles in TouchWiz. Nor do I enjoy the launcher layout. And I simply love WALKMAN far too much. Liked HTC's Music Player however.
Another thing, I listen to music A LOT. And HTC's One's output (with good earphones of course) is apparently one of the best, and Sony's phone have always been giving excellent sound output.

So there it is guys. I wanna get the ZL if possible.
 
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Does that mean anyone who buys android have to buy nexus if you want to have stock vanilla android else one is dependent on 3rd part developers and xda forums. So does this mean most phones are incapable of providing good experience out of the box ?
Also even if there is a bad flash in case of phones with non removable batteries, in most cases there is a way to get it sorted, some sort of hardware key combination or something.
Secondly many companies are today trying to make slimmer and sleek phones to give the premium feel and finish and in order to get that they need to compromise on things like microSD card and battery. Else how they get this unibody design and all such stuff.
But if someone actually wants a premium feel phone then one has to go for HTC One i feel.
Non removal battery is a downer of many i am sure but if one has access to charging points frequently or if one simply buys a battery pack then that too is a useful option.
I myself carry a 7000 mAh battery pack when i travel to Mumbai as i watch videos when traveling. And today with costs of battery being under 1000 Rs when deals come, it is a good proposition,
 
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comp@ddict said:
I am still apprehensive about spending 40-43k on a phone. my max budget really is 30k, 32k perhaps.

I'm actively looking for a ZL deal on HS18 below 30k (pray to god!). I read the AT review of the HTC One when it was published and fell in love with the One.
I don't like the UGLY green toggles in TouchWiz. Nor do I enjoy the launcher layout. And I simply love WALKMAN far too much. Liked HTC's Music Player however.
Another thing, I listen to music A LOT. And HTC's One's output (with good earphones of course) is apparently one of the best, and Sony's phone have always been giving excellent sound output.

So there it is guys. I wanna get the ZL if possible.
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The more you research, the more you will be confused and since we all use different phones here and have different opinions you will get more confused. I would say buy which you feel is VFM and what YOU feel is good, may be try out in a mall or store and buy it. And most importantly do not go and try finding faults in your phone else you will always be frustrated and will not like the device and then will suffer from compulsive upgrade syndrome.

Btw i had a look at my friend's S3 and yes the green toggles are hideous and don't say i should change ROM to get better toggles.
 
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comp@ddict said:
I won't go for CUSTOM ROMs. I had to with my Xperia SOLA to enjoy a comfortable Android experience. I don't want to do that with a flagship.
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But from what i have seen here and on the internet in general, people seem to find stock ROMs of even flagships not upto the mark and are always looking to change ROM. In fact half of their time probably goes in changing ROMs and measuring battery life. Why can't we just unwrap the phone out of box and start using it without any hitches ?
I used to find flashing and all interesting before but then gave up as it was too much hassle. Now happy with not having to do all that.
Videos play smooth on one ROM, do not on other, ridiculous.
 
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