This is a pretty hot topic on everyone’s mind right now. Which phone should you choose? The HTC One or the Galaxy S4? Well we asked our excellent team that’s behind Android Headlines to see what they thought, and why they’d choose that particular phone. Things get pretty interesting here. So let’s see what everyone said.
Chris Yackulic
Founder/Editor in Chief
This is a tough one for me. I will have to go with the Samsung Galaxy S4.
Even though I am secretly rooting for the HTC One the Galaxy S4 to me is more of a complete phone and experience! Obviously in terms of looks I think the HTC one has the lead but except the white HTC One is ugly, Black is sexy. After that things are pretty equal in my mind in terms of specs unless we are talking about that Octa-core beast processor but because it is only available in limited regions, it is not much of a factor. While rooting and throwing the latest roms on Android phones is the normal for most of us, the support and updates from Samsung are second to none among Android OEM’s. Even though I am not a huge fan of Custom UI’s I will take Touchwizover Sense any day of the week. Touchwiz has so many features is crazy, I may never use them all but they are well done. The Galaxy S4 for me is more of a complete phone than the HTC One but this is so close it really comes down to preference you can’t go wrong with either phone.
Winner: Galaxy S4
Tom Dawson
Editor
I’m not even going to lie.
HTC One every day, ALL day, ALL WEEK.
Mostly because it’s built like a brick, it’s solid, it feels great in the hand and throughout my testing (review coming soon!) I found very little to disappoint me. Granted I have not had it long but, even Sense did not piss me off this time around. It’s a minimal and clean experience that gets all of the Samsung feature creep out of the way. using the One is pretty much like using the Rolls Royce of smartphones.
Samsung can take their plastic and take a hike.
Winner: HTC One
Alexander Maxham
Assistant Editor
Well I’ve always been an HTC fan, but I do own the Galaxy S3 and used it up until a few months ago when I picked up the Nexus 4. I’ve made it clear many times that I don’t really like Samsung’s build quality. But above that I really dislike that physical home button and the AMOLED display they continue to use. The Galaxy S3 was a great device, even though it was a bit slippery. But to see the Galaxy S4 announced and not look much different than the Galaxy S3, nor have many new features (that normal people would use) or much of a spec bump, made me choose the HTC One.
Like I said I’ve always been an HTC fan, but the HTC One is a great looking device. I definitely can’t wait to get them both in my hands. But I’d definitely choose the HTC One over the Galaxy S4.
Winner: HTC One
Norman Yan
Writer
For me it would be the HTC One. The aluminium chassis is beautiful and I had a look at one in-store the other day and it just feels amazing in-hand. The screen on the HTC One is also better because it is a better size, LCDs have better colour reproduction than that of the Galaxy S4 which has a PenTile 1080p display, so it’s no a true 1920×1080 display. Proper stereo sound via ‘BoomSound’ is also a great addition for listening to content since the sound is played directly at you instead of being reflected off a surface. I also agree with HTC that a 4 megapixel camera is enough for more scenarios and the reduced noise levels is more important than the megapixel count. The two major cons of the HTC One aren’t an issue for me. The 32GB of internal storage is more than enough for me to install all the apps I want to and the music I want. The non-removable battery might be smaller than the Galaxy S4, but it is still capable of lasting one day of usage and I’m not one to carry around multiple batteries in the first place.
The only potential issue is Sense, while I’m not a huge fan of TouchWiz either, Samsung devices are a lot easier to root and install custom ROMs than HTC devices as of late.
Winner: HTC One
Alex Wilkes
Writer
Its got to be the S4.
HTC have totally ruined it for me, I own a HTC One X currently, and it is an amazing phone. However HTC have nailed the coffin for me, Shutting down devs, turning sharing RUU and OTA sites down, making it impossible to S-OFF etc. They don’t care about their current customers.
Also, however nice the One looks, remember that iFixit also rated it a 1/10 for repairability. Plus I’ve never had a Galaxy device
With all this into account I’d get the S4.
Winner: Galaxy S4
So that’s two votes for the Galaxy S4 and 3 for the HTC One. So it looks like the Android Headlines Team prefers the HTC One over the Galaxy S4. But what do you think? We actually already asked you this shortly after the Galaxy S4 announcement, and about 90% of you chose the HTC One over the Galaxy S4. Well we are going to start that poll again now that both devices are available, or almost available. Let us know which device you’d choose and why in the comments below.