Fixya compiles, although they do not say how, the number of problems reported with smartphones that customers complain most about. We thought we would take a look at three popular devices, all from different manufacturers, and see how they compare. We chose the Samsung Galaxy S4, the HTC One, and the Moto X as representatives of their manufacturer, as well as popularity. It is very interesting to see how the complaints vary from device to device – some are expected, while others are not.
Let’s go in the order of the pictures, so that would make the Samsung Galaxy S4 our first device. Samsung started this Galaxy S line of phones in 2010, and in the past three years has forever changed the smartphone landscape and Samsung’s position as a world leader in smartphone sales. The Galaxy S4 has sold over 40 million devices worldwide, breaking all kinds of sales records, but that does not mean it is without its faults.
The three major issues are overheating (25%), battery problems (20%), and screen issues (20%). Fixya claims that with so much “horsepower under the hood, with such a tiny device,” it tends to get hot to the touch when subject to intense workloads for long periods of time, such as gaming or browsing the web. The fact that many owners do not game or web surfing for long periods, could explain why many users never experience this problem.
The battery complaints are normal for this type of high-powered device and that is that the battery drains too fast and must be recharged before the day is through.
Screen issues – while the screen of the Galaxy S4 “has earned accolades for its quality,” users feel that the screen is darker than other devices, making it harder to read text.
Next in line is the HTC One, which was decreed one of the most beautiful devices with its industrial design, made from aluminum, with dual stereo speakers, and quite unlike anything else on the market – but it too, suffers from several complaints. The first, battery life (30%), secondly audio issues (20%), and lastly, camera quality 20%).
This battery life is common with all smartphone users, but is exceptionally high in the HTC complaint department, not only because it drains too fast, but also that it takes an exceptionally long time to recharge the battery – making downtime, a real issue.
The audio issues stem from a hissing sound when you make a phone call, more so than listening to music via the speaker system. The hissing is only noticed by the user, not the person that you are speaking with, but using the speakerphone can cause the user a little distress.
The camera complaints are distressing for a smartphone of this quality. The users complain that, while pictures taken in lower light are of good quality, the pictures taken during the day are not as good as other smartphones.
Lastly, let us look at the Moto X. The first real join effort between Google and Motorola, produced, argumentatively, its best device ever. The number one complaint was lack of internal storage (30%) – most came with only 16GB that left only about 11GB of usable space and Motorola did not include a microSD slot for additional storage.
The next complaint was the screen quality (20%) – and while it had a very nice 720p display, it just was not up to the competition at 1080p and users complained about reading text on the screen and pictures not looking as good as other devices.
The other complaint that we have heard from all Motorola devices was the camera quality (20%). It just does not have the high-end performance that users expect from their smartphone. A recent software upgrade helped some, but there has to be quality in the lens and sensor as well.
To sum it all up, the complaints Fixya is receiving from users are the normal stuff for the most part – “my battery doesn’t last long enough,” “my smartphone camera doesn’t take pictures as good as my DSLR,” “I want more storage on my phone,” and “my speakers don’t sound like my stereo.” The most disturbing complaint is the overheating issue on the Galaxy S4 – Fixya seems to think it is “no big deal” because of the demands we place on our smartphones, but overheated batteries can cause problems, so let’s hope that Samsung has worked this issue out in the next Galaxy S5.
So let us know in the comments or on Google+ if you are experiencing any issues that Fixya has reported – was it an actual problem that caused a major issue, or simply an annoyance.