I am with the screen and dimensions - but the rest is very boring. It looks a great phone for people upgrading from other phones.
The design is what mattered to me the most and it's just to similar to what I have now.
Next stop - Google I/O
HTC One vs Sony Xperia Z vs Samsung Galaxy S IV thread
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I am with the screen and dimensions - but the rest is very boring. It looks a great phone for people upgrading from other phones.
The design is what mattered to me the most and it's just to similar to what I have now.
Next stop - Google I/O
I think I may as well just give up on this lot of phones and get a Lenovo K900 instead. (just a pity you can't get it yet and the screen is huge)
Was really hoping the GS4 would streamline the design more (more like the top end LG phone (status led around the home button etc)), have a proper metal/alloy rim to give it the sturdy and premium feel that it is sorely lacking. (and maybe finally put the back and menu buttons in the correct order)
Was really hoping the GS4 would streamline the design more (more like the top end LG phone (status led around the home button etc)), have a proper metal/alloy rim to give it the sturdy and premium feel that it is sorely lacking. (and maybe finally put the back and menu buttons in the correct order)
Now that the excitement and initial "new phone/tech, OMG!" has ended 
, I don't actually think it is worth parting with my S (considering I still have a year left, so would have to pay up front and wouldn't get very much for my S 
) as whilst the new gen. phones are great, they won't offer enough of an improvement overall (for my important areas/usage) except the bigger and better screen and improved battery life really. Would say the same applies but even more so for any GS 3 owners (especially the LTE owners). Hopefully the X will really bring something unique/new to the table and if not then hopefully KLP will be really special.
Roll on the sense V5 update for the S!
, I don't actually think it is worth parting with my S (considering I still have a year left, so would have to pay up front and wouldn't get very much for my S ) as whilst the new gen. phones are great, they won't offer enough of an improvement overall (for my important areas/usage) except the bigger and better screen and improved battery life really. Would say the same applies but even more so for any GS 3 owners (especially the LTE owners). Hopefully the X will really bring something unique/new to the table and if not then hopefully KLP will be really special.Roll on the sense V5 update for the S!
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The HTC and the Sony are definitely two of the most beautiful devices ever released. I'm also intrigued by the One's camera and the Z's waterproofness (although my guess is the Galaxy would probably take a fall better due to the bendy plastic casing - the glass on the Z might look nice but it's not a material known for its shock-absorption...).
If I had to pick between those 3 though, I'd probably go for the Samsung purely because the reviews on the other 2 suggest they're suffering from some serious battery life issues. It's a little surprising given they have 2300mAh batteries (my Desire Z originally came with only a 1300mAh battery and for the first few months of it life it easily went for 36 hours without a charge - gradually the battery got knackered of course and now I need to charge it halfway through the day), but I guess those massive screens come at a cost. Whatever the flaws of SAMOLED at least it's not quite as draining.
I'm gonna keep an eye on what people who buy them post on here, there's a chance that the battery problems are partly due to software inefficiencies that might get patched out.
If I had to pick between those 3 though, I'd probably go for the Samsung purely because the reviews on the other 2 suggest they're suffering from some serious battery life issues. It's a little surprising given they have 2300mAh batteries (my Desire Z originally came with only a 1300mAh battery and for the first few months of it life it easily went for 36 hours without a charge - gradually the battery got knackered of course and now I need to charge it halfway through the day), but I guess those massive screens come at a cost. Whatever the flaws of SAMOLED at least it's not quite as draining.
I'm gonna keep an eye on what people who buy them post on here, there's a chance that the battery problems are partly due to software inefficiencies that might get patched out.
I have only read one or two bad reviews regarding battery life and iirc for the verge it was because they had a faulty device (plus judged it within a day or two 
)?
Everywhere else seems to think the battery is good (there are users that say the battery life isn't good for them though), a couple of review sites are rating it to be better than the GS 3 and on par with the note II levels.
From the majority of user opinions on XDA, the battery life is looking to be better than the DNA, which has great battery life (it should be better, considering bigger battery, smaller screen, more power efficient SOC [iirc up to 40% more PE than the S4 pro when it is mostly utilised] and plus sense V5 has probably been optimised ot be more power efficient).
http://tweakers.net/reviews/2966/2/...kleine-imperfecties-accu-verrassend-goed.html
http://www.phonearena.com/news/HTC-One-battery-scores-very-well-in-endurance-tests_id40704
(if you go to the source, they talk a bit more about it)
http://www.benchmark.pl/testy_i_recenzje/htc-one-test/strona/19382.html?
LCD screens are very power efficient these days, in fact, the screen on the one/DNA is probably more power efficient "overall" than the last gen of SAMOLED screens, of course it all depends on what is being displayed on a SAMOLED screen though, if blacks/dark colours SAMOLED will be better, if whites/bright colours then LCD will be much better so generally SAMOLED is better for movies where as LCD would be better for browsing/general usage. Doesn't matter what colour is displayed on LCD, white/black etc. will use the same amount of power.
No idea what the new SAMOLED screen is like on the GS 4 though but it will be very interesting to see how the battery life is, I imagine that it will be better than the the xperia Z and one though.
)?Everywhere else seems to think the battery is good (there are users that say the battery life isn't good for them though), a couple of review sites are rating it to be better than the GS 3 and on par with the note II levels.
From the majority of user opinions on XDA, the battery life is looking to be better than the DNA, which has great battery life (it should be better, considering bigger battery, smaller screen, more power efficient SOC [iirc up to 40% more PE than the S4 pro when it is mostly utilised] and plus sense V5 has probably been optimised ot be more power efficient).
http://tweakers.net/reviews/2966/2/...kleine-imperfecties-accu-verrassend-goed.html
http://www.phonearena.com/news/HTC-One-battery-scores-very-well-in-endurance-tests_id40704
(if you go to the source, they talk a bit more about it)
http://www.benchmark.pl/testy_i_recenzje/htc-one-test/strona/19382.html?
LCD screens are very power efficient these days, in fact, the screen on the one/DNA is probably more power efficient "overall" than the last gen of SAMOLED screens, of course it all depends on what is being displayed on a SAMOLED screen though, if blacks/dark colours SAMOLED will be better, if whites/bright colours then LCD will be much better so generally SAMOLED is better for movies where as LCD would be better for browsing/general usage. Doesn't matter what colour is displayed on LCD, white/black etc. will use the same amount of power.
No idea what the new SAMOLED screen is like on the GS 4 though but it will be very interesting to see how the battery life is, I imagine that it will be better than the the xperia Z and one though.
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Well, nobody's gotten to test the GS4 yet, but certainly in the past generations Samsung has been better than everyone except Apple at making their top-end phones last. You're right about the HTC One though, it was the Verge's review that I read and I hadn't noticed that they'd since updated it! Still though, their re-test with the replacement unit suggests that it wouldn't even APPROACH the 8 hours video playback suggested in that site you linked to!
(BTW I really don't get why people link 3G talk time for battery life anymore! Surely the screen and CPU is by far a bigger battery drain than the radio in modern phones, and radio power usage would vary wildly with area and network congestion anyway, so unless 2 phones are tested in exactly the same room at the same time it's completely meaningless!)
Still though, their re-test with the replacement unit suggests that it wouldn't even APPROACH the 8 hours video playback suggested in that site you linked to! (BTW I really don't get why people link 3G talk time for battery life anymore! Surely the screen and CPU is by far a bigger battery drain than the radio in modern phones, and radio power usage would vary wildly with area and network congestion anyway, so unless 2 phones are tested in exactly the same room at the same time it's completely meaningless!)
Yeah HTC have only really got better in the last year with battery life on their phones i.e. one S, XL, DNA all have great battery life, same league as GS 3 (the x would have been a lot better if they didn't use tegra 3)
Well it depends entirely on the video format/player, screen brightness etc. that they use i.e. here is gsmarena's test of the dna:
http://www.gsmarena.com/htc_droid_dna-review-853p2.php
IIRC they set screen brightness to 50% and turn airplane mode on for the video test.
Also the verge were streaming content from netflix rather than internal storage (think gsmarena do the same too) like the site I linked to, so that will be even more demanding hence why it is probably much lower, not to mention other factors i.e. with sense there is a wifi "max performance" mode, which absolutely hammers my S battery and have found that it doesn't bring much, if any extra performance to wifi related tasks so they could have very well had that enabled as well.
As for verge's browser battery test, that is rather on the low side still IMO (impossible to tell really due to not knowing other factors), I wonder which browser they were using, chrome or the stock sense browser?
Will just have to wait and see more reviews i.e. gsmarena and anandtech as well as user reviews on battery life (which give much better idea as to real world usage)
Voice signal is just as demanding, if not more than those things (mobile data connection is even more demanding), turn on airplane mode and see how long your phone lasts And 1 hour of phone calls will usually always be listed in the top 1-3 on the usage chart. CPU chipsets these days are very power efficient, only time they will really suck battery life is during gaming/intensive tasks. Biggest drainers are:
- screen
- voice signal and data connection (3G/H/4G)
- GPS
Syncing can also hammer battery life if you have too much going on and refreshing too often.
Software optimisation is one of the most important factors too i.e. look at the nexus 4 battery life when it had 4.2 and now look at it with 4.2.2, one of the best phones for battery life.
Well it depends entirely on the video format/player, screen brightness etc. that they use i.e. here is gsmarena's test of the dna:
http://www.gsmarena.com/htc_droid_dna-review-853p2.php
IIRC they set screen brightness to 50% and turn airplane mode on for the video test.
Also the verge were streaming content from netflix rather than internal storage (think gsmarena do the same too) like the site I linked to, so that will be even more demanding hence why it is probably much lower, not to mention other factors i.e. with sense there is a wifi "max performance" mode, which absolutely hammers my S battery and have found that it doesn't bring much, if any extra performance to wifi related tasks so they could have very well had that enabled as well.
As for verge's browser battery test, that is rather on the low side still IMO (impossible to tell really due to not knowing other factors), I wonder which browser they were using, chrome or the stock sense browser?
Will just have to wait and see more reviews i.e. gsmarena and anandtech as well as user reviews on battery life (which give much better idea as to real world usage)
Voice signal is just as demanding, if not more than those things (mobile data connection is even more demanding), turn on airplane mode and see how long your phone lasts
And 1 hour of phone calls will usually always be listed in the top 1-3 on the usage chart. CPU chipsets these days are very power efficient, only time they will really suck battery life is during gaming/intensive tasks. Biggest drainers are:- screen
- voice signal and data connection (3G/H/4G)
- GPS
Syncing can also hammer battery life if you have too much going on and refreshing too often.
Software optimisation is one of the most important factors too i.e. look at the nexus 4 battery life when it had 4.2 and now look at it with 4.2.2, one of the best phones for battery life.
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zOMG! What about the NLED?!?!
Well that's just a given
Ah the htc doesn't have a good one does it
Can't have that. Grr htc.. Why.. There must be thousands of (sad) people like who NEED this feature
Probably not
I don't really mind it not being RGB, thing that really annoyed me with the one series was that it wasn't easy to see/notice, especially from an angle and the way it worked annoyed me, rather have the led slowly pulse rather than blink quickly or stay on instead.
I don't really mind it not being RGB, thing that really annoyed me with the one series was that it wasn't easy to see/notice, especially from an angle and the way it worked annoyed me, rather have the led slowly pulse rather than blink quickly or stay on instead.
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@Nexus18 that's pretty encouraging, I still think the S4 will trounce those 2 in terms of battery life because history does tend to repeat itself (OLEDs are the future imo, but it will be interesting to see whether the different SOCs different versions of the S4 will use will also have an impact on battery life), but it's good to know things aren't as bad with the One as I originally thought. The only worrying thing is that the phone would need disassembly if you ever did need to replace the battery. In my experience they lose about 50% of their capacity after a year and that's too short for me. I haven't yet seen an ifixit guide to know how easily replaceable it'll be.
BTW why do people love the RGB LED on the S3? The one I saw my friend use is RIDICULOUSLY bright, I'm surprised it doesn't keep him awake at night!
BTW why do people love the RGB LED on the S3? The one I saw my friend use is RIDICULOUSLY bright, I'm surprised it doesn't keep him awake at night!
I can see the GS 4 being better for battery life compared to the one too, although by how much? no idea. If the big little thing actually does work as described (along with the screen being as PE as they say) then I imagine that there could be a pretty significant difference.
Likewise, it will be very interesting to see, it is the main thing that I am looking forward to seeing/reading about the most regarding the GS 4.
Can't say I have had that problem with any of my phone's batteries diminishing (except my spica did need to be charged more often in the last 5 months of 2 years ownership, but I think the phone was on its way out as it was always slowing down/freezing and I had to do so many battery pulls
), at least nothing significant any way (although it is generally regarded as a disadvantage for li-ion batteries). And on that point, the HTC one is using a li-polymer battery as opposed to the general li-ion battery (used in the GS 4 and most smartphones) and iirc li-polymer doen't have that limitation i.e. aging over time thus loosing its "charge" (in fact if you look at the majority of phones where you can't remove the battery [another reason they probably use li-poly is due to the other advantage, form factor], they generally seem to use li-poly where as with phones that you can remove the battery generally use li-ion)
I think the same too, at first I thought it was much better, however, it is too bright/big, the desire/sensation, razr i, sony phones have the perfect NLED imo. Much better than a crappy NLED like the one S/X etc. though
Likewise, it will be very interesting to see, it is the main thing that I am looking forward to seeing/reading about the most regarding the GS 4.
Can't say I have had that problem with any of my phone's batteries diminishing (except my spica did need to be charged more often in the last 5 months of 2 years ownership, but I think the phone was on its way out as it was always slowing down/freezing and I had to do so many battery pulls
), at least nothing significant any way (although it is generally regarded as a disadvantage for li-ion batteries). And on that point, the HTC one is using a li-polymer battery as opposed to the general li-ion battery (used in the GS 4 and most smartphones) and iirc li-polymer doen't have that limitation i.e. aging over time thus loosing its "charge" (in fact if you look at the majority of phones where you can't remove the battery [another reason they probably use li-poly is due to the other advantage, form factor], they generally seem to use li-poly where as with phones that you can remove the battery generally use li-ion)I think the same too, at first I thought it was much better, however, it is too bright/big, the desire/sensation, razr i, sony phones have the perfect NLED imo. Much better than a crappy NLED like the one S/X etc. though
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