One M8 or S5

rhysduck

rhysduck

rhysduck

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Users of both the M8 and the S5... How do I decide between the two?

Both look like great phones.... The S5 seems the better phone spec wise but something is saying to get the M8. I've been a long time HTC user and tried an S3 once and didn't like it at all...

Things that are important are GPS usage and it's affect on battery life (I use ends onto to track running, cycling etc on my current Sensation XE), good camera, customisation and overall battery life.

Thanks :)
 
are you open to other suggestions?

if so i suggest the z3. get approx 2 days battery life with 5-6 hours screen time. the camera is great and it's waterproof for running/cycling in the rain.
 
HTC in my opinion I personally have an S5 and my brother has an M8 one. I can't offer too much comparisons however like you say they're very similar in a lot of aspects however I believe it just comes down to which one you think looks better. If I could I'd swap my phone for an M8 in a heart beat because of the build quality and metal feel to it rather than cheap plastic from Samsung but that's just my preference.

Another little niggle towards Samsung is there repair service my microphone broke and I've sent it away twice and they haven't managed to fix the problem which is extremely bad and they won't send me a new handset which is terrible in my opinion. Each repair taking about 10-14 working days. so around 3 weeks. HTC on the other hand I sent two older phones they wouldn't even turn on or charge and within the same week of sending them I had them both back repaired and working perfectly.

So overall I think HTC would be my choice for the piece of mind if anything was to go wrong with the phone and the rest is entirely up to you with regards to aesthetics.

Sorry to bore you :D
 
Don't have either but I'd go with the M8 for the look and feel, and the fact that its not an ugly Samsung. Actually that's not entirely true, I'd go for a Z3 but that wasn't one of the options.
 
I've been looking at these 2 phones as I'm due an upgrade in 2 weeks and I'm leaning towards the s5.

Seems to have much better battery life
better camera
I actually like the feel of the back, it's got some grip to it. That together with the squared off sides, it seems really easy to hold whereas many reviews of the m8 say the curved back/sides and the metal finish make it very slippy. For a device I'll carry all the time, this is quite important to me
Lock button on the side rather than the top. Even on my Moto G, I'd hate for the lock button to be up there.

I do like the M8 though :D
 
mame said:
I've been looking at these 2 phones as I'm due an upgrade in 2 weeks and I'm leaning towards the s5.

Seems to have much better battery life
Click to expand...

What is this based on? Anandtech puts the M8 ahead for the most part, either way there both very close to each other.
 
Fallen god said:
What is this based on? Anandtech puts the M8 ahead for the most part, either way there both very close to each other.
Click to expand...

I'd just seen in it youtube reviews. Hard to find which reviews and which part of the video without watching half of them again. If they are quite similar, that would sway me more to the m8. I just wish that lock button was on the side!

Ok not a proper review but it was the first one I could find again. at 6:00


I'd just seen similar to that in a few reviews
 
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My opinion Z3>M8>S5

I don't agree about the M8 having a poor camera though. I had the M7 and for the usual scenarios in which you use a mobile to take pictures i.e. Low light, portraits etc, it's really good.

Probably not great for landscapes but what phone is?
 
mame said:
I'd just seen in it youtube reviews. Hard to find which reviews and which part of the video without watching half of them again. If they are quite similar, that would sway me more to the m8. I just wish that lock button was on the side!

Ok not a proper review but it was the first one I could find again. at 6:00

I'd just seen similar to that in a few reviews
Click to expand...

I typically stick with Anandtech for battery life tests, they run them multiply times (which is why their reviews always take longer), and standardise them at 200nit brightness.

http://anandtech.com/show/7903/samsung-galaxy-s-5-review/5

Like I said the difference are very small. You will notice the S5 does really well in the GPU benchmarks but it is due to it being water resistant and not getting ready of heat quickly enough so it runs at a lower FPS even thou their using the same SoC.

more details here. It is also evident in the GPU tests they do on CNET, but it could also have really bad effects on battery life if there tests uses a lot of GPU benchmarks.

http://anandtech.com/show/7942/galaxy-s5-followup

But a lot of the difference between the devices is camera (S5 wins), build (M8 wins), speakers (M8), software (I really think touchwiz is just bad). AT the end of their day, there both pretty solid and so are most high end Android devices today.
 
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Thanks for the input guys.

First off the slipperyness / polished nature of the M8 doesn't bother me as I'll be using a case/condom whatever with it anyway.

The camera isn't a biggy as I have a nice compact that does great photos but it needs to be decent... it's not going to be bad so the M8 seems fine.

Battery is a big one for me... I wont be using the phone heavily for games for it shouldn't be too much of an issue.
I do however currently use my phone (HTC Sensation) for tracking my running/cycling but it does not need to be waterproof as it's usually in a Camelbak/Arm Pouch. (This will change when I eventually have a GPS Sports Watch)

Hmm...
 
For me it's the s5, best screen, best camera, i can appreciate why other people give some weighting to perceived build quality and materials but i give those categories practically zero in my pro's and neg's and i take most of my pics in well lit environments ie daytime in or outdoors or a house in the evening.

I also prefer how Samsung organise the screen real estate and bezel ratio, all that being said unless a phone has a major publicised flaw they're all worth buying these days unlike say 2/3 years ago when every year there were clear favorites and major flaws in the rest.

In short go with what you like most but the Sony z3c would be my choice at the moment and probably a Note 4 after xmas.
 
Went for an S5 because I don't like the curved back of the M8. S5 felt nicer in my hand. However both are great phones and I doubt you would be unhappy with either.

Z3 seems great too.
 
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