[HTC Amaze 4G] hatlesssandman:
Well what I meant by the s4 and xperia z failing to deliver was:

Xperia z has significantly lower battery times (especially while watching video according to gsmarena) and can't be overcome because its also non removable; secondly it has heat issues, meaning it gets warm while doing low level tasks (common problem read the xperia z forums); thirdly it does hiccup from time to time and most phones do (maybe a limitation of the s4 pro chipset); design wise its a beautiful device as well but due to above short comings it fails to deliver against the current competition.

S4:

Design wise, way too similar to the s3 to the extent that one can't tell until you actually hold it in your hands and notice the subtle differences given that you are quite knowledgeable about both phones, in layman terms doesn't stand out at all in the overcrowded sea of galaxy s3 phones that everyone and their mothers seem to have = major turn off (personally I would buy the s3 because it will be a lot cheaper)

Secondly if you watch some YouTube videos the s4 does stutter from time to time (not as liquid smooth as the iPhone 5 or this generations device should be) which i think is a limitation of touchwiz and can easily be overcome by a custom ROM, however the HTC one is already liquid smooth (much like the iPhone 5) on stock! Imagine how the beast will fly on aosp!

Thirdly, like I mentioned before the screen quality does not match up at all against the one look for yourself on YouTube or in person would be even better and you will see a world of difference (but then I anticipate you will say that you love amoled...which I will never understand...)

In the end the things that HTC has bought to the table this time around will make iPhone users envy Android in the form of HTC one, because most iPhone users love their phones because of its looks/design/feel/and premium feel which has finally been addressed in HTC iteration of Android this time around, it truly of jaw dropping design and quality. Secondly, they have started the trend of front facing speakers (yes i know there have been other phones like the HTC surround with a similar speaker setup) but this time they look good doing it. Even though on paper the s4 is thinner... it looks chunky compared to the one....maybe due to its squarish / boring design. Camera is a subjective area so I won't mention that as a plus (could be a minus for a lot of folks I guess). The only downside I reiterate is the non removable battery which I agree is a bummer, but like I mentioned battery life is acceptable and since it does trump almost all phones out right now its more than acceptable, hence there isn't much left to be desired with the one. Also I believe it's common sense if a developer version is out, it should be development friendly... the name gives that away, now if the carriers lock the device down then it's not HTCs fault, heck the Verizon galaxy nexus was pretty locked down and it was a nexus device! So have a little faith I know HTC has fell short before but they are seriously trying to turn this around, and I was looking through the one forums and people have already unlocked the at@t version bootloader via HTC dev. So things are looking up in that department. I did my research on all 3 phones and from my analysis the one came out on top.