[Galaxy S 4 General] BarryH_GEG:
Here's a suggestion for you and others coming over from the One forum. I know that since the One forum mods don't allow comparison threads every HTC loyalist from their forum is going to want to participate here. That's totally cool. You were extremely vocal about the numerous reasons you dislike the SGS4 and think that the One's the Holy Grail in just about every thread on the One forum where the SGS4 was even mentioned. Pointing out constructive differences between the phones and voicing an opinion is great. Using "ugly," "tinny," and "gimmicky" in multiple posts within two pages of each other is nothing more than flame bait. I know the mods are watching this thread so a word to the wise - voice your opinion, freely discuss the impact of HTC and Samsung's choices to your buying decision, talk about performance and features, and move on. It would be a shame for smart people to be issued infractions. Comparison threads can be incredibly useful and raise a lot of great points for people cross-shopping devices. They can also turn in to an endless series of childish "my phone can beat up your phone" rants. Which way it goes is up to all of us sharing in this thread.

The One's aluminum and the SGS4's plastic (again). 40MM people bought the SGS3 being plastic so, to a large number of people, it's acceptable. For those that think it's unacceptable there's a great alternative this year and HTC will happily sell them a One. People like AMOLED for various reasons. Some people prefer LCD for various reasons. It's a debate as old as the hills. Again, there are great LCD options for people looking for them. As for the SGS4's speakers; there appear to be two of them and the speaker grate is twice the size of the N2 and three times the size of the SGS3. So it's a bit early to call them "tinny". For people that live-and-die based on external sound performance and think amplified front-facing dual speakers are long overdue, again, HTC will happily sell them a One.

Summarizing where we are in this thread

Both the One and SGS4 are pretty evenly matched h/w wise.

The One has issues with browser performance and has FPS issues that are being attributed to s/w. The SGS4 could have its own s/w issues once it's released as it's the first time big.LITTLE is being used in a production application.

The camera in the One has been getting mixed reviews and the SGS4 camera doesn't even exist yet for comparison. The One's camera appears to do well in low light but will never provide the detail of 8/13MP cameras so that's going to be a trade-off. Standardized testing by Anandtech and GSMArena will show how they compare in different scenarios once the SGS4's given to the media.

HTC's s/w is way behind both Samsung and even LG with the exception of BlinkFeed and Zoe. Whether that matters or not is personal preference and telling people whether or not it should matter to them individually is stupid.

The One's display color temperature and accuracy is way off but it's got better brightness and contrast than all of HTC previously great LCD panels. Samsung's using a new SAMOLED tech in the SGS4 so how its display performs compared to earlier Samsung displays is a wild card until it's released and tested.

Wireless performance and the durability of HTC's all-aluminum design won't be proven until their in people's hands in decent quantities over at least two months. If there are no wireless issues on the One it will be the first time in history for an all-aluminum device. Samsung's evolution of the SGS4 pretty much leaves people knowing what they'll get.

Using S Health as an example, here's a great way to know whether a comment is flame bait or not. "S Health is a stupid feature that no one's going to use" is flame bait. How does anyone here know what millions of strangers think is imporant? "S Health is a feature I'll never use" is constructive. And in a comparison thread it's kind of interesting to see what's important to different people on the forum.

Peace out.