yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Galaxy S 4 General] djbenny1:
very surprised and somewhat skeptical about the gs4 being louder.

im no expert on acoustics so not sure if it could be a factor or not, but since the One speakers are relatively far apart, they place the mic somewhere in the middle, whereas for the gs4 theyre right beside eachother and they can put the mic right there which may result in higher reading.

had a quick look at their testing process and didnt notice anything relating to distances of mics or anything

maybe someone can fill us in?
[Galaxy S 4 General] BarryH_GEG:
The testing GSMArena does is fairly limited and focused on calls vs. media. So the results are correct for what's tested but what's tested may not reflect the broader ways people evaluate sound performance.

And while the quality of the loudspeaker sound is difficult to measure and is for the most part a subjective matter, we can effectively measure how loud it is.

For this, we use a digital noise/loudness meter which measures the peak loudness of the phones and tablets we review, in decibels (dB).

We do our tests in a soundproof studio taking measurements with the handset loudspeaker facing the loudness meter at a distance of exactly 1 m. For each test we make several consecutive measurements - we usually disregard the highest readings and take the lowest of the maximum values, as that's least likely to have been misread. We test three different types of audio samples for three different scenarios:

1) A phone ringing. For the first part of the test we use a ringtone which resembles the ringing of an old rotary phone, because it seems that most phones do well when we use it.

2) Pink noise. Next we try a sample of pink noise. Our readings with it are pretty indicative on how well the handset loudspeaker can play most music.

3) Human voice, male. This is an important test, since if you tend the use the loudspeaker for speakerphone purposes, loudness is really important, regardless of whether you are in the conference room or in your car.

Once we have the results in db for all three sound samples, we sum them up and use a in-house developed formula to produce a qualitative description of the loudness levels: Below Average, Average, Good, Very Good and Excellent.

As many of our results are separated by a difference of only a few decibels, it is important to keep in mind that the decibel is a logarithmic unit, which means that a reading of +3dB represents roughly two times the power.​
[Galaxy S 4 General] djbenny1:
Barry if you are interested and plan to stick around this forum for the foreseeable, would you like me to have the thread transferred over to you so you can produce an impartial and informative OP that can act as a useful resource to anyone coming looking for a comparison?

Having my one already I'll probably not be on this side much!
[Galaxy S 4 General] JesseMT4G:
Interesting to see that graph. People are constantly complaining about the Ones ringtones being to loud on the lowest setting.

Wonder if the same happens with the s4?

Surprised the Optimus G did so well...crazy!

Sent from a galaxy far away!
[Galaxy S 4 General] shox22:
Screen comparisson:

http://www.phonearena.com/reviews/S...One-vs-Galaxy-S-III-vs-Lumia-920_id3286#4-One

And again the htc lcd is superior to the rest :good: (in scientific point of view)
[Galaxy S 4 General] barondebxl:
How do you like your One? How is it compare to your expectations?
[Galaxy S 4 General] squidder:
I hate when people have arguments like this. Hell if that's the case how about none of us upgrade crept every few years cause "honestly my phone works great and I don't think I'll notice the boost."
[Galaxy S 4 General] djbenny1:
Well I was one of those who had slight defects with the speaker covers not being lined up properly, so it went back and I SHOULD get my new one tomorrow. I did have silver but I am switching to black!

Can honestly say that the phone itself is incredible though, there is no slowing it down no matter what I tried. Games looked phenomenal and it makes everything you can do on a smartphone a pleasure.

I'm sure gs4 will be the same, but I just prefer the "One package" personally.
[Galaxy S 4 General] barondebxl:
Oh that's cool, you definitely don't have to explain your choice, the One is fantastic. I can see why you're saying that it makes everything you can do on a smartphone a pleasure since its awesome to hold it, the sound is amazing and the screen is awesome + performance is top notch.
[Galaxy S 4 General] Zyte:
In all honesty it comes down to 2 things

removable battery, and a better positioning of the power button on the SG4 compared to the One.

Might sound stupid for some, but being able to get an expanded battery, and giving it some extra juice, so that even though i might use it extensively throughout a day, it will last :) (Hopefully)
[Galaxy S 4 General] barondebxl:
Well it comes down to many things and personal opinion ( I know it sounds repetitive since it has always been said). It's just about respecting someone else's choice that's all it is.
[Galaxy S 4 General] Zyte:
Wasn't meant to be dis respective in anyway, if taken so sorry :)

And yeah, it is definitively down to personal opinion, i was originally aiming for the HTC One, but those two changed it for me :)
[Galaxy S 4 General] BarryH_GEG:
I guess it depends on who you ask. If you like the One/LCD combo I'd go with PhoneArena's opinion. If you're pro SGS4/AMOLED I'd go with GSMArena's review. From GSMArena's comment PhoneArena's testing may have been limited to 300 cd/m2 if they had Tone Control enabled. And the worst part of SAMOLED displays outdoors has always been reading white print on a dark background which is how TW was designed. That's been changed in TW this year (thank God). Let's face it, if someone's "review shopping" to find a justification to love their choice or ridicule a different device chances are they'll be able to find a review that makes the point they're looking for. I prefer LCD, have an AMOLED phone now, and wouldn't make my next purchase dependent on either of them. Both technologies have evolved so their equally good overall with some different but equal trade-offs.

GSMArena on brightness

The brightness levels of the Samsung Galaxy S4 are about on par with the rest of the company's AMOLEDs, which is to say not very high.

However, due to their low reflectivity, this doesn't affect outdoor performance

. Keep in mind that

enabling the auto tone setting in the screen option limits the maximum brightness to under 300 nits

, so if that matters to you, you better keep it off.​

And PhoneArena

This lack of brightness also leads to worse visibility in outdoor conditions for the AMOLED screens

. The Galaxy S4 isn't unusable, but it's perceptibly harder to read than the bright screens of the Apple iPhone 5 and HTC One, which lead the pack in this respect.​

GSMArena on viewing angles

What you should take away from all this is that the final weak point of the Super AMOLED screens has been taken care of and the Galaxy S4 offers image quality like no other smartphone on the market. Its impressive contrast and

almost perfect viewing angles

make everything on the screen pop, regardless of your viewpoint.​

And PhoneArena

Then come

the AMOLED displays of the Galaxy S4 and Galaxy S III, which are quick to become bluish even when looked at a slight angle.

Otherwise, they do well retaining relative contrast and brightness. However, the quality LCD screens of the iPhone 5 and One do equally well, and even manage to retain a more natural color balance.​
[Galaxy S 4 General] djbenny1:
Everyone knows PhoneArena is the more reliable source........

:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes: hehehe
[Galaxy S 4 General] BarryH_GEG:
There are two sites I trust and two I wish did more testing. I trust Anandtech and GSMArena because they do labratory controlled tests using a published and consistent methodology. Their writers have h/w and s/w engineering backgrounds and their full reviews contain the same items tested for each device and are typically 8 tio 10 pages long. Tweakers and SweDroid are both good too but pretty random in which devices they test. And I'll never compare one site's test results to another's because they all test differently. There's a thread going in the One forum claiming that because 11 sites got cd/m2 readings ranging from 347 to 650, a 40% variance, that HTC's shipping phones that way. Uhm, OK? :rolleyes: Writer's on most sites are 20-something's who are randomly assigned to test whatever phone happened to show up on their door step that day. If I just wanted opinions I have all of yours. ;)
[Galaxy S 4 General] barondebxl:
Oh no lol the comment wasn't aimed at you, I was saying in general :)
[Galaxy S 4 General] skivnit:
Phone arena has been caught rigging poll results lazt week whn doing a survey on which device people intend to buy. I wouldn't trust their review. Let the HTC one lovers have it. Their beloved phone is the best ever made :rolleyes:
[Galaxy S 4 General] barondebxl:
Well, actually phonearena gave a better score to the S4 overall.

Htc One review has a 9.1/10

S IV review has a 9.3/10

Still I like gsmarena's review better because it is more thorough, it feels like they took their time and didn't rush their review just to get page views. Like Barry said earlier, we can't just go around and do review shopping to find the best one that pleases us, I read all of them and just leave it at that. But I really am looking forward to pocketnow, phonedog and anandtech reviews.
[Galaxy S 4 General] Baldilocks:
Ray's reviews are questionable. John V usually does a little better. Like you said, GSMArena is a lot better though.
[Galaxy S 4 General] barondebxl:
Oh yeah definitely, John V is their best guy.
[Galaxy S 4 General] Serilei:
Not sure, each one has its own specifics, I think the S4 has the upper hand with new software at the moment, has more to offer than the One I feel. But still like the overall of the One
[Galaxy S 4 General] androidkking:
GSMArena gives a detailed review and all PhoneArena does is give an overview!!
[Galaxy S 4 General] StuartTheFish:
From what I can tell reading the reviews, is that the CPU, gpu and ram are the same on both handsets, except for the s4 being overclocked slightly (can't get the 8 core version in the Uk), and the s4 is on android 4.2.2 instead of 4.1.2.

But since the one will get updated anyway, the android version is irrelevant to me, more so when I'd probably just end up rooting them anyway. That'd also take care of the clock speed difference since I could just up the one to 1.9 too. Sense is okay but I feel my sensation is better without it, and I don't like touchwiz either. Again, irrelevant if I root the phone and change rom. HTC have always been a bit slack at releasing drivers and stuff though, so maybe the one will be more of a pain for developers in future?

Reading the reviews, it seems it all boils down to me having a choice between the s4 having a better camera, or the one having better speakers. Does that sound right to you guys?
[Galaxy S 4 General] djbenny1:
the S4 has DDR3 ram, and the One DDR2.

i would say to be honest that for most people the main deciding factors are: stock software, design, removable battery and expandable memory.
[Galaxy S 4 General] StuartTheFish:
But if those aren't important?
[Galaxy S 4 General] djbenny1:
its probable that you will never see any real world difference, yea

if none of the 4 things above are important to you, then you will have a much tougher choice.

for me, the first 2 were much more important than the last 2, hence i got the One
[Galaxy S 4 General] pack21:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jMIo3Tykmg

5:00 - 5:21 made my decision, I want an S4. :D
[Galaxy S 4 General] StuartTheFish:
Do you think it's true what they say about the camera and speaker differences though? How do you find the camera on the one?
[Galaxy S 4 General] djbenny1:
you should go over to the one forum and look at the photos taken in the thread there.

also check these out: http://www.flickr.com/groups/htc-one/

ive only had mine for like 5 days and im not a massive phone camera user anyway as i have a dedicated camera, but i am happy enough

edit. just noticed that the majority of photos in that flickr group are taken with One X, One V etc *facepalm*

check out the One forum
[Galaxy S 4 General] Chillz88:
Cool vid.. what did he do at 5:21.. hover for screen on?? Those eye tracking seem cool ..

.....
[Galaxy S 4 General] pack21:
It seems S4 can be wake up by gesture .... which is very good for peeking notifications, hours, etc, when we have hands busy eating or writing.

cool feature.
[Galaxy S 4 General] razielpr:
I prefer the HTC one
[Galaxy S 4 General] MohJee:
It's the same quick glance feature present in note 2
[Galaxy S 4 General] StuartTheFish:
Can't be that good for battery life though can it?
[Galaxy S 4 General] TingTingin:
U can turn it off

S4 INFO
[Galaxy S 4 General] pack21:
That's why we are removable batteries lovers, be able to use all phone functions without worries of battery. :D
[Galaxy S 4 General] StuartTheFish:
I've not once had to swap batteries, that's what in car chargers and external battery packs are for.
[Galaxy S 4 General] pack21:
Yeap, because it is removable u can abuse on charging car and external power pack ..... if battery damaged in time simply change with a new battery. :D

To do the same in HTC ONE is a impossible mission, i hate phones inaccessibles to battery, once damaged the phone is dead.
[Galaxy S 4 General] joelteixeira:
Could someone confirm what the maximum resolution on S4 with 16:9 ratio? If I understood well on GSM Arena article the 13MP resolution produces 4:3 ratio pictures. I'm asking cause my wife bought a Xperia S (12mb camera) but we've always used the 9MP (maximum widescreen resolution).

About dual shot feature (using both cameras): is it possible to see the main camera picture without the frame or is it bundled?

Tapatalked from my GNex
[Galaxy S 4 General] barondebxl:
SICK!!!!!
[Galaxy S 4 General] Jack Underwood:
The need for removable batteries is greatly reduced from 2 years ago, in my opinion. But still a plus without a doubt.
[Galaxy S 4 General] Basil3:
Yeah, would be cool to show my friends once or twice, then I'd remember it's easier to use your finger to scroll up and down. Hovering your finger above the screen seems awkward as well. Good to see they're trying to innovate, but I think they miss the point that for some of the gestures you need to have a second hand free, or need to be holding the phone directly in front of your face (which I rarely do). I'm still planning on getting the S4, but don't expect to use many of the gimmicks.
[Galaxy S 4 General] pack21:
I understand these functions will not be used in normal usage, but for example will be great giving you some assistance when you're driving with S4 in a dock.
[Galaxy S 4 General] androidkking:
what some consider gimmicks are what software innovation is all about! though i may not use all of them too, but its good to see such ideas come to life, where there is no need to actually touch the touchscreen..!!!!;)
[Galaxy S 4 General] park.cean:
eh

i don't think the camera is better on the S4 just because of touchwiz. it's alot smoother on the HTC platform imo.
[Galaxy S 4 General] BarryH_GEG:
I know a lot of people think all Samsung's s/w tricks are gimmicks. Depending on how you use your phone some are incredibly useful. Like when you're looking at a dozen e-mails either in the app or widget and only a couple of bits of info are visible. To see more you normally have to open the message. With hover you can explode the sender(s), subject, and body so you can preview all 12 messages without having to open them. Same thing for the calendar, gallery, and browser. Here's an example from the N2.

You bring up an interesting point. Let's say you leased a BMW two years ago and it had heated seats and a tilt steering wheel. The former you use occasionally but not a lot and the latter you used once to set the position when you bought the car. Your lease is up and you're looking at a M-B to replace your BMW. It's a totally comparable car, looks a little better than the similar new BMW, and costs the same. You assume it has heated seats and a tilt steering wheel but in the dealership you find it out it doesn't.

That's the same thing every current Samsung device owner is going to go through when they look at the One's non-removable battery and non-expandable storage this year. They'll be losing two features they've had previously and will notice. Whether giving up two things they’ve previously had is a big deal or not all depends on the owner’s outlook. Changing brands to get less than you had before isn't a position HTC should have put people in. How much it matters remains to be seen.
[Galaxy S 4 General] TingTingin:
Exactly whether or not something is a gimmick is a opinion it's like when someone says a game is repetitive that sounds like a fact but it isn't repetitive is simply when re-doing a particular task becomes annoying or tedious if the task is fun then it isn't repetitive

Just like with a phone if u like or use a particular feature then for u that feature isn't a gimmick whereas it may be for someone else Samsung phones are packed with so many features that your bound to find something that you find gimmicky I don't really see how people can hate on Samsung for having to many features

S4 INFO
[Galaxy S 4 General] joelteixeira:
About this:

www.sammobile.com/2013/03/28/samsung-exynos-confimed-lte-exynos-5-octa/

In Brazil the press announced that the 3G version will use the exynos while the S600 will be a little bit more expensive and the only one LTE ready.

Would be correct to assume that the LTE radio from the exynos version is intentionally disabled?

Tapatalked from my GNex
[Galaxy S 4 General] BarryH_GEG:
TW has nothing to do with the camera. These are pictures taken with both cameras by GSMArena. Which do you think are better? The camera with 13MP or 4MP? The One's image stabilization is a great feature that the SGS4 doesn't have. But in most scenarios, especially "point and shoot" which is how 90% of people will end up using it, the SGS4's camera will deliver better results.

These are from my One X (loved the phone, hated the camera). It has the same issue the One's camera does in terms of artifacts, noise, and compression and it had twice the number of pixels (8MP vs 4MP).

Obviously the One forum thinks the UltraPixel camera is the second coming of Christ. This is from a discussion on their forum. To get the best results from the One requires playing with the settings before the shot and adjusting the pic after the shot using s/w. Speaking only for myself, I don't want to have to work that hard to get good pictures taken with my mobile. And most of the pictures I take are spontaneous and you can't tell a "scene" to wait while you futz around with the camera's settings. A good mobile camera shouldn't require "work." HTC's said their releasing a major s/w update for the One's camera so that might change things.

---------- Post added at 12:23 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:15 PM ----------

Neither Exynos or S-600 have in imbedded radio. The radio is a seperate module. There are Octa/LTE versions of the SGS4 for China and Korea. The current LTE basebands support up to six LTE frequencies and none used in China and Korea are globally compatible. So Samsung could deploy Octa/LTE everywhere and aren't. The radio used in the Octa/HSPA SGS4 isn't LTE capable at the h/w level.
[Galaxy S 4 General] joelteixeira:
We can't forget that 1.this pictures seems to be taken before the update that greatly improved the camera pictures (like water to wine). And 2. GSM Arena said that video quality from GS4 is worse than GS3.

"Main disadvantages

*Design is a bit played out by now

Hyperglaze finish doesn't feel as premium as aluminum on HTC One or glass on Xperia Z

*No FM radio

*Video recording is slightly worse than on the Galaxy S III; FOV in video is pretty narrow

*Shared camera interface makes framing tricky"

Tapatalked from my GNex
[Galaxy S 4 General] legion1911:
Are you sure HTC will even exist in 2 Years? I am not sure.

They are in financial troubles and if this HTC One is not a success, the CEO will resign with the chaos that will bring.

Why? Because their quality assurance sucks.

HTC has become famous for they poor quality checks. Sure, the demo device is checked! But not the device you will have in your hands (unless things at their factory really changed).

You really want to buy from a company that is on the same path as Nokia just because they are using carbon for their shell instead of polycarbonate?

Samsung's plastic does not shield the WLAN/3G/4G/GPS signal and keeps the device light!

You want special materials? Buy a S4 and put it in a cover made of almost extinct Leopard skin.

Buy a pink pig skin cover for it if you have to.
[Galaxy S 4 General] Basil3:
I want to cover in a premium feeling metal.... Any recommendations? :rolleyes:
[Galaxy S 4 General] Baldilocks:
This: http://us.cygnett.com/smartphone/sm...rushed-aluminium-galaxy-s4-pc-metal-case.html

Or this: http://us.cygnett.com/smartphone/sm...rushed-aluminium-galaxy-s4-pc-metal-case.html

:eek:
[Galaxy S 4 General] legion1911:
Check what ifixit says about the HTC One:

http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/HTC+One+Teardown/13494/3
[Galaxy S 4 General] notsointeresting:
So I was resolved on buying the One. Even though I do like both.

But news that the 64gb HTC One is now going to be an AT&T exclusive has made me seriously reconsider.

As long as I got 64gb I didn't care about expandable storage but this is a bit disappointing

I'm sure others are probably going to be torn now too.
[Galaxy S 4 General] legion1911:
Nice!

There you have your premium material cover for the S4. :good:
[Galaxy S 4 General] Basil3:
Do you pull your phone to pieces regularly? What do you do with it when it's pulled apart? Practice putting it back together?

Don't worry about HTC, they know how to disassemble their phone, even if ifixit are clueless!

---------- Post added at 08:52 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:49 PM ----------

I didn't think it was possible....

......those cases make the S4 even uglier :D
[Galaxy S 4 General] Baldilocks:
That's your opinion. And, you know what they say about opinions....
[Galaxy S 4 General] legion1911:
Also consider this:

Most of us use android and android devices (instead of Apple) because we want to be free to do with the device all we want to do with it.

Now there is this trend by Google and co. to close this wonderful OPEN ecosystem.

The HTC One does not allow you to expand your memory with a sd card. S4 allows you to do it.

You can expand your S4 64GB with a 64GB sdcard and you have 128GB of total memory to bring all your full hd movies with you. If you have 256GB of FullHD Movies that you want to bring with you on a vacation, you just put out one 64GB SD card and put in another 64GB SD card. THE HTC One does not give you this freedom.

The HTC One does not allow you to exchange your battery. S4 allows you to do it.

You are on a long flight or on a long train trip and you want to spend the hours playing your favorite game or by watching HD Movies. The battery is empty in the middle of your trip. With the HTC One you are lost. You have to turn off the HTC One and have a terrible trip. With the S4 you just put in another battery and continue to enjoy your device.

Do not support the trend to cut down on our freedoms by buying devices without expandable memory and without exchangeable battery.
[Galaxy S 4 General] force70:
Funny you mention quality control, the OP had to send his one back due to some type of fitment issue. For a company with so much riding on this device you would think they would tighten up QC.
[Galaxy S 4 General] mackster248:
That doesn't bother the millions upon millions that purchase phones without expandable memory and removable battery.

It's here to stay, and that's just the way it is. Although I am glad Samsung doesn't.

Besides, why would most ppl want to carry a sh*t ton of movies? A couple is fine, then swap em out after you're done with it, lol.

Sent from my Nexus 4