yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Galaxy S 4 General] BarryH_GEG:
The SGS4's antennas get half (or more) of their signal through the back of the device. A metal cover is not your friend. ;)

---------- Post added at 02:37 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:26 PM ----------

Here's the thing. All the manufacturers are now telling us how fantastic things look on their new 1080P displays. Content at that resolution is big. A feature-length movie rip can be 10GB. Here in the U.S., AT&T's got the exclusive for the 64GB One. That means 32GB One owners can have two 10GB movies loaded at the same time in their 25GB of usable space. And using MTP to swap files is a pain in the ass. I take my SD cards out and connect them to my PC (or server) via a USB 3.0 card reader. For people that have access to clean Wi-Fi and/or have unlimited LTE data plans storage size and expandability are no big deal. For people that travel where what you bring with you is what you've got 25GB of user available storage isn't a lot, at least not in 2013 with a 1080P display that you want to take advantage of.

But here's the silly thing. This debates gone on for two years now simply because HTC won't put SD card slots in their phones. Why? The DNA in the U.S. doesn't have one but the global Butterfly does. The One for China has one but the global One doesn't. When you're sales are in the crapper why take the risk of not including a common feature? That's the real question. And if they did include one this debate wouldn't exist.
[Galaxy S 4 General] legion1911:
You go on vacation to Australia and want to film all your tours in full hd? With S4 you are free to do it.

You go on a business trip to China and want to bring a lot of data with you? With S4 you can do it, without spending lots of $$$$$ for a 64GB device.

My friend, the concept of freedom is, that you do what you want and do not have to give explanations about why you want to do it.

It is not your business why people might want that freedom.
[Galaxy S 4 General] Basil3:
USB OTG. Cheap and convenient.
[Galaxy S 4 General] BarryH_GEG:
There's no direct correlation between Samsung's expandable storage and/or removable batteries and why they are so successful. But, they are the Android market leader and getting larger every month. So those millions upon millions you refer to are a smaller and smaller piece of the pie. Why would any manufacturer think it's a good idea to exclude features a market leader's included in a proven and successful strategy?

I've met with many senior level marketing heads of Asian companies. Western customer's needs and behaviors befuddle them as they're sometimes seen as illogical. Rather than saying "oh, well" and complying with those needs they think they know best and go their own way. I'm sure that's where HTC's 1,800MHz batteries and 11GB of user available storage came from. How many generations of car design did it take Honda and Toyota to realize success in the U.S. would require them to embrace "bigger is better" even if it's not. Giving the market something it values, even if it's illogical or emotional, is just common sense. HTC may be right about non-removable batteries and non-expandable storage. But that's been part of their formula for two years know and that formula’s got them teetering on the abyss. Time for a new formula perhaps? ;)
[Galaxy S 4 General] notsointeresting:
I think that might have been just a tad bit dramatic.
[Galaxy S 4 General] BarryH_GEG:
But wouldn't it be nice to cross what could potentially be an easy one to solve off the list?

What Apple, with their cult following, completely different product (OS, content, 4" display, propriatary connectors), and larger-than-Samsung market share, does or doesn't do is hardly a case for justifying HTC's product decisions. HTC's competing with Samsung, not Apple. And with HTC's whopping $400MM global marketing budget they'd be insane to even try to compete with Apple. Even Samsung with their $12B marketing budget's trapped in a dog fight.
[Galaxy S 4 General] djbenny1:
ive never wanted to do it until now (because i havent needed to), but i prefer the idea of having a small external hard drive and connecting that to my phone to watch movies when i want, that way i can also use it with a tv or computer etc while keeping my phone free.

probably cheaper than purchasing a fast 64GB sd card too (and probably reads/writes faster), no?

it would be nice to have sd slot on my one, but for me, with 32gb i would probably never even use it. i know a lot of people are different though.

as far as battery goes, the only reason i ever took it out previously was when i soft bricked my phone lol
[Galaxy S 4 General] Basil3:
Dont confuse removable batteries with open ecosystems. They're not the same thing.

By the way, I haven't used trains since I used to live in England, but the longest train journey I did was 4 hours and the trains had powerpoints.

I also travelled from Ireland to new Zealand for Xmas, which is about as far as you can travel, and every seat had a USB jack that you could charge a phone on. Even if it didn't have that, I have an external power pack.

---------- Post added at 10:36 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:33 PM ----------

I put movies on to a USB stick and connect via USB OTG. Is actually really good, because I can then plug it in to my phone, Nexus 7, laptop or TV, depending on what I want to watch it on.
[Galaxy S 4 General] barondebxl:
Thats a good point. Its true that no device launches without some type of issue but HTC is known to have QC issues so it does not help them to have speaker grills falling off or gap by the edges.
[Galaxy S 4 General] BarryH_GEG:
I could use a catheter and go much longer before stopping to use the bathroom. It doesn't mean I'd pick it as a first choice. ;)
[Galaxy S 4 General] djbenny1:
haha but i mean essentially you're doing exactly the same thing when you carry a spare battery no? the only difference is that you have to take the cover off, take the old battery out, put the fresh battery in and switch on again. and ok maybe a spare battery is a bit smaller
[Galaxy S 4 General] BarryH_GEG:
Be fair. Samsung's had their share of issues too. Remember the GN 2G radio issue? The hundreds of thousands of marble blue back covers that had to be destroyed delaying the blue SGS3 launch? The SGS4's design isn't that radical a change so there shouldn't be that many issues. But I'll bet any of you here there will be a multipage "Does your AMOLED display look like this?" thread that's on the home page for the life of the device. AMOLED's a lot harder to meet tolerances on than LCD. So every device will have its share of "issues." The ones to watch for are those that impact a high percentage of owners.

P.S. - The SGS4 should always have more issues as its projected to sell 4X as many units as the One. More units, more owners, more issues. But the percentage is what to watch for.
[Galaxy S 4 General] barondebxl:
Yeah lots of people are fine with 32 gig, including myself. I dont play games on my phone (but im a beast at call of duty on my ps3 lol). Still, its the fact that you have the option of having more storage that is awesome. My number one use of storage space is backed up Roms. It can fill up real quick with heavy touchwiz roms but the expandable storage saves the day.

As far as removable battery, what if the phone that you purchased as a faulty battery? What if it needs to stay plugged in or the phone shuts off? Or what if it dies too quickly? Having it removable gives you the option to EASILY replace it yourself, no need to send it and wait a few weeks for it to be replaced. I realise it doesnt happen everyday but it can happen and having it user replacable can save you some trouble. Samsung says " u ok with the battery and storage ? Good. You need more? There, you can choose what you want". I love that.
[Galaxy S 4 General] force70:
All true enough, but i dont remember sammy ever having so much riding on one device nor do i remember the sammy CEO putting his job on the line for one ;)

You would think that they could have launched on time and not had QC issues.not a great start out of the gate with this device being so important. Im surprised they didnt push the marketing more as well with it being so important.
[Galaxy S 4 General] BarryH_GEG:
Hey, you're preaching to the choir. Battery packs and I were best buds; I owned a Teg3 One X. ;) The difference is that once you swap a fresh battery you're good to go for another full charging cycle. When you're using a battery pack it's tethered to the phone which changes the way you use it. But I disliked the SGS3's display so much I bought the One X anyone so knew what I was getting myself in to. It didn't mean I liked it. ;)

Speaking of battery packs, I've been through quite a few. This one's really great. It's small, light, has an on/off switch so it doesn't trickle discharge when not in use, and it daisy chains. If both it and the device need charging it prioritizes the device first and when it's fully charged starts charging itself. It's also 9,000 mAh which is enough to charge a tablet and a phone.

Here it is next to a N2 battery for size comparison.

http://www.samsung.com/us/mobile/cell-phones-accessories/EEB-EI1CBAGSTA

---------- Post added at 05:03 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:59 PM ----------

Wow, that's something I would have said. :eek: Mini-me? ;)
[Galaxy S 4 General] djbenny1:
100 notes! ouch!

looks like a nice solution though
[Galaxy S 4 General] Basil3:
So what about physical keyboards? A lot of people (including me) were not happy when they were removed from phones. I want the choice.....oh wait, I actually realised it's not a big deal and there's other solutions.

I would love to see a statistic on how many people use their sd slot, and out of the number of people who use it, how many actually remove it from the phone on a regular basis. My bet is that it's a small percentage on xda, and almost insignificant percentage in the real world.

I know 4 people with SGS3, I don't think any use the sd card slot at all. I'm not saying that it's not nice to have an option, but most people really don't care.
[Galaxy S 4 General] mackster248:
I agree, it's a very small percentage. About half of my friends have Android and the other half iOS, and none the Android users use THAT much memory. All they need is like 16 gigs or so for their music and some other miscellaneous stuff and they're good to go.

Obviously having an SD slot is better to have, but it's not something 95% of us will cry over not having it.
[Galaxy S 4 General] zas311:
You take usb stick with you separately and the cable to connect it to the phone? Wow. I carry about 3000 mp3 files, 100 ebooks, and 30 comic books within a 32GB MicroSD installed in my Note. I listen to the music, read a book or comic whenever I need to kill time especially when I camp in the wilderness. You will know how convenient it is when you carry only one device(phone). Just grap it and go. USB stick and cable and phone? Wow.

Sent from my GT-N7000
[Galaxy S 4 General] Basil3:
I completely understand where you're coming from. If you're camping out in the wilderness every single weekend and you listen to 3000 mp3 files, read your 100 ebooks, and those 32 comics then I can understand it's imperative that you have access to them without the inconvenience of lugging a USB stick AND a cable with the phone.

You probably camp with one of those fancy tents that pops itself up when you throw it in the air. I assume you pack no clothes when you go camping either, just grab the phone and go. It's all you need. :cool:
[Galaxy S 4 General] daleski75:
I know this is a Samsung thread/forum but to wish a company to go bankrupt is bang out of order and you know competition is a good thing!!

If Samsung had total control over the android market they could charge what they like there would be little to no reason to innovate as they know they are guaranteed sales so if HTC went bankrupt it would be a blow to the android community as a whole and definitely not a good thing like what you guys think.

P.S I don't mind Samsung phones but the price is very off putting for me.... £629 for a sim free 16gb GS4 is beyond crazy.
[Galaxy S 4 General] StuartTheFish:
Seems a few of you don't understand why they've opted for a non removable battery, it's because it's a connection that can fail over time, especially if it gets dropped a lot like mine does.

For example, my HTC sensation started randomly shutting off a while back. It was whenever it needed a sudden chunk of power, like when taking a picture with the flash, or opening intensive apps, etc. I first assumed it was a faulty battery, but after trying two different anker batteries it didn't fix it. It was fixed by me wedging a small strip of plastic down the side of the battery, to push it tighter against the battery contacts, and it's been perfect ever since. Having a non removable battery means it shouldn't be prone to this.

I understand what you say about if the battery goes faulty it's easy to just replace it, but in the HTC one's case it just goes back under warranty. Hardly the end of the world.

And as for removable sd cards, it doesn't matter in the slightest so long as you still have the capacity.

I'm still undecided on which of these two phones to upgrade to, but the battery and sd things don't come into it in the slightest. For me, I have to make a choice between the camera and the loudspeaker, I don't care too much about the gimmicks, although nice they aren't important to me.
[Galaxy S 4 General] daleski75:
Either way you cut it or dice it the end result is the same if HTC goes bankrupt it will still be a huge blow to the android community.
[Galaxy S 4 General] FinancialWar:
No, the only thing we need to understand after reading this post is, HTC is incapable of making a working phone with removable battery.
[Galaxy S 4 General] mang0:
Agreed. Competition is what spurs innovation. IF the HTC One doesn't do well, then I would hope HTC would learn from their mistakes and attempt to correct them in the future, instead of "going bankrupt." However, I can't see that happening, with the loads of praise and support already given to the device, even before U.S. release. I do hope they jump on that marketing, though.
[Galaxy S 4 General] daleski75:
Like it or not I think removable batteries and sdcards are now becoming the minority and maybe one day Samsung will end up doing the same if the consumer demands it.
[Galaxy S 4 General] barondebxl:
Here is what i think HTC needs to do. They did a great job with the One. But imagine if the One had a removable battery and expandable storage? That would have been SUCH a big difference for them cause some people do not even consider a phone that dont have these 2. HTC ihas been on the decline for the past couple of years, they need everything they can to get as many people to trust them again and ride the HTC wave. It starts by giving the consumers what they want.

- No need to take risks with a 4 mega pixel camera, just put a 13 megapixel and let it do its thing.

- add a sd card slot

- add a removable battery and make it 2500mah

- do not do exclusivity deals, make sure everyone gets the same One, 32 gig and 64gig

This is what i would have done if i were them. The HTC One is the device that they put their hhope in, no need to take unecessary risks, just do what you do best with the design, add these options plus the great SoC and screen and all that good stuff, then they can earn their customers back and rebuld from that. But the HTC One right now is very good so i hope that it'll do well for their sake.

---------- Post added at 05:35 AM ---------- Previous post was at 05:35 AM ----------
[Galaxy S 4 General] daleski75:
Good post and HTC have always liked to be different to all the rest which maybe is their downfall and I think if they had an 8mp camera with the same tech as the 4mp one that would be a very good compromise and I am sure if they wanted they could do a HTC One with the options you listed without sacrificing the design and build quality.

Missed the bit about exclusivity deals.... that bugs the hell out of me surely any company would sell more if they made it available to all networks at the same time, Samsung in this respect have got it 100% right let every network have it at the same time and maximise that to it's fullest.
[Galaxy S 4 General] The-Captain:
Since this thread can clearly not stay a discussion

on features

and is offending people, this thread is now closed.
[Galaxy S 4 General] djbenny1:
great post!
[Galaxy S 4 General] Suqmadiq:
Can please to you wrote less? To long
[Galaxy S 4 General] slapdaddy:
Well I definitely do have issues when I enable Bluetooth and WiFi at the same time on my Vivid, but I can't recall that problem on my Inspire. I never really had any issues with my Inspire, except for the horrible radio that shipped with the phone. I flashed a new one about 6 months after that and the problems were gone for good. Oooh, the Vivid does have a metal rear cover.

And yeah, its just a matter of waiting and seeing how they designed the One and how it works. I don't put too much faith in HTC these days though.

Sent from my HTC Vivid.
[Galaxy S 4 General] Shan89:
Thx mate , i've tried not to favor any device but to be realistic :good:

Tho i must admit my money goes to HTC this year. Samsung MUST learn they cannot give us the same design with the same sh1ty build quality like the last year , if everyone decided to give us better WHY THE F@CK they shouldn't ?

Many might not agree , but if i'm paying 700$ for a device IT MUST LOOK AND FEEL PREMIUM along with premium hardware and s600 s4 and HTC One both have premium hardware but not the design / build quality. WE need to punish samsung and make them learn their lesson.

Lets use LOGIC for few things here shall we.

Samsung is NO DOUBT the biggest OEM of our time regarding technology and most definetely apple in ANDROID world, they HAVE the POSSIBILITY to produce BETTER then anyone else they have the MONEY , they make their chips , display , batteries EVERY SINGLE DAMN THING except the camera , and they decide to fall back behind qualcomm and nvidia ? that's stupid imho. As for design and build quality look at smaller companies like HTC and Sony, they're making by far better build / design devices then samsung.
[Galaxy S 4 General] harise100:
AW: Samsung GS4 vs HTC One - which features do you think are actually better on the G

The S4 will be a pleasure to hold, like the S3 is now.

But I am disappointed because it has a glossy back cover. They should have used the plastic of the S2 back cover.

I will never buy a phone without a removable battery and a sd card slot!

Sent from my GT I9300
[Galaxy S 4 General] plznote:
Snip
[Galaxy S 4 General] randombirt:
There's definitely an air of disappointment surrounding the s4, perhaps the consumer feels taken for granted?
[Galaxy S 4 General] GGXtreme:
There is nothing credible about that source link. And Samsung doesn't have any issues making metal phones (see ATIV S), they just accept that polycarbonate is far more practical.

All the samples and testing of the One's camera have shown it to be disappointing due to poor image processing, white balance issues and overaggressive noise reduction. Both devices have zero shutter lag, but once you scale down the low-noise 13MP images of the Sony sensor, it already matches or beats the One's noise advantage in the comparison shots people have posted here. This could change with an update to the HTC One, but we haven't even seen the final software of the S4 yet either.

I know where you got that figure from, but there's no such thing as '93dB' of sound. dB is a measurement of gain, not volume. Volume is measured in db SPL and I guarantee the One doesn't pump out sound as loud as a movie theater. While I expect the HTC One to win this round handily, no one has tested the S4 speaker which is about twice as loud as the Note 2's (which was already quite loud and clear).

A mix of meaningless figures and false information. At the pixel density of both screens, there will be no difference at all in perceived sharpness, regardless of PenTile matrix. The S4 also uses a completely different subpixel layout than previous screens. First impressions also have the S4 handily beating the SLCD3 display in viewing angles (perfectly legible to 90 degrees). You're also ignoring the other advantages and disadvantages of both displays. Not only does the S4 have improved tuning and calibration with modes for Adobe RGB and accurate colors, but it also offers lower reflectivity and infinite contrast. The One display quality is actually worse in terms of color reproduction than even the old One X display according to DisplayMate, and there are no built-in tuning options.

The One has locked bootloaders (except for the developer version). Samsung's devices ship with unlocked bootloaders (with a Verizon exception).

We don't know anything until it's released, but there aren't any obvious flaws in ARM's big.LITTLE design and purpose (maximum battery savings).

Says who? The Exynos will have a more powerful GPU and the battery savings advantage regardless if it's underclocked.

I understand you're trying to give an unbiased comparison, but you are jumping to a lot of conclusions and then calling OTHER people here fanboys. Another hint that people should take being on XDA: benchmarks mean nothing. Aside from maybe giving you an idea of GPU performance with GLBenchmark or optimization for a certain benchmark app, they are meaningless for determining the day-to-day performance of a device. Qualcomm devices tend to sweep the board with linpack benchmarks because of FPU acceleration, not because their CPU's are simply faster.
[Galaxy S 4 General] djbenny1:
from a neutral perspective, his response was considerably less biased than yours overall - just sayin

PS at the risk of sounding fanboyish, everything i have read and seen myself tells me that your point on the One camera is nonsense. I can't compare to GS4 obviously, but I haven't seen a single test where the XZ has outperformed it. source please - shouldn't be difficult - you say "all" tests showed the same.
[Galaxy S 4 General] Vibrant03:
hi.. can i just ask if samsung can make a removable back cover with aluminum material or glass? also has any of you touched or held an S4 yet ? because the side i hear is now metal for the s4, so i'm assuming it would feel a lot better than the gs3?

thanks..

funny fanboys. LOL
[Galaxy S 4 General] djbenny1:
what do you mean "can"?

of course they can - but they haven't for whatever reason.

http://reviews.cnet.com/2300-6452_7-10016132-2.html

not sure if that trim is structural or not

whether it will feel better is up to you to decide when it is released
[Galaxy S 4 General] digweed4me:
The biggest selling point for me is gpu on sg4. It has ipad4 power vr Gpu games will run like dream. I have nexus 4 and it has adreno 320 same gpu as htc one it's okay but not awesome like power vr Gpu. You guys know why games run better on ios devices cause of the gpu apple always had better gpu, samsung doing the same thing.
[Galaxy S 4 General] djbenny1:
im no expert on GPUs but i imagine a key reason IOS games perform much better overall is that they are much better optimized on a unified platform.