[Nexus 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] cb474:
I thought I was really going to hate the waste of space that is the onscreen buttons, when I got the Nexus 4, but as others have noted there are many ROMs for the Nexus 4 that will let you hide the nav buttons or shrink the height of the navbar. That pretty much resolved the issue for me.

It is also worth noting that the Nexus 4 has a wider screen that the HTC One. I was looking at the One in the store today and was struck by how narrow the screen seemed to me, now that I've gotten used to the Nexus 4. Although the Nexus 4 and the HTC One have the same diagonal screen dimension (4.7"), the Nexus 4 has an atypical more square, shorter and wider, screen. For looking at web pages, maps, reading, and most uses, I find the extra width very useful. Holding the two phones side by side, the difference was quite striking to me, whereas the difference in vertical height, even with the navbar, seemed less relevant. Side by side the narrower HTC One screen really had a strong impression of being smaller, simply because I think it has less useful space.

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That aside, for what is's worth, I'm considering switching to the HTC One from the Nexus 4. The Nexus is great for all the reasons people mention above, having to do with dev support, ROMs, etc. But it really is a step down from my original Nexus One (made by HTC) in terms of reception and call quality.

I live in an area that does not have strong signal. My HTC made Nexus One could hold onto a signal, even with no bars showing, and never dropped calls, as long as I locked it to 3G. The Nexus 4 is constantly losing signal in the exact same locations and dropping calls. In addition, the Nexus 4 has a very strong "don't hold it that way" effect. Most phones experience RF attenuation if you grip them at the bottom (the way one naturally does when talking on the phone), because that's where the main antenna is usually located. My Nexus One did this a little bit. But the Nexus 4 is much more effected by this, often totally losing signal in weak signal area. AnandTech has a lengthy explanation of the antenna design for the all metal HTC One: http://www.anandtech.com/show/6747/htc-one-review/15. It sounds like the HTC One has overcome the death grip issue and should get very good reception. It has what sonds like the most sophisticated antenna design of any phone on the market, including besting the iPhone 5. I'm reading more anecdotally, in other reviews, that people are getting reception in places they did not with other phones.

Lastly, although the general audio quality on the Nexus 4 is good, the noise cancellation is not on a par with the Nexus One (the first phone to have the Audience chip that the iPhone 4 later adopted). More background noise bleeds through with the Nexus 4. Worse, the noise cancellation over aggressively cuts you off at the end of sentences and fails to cut sound back in when I begin talking (in noisy settings). This causes statements to often get caught off at the beginning and end. I had read about this effect in some reviews of the phone and it's true. It's annoying and my Nexus One did not do this. I'm hoping the HTC One will be better in this respect, especially due to the dual membrane microphones. Although, searching around a bit I see that the HTC One and the Nexus 4 use the same Qualcomm WCD9310 Audio Codec. That's a disappointment. The S4 apparently uses the Audience earsmart chip (Samsung has been pretty consistent about including this in all of its flagship phones for a while). Apple seems to have dropped the Audience chip in the iPhone 5 and has some sort of in-house solution. AnandTech shows that in loud settings the iPhone 5 noise cancellation is in fact a significant regression compared to the iPhone 4: http://www.anandtech.com/show/6330/the-iphone-5-review/21. I can't really believe how stupid phone manufacturer's are about this, when Audience has created a very good solution.

Here's a link where Anandtech tests the noise cancellation on the HTC One: http://www.anandtech.com/show/6747/htc-one-review/16. They confirm that it's not as good as older phones with the Audience chip. Wow, pretty bad for a phone that's supposed to be all about audio quality. But of course, the Nexus 4 will suffer from the same mediocre noise cancellation.

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Another factor to consider, if it's important to you, is the camera. Nexus devices have never had great cameras and the Nexus 4 is no exception. It's fine, by today's standards. But nowhere near as good as the iPhone camera that you'd be coming from. On the other hand, the Camera in the HTC One is truly an interesting and awesome thing. I tried shooting video with it in the AT&T store today and the optical image stabilization is amazing. On play back, it was so stable that it seemed like the camera had been on a tripod. This will also make for incredibly good low light photography, the likes of which only a couple Nokia devices are capable.

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Anyway, I'm not saying you should get one phone or the other. There are obviously trade offs. Just offering the above as more food for thought.