[Galaxy S 4 General] BarryH_GEG:
I disagree. Not about HTC "doing a few things well," but the importance of a "few things" on a device that performs hundreds of functions. I'm pleased with the ergonomics in my car but the seat heaters are controlled by a rotary knob on the console. The knob itself is stationary and there's a chrome bezel that rotates around it to control the settings. The light indicating whether the heaters are on and in which of three temperature settings it's set to is on the rotating bezel and so small you can't see it at all unless it's dark outside. So I have to "feel" the settings by turning it to the left (off) and then counting the detents as I turn it to the right to set the heaters. I'd still rate the ergonomics of the car "very good" because the way one feature is implemented doesn't make or break all the others. I feel the same way about Sense vs. TW. And in your commentary you're festering on the seat heater control.

Dialer

I hate(d) the HTC dialer for a couple of reasons. They have functions showing on the keypad persistently that you only need in certain situations which make the number keys themselves smaller. For example, I don't need to hide the keypad when there's nothing showing in the display panel. The ability to hide the keypad only appears in TW when you're actually in a call and might need or want it to go away. Larger ugly keys are preferable (for me) than pretty smaller keys when hitting the keys accurately when using one hand or walking and talking seems like a logical priority.

You

can't

swipe left to right in Samsung's dialer to move between options (keypad, contacts, logs) because you

can

swipe on an individual contact to either MMS or call them. So from my massive list of contacts I can scroll to the the one I want and from within the contacts app, without opening the individual contact, swipe it right to send an MMS or left to make a voice call. Function over form.

The only thing that HTC did better (for me) in the call/contacts/log app is manage linked accounts. Samsung has an account limitation and it's not as easy to find, link, and unlink multiple accounts to a single entity. The other negative to me is Samsung still providing a video call over 3G option on the keypad and within various contacts. Video calls over 3G is like a casette player in a car and it's a waste of real estate.

Also, with Direct Dial, I don't have to use the keypad or make a selection at all. If a number's showing on the display

all I have to do is hold the phone to my ear and that number is dialed.

While, like my car's seat heaters, I don't agree with all Samsung's choices I've found over time they do an excellent job of predicting what actions you're likely to take next and provide multiple options for accomplishing them at the time you need them. I think those "multiple options" are what cause people to diss Samsung because they don't take the time to really understand the functionality.

Browser (no text reflow at custom zoom levels, only one standard zoom level and even then browser lags even from another launcher)

They replaced text reflow with "Reader" which I (YMMV) actually prefer. For example, the WSJ and FT are incredibly content dense sites. With reflow they are slow to load and navigate and get butchered because of their layouts. With Reader everything is stripped out but the text and associated graphics. So it's different approaches to accomplish the same thing. As for performance, historically Samsung's out-benchmarked HTC at browser performance consistently. The fact it's a tie between the SGS4 and One is odd. Let's see how the SGS4 does after being updated and how the One does on 4.2. If after that HTC's still faster than they deserve kudos.

And with hover you save about three sceen paints (Reservations>Book Flights>Multi-City) because you can interact with drop down menus so you don't have to dive pages deep to find what you're looking for.

Car App

https://www.dropbox.com/s/enpe34pkfwk3gr5/com.google.android.carhome-18-2.2.1.4.apk

https://www.dropbox.com/s/385xkdp4y54shgk/com.dropbox.android-2.apk

Clock and clock+weather widget: doesn't link to the alarm when time is touched.

So? They are two different things. I set alarms using S Voice because its faster than navigating the clunky menus on both devices. If I want to see an alarm I say "show alarm." When I do want to manually control the alarm I use the neat little widget provided which is also scrollable. I can also turn off or snooze the alarm with voice when it does go off. A briefing I selected also appears on the display. And Smart Alarm starts out soft and gradually increases which is better than being blasted awake. The Alarm like everything Samsung does is over-engineered. Most people don't take the time to figure out the additional features. Maybe it's because I travel so much but I do figure out anything that could possibly make my life easier. In that regard HTC devices are "easier" to figure out because they are barren in comparison to the features Samsung offers.

HTC Transfer Manager - equivalent Samsung functionality does not transfer from non Samsung devices.

Uhm, OK?

Which smartphone platforms can I transfer content from?

Smart Switch can transfer content from Apple, Blackberry, LG and some Nokia/Symbian platforms. Content can also be migrated from other Samsung phones like the Galaxy S II, Galaxy S III, Galaxy Note and Galaxy Note II. Windows® platform is not supported.​

http://www.samsung.com/us/smart-switch/

Media Players

Here’s one I added. What’s up with Lilliputian sized controls in HTC’s media players? They are difficult to hit standing still and almost impossible at a glance or while you’re moving. And why in God’s name is the video player not a launchable app and only available by selecting a specific piece of content? Which itself has a far lesser chance of being supported than with the ton of codecs Samsung provides that HTC doesn’t. For example, if I want to play something off another PC or my server I open the Samsung video player, click nearby devices, find what I’m looking for and play it. With HTC I have to dive in to file apps to find what I’m looking for (if it finds the device I want), click on it, and hope the video player supports and plays it. Ass backwards.

Downloading a dozen apps from Play to replace the functionality of Samsung's integrated apps isn't going to get you more consistent navigation or a better UI. In fact, it'll be the opposite. Their execution is fine; you just don't personally like their approach and choices. That's cool but call it what it is. As for BlinkFeed, who cares? I personally view social and news as two different things and don't want them co-mingled. I use APW Timeline as my social widget and have a home page dedicated to news and stock. I'd use both even with BlinkFeed because they suit my needs. BlinkFeed randomly stuffs a bunch of HTC-specified content (you can't supplement their choices) in to a bunch of random sized squares that you can't read because the content's been truncated. Even One owners have very mixed feelings about BlinkFeed and the inability to disable it (which I would personally). And quite a few people are pissed that HTC removed key widgets like social, messaging, and e-mail to replace them with BlinkFeed. I relied on those widgets on my One X. I think BlinkFeed's novel but of all the things we've discussed here (design, front vs. rear speakers, Sense vs. TW, camera, LCD vs. AMOLED, removable battery, expandable storage, etc.) it's the most insignificant. It's a piece of s/w HTC didn't even write.

You're clearly enamored by the One and like HTC's approach to things. But, being as smart as you are, have chosen not to really dive in to the SGS4 to make it your own. That's fine. But it's pretty obvious too. ;) I'm not picking on you and go in to this level of detail because I've learned this stuff over time and hope it's helpful to other TW users.

BTW, have you figured out how to wirelessly charge your One yet? ;)