[LG Optimus G Pro] barondebxl:
Ok so I have owned the S4 for about a week, the HTC One for about 3 weeks and the G pro for 2 days lol. I get myself familiarized real quick with phones so 2 days is already enough for me to give a good opinion. Before I give you guys my opinion let me just say that I am very unbiased, I could care less who makes these phones as long as the product is good but I have used Samsung phones more than any other phones and I do like them a lot. Anyways, here's my take ( my opinion) on these 3 phones:

Build/design/choice of material:

I will say that the HTC One takes this category. I have never really cared on how good a phone looks, I always pay more attention to functionality but the HTC One really deserves a lot of praises. Not necessarily because it uses metal but because of the design. It really does looks stunning with its curved back and the 2 front facing speakers. Talking about the material now, it looks and feels great especially when you pick it up in the morning and get that cold feel, really nice. Overall amazing looking device.

The galaxy S4 also has a very nice design. Yes it looks pretty much just like the S3 but its thinner, a little lighter despite having a bigger screen. The polycarbonate is just fine as it serves its purpose to provide a removable battery. The galaxy s 4 is the phone that feels the best in the hand, sooooo comfortable.

The G pro also has a very nice design, its thin, light for its size ( although I wish that it was just a little lighter but no big deal at all) and overall looks really nice. Much more comfortable in the hand than its competitor, the Note 2.

Button placement:

The HTC One is horrible in this category. I hate the power button at the top left with a passion. I despise it so much, it is so uncomfortable to reach. The volume rocker on the right hand side is just fine. Also don't like that there's no menu button.

The S4 is almost perfect, love the power button on the side as always, I also like the volume rocker on the left but I wish that it was just a little bit lower. Love that there's a menu button.

The G pro is the winner here, power button is perfect, volume is perfect on the middle left plus we get an extra button to access any app we want. Simply perfect. Menu button is great although i'm used to the back and menu the Samsung way ( the other way around) but no big deal, ill get used to it. Love the LED home button!

Display/screen size:

The HTC One display is OUTSTANDING. It is such an amazing display, I cannot emphasize it enough. It is absolutely jaw dropping. Sharp, nice colors ( maybe just a tad bit saturated but I love it). Overall its just an amazing display. You do need however to have the display at least at 50% if you want to see anything in direct sunlight. I like the 4.7 inch size but always prefer bigger displays.

The S4 display is the best Super Amoled display ever. If you're a fan of over saturated colors and deep blacks, this one is unbeatable. It is sharp, blacks are great, whites have a little blueish tint on them but not that big of a deal. Personally I think this display is easier to read in direct sunlight even at 0 brightness because the colors pop regardless. This size display is the best for an average smartphone in my opinion. Samsung did an amazing job at fitting a 5 inch screen on pretty much the same body size as the S3 and it doesn't feel big at all.

The G pro display is also INSANE! Despite having a lesser ppi than the 2 other phones, it is insanely sharp, text is crystal clear, colors are super accurate, viewing angles are excellent ( all 3 displays as a matter of fact). As far as screen size, this is my personal favorite ( im a sucker for big screens). It has the same 5.5 inch screen as the note 2 but doesn't feel too big, its just perfect!.

Overall all 3 displays are great, its just a matter of preference. If you take the display alone then I would give the ever so slight edge ( and I mean so slight that you cant measure it) to the HTC One, followed by the G pro and 3rd the S4 but again all are absolutely amazing. I f you consider display plus screen size, G pro takes it.

Performance:

The HTC One performs so well. It is super quick. Opening apps, exiting apps, swiping through the home screens, browsing the web, performance is nearly flawless ( literally). Once in a blue moon there can be a very slight hiccup but the average person wont notice it. ( Im pretty good at noticing these things).

The S4 performance is good but it does stutter...quite a bit. ( not lag where it completely stops but the animations can stutter a lot). My guess is that android 4.2 and the gazillion sensors are responsible. 4.2 is known to have quite a few bugs, as far as the sensors go they are always activated waiting for the user's gestures/movements so I think it might contribute to the stuttering. There has been a software update the past few days and I think it solved many issues. Don't get me wrong the S4 performs well but stutters a lot ( its hard to explain really).

The Optimus G pro performance is AMAZING. It is so fluid, I never had a device as fluid as this. Just an hour ago I was at work and I showed the phone to one of my co-worker who owns a nexus 4 and talks about how smooth and fast his phone is, I asked him to play with my G pro, you should have seen his face. First thing he said was " Holy sh*t this is so cool" referring to the lock screen animation and then " OMG this is so smooth and fast" as his fingers were gliding through the home screens. Seriously the G pro is INSANELY smooth, by far the smoothest device I have owned yet and I mean it.

If I had to pick a winner it would be G pro followed by the One and S4. The One might be a little quicker than the G pro but the G pro is so smooth and is also quick.

Sense 5/ Touchwiz/ LG's UI:

I like sense 5. Its very nice. Its very simple, in fact sometimes its too simple but it performs well. I thought that I would hate blinkfeed but I fell in love at first sight thanks to the impressive display. What I don't like is that people cant completely remove it if they don't want to use it, I don't like the fact that you have to double tap the home button to access the multitasking and have to close each apps individually. That is just stupid HTC, dumb. Love the music player, don't like that to add an app to the home screen you have to go in the app drawer, hold the app, drag it all the way to the top and then it lets you put it on the home screen, another dumb move. But still sense 5 is very nice nonetheless.

I always liked touchwiz. I thought that it brought many features to the table, I still think it does. But touchwiz is getting old, really old and needs a UI revamp ASAP!!!! Its pretty much the exact same as it is on the S3 and not too different from the S2 except the features. Speaking of features, the S4 has anything possibly imaginable. The bad is that many of them are really gimmicky but the good is that you can turn off whatever you want and I respect that, thank you Samsung for at least giving us the option to remove things unlike HTC lol. My favorite features on the S4 are Airview and multiwindow. Both extremely useful. Airview to access sub menus, preview emails ( don't have to open every email), works as a magnifier glass, works really well. Multi window takes multitasking a step further. Yes it is available on other Samsung devices but it is something that the S4 has over the G pro and HTC One. Air gestures, smart pause are fun for 15 min but then you wont find any use to it ( except for moving apps from one home screen to another with air gesture, pretty useful).

Lg's UI is awesome in my opinion. Starting with the lockscreen, love the animations, in fact I love all the animations of the UI. That's what I love about this device, you can pretty much customize ANYTHING YOU WANT. Colors of folders, lockscreen animations, settings in tabs or list, icons... you name it. Q slide is very nice but doesn't even come close to multi window. LG's UI is very close to touchwiz but they kinda created their own lane and they're doing a very nice job. Once again everything is so smooth, love the quick access button to access any apps on the phone. This UI is like a touchwiz refresh and feels very familiar but different and I love it.

The Gpro UI is my favorite because of the animations, the smoothness and the features. Touchwiz would have tied it if it wasn't for the stutter. Love sense 5 as well.

Camera:

S4 WINS HANDS DOWN, NO DEBATE EVER!!! Such a fantastic camera. The G pro camera is second and the One 3rd although the One is very impressive in low light.

Storage:

Definitely the G pro. Let me explain. Every android phone since ICS can only install apps on the internal storage except the S4 which just had an update to be able to install apps to the sd card. The problem with the S4 move to sd card is that the maximum size app is 40 mb. ( that's what I read) So considering all 3 phones entry models at 199$, the HTC One gives you 32 gig of storage but no possible way of sd cards, the S4 comes in 16 gig with half of it taken by the system and move to sd card only support apps that are 40 mb and under. The G pro comes with 32 gig AND has expandable memory.

Battery life:

Definitely the G pro but everybody knows that, no surprises here with its 3140 mah battery. Not too far behind is the S4 ( GT-I9500 exynos 5 octa version). Plenty of screen time as well and 3rd is HTC One with also great battery life but not better than the other 2. All of them get you through a day with normal use no problem but the G pro is the star of the show.

Music/sound/Speakers:

You already know, the HTC One is UNBEATABLE right now. I don't know if any of you had the privilege to hear the sound that comes out of the One speakers. The sound is so good and loud and clear that it literally puts a smile on my face, literally. It is so crisp, really HTC has Set the bar when it comes to sound quality on a smartphone meaning every new phones that come out will have to beat it to be impressive. Music through the headphones is also great, Beats audio is supported and HTC provides a nice pair of ear buds. Second place goes to the S4. The speakers are plenty loud, just not as clear as the One plus the placement is in the back so it can easily be muffled. Sound through earbuds is nice and loud but again doesn't match the One. Last but not least is the optimus G pro. The sound through the speakers is good ,not great but the volume isn't very high with the headphones. Plus the G pro doesn't come with any earbuds.

Development:

HTC One without a doubt. Not only that HTC provides a method to unlock the bootloader, but the One has S-off now. As you may know, S-off gives you pretty much complete control of your phone and lets you write things on the "write system partition". You can change boot animation, flash radios ect... plus it has super CID which lets you change the ID of your phone from for example an AT&T to the international version so when HTC pushes an update you'll get it on your AT&T phone despite it not being the international version. And the cherry on top of the cake is that any roms on the international HTC One can be flashed to the T-Mobile, AT&T and sprint versions ( some for the sprint versions). That is so amazing. The S4 (Gt I9500 octa core) has an unlocked bootloader, I love Samsung for that. Super easy to root and tools like Odin and CF root by chainfire are awesome. Development is good and will get better. G pro has an easy root method but as you all know the bootloader is locked ( damn you AT&T !). Thanks to thecubed, the bootloader unlock is just a matter of time and once that's done, everybody needs to step back cause the beast will be unleashed!

Call quality

No complains really, all 3 perform pretty well although the advantage goes to the One cause of the speakers for speakerphone calls.

Overall, all 3 phones are amazing. The One offers a quality device, amazing sound, nearly flawless performance and a fantastic display. The S4 is a worthy upgrade to the popular S3, pretty much same body frame but with a bigger screen, lighter, thinner and a bigger battery. Also the best Amoled display and the best camera on a phone yet.

And now the G pro, an optimus G on steroids just like the Note 2 is to the S3. Smoothest experience on a phone, so fast, incredible 5.5 inch 1080p display, fantastic battery life, customizable to the core, nice LED home button, very nice performing camera. My new favorite phone. Cheers!