[HTC Rezound] gleggie:
Shoutouts:

First off, i'd like to thank Neo, Snuzzo, brenuga, Br0ken, Fly, iHWO, Grey, Chad and all the others that have made my time with the HTC Rezound just a complete pleasure.

Special thanks to [MENTION=4498729]brenuga[/MENTION] and [MENTION=3344702]Neo[/MENTION] for pretty much teaching me everything I know about root, ROMs, flashing etc.

Even if I sold my Rez (which i'm currently not) i'd still follow all these awesome devs :D

Disclaimer: As of right now I am rooted, Stock VRUAMDK Verizon build. Tons of software tweaks and custom ROMs could surely solve even the most minor Touchwiz annoyances.

Ok, so this isn't an Rez vs. S4 review b/c that would just be unfair. I'd just like to offer my 2¢ on my transition from the Rez to the S4.

I'll be updating this thread periodically with my progress, as of right now, i've had the S4 for about a week.

As for S4 vs. One, I can only offer a few reasons why I didn't buy the One. I really wanted to buy the One, just because the most of the Rez Devs are moving to the One.

I never owned the One, but I tried it in the store a couple times and could not get used to the button layout.

1) Button Layout doesn't have a dedicated menu button-- I need this, since the Rez had one, sorry HTC :(

2) S4 has Removable Battery and SD Card (this pretty much did it for me)

3) Metal Build: Awesome feel, but can chip and conducts heat very easily

The only other phone i was strongly considering was the rumored Nexus 5, but that is unlocked so anyone can get of off of contract (if needed).

Now to the Actual Review:

I know its a bit long, but i have TL;DR at the end of most sections

Build Quality:

The S4 has gorilla glass 3 on it, so its pretty dam strong. I still put a screen protector on it immediately b/c i'm paranoid. The all plastic is actually a plus for me because I don't like metal phones that conduct heat easily. Some people say the plastic is easy to knick around the edges but i've been very pleased with the build quality so far. The awesome thing about the S4 is that it has a removable battery and SD card, which is great for battery life and storing pictures, respectively.

I'm also a pretty heavy user when it comes to camera, so I'm ordering a 32 GB class 10 micro SD card

TL;DR I'm very satisfied with the S4's build quality, I still use cases and screen protectors out of habit though

Battery Life:

Today I had 15 hours on battery, Screen on for 1 hour, 41 minutes, it's currently 11:27 PM Eastern time and I still have 25% left. Not the heaviest usage but I'm on like day 4 (rooted, stock) and i've had some days with 3 hours screen on time and still 10-15% left at the end of the day. Mostly on Wi-Fi, but 4G in the 2 hours in the car ride to and from work. I'm not the heaviest user, and I only game for maybe 10 mins a day if anything, but i mostly am on Wi-Fi (at school or work) and am checking emails and texts about 2-3 times per hour. So far I haven't needed to play with refresh settings, or disable location services, or flash awesome ROMs because I havent needed to.

TL;DR Battery life is great (in my opinion)

Camera:

I've had nothing but great experiences with the camera. Shutter speed is very fast, and Samsung decided to add a lot of software into Touchwiz. The 13 MP camera is the real deal, although if you're going to take tons of pics in lowlight, the One destroys the S4 in that department. I had family over for the weekend and I took tons of photos, all great quality. They also have some cool features like Action Shot, Best shot (rapid fire 8 photos, you choose the best one), etc... google or youtube for demos.

From what i've heard, both the One and the S4 have awesome cameras, its just a matter of preference.

TL;DR Camera is fantastic

Software:

Surprisingly, I actually don't mind Touchwiz. I ran completely stock touchwiz for like 2 days before feeling the urge to install Nova. Currently Running Nova because its the best launcher out there, but Touchwiz isn't as terrible as I thought it would be. Most, if not all TW annyoances can be solved by rooting and installing custom ROMs.

So far only two annoyances come to mind:

-Tabbed settings (just takes getting used to, some people might like it)

-Pull down notification doesn't provide a preview of a text message, it just say's "New message" Clicking it will obviously open the message, there just isn't that instant preview.

TL;DR Software is great. This is coming from a guy that loves Stock Android.

Rooting:

Rooting is very simple and straightforward for the S4, even for Verizon. When I got mine it came with the VRUAMDK build, which can be easily rooted. After activation, it asked to install a system update to the VRUAME7 build. Cancel this Immediately and stay on the VRUAMDK Build The VRUAME7 build can be rooted, but its bootlocker currently has a $4,000 bounty on whoever can unlock it. I'm sure VRUAME7 will be rootable and bootloader unlockable in the coming weeks though.

Here's the S4 rooting steps http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2381382

TL;DR Rooting is simple, and can be done immediately. Flashing ROMs is awesome, and will likely improve everything, but I haven't felt the urge to (yet) becasue of the Specs. I'll flash later down the line. With Custom ROMs, you can easily get insane battery stats like 24 hours and 4 hours screen on (i just don't need to...yet..)

Longevity:

So i've only had the phone for about a week now, and everything has been stellar. Battery life, build quality, performance has been quite consistant. The only thing that might be iffy is you might get some very slight lag on Stock. This of course can be solved by rooting, removing system apps, removing bloatware, flashing custom ROMs, etc... but they aren't necessary until your phone gets filled up.

Build Quality

(Kinda goes with longevity) I got mine on contract, so i naturally treat it like a baby out of the box, but the plastic build is actually a plus. I haven't dropped it yet, but i've had some small bumps into a laptop, desktop,etc. I've heard that the plastic can scratch easily, but that would be like if you're being reckless with your phone. This phone was not meant to be "rugged" but the plastic absorbes impact very well to keep the internals cusioned (at least thats how I see it).

Extras, Gimmicks, Software Value:

I knew going in that most of Samsung's features were gimmicks and that i was gonna turn them off or completely remove them. However, they're still great to demo in front of the family and to just mess around with for a couple days. Here are the few features I actually found useful:

-IR Blaster: setting it up as a remote control is actually very helpful if you ever lose that remote control

-Added camera features: Action shot is cool, and all the other features in the camera are nice additions. I plan on sideloading both the Touchwiz and the Stock JB Camera so i have the best of both worlds.

-Smart hover: Only when the S4 is on your desk, flat you can hover your hand over the top sensor to preview battery life, notifications, missed calls, etc. This is great if you have dirty hands or if the S4 is on your desk and you need to quickly check

Devs:

So far, everyone in the VZ S4 dev community has been very helpful and there is a plethora of information out there as long as can dedicate some time and effort to reading

The S4 Community is much larger and expansive from the Rez community, which is good in some situations, but not as personal as the HTC Rez community, just by the nature. Don't get me wrong, everyone is super friendly and willing to help, its just naturally a much larger community than the Rez. HTC Rez community was a little more close-knit, personal, and friendly. I'm glad I started out with the HTC Rez community, as it was an awesome introdution to the world of rooting and flashing

TL;DR Both Dev communities are awesome as expected, they're just different.

Conclusion:

In the end I was so close to getting the One just because of the HTC Rez Devs, but I needed that SD card capablity, removable battery/SD card, and dedicated capacitive menu button. I know for sure i'll be following the HTC Rez Devs for quite some time, even though I have the S4. Verizon's lack of support for HTC Devices like the One is dissapointing, but they will release it sooner or later (Mat kearney anyone?) :)