[General Questions and Answers] leijonasisu:
I've had my SGS4 for over a year now.. and lets just say.. I'm not satisfied with it. I never really have been. I've supported Samsung from having the Galaxy S+ right now up to the S4. Samsung almost lost my support after the design and performance of the terrible S3, however after seeing and hearing of the improvements of the S4 I decided to give them one last chance. Lets just say that they blew that chance and now I want another phone.

In my country of

Finland

only these top phones are currently available (listed in absolutely no order of preference):

Sony Xperia Z2

Pros:

Large Battery

3GB RAM

MicroSD

20.7MP Camera

Cons:

Non-removable battery

Slightly slower clocked Krait 400 CPU (2.3Ghz)

Camera quality lacks definitive sharpening (everything looks like paper)

GUI looks terrible

No MicroUSB 3.0

No Infra-red port

Samsung Galaxy S5

Pros:

Best quality camera and video by far, best sharpness and detail but is there an issue with some colours? (shown here)

MicroUSB 3.0

Dust & Water Resistant

2.5 GHz Krait 400

Undoubtedly the best contrast/quality screen in a smartphone

Large removable battery and supposedly good battery life

Infra-red port

Cons:

It's a Samsung phone... and I'm not keen on supporting them again after all the issues I've had with the S3 and S4

Plastic design again, and even uglier backplate this time

2GB RAM vs. 3GB RAM on the Sony Z2 and LG G3

Galaxy S5

Prime / Galaxy F around the corner?

TouchWiz sucks elephant pole

LG G3

Pros:

QHD 1440 x 2560 Display

Good visual look

3GB RAM with the 32GB version

GUI Looks pretty nice

2.5 GHz Krait 400

Large removable battery

Infra-red port

Cons:

Overkill with the Display size? Heat / Lag issues? / Battery life? / Not 'that' stunning?

It's still

plastic

even if it doesn't look like it

Camera and video quality isn't that amazing and tends to sport a lot of those typical 'squarey' textures in photos

It's reportedly bigger, borderline 'phablet' (tbh I think my Galaxy S4 is large enough)

LG's first attempt at trying to compete with the big boys... ergo. lack of experience in the field?

No MicroUSB 3.0

HTC One M8

Pros:

That awesome design look, by far the most appealing/premium feel

Stereo Speakers that are apparently good

Front facing 5MP camera over all the other's 2/2.1MP

Infra-red port

Cons:

Abysmal camera that is overexposed and etc in regular light, depth stuff doesn't make up for the lack of Megapixels even if low light shots are good. Also the video isn't remotely as good as the other phones

Slightly slower clocked Krait 400 CPU (2.3Ghz)

Smaller non-removable battery

No MicroUSB 3.0

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All of them in Finland are priced around the same amount. €640 - €660. I have to get the phone on a plan and these are the only 4 that I am really considering. I am not interested in Apple phones at all. Terrible iOS, 8MP cameras and smaller non-full HD screens do not remotely interest me. Especially for the premium price tag and ease of smashing them if they drop. But lets not get started on that. In addition I am not interested with Lumia phones at all.

What I use my phone for mostly (in this oder):

Taking many pictures and videos and using the front camera for video & skype

Whatsapp and Viber

Music music and more music

Some small gaming

Maps and GPS use

Email and Web browsing

Youtube and other video stuff

Modding, and stuff I am not supposed to do. dSploit and etc.

My most important things (all of these are top-priority):

I have no interest on getting a proper DSLR/Point-and-shoot camera so I want my phone to have a good camera.

It needs to be lag free, I am paying a premium price

I want the colours and pictures to just jump out at me like WOW

I don't want the company/brand I buy it from trying to make things like modding/xposed/rooting etc. progressively harder for me

Connectivity. Good signal strength, no lags on 3G or 4G

That if it falls, it will not just smash/screen crack on the first mistake

What is not so important:

Battery life, unless it's got a non-removable battery (which I usually auto-hate) because I will just buy another spare battery (if I can)

Warranty options and Customer support (only in the sense of warranty and troubleshooting)

Stuff like fingerprint scanners and heartrate monitors, barometers etc. I don't really care about

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So guys any suggestions? It would help if you do own/have owned the phones I am talking about. I can only get these phones that I have listed so I am not interested in any others. Do you think there is a phone there that would fit the things that I am looking for? Or do you think that I should seriously wait for the Galaxy S 5 Prime / Galaxy F (or whatever it will be called) and then see what differences to the build design/material and hardware there are and make my decision then? Do you think the release will be close by, or are we looking at something like late September (maybe too far away for me).

Sorry for a long thread and hopefully this can help more than one person :)!

P.S. I've read many reviews and watched many videos on all of the phones listed but they do not constitute really in my opinion 'real world use' that is what I seem to get from XDA forum members. In that we all share the same experiences and problems which is why I am asking here.

Thanks again!

P.S. If a mod thinks that this is in the wrong section or that it should be merged with a larger thread then feel free to do so. I couldn't find really anything using the search option :)