[Samsung Galaxy S7 Guides, News, & Discussion] Usualsuspect0182:
HTC 10

I own both the HTC 10 and S7 Edge and I've found myself using my HTC 10 as my daily driver.

The software experience on the HTC 10 is less cluttered, to me and with how they made it to where you can customize the theme of the phone to your liking to me its better than the predefined themes available on Samsung's theme store. To boot, only being able to use some of the carrier features like video calling through the default Samsung dialer as well as some of the texting features through the default Samsung message app to me seems more in line with something Apple would do. I do find myself missing some of the features of my S7 Edge, but the more I realize that my 10 allows me to tailor my own UI as well is snappier and less cluttered I'm enjoying it more and more as time goes on. Plus, with the S7 Edge, I'm finding that I'm forced to use the built in photo app to edit and delete photos instead of being able to use the Google Photos app. To me that makes me question why there are two apps to begin with. Touchwiz is not bad, just that the HTC 10 provides a better experience for me.

To boot having an unlocked bootloader on the 10 seems to me the better option for those who want to prolong the life of their phone as well as it gives people who root the option to further customize their phone without sacrificing functionality. After numerous tests on the camera, while not as quick a camera as the S7 the color accuracy is more on point as the S7 images tend to lean more towards the warmer side, giving the pictures an unnatural look. For instance I took 10 photos on each phone of various things, the most notable one was a pink and white T-Mobile bag which on the S7 each image the bag itself was maroon and white, while on the 10 it was pink and white. While selfies were great, I found the S7 gave s more unnatural color look to each photo, while they looked great, I knew that wasn't really what the scene looked like.

The design is vastly different, not to say the S7 Edge isn't beautiful, it's just not unique. Everyone has a Samsung phone, not everyone is sporting a 10. I'm liking the subtle curves, as well as the feeling of metal in my hand, to me it screens durability if it came to dropping it on accident. Sure, the 10 isn't IP68 certified, but me personally I don't bring electronics around water so it's kind of a moot thing. A lot of people I know like the look of this phone, to them it's unique, and the fact that it feels like quality in the hand and looks good to then they honestly think, while not as beautiful as the S7, it's a design thats different and good.

As for battery life, well... yes the Edge wins. Over a 16 hour day of streaming music through a bluetooth headset as well as being in areas with not so great signal quality, paired with about 3 hours of SoT the Edge will usually have about 30-35% while the 10 will have around 20%. Charging though is faster on the 10. After three times of fully draining the battery to 0% I measured the charging times, and to make it equal the Edge at 84% battery is roughly the equivalent of the battery size of the HTC 10 and charging times for each phone had the HTC being fully charged in roughly 87 minutes, versus the S7 Edge hitting 84% in 102 minutes. So, all facts considered, unless you don't go home after work the S7 Edge will net me about an hour or two more usage, the scenarios in which that'll happen are infrequent enough to say that, to me, it really makes no difference.

I've used amoled screens practically on all of my phones, and to me, yes they're vibrant and beautiful and the Edge does, per se have a better screen, to say that the HTC 10 screen isnt as good is a disservice to those who would want to buy this phone. It is a great screen, it is vibrant, colorful, and easy to read. Just that the S7 does indeed have a better display, but not by much.

Audio quality is another metric that I didn't think would be important until I used the 10. With the S7 I usually had to keep my BT headset (LG Tone Infinim) maxed out while the phone sat at 80% plus just to be able to hear the music and the bass was damn near nonexistent. With my HTC 10, I'm able to keep it at 50% phone volume and 75% headset volume and the bass is far more pronounced, sound is crisper, and to boot there is more detail in each song. After I got the 10 I tested each phones sound qualitt for three days each to ensure that it wasn't a placebo effect and honestly the 10 is just leagues ahead in sound quality.

The fact that this phone not only feels more durable, won't cost me an arm and a leg to replace if I crack the screen, and has the option there for me to root the phone if I ever want to prolong the life of the phone. I'm not taking away from the S7, it's a beastly phone with some tough to beat features like its camera, big battery and super fast camera, but having all options and customization open to me, as well as HTCs reputation fortimely updates makes this phone a real winner.