Galaxy S5 or the new HTC... Or not?

[xerodok]

I've been moping about upgrading from an iPhone 3s for a long time now (lol), the S5's ability to take a 128gb memory card is hugely attractive to me as I desire to carry lots of stuff around with me as I use transport a lot, but not lug around a tablet/laptop.

Don't forget you get 50GB on Dropbox for two years when you buy any Galaxy!

[Stromgarde]

Both the M8 and the S5 can take MicroSD cards; the way KitKat handles the expanded storage however makes it a bit onerous for certain apps to access the external SD card, particularly library management apps such as DoubleTwist. I myself have an HTC One M7 and I am very happy with my decision; the battery is large enough that I have never actually run into a case of it dying on me despite occasionally forgetting to charge it overnight. If you need more juice on the go, external USB battery chargers are a great option and won't suddenly become useless when you upgrade to your next phone as extra batteries will. More than anything else though, the build quality is the #1 reason why I like the HTC One so much since the specs are so close otherwise. The device feels very solid and while it is possible to do a plastic phone with a premium feel (see Nokia's Lumia WinPhone series), Samsung is still missing the mark fairly wide in that category.

[bluefan]

HTC and Samsung can support OTG, so useful when I just want to transfer some files and not have to whip out the laptop. I don't bother with the included Dropbox's.



I really wanted the HTC One over the S4, but my provider wouldn't have any for at least 3-4 more months. They offered to keep my current iPhone plan with the Samsung phone if I upgraded, so why not.

[kuronosan]

I love my S5 so far. Battery life is incredible.

[Boyiee]

I love my S5 so far. Battery life is incredible.

Looks like the S5 does win on battery life (by like an hour at most), plus the ultra power save mode and removable battery, it seems like we both may be upgrading to S5's.

Thanks for the opinions everyone, this is the first time I've upgraded where the phones were so identical and only separated by very few things and really just aesthetics.

Personally I kinda want both I'm a sense so maybe I'll get the one she doesn't get lol, but mine will most likely be the Samsung.

[Obsidian]

For what it's worth the M7/M8 both have a power saving mode as well. If you'e really into battery life you might even want to look at the LG G2/Nexus 5.

[Boyiee]

I don't know how accurate but I was going by this for numbers:

http://c2.bgr.com/2014/04/galaxy-s5-...ne-arena-1.jpg

[Obsidian]

Probably pretty accurate. Kinda surprised to see the Nexus 5 down at the bottom. It's basically the same phone as the G2.

[kuronosan]

Thought I should mention the camera is amazing as well.

[Seiji Okita]

Probably pretty accurate. Kinda surprised to see the Nexus 5 down at the bottom. It's basically the same phone as the G2.

It's a known bug with the CPU consuming more battery than normal. Google is supposed to be issuing a fix with android 4.4.3 due out any time.

Also the red Nexus 5 is sexy as fuck.

[octopus]

Probably pretty accurate. Kinda surprised to see the Nexus 5 down at the bottom. It's basically the same phone as the G2.

The Nexus 5 has a 2300mah battery where the LG G2 has a 3000mah one.

[Obsidian]

The Nexus 5 has a 2300mah battery where the LG G2 has a 3000mah one.

Ampere hours doesn't tell the whole story though. The M8 has a 2600 mAh battery, and the S5 has a 2800 mAh battery, but both tested better than the G2.

[octopus]

But with the rest of the hardware being almost identical wouldn't the battery capacity be the most obvious factor for the battery life difference?

[Jaffar]

I made the move to an S5 from an iphone 4 & love it so far. While I'm not crazy about the dimple pattern on the back, I never see it as its in a case.

I just had a little more confidence in Samsung vs. HTC given the latter's financial performance over the last couple of years.

[Obsidian]

But with the rest of the hardware being almost identical wouldn't the battery capacity be the most obvious factor for the battery life difference?

Obvious, but not necessarily significant. The SG5 has a smaller battery but the battery lasts two hours longer, and it's powering a larger screen (and I believe a better processor?). Software plays a significant role in what you get out of your battery.

[octopus]

I'm only comparing the Nexus 5 and the LG G2 because of the similarity of hardware. I agree that the Galaxy S5 has incredible optimization resulting in great battery life, but that's not what we're arguing about here.

I stand by the fact that the Nexus 5 rated 29% weaker battery life compared to the G2, mostly because its battery has 24% less capacity.

[Obsidian]

The Nexus has a smaller screen to power (I believe they're both IPS LCD screens but the G2's display is 5.2", the N5's is "only" 5.0"). The G2 also likely has more software overhead because of LG's android skin.

Ultimately, I didn't realize they had different batteries, but I also don't believe that's the sole reason (or even the most influential factor) for the huge disparity in battery life between the two.

[xerodok]

So, kind of related to this topic.

I just called T-Mobile to see about getting an S5 because I recently shattered my S3's screen. So, instead of getting out the heat gun and guitar picks I figured I would just finally upgrade. Long story short, T-Mobile isn't offering the phone at all for an upgrade fee. It's $0 down with an upgrade.

That sounds great, right? Well, it's $0 down, but, it's $27.50 (per month) for 24 months. What the fuck? No $199 upgrade fee? 30 minutes of my time wasted on the phone because the agent didn't bring that up until the end. So fucking mad right now.

[Boyiee]

So, kind of related to this topic.

I just called T-Mobile to see about getting an S5 because I recently shattered my S3's screen. So, instead of getting out the heat gun and guitar picks I figured I would just finally upgrade. Long story short, T-Mobile isn't offering the phone at all for an upgrade fee. It's $0 down with an upgrade.

That sounds great, right? Well, it's $0 down, but, it's $27.50 (per month) for 24 months. What the fuck? No $199 upgrade fee? 30 minutes of my time wasted on the phone because the agent didn't bring that up until the end. So fucking mad right now.

That's kind of like the Verizon Edge or w/e AT&T calls theirs that most companies are switching to.

If you pay off 50% of the phone, you can upgrade to a new phone. You pay 50% by the 12 month mark anyway so you can upgrade every year instead of two years, if you pay it off faster you can upgrade in as soon as 6 months. No more upgrade fee, just monthly payments. To compensate, the "Edge" plan typically costs around 10-15$ less than most plans run as it is (I think I would drop to 45$ from 60$ on my family plan), this means for roughly $10 more a month after all is said and done you can upgrade your phone every year. The downside: You have to give the old phone back (no more reselling on ebay!).

[xerodok]

That's kind of like the Verizon Edge or w/e AT&T calls theirs that most companies are switching to.

If you pay off 50% of the phone, you can upgrade to a new phone. You pay 50% by the 12 month mark anyway so you can upgrade every year instead of two years, if you pay it off faster you can upgrade in as soon as 6 months. No more upgrade fee, just monthly payments. To compensate, the "Edge" plan typically costs around 10-15$ less than most plans run as it is (I think I would drop to 45$ from 60$ on my family plan), this means for roughly $10 more a month you can upgrade your phone yearly.

Switch to Verizon, buy an S5 for $199 so you get one B1G1, then add me to your plan, papa Boyiee.