HTC One (M8) vs Samsung Galaxy S4

Introduction

Stop, we know what you’re already thinking. Why are we comparing a year old smartphone against one that’s brand spanking new to the scene? Obviously, the newer device will naturally have some hardware advantages, but seeing that Sammy’s upcoming flagship smartphone (the S5) has yet to launch officially stateside, it’s still intriguing to find out exactly how its flagship from last year, the venerable Galaxy S4, compares against the new HTC One.

There’s no arguing who won the flagship war last year in the Android space. HTC was actually first out of the gate to release its premier smartphone, which was soon trumped by the obnoxiously feature-rich Galaxy S4. However, now that the new HTC One is here in all of its glory, some of you folks are probably curious to determine exactly how the new HTC One can overpower Sammy’s Galaxy S4.

Being the newer device doesn’t translate in becoming the automatic winner, seeing that it requires more than cutting edge hardware to prove to consumers that it’s superior in every way, shape, and form. Ultimately, you’re going to have to look at the results and determine for yourself which of these prized possessions has the guts and performance to make an everlasting impression on you.

Design

Frankly, the Samsung Galaxy S4 and its polycarbonate plastic construction screams dullness in comparison to the all-metal cladded body of the new HTC One. There are particular advantages with the two types of materials of course, as the plastic casing of the Galaxy S4 enables it to be the lighter (4.59 oz, while the One is 5.64 oz) and more streamlined device (0.31” thick vs 0.37” for the One). As much as those are two pleasing qualities for any high-end device, it doesn’t do enough to take away from the solid construction and stylish look of its rival.

In fact, the enhanced industrial look of the new HTC One is a sight to behold by itself, telling us instantly that there’s more love and care put into its overall design. Metal just screams sturdiness, which is what’s apparent here between them! Improving upon the foundation set by its predecessor, the chassis of the new HTC One pushes the boundaries more than ever by sporting a body that’s comprised 90% out of brushed aluminum – it’s just seamless, clean, and has more stylish points than the Galaxy S4.

Holding the two in our hands, we can’t say that one necessarily feels more comfortable than the other – primarily due to the subtle curve of their casings, which deliver nearly the same ergonomic feel. However, we should point out the slimmer overall size of the Galaxy S4 (5.38 x 2.75 x 0.31 inches), making it just a smidgen more pocket-friendly than the HTC One (5.76 x 2.78 x 0.37 inches).

Taking a peek around the trim of both handsets, they’re sporting nearly the same set of ports and buttons – they include their power buttons, volume controls, 3.5mm headset jacks, various microphones, microUSB ports for charging, data, & video-out connectivity, and their IR blasters. Without a doubt a signature offering from HTC, we really appreciate the dual front-firing speakers with HTC BoomSound on the HTC One, which has a placement that makes more sense than the single rear-speaker of the Galaxy S4.

Fortunately for the new HTC One, it’s now sporting an always-useful microSD card slot, which is perched along the left side of the phone. Indeed, it’s something we desperately wanted from the beginning with its predecessor, but accessing it is a bit more complicated than the Galaxy S4’s slot. Specifically, it requires that pinhole sized adapter to access. Even though the microSD card slot is found behind the rear cover of the Galaxy S4, the process in accessing it is less cumbersome. The S4 also has a user-replaceable battery, while the battery of the One is sealed.

Display

There was a common theme with the crew of flagship phones released last year, the majority of them flaunted displays that hovered at or above the 5-inch mark. Out of them all, the HTC One seemed like the lone wolf with its smaller 4.7-inch display. However, the new HTC One features a 5-inch 1080p Super LCD-3 display with Gorilla Glass 3.

On one hand, we applaud the increase in size, but we need to point out that last year’s Samsung Galaxy S4 packs along a 5-inch 1080p Super AMOLED display with Gorilla Glass 3. Well people, there’s no surprise that the two deliver the same pixel densities of 441 ppi, giving the two displays enough clarity and detail to make them super sharp to the eye – so there’s not one display that’s superior in the details department.

Considering that they employ different display technologies, it becomes a matter of preference as to what you feel is the more attractive screen. Interestingly enough, the two panels produce colors that are vibrant and punchy in tone – though, the Galaxy S4’s AMOLED panel has that distinguishable oversaturated look with less accurate colors. Certain to catch more prying eyes with its iridescent glow in the dark, it lacks the superior outdoor visibility established with the HTC One’s Super LCD-3 panel. Whereas we’re able to view things on-screen properly with the HTC One’s screen outdoors with the sun present, the Galaxy S4’s display washes out and becomes nearly unviewable.

The specs point to an even battle, but the Galaxy S4 is packing along some additional tech that extends its worth. Some love it, some hate it, but the Galaxy S4 has the ability to track our finger as it’s hovering over the display. It’s a feature that works hand-to-hand with its various Air View functions, but some people could care less about it.

Interface and Functionality

When we take apart their respective custom Android experiences, there’s a clear cut distinction to each one of them – to the point where they’re opposite ends of the spectrum in what they’re intent on accomplishing. Sense 6.0 is the latest experience to come out of HTC’s camp, sporting some new improvements and enhancements while retaining the UIs already established sleek and modern looks. They’ve kept it simple and to the point – without a whole lot of redundant features to bog down or alienate first time users.


In contrast, Sammy’s TouchWiz Nature UX experience running on the Galaxy S4 is heavy on the features set. Some people will argue that it’s a good thing, since more features tend to up the ante with its overall value, but others will say that it’s bloated and complicates the user experience. Additionally, we’re not particularly too fond of the cartoony look of TouchWiz – it just doesn’t scream modern!


Underneath it all, the two smartphones have all the benefits that come along with the diverse Android experience – like its vast personalization options and tight integration with Google’s services. They even boast the same notifications and multi-tasking elements. However, TouchWiz deepens the experience with the latter thanks in part to the expanded functionality we see from its Multi-Windows feature for true multi-tasking.

With the new HTC One, we appreciate what HTC has done in being able to quickly access some basic functions of the phone while its turned off or locked. Specifically, it pertains to the various Motion Launch gestures in play with Sense 6.0, which permits us to quickly peek the time & date, unlock the phone, jump straight to the various homescreens, and launching voice dialing by utilizing a handful of gestures.

TouchWiz has something similar, where it registers a wave over the display – thus, causing the handset to ‘breathe’ pertinent information like the time date, and notifications. Also, there are a handful of Air Gestures and Air View functions that deliver some meaningful functionality. For example, we can wave our hand from side-to-side in the gallery app to navigate through photos, or hover our finger over a date in the calendar to get more details about an appointment.

Processor and Memory

Being the newer phone, the HTC One is bearing newer hardware, which in turn, produces the overall superior performance. Outfitted with the latest piece of silicon from Qualcomm, a quad-core 2.3GHz Snapdragon 801 SoC coupled with 2GB of RAM and the Adreno 330 GPU, it outclasses the now dated quad-core 1.6GHz Snapdragon 600 SoC with 2GB of RAM and the Adreno 320 GPU stuffed inside of the Galaxy S4.

At the bare minimum, the two prized devices in this comparison are available with 16GB of storage. Nowadays, that figure is something we’d regard as inept, but there’s the comforting knowledge that they both have memory expansion via their microSD card slots.

Internet and Connectivity

In this day and age, it’s rare for high-end devices to flounder in the web surfing department – more so when they’re normally stuffed with cutting edge hardware and 4G LTE connectivity. Not surprisingly, these two smartphones cater to the experience with their fast page loads and mighty smooth navigational controls. The Galaxy S4 packs some secondary features with its stock web browser that once again highlights the handset’s wealth of software features. From being able to scroll vertically by waving our hand, or using the alternative eye scrolling feature, Samsung goes the extra distance in giving users several ways of accomplishing the same tasks. Yet again, we need to stress that these feature might not be viewed as useful for those who prefer simpler operations.

All the usual connectivity features are in tow here, like 4G LTE connectivity, so there’s no shortage of lightning fast speeds for all of our web surfing needs. Of course, all the other usual suspects are on board as well – such as aGPS with GLONASS, Bluetooth 4.0, dual-band 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi, NFC, IR blasters, and video-out functionality with the help of optional adapters.

Camera

The Galaxy S4’s 13-megapixel 1/3.06” sensor proved itself in delivering some fantastic photos, reaching near the top of our comparisons on several occasions. When everyone else banked on cramming as many pixels into a sensor, HTC gambled on its ‘UltraPixel’ camera technology, which amounted to nothing more than a 4-megapixel 1/3” sensor. Well people, HTC is again hinging its success on the same UltraPixel camera, but it’s now complemented with a secondary rear camera – one that’s strictly used to measure depth information for some cool post photo effects.

First, let’s briefly glaze over their respective camera apps. Both share an extensive amount of shooting modes and manual controls, more than sufficient to appease the inner photogs in all of us. However, each has own unique qualities. For the Galaxy S4, its notable set of shooting modes include animated photo that sprinkles on some gif-like elements to our images, drama shots that stitch multiple images together to form drama, eraser mode that deletes unwanted objects, and much more. And then there’s the HTC One’s new duo effects, which applies some professional-like touches to our shots – mainly bokeh (out-of-focus artistic blur) to certain sections that we select.



Looking purely at their qualities, it’s safe to say that we have no problem sharing them via our social networking accounts – so long as they’re outdoor sunny shots. However, as we dig deeper into the shots, it becomes plainly obvious that the Galaxy S4 has the stronger composition to make its shots more versatile. Above all, the Galaxy S4 snaps up considerably more detail with its camera. There’s just no arguing the obvious!

Heck, if we look into other things, like how they produce panoramic images, we’re again faced with the realization that the HTC One’s ‘UltraPixel’ camera just can’t compete in the details department. Overall, it looks good, but not as good as the results from the Galaxy S4.

Under lower light situations, though, we tend to gravitate towards the set of photos coughed up by the HTC One. Strangely, the visuals from the HTC One’s camera have a sharper look to them and a smidgen brighter in tone – whereas with the Galaxy S4, it tends to have a noisier production.




Undeniably setting itself apart from what the Galaxy S4 has to offer, the various duo effects of the HTC One splashes on some neat-o Photoshop-like qualities. The secondary rear camera is what obviously allows us to select what sections of our images we want to have in focus, where the rest is given that slick looking out-of-focus bokeh effect. The more we look at what it’s capable of delivering, It surely does a lot to mask its detail inferiority.

More than equipped to recording 1080p videos, we like the general quality produced by the two titans. Fortunately for the new HTC One, there’s no compromise like before with its still image capture, as details are plentiful. Despite that, its continuous focus mode makes for some jittery adjustment, since it’s constantly switching on the fly. As for low lighting video capture, we easily prefer the videos from the HTC One, mainly because the Galaxy S4’s quality is tarnished by the amount of noise in the shot, and the choppier recording frame rate.

Multimedia

Characterized by the general look and feel of their respective customized Android experiences, it’s no shocker that we prefer the music player of the new HTC One. Not only does the Sense 6.0 music player have a more dynamic look, but we adore some of the other eye candy attached with it – like how there’s a cool looking visualizer, and the ability to have lyrics pop up accordingly as a song is played.

Watching videos is one of those guilty pleasures that many people try to sneak in while they’re at work or something, so it’s wonderful to find these two make the experience so amiable. Indeed, their 5-inch displays shine during the occasion, as they come to life with their smooth playbacks and punchy color tones. Still, the Galaxy S4 presents us with a multi-tasking element that we find extremely useful – something that can’t be recreated by the new HTC One.

While the S4 packs a very powerful speaker on the back, it cannot compare with the pair of stereo speakers on the front of the HTC One. They not only sound better and fuller, but are also positioned in a way that allows us to enjoy the videos' sound directly.

Call Quality

Between them, we prefer using the HTC One for phone calls, mainly because it has that fine balance by delivering a strong volume output with its speaker, and clear voices. It’s not bad with the Galaxy S4, since its quality is passable for the occasion, but it just doesn’t have the authority of the HTC One to make it usable during noisy conditions.

Battery

Deep inside of their casings, they’re packing along batteries of identical capacity (2600 mAh). Factoring the newer chipset in tow with the new HTC One, where its new Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor has been developed to provide more of an optimized battery life, it shouldn’t surprise most people to find it having a longer battery life than the Galaxy S4. Profoundly superior, the new HTC One reaches a mark of 7 hours, 12 minutes with our battery benchmark test – while the Galaxy S4 falls just under 5 hours with a full charge.

Conclusion

HTC and Samsung have been in a heated battle for as long as we can remember. When one comes out with something, it instantly becomes the most talked about thing in the industry – for a short time of course, until the other chooses to out something newer. In our present moment, we have the new HTC One and Samsung Galaxy S4, two devices that are currently available for pickup right now.

Being the newcomer, there’s a natural inclination to expect better results from the newer device – and we do see some of that in the new HTC One. HTC pounds Sammy’s offering in the design department, where its all-metal aluminum body exudes the premium look we crave in any flagship smartphone. In fact, it’s leaps and bounds better than what the polycarbonate plastic body of the Samsung Galaxy S4.

Regardless of that, good looks alone won’t drive any particular handset to stardom. Surprisingly enough, the older Samsung Galaxy S4 manages to beat out its significantly newer rival in certain categories, like the camera’s still image quality and its expansive set of software features. Just because it’s older, we can’t automatically count out the Galaxy S4 from potentially edging out the new HTC One. Even though it’s filled with several software features, some useful, some obnoxiously redundant, specific people will nonetheless appreciate those features at their disposal.

If we’re to factor in current pricing for the two handsets, there’s an incentive to stick with the Galaxy S4, since it sees more discounts than the just outed new HTC One. Therefore, if you’re on a tight budget and don’t want to settle on some cheap-o smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy S4 is an enticing option that has few compromises. Conversely, if you’re all about the latest and greatest, not to mention taking pride in how your phone looks, the new HTC One will fill in that gap for you.