For years , one of Android ’s biggest problem has beenAndroid skinsthat weigh down the near hardware the political program has to bid . But now the two good Android phones in the humans — theHTC Oneand theSamsung Galaxy S4 — come in perfect , parentage Google Editions . And after spending some time with both , we can confirm thatditching the skinshas made them easily than ever .
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Sinceyou can buy themas of today , we ’ve break down how the two compare with each other , and with the skinned versions of themselves .
HTC One: Stock Android vs. Sense
The One with Sense enabled was already pretty much the snappiest phone we ’ve ever used . With bloodline Android , it ’s even faster . Apps open just a little second faster and swiping around the UI is just a little fleck placid . The biggest difference you ’ll acknowledge , though , is that it ’s just cleaner . Android 4.2.2 ( Jelly Bean ) is a very minimal osmium . Apps like the calendar , the clock , and even the apps draftsman are more pared - back and easier to utilise . screen background customization , for example , is much wide-eyed .
You still get the same cracking phone on the hardware side . From a design standpoint it ’s still our preferred phone ever , and it ’s by far the most satisfying to hold . The screen is incredibly sharp and looks just as right as it did on the pare version . The threefold , front - face up speakers still fathom incredible ( well sounding phone ever ) , and when you have headphones in you have that same Beats by Dre EQ , which sharpen on the bass a little more and sound very good ( the HTC One has a dedicated pre - amp to help with this ) . Unfortunately , it ’s not all honorable news program .
The only significant drawback in the Google Edition whole we tested is that the camera does n’t put to work about as well anymore . You might call back how the HTC One ’s “ ultrapixel ” detector took the profits in our smartphone camera battle . intelligibly , HTC ’s camera software had something to do with balancing that rather unique sensor , because the fund Android photographic camera app does n’t do nearly as good of a caper . picture tend to be wash out , over - exposed , and under - saturated . Even in dispirited light , it is n’t as in effect .
The newfangled camera app itself is very cleanly laid - out and easy to use , but you miss a lot of the forward-looking shot features found in the Sense tv camera app ( though many of these reappear in the editing carte du jour in stock Android ’s Gallery app ) , in addition to the specialty modes , though you do put on Google ’s mega - bird’s-eye PhotoSphere , which is fun but is ultimately a small consolation .
There ’s a chance , though , that the fault may lie in our building block . A Google interpreter responded to our inquiry about it as be :
“ The tv camera hardware and underlying software ( image processing , etc . ) are the precise same between the Stock and Sense UX adaptation of HTC One , so there should not be any differences . Our tv camera tests show that the quality is consistent between the two . ”
That say , the Google engineers saw what we were talking about in our photos , and they are doing more testing , but they believe we have a incorrect twist . So who know ! Hopefully it ’s just a glitch with our One . We ’ll be getting a new one in short and will update .
There are a few other quiddity , too , some small affair you may have have for granted with Sense that you do n’t get with gillyflower . In HTC Sense ’s dialer app , you may begin punching a friend ’s name into the number pad ( using the superscript letters ) and it will quickly draw out up contacts . The stock dialer does n’t do this , so you have to scroll through your foresighted list of contact .
HTC sensation also offer up built - in profiles — an easy mode to switch between Normal , Vibrate , and Silent fashion . Not so in stemma . Also , the HTC One has a build - in IR blaster for using your headphone as a distant ascendancy . Not only does the stock version not come with a preinstalled app that allow you utilize it , but as of right now there are no apps in the Play Store that can take vantage of it , either . We were told that capability would be coming in the next software build , though APIs will still have to be released , and someone will still have to make an app that uses them .
There ’s also the rather steep sticker Leontyne Price of $ 600 , but that sound like a bigger routine than it really is . For an unlocked , unsubsidized phone it ’s fairly standard . If you ’re used to give $ 200 for a mellow - end phone and have your wireless carrier subsidise the ease ( as a part of a two - year contract , typically ) may feel some sticker - seismic disturbance .
That might sound like it all sum up up to a lot of minus , but it ’s really paltry , especially assuming we were dealing with an abnormal tv camera . And we have n’t even mentioned the cock-a-hoop advantage of a Google Edition phone yet : update . The stock adaptation of the HTC One will all but certainly be upgraded to the newest interpretation of Android right along with ( or at least cheeseparing to ) the Nexus program . The One with Sense , by contrast , is still running Android version 4.1.2 , which is now more than a yr old . For hoi polloi who want the latest and keen amount out of Google HQ , this is huge . And trust us , you require the latest and greatest .
The breed HTC One runs on AT&T , T - Mobile , and other GSM carriers ( i.e. not Verizon or Sprint ) , and yes , LTE works . We examine it on AT&T ’s connection in NYC , and when we had four bar of LTE we averaged download speed of over 20Mbps and upload amphetamine of over 12Mbps . We did have some trouble with our radio receiver , initially , but after speak with Google it appears that was unequaled to our special mental testing unit . And once we worked out the bug ( it chose the ill-timed APN , for you geeks out there ) , it do cleanly . So , really , our only major gripe here is the camera . We ’ve arrive at out to Google about it , and will update if we hear anything back .
Galaxy S4: Stock vs. TouchWiz
In our initial follow-up of the Galaxy S4 , almost all of our complaints about it were software - associate . So you would cogitate that replacing TouchWiz with stock Android would fix almost all of its trouble , right ?
Yep . That ’s moderately much truthful .
Samsung ’s TouchWiz is such a laboured hide that it slows things down despite the super - fast 1.9GHz quadriceps femoris - essence Snapdragon 600 C.P.U. in its stomach . But while origin Android take a leak the HTC One a trivial faster , it ’s a serious modification in the Galaxy S4 . Scrolling through menu and across screens is fast and smoother . Apps generally open up more speedily , and most significantly , there is now almost zero shutter meantime on the camera , whereas the TouchWiz variant can jug behind by as much as a second .
TouchWiz is also just a clusterfrak of configurations and bells and whistles , most of which baby-sit there unused , clot up menus . Stock Android is starkly minimalist by comparison . The stock apps front better and are more intuitive to use almost without exception . background customization is right smart simpler . We were also capable to set up and useGoogle Walleton it ( not so on the HTC One Google Edition ) , which is typically blocked by AT&T. Why it work on the S4 and not the One despite using the same SIM card for both , we do not know .
On the hardware side , thankfully , photos the 13MP camera fill look almost identical to those on the TouchWiz version . Again , the photographic camera app is much simplified , and though you take in PhotoSphere and easier access to HDR , you do misplace a lot of the fun camera mode that Samsung amount up with , like Drama Shot ( which superimpose several icon of a subject in motion into a single guess ) and exalt GIFs . As you have it off , the Galaxy S4 features a micro SD card slot , and while you could record files off of it ( photo , etc . ) you ca n’t take full advantage of it . For example , there is no aboriginal mode to move apps over to your SD plug-in , as there is in the skinned version of Android .
There are , of course of instruction , things you lose that you will miss . Again , TouchWiz ’s dialer lets you plug in numbers to get to your contact quickly , stock Android ’s dialer does n’t ( please fix this , guys ! ) , and you lose TouchWiz ’s profiles feature as well . TouchWiz has some ready to hand shortcuts to options within the notification screen and some people may miss those , but for our money , the way caudex Android handle it is good , and keeps your notice control panel search clear and easier to say . Also , while the IR blaster is technically ready to be used , the API has n’t been released yet , and so there are no downloadable apps that can take advantage of it yet . And , the S4 too , will only wreak on GSM carriers like AT&T and T - Mobile ( not Verizon or Sprint ) .
And as with the HTC One , the sticker price might be problematic to swallow . At $ 650 , it ai n’t exactly cheap , but again , that ’s not bad for a high - remainder , unlocked , unsubsidized phone . As we suspected , put stock Android on the Galaxy S4 made one of the very best smartphones even better .
Stock Galaxy S4 vs. Stock HTC One
So , you ’ve adjudicate you ’re going to go with one of these stemma phones . Now that the software is basically identical , here ’s how the two phones compare .
The HTC One is still arguably the best - designed phone we ’ve ever used , and its build quality is unmatched . It was issue from a solid block of aluminum and it feels awful . The Galaxy S4 is by no means speculative , but with its slippy credit card back , there ’s no comparison . The One is slightly narrower and is a bit easier to manage , too .
achiever : HTC One
The covert are definitely two dissimilar looks , as you could see in the video above . They ’re both 1080p . The S4 is a full 5 in which gives you a little more actual acres , whereas the One ’s 4.7 - in CRT screen means the pixel concentration is every so slightly high , arrive at it attend very slightly sharper .
In the whites HTC One skew a bit on the rosy side , whereas the White on the Galaxy S4 skew blueish - green . Which is “ better ” is more a matter of personal orientation , though we slightly prefer the One .
In the black , there ’s no competition . The Galaxy S4 is like looking into the inhuman , black void of space , even at full brightness . At full brightness , the HTC One ’s blacks are very slenderly gray . It ’s still very good , but it ’s definitely not as honest as the S4 .
Winner : Tie
As you may see in the video above , the stock HTC One locks focus and snaps shots faster than lineage Galaxy S4 . But , as we name above , the photographic camera on the stock HTC One was under - performing compared to the original . As a result , the camera on the Galaxy S4 is much sharper , has better colour , and good contrast . The One does , however , still stomp the S4 in low light . Hopefully we just fetch a bum HTC unit , but for now the Galaxy S4 ’s camera is better . Click here for a gallery of equivalence shots .
Winner : Galaxy S4 ( pending )
The HTC One is the hand down winner here . It ’s not even closelipped . The stereophonic front - facing loudspeaker system are loud and clear . The S4 ’s external verbalizer ( on the back ) is quiet and terrible by compare . Also , the pre - amp in the HTC One cause listening to euphony through headphones noticeably better .
Unlike full on Nexus phones , the One and the S4 both have hardware seafaring buttons . The One has two capacitive buttons : One for Home , and one for Back . You double - tap place to bring up the job - switcher , and you long - press it to play up Google Now .
The Galaxy S4 on the other hired man has three navigation button : Back and Menu are both capitative and there ’s a home button in the nitty-gritty which is press - able . You compact it once to go home , twice quickly for multitasking , and long press for Google Now .
The capacitive buttons on the HTC ( for dwelling house and project shift ) are simply faster and easy to use . Also , because there is no physical menu push , that place the computer menu options on silver screen in apps , which we find to be more intuitive .
navigate around the OS , the HTC One is just a hair quicker . Considering it has the same software and the same processor but it ’s clocked 0.2 Gc slower than the S4 , that should n’t be the case . But it is . Go public figure . We ’re talking about a very small-scale difference , though . Even in benchmarks , the two were dead even , with one or the other coming out a hundred or two hundred spot forward of the other in both Quadrant and Geekbench 2 test , but the One came out out front two out of three times . Go bod .
Too soon to tell . More testing need .
Winner : TBD
Options
You want expandible storage ? The S4 ’s make it , the HTC One does n’t . require a obliterable battery ? ditto mark . If you like to muck around , you ’re going to get frustrated fast with the HTC One ’s lack of fungibility .
likewise , while there are some accessories usable for the One , Samsung has built itself a much more racy third - political party ecosystem . If you require your phone with a side of stuff , the S4 is the agency to go .
Winner : Galaxy S4
Last but not least , the monetary value . The HTC One is $ 600 , and the Galaxy S4 is $ 650 .
candidly , these are both wonderful phones , and you ’d be happy with either . If an Coyote State card slot and obliterable battery are a braggart deal for you , go in advance and get the Galaxy S4 . Otherwise , the HTC One is our favourite by a nose . Most of all , though , just be happy that you’re able to at long last get the effective potential versions of the best potential phones on Android . It ’s about metre .
you’re able to get thestock Android HTC One hereand you’re able to get thestock Android Samsung Galaxy S4 here . They should embark out by July 9th .
AndroidGalaxy S4GoogleHTCSamsungStock
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