Which one comes out on top?
The s4 seems to produce a better image with more accurate color. It has a lot more shake. Its audio is louder and has a lot more noise from handling.
The One seems to have difficulty with overload from IR, its filter doesn't seem as heavy as the S4. It's more stable as if stabilized in hardware. (both phones used stock settings) The audio is lower and thus handles real life dynamic range more accurately. Both phones were handled the same way. The S4 picks up handling noises and gets pops which are annoying. You must grip it like iron man to stop that!
Here's a quick presentation I put up to show the differences.
http://youtu.be/f2J4TklxTCw
Neither one seems to come out on top but for sound quality the One wins for sure here.
Thread cleaned
Where's the use of posts like "in before the closing"?
This thread is valid as it compares the devices in one specific area (though personally, I can't see any use in that).
I see the pink/blue issue in this video recording from the One.
I'm really unhappy with the quality of the camera.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2
Interesting, I actually think the S4 came out a little better. Besides the occasional popping sound on the S4 (you probably have the I9505) sound also is louder on the S4.
jlevy73 said:
Interesting, I actually think the S4 came out a little better. Besides the occasional popping sound on the S4 (you probably have the I9505) sound also is louder on the S4.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sound is louder, but not with the same quality IMO.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app
The S4 definitely wins
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 2
I don't see the point of threads like this. People's opinions often differ so much so that you'll have one person say the One wins and the next, the S4 ... So what exactly does anybody gain from this? ... Btw, I don't see how you can say it's a side by side comparison when it's actually just two clips, one after the other.
The S4 has better quality, but none of them are any good. Audio quality is a lot worse on the S4 though, as we already know.
From what I've seen and read, HTC One has a camera with worse image quality in terms of best possible image quality, but the camera is more useful since it can be used in any conditions (dark and noisy environments and better wide angle). I love it because no matter what situation I know the camera is usable. Right now mine is on repair due to a cracked glass and I'm using an Xperia P which has a good camera, but unless I turn all the lights on and back away all across the room I know I won't be able to get usable pictures. It's not even near the HTC One. And where any phone I've tried has produced inaudible sound the HTC One has been absolutely clear.
To be honest, that's just what I want from a mobile phone. The whole point with a mobile camera is that I always carry it so it's available in ANY situation. If it can't handle dim light or loud noise or narrow rooms it's completely useless. The quality is good enough for facebook and instagram and stuff so I don't care about that, as long as it's usable whenever I feel the need to use it.
Sound quality: The S4 is rather atrocious. Its AGC is way too heavy, some users may find this better for "getting in" the details but this is not how our hearing works naturally. For music and faithful reproduction it's quite bad. Actually it's awful. For recording a crowd where you want to hear everyone's comments, etc, it would actually be desirable. Again different tools for the job. The HTC easily wins on audio here.
Video it's a tossup. There are color artifacts present in the One's video and color itself is difficult to reproduce. The flames almost appear "electrical" in nature. There is less apparent camera shake with the HTC One. The S4's video looks better with its reproduction of the flames, less blooming and glares. The fire is very hot and has copious amounts infrared radiation. Most sensors will show a pinkish color to longer IR energy and this must be effectively filtered to reduce its affect on sensor output processing and clipping. It's a delicate balance here but the S4 seems to do a better job. Its smaller pixels probably help as well.
As far as SQ goes the processing appears to be globally applied as the similar use of AGC and frequency response is realized in voice recording applications on both devices as well. The recorded volume appears much lower on the HTC because little compression is used. This would be preferred for recording live events where dynamic range needs to be preferred. With voice users may desire to use post processing on a PC to add gain (RMS normalize, etc.).
Personally I prefer the sound of the HTC.
And as far as stills go the HTC is the better *shooter*. I put emphasis on shooting as you can capture good shots of things that happen in real life. There is little shutter lag and pictures turn out decent. The S4 is a very good camera but using both I find it easier to catch the action of life as it happens with the HTC. Too often pictures turn out blurry or out of frame on the S4, it's too slow. When taking pictures of scenery during the day, however, the S4 camera is spectacular!
Remember the best camera is the one you have within your reach!
The best of both worlds would be a higher MP camera in the S4 with the responsiveness of the One. Surely it will happen in the not so distant future. Look how P&S cameras have evolved.
LoL isnt this thread closed yet??
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 4 Beta
Related
Hi everyone,
I've had my Vibrant with me at a local music festival this weekend, and thought it would be a fantastic time to exercise the HD video capture. Unfortunately, every single video I've taken has had such terrible audio that it's unwatchable. I kept digging around in camera settings but found that there's no way to adjust the mic sensitivity. Anyone else have a similar experience or any idea of a workaround?
In my experience the Vibrant's got excellent mic sensitivity and the sound quality is even quite good. Unfortunately, this means that things like concerts are going to be distorted. I've actually seen very few video cameras that can properly record a live concert, much less ANY cell phone.
I absolutely understand that recording a live concert through a microphone designed around voice for telephony is not going to be in any way, shape or form, ideal. I feel like the Vibrant could do better. I just wonder if it's something that could be corrected for in software, if it's a hardware limitation, or if it's just my particular unit. My dad was also with me at the festival, and recorded the same shows using my old Blackberry 9700. The Blackberry did a markedly better job.. It's not what I would call good by any means, but the video isn't intolerable to watch for memory's sake. I just find it frustrating since the phone takes such incredible video. I agree that it does very well in low volume situations, and I absolutely love the phone overall.
I have a couple of comparison example videos on Youtube from the festival but due to my new user status I can't post a link to them. PM me if you're interested.
I also took my phone to a trance festival, the image is amazing but the sound is rubbish. I was also standing very close to the speakers so I don't really blame the mic since it's not really built to handle such a strong volume input.
If there is a possible way to fix it software wise that would be great, but I'm no that optimistic about the chance it's fixable that way.
I agree, the sound just pops... Same song recorded by the og droid was MUCH BETTER... of course my video LOOKED amazing.
I agree my wife and I recently went to the Honda Civic Tour. I used my Vibrant while a friend used one of those little flip HD cameras. We both got the same picture quality however, her sound was amazing. The thing I find funny is those cameras only cost like $249.
Sent from my Samsung Vibrant using the XDA app.
TGA_Gunnman talks about the same thing here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=734515
Though doesn't say exactly which one of the settings is what adjusts the mic gain.
I too would be very greatful to know how to turn the thing down.
-Greg
Hello!
Most of the time >on forums like XDA< people are talking about their issues and troubleshooting, making us - readers - feel like the device only has problems and forget about the good things it offers.
There are no or close to no posts about what people like about the phone. I don't blame anyone because it actualy makes no sense of opening a thread like "I like its screen. K thanx bye."
So lets make a thread and write only about the good things it offers and what you like about HTC One and why would you suggest this phone to public.
Try to keep this thread without trolling and discouraging people of buying this phone or pointing out what problems it has. I would like to ask any MOD to delete negative comments in this thread to make it clean and ON TOPIC.
Let me begin:
When I attended HTC Launch in München I fisrt held the device in my hands. The feeling was awesome, incredible, I was speechless about the design (I didn't like it at first) and it really is an awesome device.
Sound quality is outstanding. I compared front speakers to my HTC One X and I couldn't even hear my One X ..it was like speakers weren't playing on One X. I like the Music app finding lyrics for you automaticly. Everything is easy and just works.
Zoe is amazing. I thought it was something I would never use at first (I am more like point and shoot - still images) but than I looked closely - amazing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R08se6Xc9j0
It works like charm. No problems or whatsoever.
The screen of HTC One compared to my ONE X is like night and day. I always liked HTC One X screen but compared at full brightness really makes a difference.
https://twitter.com/miHah1/status/306137264126316544/photo/1 - a note - battery savings are set to reduce CPU only, leaving brightness at full.
So I already ordered it and can't wait the day it arrives!
What do you like about HTC One the most?
Hello,
I've went to Vodafone Romania in weekend and I could put my hands on HTC ONE. The first thing that left me speechless was the DISPLAY. The display is AMAZING, STUNNING ...no words for it. Is so crisp and everything is looking incredible. (My actually phone is iPhone 4S, which has a great display, but the one on HTC is simply brilliant).
Another thing that I really like is how you feel the phone in your hand.
thanks!
I'm so hooked on this phone, something about it just gets me more interested than any other phone has for quite a while (all the others seemed to just be standard upgrades - RAM, CPU, the works)
Then I saw the One, and the dual speakers, new camera tech and general design made me hooked immediately (Also, the IR Blaster was a nice touch)
So yeah, anxiously waiting for my phone
Re: The thing I like about HTC One the most is...
Can't wait to get the phone!!
Sent from my GT-N7000 using xda premium
I really like my One because:
- fantastic music production, on headphones and using the speakers
- fast UI, especially the use of folders
- build quality, feels and looks expensive
- screen clarity makes me use this device moew than any other I have owned
- good value, in the UK it comes with free cases OR headphones OR media link etc
I don't have mine yet. But I'm sure the one thing I'm going to like most about it will be the updates to Sense 5. As far as hardware goes, the whole thing is a monster. Extreme internals along with a strong outer shell.
I love this phone, I haven't been so happy with a phone since my old Galaxy S2, which was actually my first android phone. The hardware is superb, with probably the best design of any phone so far. It is nicely weighted, and doesn't feel cheap, yet it doesn't feel like lead in my pockets. The screen is a nice size and the PPI is fantastic, with extremely sharp text. A way it is improved from my Nexus 4 is that while they are both 4.7", the HTC One screen is slightly taller and less wide, which means more can fit vertically on the screen. The touch buttons are responsive and the screen lacks the stupid wide bezel seen on the iPhone 5. The back is curved nicely and many people have commented on how thin the phone is due to the thinness of the sides, not realising that actually the phone is thicker than others out there at the back. The speakers on the HTC are amazingly loud and clear, and wipe the floor with any other phone I have put them against. When Beats mode is turned off, they deteriorate badly, and I think HTC has done this on purpose to advertise the Beats brand as offering superior sound. The camera seems really good to me, and easily beats my Nexus 4 in ANY situation, with especially fantastic low light performance, and the macro detail is second to none. Landscapes and buildings don't fare so well though and more detail can be found in other phones with more megapixels, which do make a difference at range.
I like how the notification LED is nestled invisibly inside the speaker grill, and it flashes fast enough to be spotted well. I have only seen it light up red and green and don't think it is multicoloured. The software on the phone is elegant and much simpler than previous versions of Sense which I have seen running on the One X. The animations are fast, which helps make the phone even quicker than it is. The shutter lag on the camera is non-existant and photos are taken as soon as the button is pressed. The music player is excellent, and automatically downloads album photos, as well as a nice visualiser with automatic stylised lyrics. I love HTC Zoe, and have entertained many people with some of its creations. Call quality is good. Battery life seems amazing for me so far, I get 0%-1% drain when I sleep at night, and currently my phone is on 90% after 6 hours off charge and 1 hour screen on time. The phone seems to get warm when the screen is on max brightness, although this doesn't affect anything and it may just be my device. Overall, I think this phone is amazing and would easily recommend it over the Galaxy S4 due to the amazing build quality (a few people actually asked me what phone I had when out and about taking photos) and useful software which doesn't seem bloated at all and actually contains features I actually use on a daily basis. I got this phone for £489.99 which I think is a fantastic price.
I like the screen and form factor, smaller than the Xperia Z, and with a better screen...
Makes me sad that I've got both the Z and the M7, I think the only thing the Z will be good for is ripping blu-rays onto it for my commute (that SD card slot is sorely missed on the M7)
Build quality. It's about time someone makes build quality better than Apple or even just on par with them..
I'm waiting for mine, so I don't have one yet, but this is what I fell for:
- The beautiful design, especially on the silvery one
- Blinkfeed (sure that I will love it)
- Sense 5 (like very much the look of it)
- The display (seems very clear)
- That it has a FM radio
- That it has good sound quality
- Zoe (it will be fun to try that)
the Thing I like most about HTC One is .... the waiting
pre-ordered on expansys on february 23 and still status says -19 days
seriously , for a phone's pathological sick like me the waiting is the best moment. even maybe HTC is extending my enjoyng a bit too much
Hi,
i like my htc one, cuz of this:
Sense 5 - fast and really nice
Sense Music Player - this lyric integration is awesome
speakers and microfon - great for music, videos and recording media
build quality and design - i've got an well made one
power - i can play every hd game i own lagfree :laugh:
What I like about the HTC One:
-The Screen quality
-The PPI
-The dual front facing stereo speakers (and their sound quality)
-The design
-The premium materials used (actually looks like the phone costs)
-The UI and it's smoothness (Sense 5)
-The wide angle front facing camera
-The video recording quality
-The low light picture quality
-The in-call quality
-The dual membrane microphones (audio recording quality)
-The IR LED
-The FM Radio
-Sequence shot
-Zoe
Personally though, I'll be waiting for the Nexus 5 despite how nice the S4 and HTC One are.
The main reasons I am going for the HTC One instead of the Z/S4 are:
- It's design and build quality especially
- The front facing, dual speakers (boomsound)
- 1080p SLCD3 display
- Perfect performance (S600 chipset)
- UltraPixel camera (yes, after everything I have read/seen, I am very curious to use it myself)
It's just a very, very nice overall package. The fantastic reviews also help. I have seen websites (like pocketnow and technobuffalo) give their highest scores ever to a smartphone. After listning to some podcasts from Pocketnow I also understand why. It's just a joy too use, and since I have seen multiple websites say this, I believe them.
On the other hand, my choice to go for the One is also made simpler by the alternatives. I had the Xperia Z: it looks good, but it's a pain to use ergonomicly. The GS4 looks like my GS3, so no "wow" looks, but ergonomicly it's nice. The One brings both good looks, fantastic build quality and an ergonomic design.
Then there are the "last year" - specs for the Z (S4 Pro chipset) and the pretty washed out screen. The GS4 has the best specs, but it's only a tiny bit better then the One. And the much better looking and feeling design of the One is worth so much more.
EDIT: I forgot to mention the small reasons I'm going for the One (copy/paste from the sir above me)
-The wide angle front facing camera
-The video recording quality
-The sound quality of your recorded video
-The low light picture quality
-The in-call quality
-The IR LED
-Sequence shot
-Zoe
-Highlight reels
What i like the most
Its gonne replace my galaxy s3(wich i love also) so what i like most about the htc one:
-Great design and built quality
-great sound from the front speakers
-great sound from the delivered headphones
-The best recording mic from all the phones out there
-great low light performance
-The ir blaster(remote control)
-the best screen out there...
-Zoe
-The in-call quality
-Sequence shot
-The wide angle front facing camera
-great recording cam
-Great movie and gaming experience because of the stereo speakers upfront..
So i cant wait any longer till it arrives.....
So, mine arrives tomorrow - I bought before ever seeing one in the flesh just on the design! (currently on Nexus4) but I played with my my sisters new HTC One today.
I have a Macbook Pro and Imac that I use for business and home. The One looks STUNNING alongside these products. It fits in better with my unibody mac more than an Iphone ever would! The build, design, in your hand is AMAZING before I even turned the screen on I was sold.
Turn the screen on... Sold again. WOW clarity, colours, its amazingly sharp.
Camera - Super fast, Super good.
General performance is super snappy, I was planning on rooting and putting stock straight on, now I wont.
Speakers - Best I have ever heard on a mobile device of its size and thickness.
My Beats Mixr headphones sound even better than through my Nexus4.
HTC One = WIN - very premium
Goodnight for all. What about charging time ? It take 3 hours on my one x. Some games(real racing 3, hungry shark evo..) drains battery too fast. I'll recharge my onex to play continue my games but it takes too long. Thanks.
I like my HTC One because:
Best speakers I have ever had on a phone
In-call sound quality very good too
Reliable and quick GPS
Speed and smoothness in transition across screens and in browsing
Sharp, bright screen - unrivalled ppi ratio
Blinkfeed integrated feed - quicker to access than Flipboard and includes calendar/agenda
Build quality is very good
Battery can last a day without issue (though my z10 and note 2 do a bit more)
USING: BB Z10, HTC ONE and GALAXY NOTE 2
uygar2580 said:
Goodnight for all. What about charging time ? It take 3 hours on my one x. Some games(real racing 3, hungry shark evo..) drains battery too fast. I'll recharge my onex to play continue my games but it takes too long. Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Pocketnow tested the charging time, because they thought the Snapdragon 600 chipset supported Quickcharge 2.0 (which would cut charging times up to 75%). They said it was an avarage 2 hours to go from 0 to 100% though. I did some research and I think only the S800 chipset will support this Quickcharge 2.0 technology.
Sadly.. it would have been great to go from 0 to 100% in 30-45 minutes
AW: Things I like most about HTC One are...
3 hours and via USB about 4h. Thats slow, but battery life is good enough.
Gesendet von meinem HTC One mit Tapatalk 2
Alright, well here's the conditions to the best that I can remember.
Focus not locked. Didn't see an option for that in the Galaxy S4 menu. Galaxy S4 software based stabilization was not turned on. Anyone want a redo with it on? Hardware stabilization was on for the HTC One.
Also have the Optimus G Pro, Note 2, and iPhone 5 available for tests if requested.
Front facing camera vs rear. Thoughts?
EDIT:
Software stabilization turned on for the GS4. Does anyone know if this actually use pan and zooming to stabilize the image? I'm guessing it does and there is no other way to combat shake.
EDIT:
On my trip to Colorado I added a low light test. I was pretty drowsy. Just woke up from a rest stop nap!
EDIT:
Tried to let the HTC One redeem itself in the audio department. No cases and subject (me) is in front of the camera. No bouncing the sound off of a windshield. It is definitely quiet than the S4, but turn up the volume and let me know what you think.
Seems like the s4 audio sounds better. The HTC one audio sounds echo-ey. As far as the video, they look similar in quality but the viewing angle is wider on the one. I think I prefer the zoomed in on the s4.
Man, I keep going back and forth on these two phones
Sent from my s-off Rezound
the s4 is a vibratorrrrrr
The HTC video is much sharper
Sent from my HTC EVO 3D X515m using xda app-developers app
The One video seems more color accurate and the OIS really stands out when mounted in a car like this, and obviously has a wider FoV. But the S4 has much better audio recording quality (the One had some weird occasional popping going on too).
As far as front facing cameras, again the One has a wide FoV, but the color seems better on the S4's. Whether or not the One is color accurate on the front facing cam, the S4's just plain looks better.
Here's hoping HTC has a firmware update to address the audio quality coming, because if they fix that then the One takes this victory.
arikah said:
The One video seems more color accurate and the OIS really stands out when mounted in a car like this, and obviously has a wider FoV. But the S4 has much better audio recording quality (the One had some weird occasional popping going on too).
As far as front facing cameras, again the One has a wide FoV, but the color seems better on the S4's. Whether or not the One is color accurate on the front facing cam, the S4's just plain looks better.
Here's hoping HTC has a firmware update to address the audio quality coming, because if they fix that then the One takes this victory.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd say that is pretty much what I feel.
This is great. thanks for taking the time do do this.
HTC video looks rather cold.
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 2
Added a test with software stabilization turned on for the GS4.
Piaband said:
Seems like the s4 audio sounds better. The HTC one audio sounds echo-ey. As far as the video, they look similar in quality but the viewing angle is wider on the one. I think I prefer the zoomed in on the s4.
Man, I keep going back and forth on these two phones
Sent from my s-off Rezound
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you do a youtube search for HTC One Concert you will find a lot of really great audio recordings by the HTC One. I don't know why it was inferior in the car but I've heard other recordings with the HTC One where the audio sounded great. My own recordings with this phone sound much better than this video.
Riggster said:
If you do a youtube search for HTC One Concert you will find a lot of really great audio recordings by the HTC One. I don't know why it was inferior in the car but I've heard other recordings with the HTC One where the audio sounded great. My own recordings with this phone sound much better than this video.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In the comments on the video he says the holder it's in is blocking the rear mic. That's why the audio is bad on the ONE no way to fix a huge obstruction like a holder no matter how good the mic is.
I've done three tests. Do you think it's just the output levels? Seems pretty strange.
I didn't see any options and everything is being processed in the same fashion.
Sent from my LG-E980 using Tapatalk 2
Actually the holder had a very narrow grip. I was noting that if the audio was directed toward the lens it might sound better. Instead in these tests there is a big ole windshield.
I'll figure something out!
Any suggestions are welcome.
Sent from my LG-E980 using Tapatalk 2
The audio quality of the s4 whilst recording videos continues to suprise me ! Very impressive.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium
The mic on the HTC one is on the back, right next to the camera. The sound from the HTC One is echo'ed because it is actually being bounced off the windshield.
The mic on the S4 is on the bottom near the charging port I believe.
Great comparison video. The S4 seems much sharper and has better color.
Can you please do one in low-light? (night time driving) Would love it.
Nice FR-S btw. Ignore the riceburner comments, they are kids who don't know jack about cars. The FR-S is a great great car.
superb comparison.. what car are you testing it in btw? looks like the seats of an 86.
EDIT: oh my bad - was originally watching without audio (at work).. just heard you mention you're in the FRS (Scion's version of the 86).. Buddy, that supercharged engine sounds AWESOME.
Zexell said:
The mic on the HTC one is on the back, right next to the camera. The sound from the HTC One is echo'ed because it is actually being bounced off the windshield.
The mic on the S4 is on the bottom near the charging port I believe.
Great comparison video. The S4 seems much sharper and has better color.
Can you please do one in low-light? (night time driving) Would love it.
Nice FR-S btw. Ignore the riceburner comments, they are kids who don't know jack about cars. The FR-S is a great great car.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. I'm driving to Colorado in my wife's Audi (from Houston). Right before the sun comes up I'll mount the phones.
I also want to do a comparison at some point with a GoPro 3 Black Edition.
Huey85 said:
superb comparison.. what car are you testing it in btw? looks like the seats of an 86.
EDIT: oh my bad - was originally watching without audio (at work).. just heard you mention you're in the FRS (Scion's version of the 86).. Buddy, that supercharged engine sounds AWESOME.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sent from my LG-E980 using Tapatalk 2
I want your FR-S... Please? Pretty please?
And awesome comparison video btw!
The S4 is a great phone with great specs,if only samsung chose better materials and design they would have seduce me
I'd like to see how a Samsung phone made with metal would sell.
EDIT:
On my trip to Colorado I added a low light test. I was pretty drowsy. Just woke up from a rest stop nap!
I recently changed to a Z1 from a Galaxy S3 primarily for the camera and secondarily for waterproofing.
No phone is perfect, so here are my own personal opinions on what I liked and didn't like about the Z1, in case it is useful for anyone else coming from a Samsung Galaxy as you might have a similar experience.
Take them for what they are, you may disagree and haven't thought of these as cons/pros, but this what my own experience has been.
First, the cons:
- The notification LED is useless, at least on my black. It is hidden inside the earpiece, so only appears at maximum brightness when you are looking at the Z1 from the right angle. Maximum brightness is also about 1/4 that on the S3 - I can't see it outside in broad daylight for example. This means I am often turning on the phone to check for messages.
- Sound is very quiet. I've been using Android for years - was an Xperia X10 fan boy back in the day - and this is one of the quietest phones I've used. The quality seems good, but for notifications, combined with the dull LED as above, means it's already frustrating missing messages.
- The usable area of the 5" screen is LESS than the 4.8" screen of the S3. This is because the soft-keys take a lot of room at the bottom. I have compared them side-by-side. The bezel area is also huge.
- I hit the soft-keys by mistake often and end up switching apps or bouncing to the home screen. I'm sure this is just a matter of getting used to it. But so far I miss the physical home button a lot. Even if asthetically it "looks better" without one, it's actually quite useful to have another button to wake up the phone.
- The screen is dull and has a very small colour gamut. It is disappointing. For reading text it is fine. The AMOLED of the S3 is streets ahead in gamut coverage. That's with the S3 set to the "Professional Photo" profile which is decently calibrated, rather than the over-saturated Standard setting it has out of the box. I would not use it to review my photos (stick with the iPad for better integration with Lightroom anyway).
- The phone is HUGE for less screen area than a S3.
- There is far less ROM customisation for Z1's than S3, no surprise as I remember having the same experience on the X10. Going to an S and then S2 afterwards blew my mind how much more customisation there was. Rooting the S3 took 10 minutes after I first opened the box having not read up in advance. I guess the Z1 can be done in the same time once you know what you're doing, but the information is vague, the forums have different information all over the place, and it feels like a lot of rooting or flashing is sort of hopeful that it works. Information seems in posts scattered around rather than helpful and up-to-date guides. There are many more people in the Z1 forums complaining of boot loops or stuck phones.
Now having said all those negatives, here are the pros, of which there are some really good ones:
- The camera IS fantastic. Having used the S3, S4 and various other smartphones this is truly a brilliant camera. Yes, there are cons, such as pixel peeping shows patterns from the software processing. And 20mp looks like about 10mp up-sampled. But the colours are great and the dynamic range is surprisingly good.
- I love the ability to hold the camera button to wake the Z1 and instantly open the camera. This is very useful.
- Waterproofing gives me lot of peace of mind when travelling. I was very nervous when using a previous phone in Europe last November during rain and trying to look up maps.
- The battery life is incredible compared to the S3. I don't have figures or stats but I think it's roughly twice as good. I'm very impressed with this, given how large the screen is in particular.
- The Xperia software seems to be more useful than the gimmicky stuff Samsung puts in their Galaxy range. For example, the auto-triggered Sleep pattern to turn off sync, Wifi when you plug in the charger after 10pm is really neat. (For anyone who hasn't used this, you can customise the trigger, time range and actions that occur).
- It feels like a higher quality device. Also more precious and delicate. Definitely more "premium" as I've heard it said.
- The wifi signal is slightly stronger on 802.11n.
I'm sure there are other pros and cons. These are the ones that mattered to me personally, your mileage may and is likely to completely differ
S3 to Z1
I went to the 4G (2GB Ram) version of the S3 and back whilst my Z1 was being replaced.
you forgot to mention one Massive crucial point,
the S3 felt like a Lag-Fest compared to the Z1 with it's S800 processor and Adreno 330 GPU.
Also much of the Screen issues can be resolved by calibrating the colour and white balance,
and theres no comparison between Quality of the Z1's 1080P panel with 441 PPI compared to a 720P panel with 306 PPI (with some Pixels noticeable)
regards
I too just upgraded from S3 to Z1
Lag fest, true that. Only thing that I miss is the AMOLED display.
S3- Lags (stock ROM, AOSP ROM's are somewhat fast)
Can be used as frying pan, 1080p video fps drops when scenes become too complex (like shooting ocean waves), Gallery sucks, samsung apps are resource hungry. Newer games lag a lot (sometimes quits )
halleyrokz said:
Lag fest, true that. Only thing that I miss is the AMOLED display.
S3- Lags (stock ROM, AOSP ROM's are somewhat fast)
Can be used as frying pan, 1080p video fps drops when scenes become too complex (like shooting ocean waves), Gallery sucks, samsung apps are resource hungry. Newer games lag a lot (sometimes quits )
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ditto
Interested in buying this phone also, coming from the s2, tho I'm worrying about the sound quality of this phone, is it really that bad?
uchechris said:
Interested in buying this phone also, coming from the s2, tho I'm worrying about the sound quality of this phone, is it really that bad?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the speakerphone is better than the S2/S3,
you can always try it in the shops and hear for yourself, make sure you turn on ClearAudio+ and Dynamic Normaliser on,
If you want the Best speakerphone quality ... theres only one choice at the moment HTC One.
regards
raziel123 said:
the speakerphone is better than the S2/S3,
you can always try it in the shops and hear for yourself, make sure you turn on ClearAudio+ and Dynamic Normaliser on,
If you want the Best speakerphone quality ... theres only one choice at the moment HTC One.
regards
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lol I see, never try sony phones before and I wanna give it a try....done with samsung since battery is an issue and overheating , i don't wanna do HTC due to its camera.....iphones is a no , so imma do sony , might get the Z1 international since the Z1s don't have 4.4 kitkat and has a locked boot loader :/
uchechris said:
Interested in buying this phone also, coming from the s2, tho I'm worrying about the sound quality of this phone, is it really that bad?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The loudspeaker is quieter and the earpiece is harder to hear people on call.
However I prefer listening to music with the same headphones plugged into this vs S2 or S3. The Z1 has a warmer sound to the music and I think captures the very low bass just slightly better than the S3. This is without the enhancements turned on. I find the enhancements a bit over the top, like applying HDR to every photo, it doesn't suit everything.
So I enjoy music more - but the loudspeaker is quieter which is annoying for conference calls at work.
I've heard it explained as quieter due to the waterproofing, which is understandable.
awojtas said:
The loudspeaker is quieter and the earpiece is harder to hear people on call.
However I prefer listening to music with the same headphones plugged into this vs S2 or S3. The Z1 has a warmer sound to the music and I think captures the very low bass just slightly better than the S3. This is without the enhancements turned on. I find the enhancements a bit over the top, like applying HDR to every photo, it doesn't suit everything.
So I enjoy music more - but the loudspeaker is quieter which is annoying for conference calls at work.
I've heard it explained as quieter due to the waterproofing, which is understandable.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You know I actually find the earpiece louder than most phones I used in the past. I thought it was quiet at first as well until I realized that I am holding up to my ear wrong. I find anyone that also used my phone kinda does the same thing. Most of the time the earpiece is usually in the middle of the bezel of the edge and the screen. But because the earpiece is the very top of the phone you have to remember to slide the phone down and make sure the speaker is right at the ear canal. I still do that sometimes but I find it very clear and loud once its position correctly.
Maybe its just me...
I also came from the S3 and agree regarding the notification LED and the soft-keys. The LED on the S3 was perfect (the Z, too), however the Z1's is definitely harder to see. I solved the soft-key issue by switching on pie controls in xposed/gravity box and deactivating the Android soft keys. I can easily use the phone single-handed, tapping the pie keys with the thumb.
I quickly got used to the less explosive colors (which imho are far too saturated on the S3/4) and enjoy the better handling in bright sunlight compared to the S3.
My biggest con is the phone's size. It's so large I don't want to put it into a flip-cover, which would make it even bigger. On the other hand the naked phone is a bit difficult to hold because it's quite slippery.
sumerland said:
I also came from the S3 and agree regarding the notification LED and the soft-keys. The LED on the S3 was perfect (the Z, too), however the Z1's is definitely harder to see. I solved the soft-key issue by switching on pie controls in xposed/gravity box and deactivating the Android soft keys. I can easily use the phone single-handed, tapping the pie keys with the thumb.
I quickly got used to the less explosive colors (which imho are far too saturated on the S3/4) and enjoy the better handling in bright sunlight compared to the S3.
My biggest con is the phone's size. It's so large I don't want to put it into a flip-cover, which would make it even bigger. On the other hand the naked phone is a bit difficult to hold because it's quite slippery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm using this case,
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Case-mate-B...F8&qid=1401215095&sr=1-3&keywords=casemate+z1
I've had the black one for months now, pretty good,
regards
Hi All
This supposed to be subjective comparison between OnePlus One and Honor 6 Plus. I will not get into too much of technical details as internet is full or such reviews already. It is written based on my usage style and you will clearly see what is important for me. I am open for debate but just in case of any fanboys from either camp would like to argue with me – let me stress it out – this MY and SUBJECTIVE opinion and you can have yours as well
It will concentrate on main aspects as:
1. Overall build quality;
2. Screen quality;
3. Speaker quality;
4. Overall subjective speed;
5. OS;
6. Battery life;
7. Camera quality;
There will be no summary saying that OPO or H6+ is better as there are different aspects each of us takes into account and I would prefer each of you get its own conclusion.
1. Overall build quality.
Honor 6 Plus
H6+ feels solid, it reminds me very much small brick my iPhone 4 was. In various reviews I read that silver band around edges was metal but I dare to doubt. In my opinion it is plastic imitating metal. But it does a good job. You don’t fear that H6+ will fall apart in your hand. Some of my previous Samsung devices had this fragile feeling (especially this flimsy battery cover bending under fingers). Here we have very solid build mobile.
Still quality is not ideal – in my case the black plastic lip between screen and silver band is not even. Not something you will notice but as I am freaking perfectionist I do (believe me) check construction quality with my nose almost touching the mobile under each angle. Some reviewers complained about large gap on the back of the phone between back glass and black plastic. On my phone this is not an issue and glass seems to be glued perfectly. As you see these are not major drawbacks and I believe that they are totally acceptable on the sub £300 mobile.
OnePlus One
Oh boy I love the feeling of this mobile – this may be a bit of fetishism but I love the black back feel it’s “like sand paper meets velvet” feeling. It has great grip and its silver frame around display adds this elegant look. I have been using OPO for around 8 months and it still looks as new. Really I can’t say a bad word about its construction quality.
Both phones are quite different in terms of design and really which one you prefer it’s down to your preferences.
2. Screen quality;
Both mobiles have the same screen resolution and as far as I understand both are IPS displays with Gorilla Glass on top. Having them side by side I noticed that my OPO has much colder colours (I know that different batches of OPO had different colour temperatures on their screens). Even setting coldest colours on H6+ they were still bit warmer than OPO screen. Personally I don’t mind either as if you don’t have reference next to screen you really will not mind this.
Viewing angles horizontally are very good and almost equal on both mobiles. Horizontal viewing angles seems to vary and on my units - H6+ had better viewing angle from top and OPO from bottom but this has been only visible at angles above around 150 degrees.
3. Speaker quality;
If you use mobile phones speakers for what they have been meant for (ring tonnes and loudspeaker) then both phones are suit for this purpose.
If you are a young sadist who loves to torture passengers on public transport with “bumbumbum” music from tiny mobile phone speakers – then both phones will also suit this purpose – I mean torture.
Let’s be honest these tiny speakers will not play quality music. They can make quite a noise but if you have any respect to your (and other passengers) ears you will use quality headphones.
Still I did check both of the speakers and I must say that in terms of volume H6+ seems to have linear scale and OPO logarithmic. This mean that both phones create similar noise at max volume but at 50% H6+ is much louder.
It terms of sound quality at 50% I much rather prefer H6+ which sound was cleared and less tin like but it ended up with larger distortion at the top of the range which sounds just like tones on both end of the scale have been cut. OPO still had this tin like sound but at the top volume it was reproducing larger spectrum than H6+.
Again personally there are no forces on Earth which can make me to listen music on mobile speaker and call this pleasure. Therefore as long as mobile phone has loud ring tonne which I can hear and I can understand the other side during conversation over the loudspeaker I say it’s OK and suits its purpose and from this perspective both phones pass.
In terms of front speaker I didn’t noticed any significant differences between them as I could hear the other person loud and clear even in noisy environment.
OPO has 3 microphones while H6+ has 2 - still people claimed that they could hear me slightly louder on H6+ than on OPO – this could be due to different noise cancellation algorithm or just due to their subjective judgment.
4. Overall subjective speed (no benchmarks here);
Both phones are working great and I didn’t suffer any shutters of freezes during normal use. Still some games i.e. GTA III plays better on OPO, Riptide GP2 crashes on H6+ when I try to turn shadows on, but other demanding games like Reckless Racing 3, Modern Combat 5 or Deus Ex are working like a charm on max settings therefore it is hard to judge if H6+ really lacks a bit of steam under the hood or it’s just an issue with games optimisation for Kirin processor.
I know that most of you will refer me back to benchmarks and charts stating that this is obvious as SD 801 is better (just a bit but still) than Kirin 925 but honestly how many apps in the play store uses your processors, graphics and memory in 100%? C’mon let’s stop this MPix, MB, MHz race and let’s check real life performance.
I have been using Tegra 4 and Tegra K1 devices and beside these few great exclusive titles like Half-life 2, Portal or recently released Doom 3 (which probable would work on other SoC’s as well) for the most of the time it was a steam in the whistle – there are no apps able to use this power.
5. OS;
Both mobiles runs custom ROMs – Cyanogen in case of OPO and EMUI in case of H6+ I will not concentrate on general descriptions on both of these releases as there are plenty discussion and debates about both of them. I would rather say a few words how they feel in day to day usage.
OnePlus One
As you would expect it is highly customisable and I did enjoy this. It is full of small add-ons and features that you find handy. Still it manages to keep this vanilla feeling of Android OS.
For me it was like using a Linux distro on PC you can do everything you want but you have to know what you want and where to look for the feature in the menu.
It provides best vanilla experience of Android I experienced and all its add-ons we actually useful – for me most frequently used options was equalizer which managed to convince me that I actually hear bass on my in-ear headphones
Honor 6 Plus
This is as much iOS on android as you can get. In a good way. I love power management, memory management system management it’s almost like heaven if you like me like to keep your system as clean as possible – this is first time I didn’t have to install my standard set of third party management apps as all of the settings are built in the ROM.
Lack of app drawer wasn’t any issue for me as I usually ended up with all the shortcuts in the folders on desktops either way. Possibly if you have just few icons on the desktop you may find this change annoying but its 100% subjective.
In terms of user friendliness I must say I do enjoy all those little tips the system is giving you like – “oy! this app is working in the background and is eating battery are you ok with this or you want to close it”? This is very useful if you experienced before “google services” battery issue before. Personally I found myself spending less time looking for functions and access to them seems to be quicker.
H6+ has micro SD slot (up to 128GB) and despite KK limitations it somehow manages to squeeze apps onto micro SD card. Currently my system shows more than 20GB free space (out of 25GB total available for the user out of the box) in the main memory having 14GB apps installed!
I was using 64GB version of OPO so I didn’t experience memory problem there either
Micro SD also doubles as second sim slot (nano SIM) and from what I understand from menu description is 2G only. You can fully control default actions like from which card phone calls or messages will be initiated by default as well as set independent ringtones for calls and messages – useful feature for some but I didn’t have the need to use it nor spare nano SIM with credit on it to test – therefore I will not be able to comment on this feature.
OPO comes as vanilla as it can really be without any rubbish on it. H6+ has some fermium apps on it BUT most of them are shortcuts not really installed on brand new phone (0B size) and the rest is not embedded into ROM and can be fully uninstalled not hidden!! I would love this solution on my Samsung tablet which not only has mere 16GB of storage but is packed with tonnes of crapware.
6. Battery life;
I am a heavy user – my typical scenario: wake up, unplug mobile, check weather forecast, browse news over my morning coffee while streaming music over LTE, commuting =more web browsing and music streaming over LTE to my BT headset, a lot more of this during work and commuting back, evening more browsing over WiFi. I would estimate that I browse internet 2h – 3h a day over LTE + 2h music streaming over LTE with BT on and another 3h-4h with BT off;
Monthly mobile data usage is between 10GB-16GB.
Using OPO I had to limit myself as battery was around 15% at 5-6PM with H6+ I still have around 40% at the same time. Recent H6+ record 8.00am to 1.00pm next day. Normal users will get more than one day from both phones.
7. Camera quality;
I will not get into technicalities here – as far as I know both OPO and H6+ uses Sony sensors – OPO 13Mpix and H6+ 2x8Mpix.
First if you are looking for high quality camcorder OPO is the phone you should look at. It doesn’t mean that video from H6+ is bad but OPO not only has Full HD video recording but it goes further up to 4k. Still since I have no device to play back 4k videos or memory to store them (and they are huge) it is not a very appealing feature. OPO also can record slow motion video at 120fps on 720p! This is the features I miss mostly on H6+.
Again I am really crappy cameraman and my videos looks like first person view from drunken fly flight so I don’t bother that much about those H6+ limitations (ok I will miss slow motion video a lot ).
Now, the feature most important to me – camera photo quality.
Comparing both cameras on auto mode I have noticed that H6+ has wider tonal range, photos are not overexposed. Shooting photo of the bright sky and the ground contrast differences are much more settle between them on H6+. OPO usually (like most cameras) chooses one or another (sky or ground) to set exposure on. End result is nice sky and black ground or nice grass and white sky.
Now looking at the photos with correct exposure and comparing them site by site 1:1 it seems that grain and noise is visible at similar levels – colours on the other hand are better handled by H6+ as they look more natural and bit more saturated. Photos from OPO are bit colder and have tiny blue hue. Nothing major and most photos look very good on OPO - unless you are shooting landscapes in full Sun. Of course this can be mitigated by using HDR on OPO but still H6+ does the job without using such improvements.
Now where H6+ shines is low light performance – as both OPO and H6+ lacks OIS it may be tricky to get perfectly steady shoot. Using auto mode I took photos with both cameras in the dark room without flash with only bit of light seeping through partially open doors. On photo from OPO you are able to recognise shapes but that’s it – colours are lost and noise level is extremely high. H6+ photo is much better shapes are much sharper, noise is definitely lower and there are even some colours on the photo.
OK this was quite an extreme shot and probably compact camera wouldn’t produce much better (if at all) results.
Therefore I moved to something more subtle – lets simulate “party shoot” – rather dim light indoor in the evening – photos taken free hand without flash – oh boy this where you can see true benefit of dual camera setup – let’s be honest there still is bit of noise on H6+ photos and this is not an DSLR quality but for sure this is the best quality I saw on mobiles I owned (and it was quite a number). Comparing quality between OPO and H6+ you can see much more details on the latter, photo has significant less noise and photos are much sharper.
There is super-night setup on H6+ but really you will need tripod to use it as it set’s lower ISO and increase exposure time.
Good news is that on both mobiles you can gain full access to manual settings via my favourite app Camera FV-5. On H6+ you can change ISO setting and WB within standard camera app but since these functions are hidden on the bottom of settings menu I prefer to use Camera FV-5 as it not only brings these functions on the main screen but additionally allows to manually control exposure time and EV compensation.
It’s worth noted that OPO has ability to save files in RAW format which is missing in H6+
Wide aperture mode – it’s nice function/gadget, something you saw on HTC M8 and also mimiced by few apps on app store (i.e. google camera) – my advice – don’t buy H6+ solely for this feature.
It does work but it has serious limitations and end result is not always perfect. I haven’t tested M8 to confirm but from what I heard this function is working much better on H6+ than on M8 (M8 had to be disaster then ). To get decent results on H6+ make sure that your object is at least 2m from camera and background is fair distance away from main subject of the photo – this way you have the best chances that algorithm will “understand” photo depth correctly. Otherwise you may end up with some errors on the blur edges. Also don’t take photos of the objects with holes in them as blur will be applied outside the objects but not on “see through” parts.
As you see there are some serious limitations and don’t let anybody to tell you that you can leave your DSLR at home – still saying this I have quite a fun with this function. As long as you are aware of these limitations and have in mind “do’s” and “Do not’s” you will have as much fun as I do.
8. Summary
I hope you found this useful and if you considering any of these mobiles hopefully this will help.
Both have its strengths and weaknesses and as always there are no perfect devices the key is to find one perfect for you
Personally I like both mobiles very much – I chose to use H6+ as a main phone because of camera quality, speed and low light performance. From this perspective it serves me very well in deed.
Of course if you have different priorities you may chose differently.
I have planned to do some further comparison between OPO and H6+ cameras in full manual mode but as it will take quite a bit of my time I will do it only if there will be such interest.
Mean time if you have any specific questions please ask I will do my best to answer them.