One for the Tekkies, Samsung S5 or HTC M8?

[dwardo]

HTC released their new HTC one M8 today and Samsung their Galaxy S5 a few weeks ago.
Must admit to being a Tekkie my self and as my contact is up for renewal soon I have been watching the various manufacturers bad mouth each other in the fight for the best selling Android phone.

I have been using smart phones since the arrival of the first PDA`s as part of my daily work so they are pretty important to me and with most contracts being 2 years making the right choice is also important. Not to mention the shocking cost.

So far its a toss up between these two tech monsters, which one are you going for?

Personally although an avid HTC fan the specification for the new Samsung is making me want to jump ship, not to mention the water resistance and changeable battery. Although it is not where near as tidy looking as the HTC (as usual).

So what will be your next smart phone?

 

[tommy the cat]

I'm waiting to see what deal theyll do on the s5 ... good spec. Not even looked at the htc....

 

[ex-member BareThrills]

im a galaxy convert. mines up for renewal in july and ill be taking the S5 to replace my S3.

 

[Imagedude]

Just got a S3 Mini, don't need anything newer. I bought Samsung for the interchangeable batteries.

 

[BigMonster]

I'm currently using HTC one x+ and I will switch to the S%. Waterproof and bigger battery. And In my opinion better looking screen.

 

[dwardo]

HTC M8 is a nice looking phone but that's about it as far as I can see. They have offered to replace the screen on the phone for the first six months of use even if broken accidentally which is a nice gesture, wish they would all do the same.
The camera has this fancy depth sensor but folk are saying the picture is still pants.

The S5 has biometrics, water proof ish, battery replacement, optional additional storage. But... It's fugly and dated.

I have had the HTC line pre tytn and always got on well with them. Actually worked better with certain Microsoft technology than windows phones.

Torn but I think it's going to be function over form.

 

[British Red]

So what will be your next smart phone?

As a professional techie myself I went a different way. Listed all the features I wanted and calculated Total Cost of Ownership over two years. Bought a Nokia Windows Phone outright for £60 and got a sim only deal for minutes and data. Far far cheaper than most smartphones - does everything I want and need.

 

[Chiseller]

I'm all HTC .......with savvy usage .....I get a full day /night on my battery.
're changeable battery on the Samsung .....power banks are so cheap and light these days.....plus (que Dave Canterbury voice over) ..."mull-tye-functional" I wouldn't let that be a swaying factor.
're Samsung's water resistance.....an otter box does enough.....
Yup.....HTC ad be the one for me.

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk

 

[dwardo]

As a professional techie myself I went a different way. Listed all the features I wanted and calculated Total Cost of Ownership over two years. Bought a Nokia Windows Phone outright for £60 and got a sim only deal for minutes and data. Far far cheaper than most smartphones - does everything I want and need.

I did consider this Red but the way I see it is a new phone such as these two is in the £600 range to begin with.
Over two years that's about £25 a month. Some operators charge around £35-45 for a decent unlimited contract which is what I need anyway to run my business.

I may be one of the few besides gamers that actually need the processor and RAM and can utilise it. I have not played games in many years but I do need it to be able to keep up with a VPN connection whilst running remote desktop sessions and tabbing between emails, various document formats and apps yet still answer a call without bombing out. Also if it doesnt lose my place on radio iplayer that would be nice too.

Speaking of windows phones the one case that always made me laugh was that most of the early windows phone O/S would not support a basic windows VPN (PPTP). Annoyingly Apple phones were fine, android was expectedly fine too.

 

[dwardo]

I'm all HTC .......with savvy usage .....I get a full day /night on my battery.
're changeable battery on the Samsung .....power banks are so cheap and light these days.....plus (que Dave Canterbury voice over) ..."mull-tye-functional" I wouldn't let that be a swaying factor.
're Samsung's water resistance.....an otter box does enough.....
Yup.....HTC ad be the one for me.

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk

I use an otterbox with my One X and it does make it bash proof but no where near water-proof. Plus a spare battery is never going to be heavier than a charging unit or less bulky. The other advantage is a new battery 12 months down the line is going to be in far better re-charge condition than a 12 month old battery.
This is me trying to talk my self into an ugly S5 by the way.

 

[drliamski]

Htc build quality come into play as well.

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk

 

[ADz-1983]

I'm an Galaxy fan atm. The Galaxy S2 was my first sammy and now using a Galaxy Note II. I am in same situation with you though and considering getting a M8 or maybe an S5. Either that or stick with my current form factor and get a Note III.

I dont even consider an iPhone or a Windows Phone a smart phone relative to a Android device. Their OS's are just too limited and more like toys if I'm honest. Windows Phone does look promising but still got some work to do.

 

[British Red]

I did consider this Red but the way I see it is a new phone such as these two is in the £600 range to begin with.
Over two years that's about £25 a month. Some operators charge around £35-45 for a decent unlimited contract which is what I need anyway to run my business.

I may be one of the few besides gamers that actually need the processor and RAM and can utilise it. I have not played games in many years but I do need it to be able to keep up with a VPN connection whilst running remote desktop sessions and tabbing between emails, various document formats and apps yet still answer a call without bombing out. Also if it doesnt lose my place on radio iplayer that would be nice too.

Speaking of windows phones the one case that always made me laugh was that most of the early windows phone O/S would not support a basic windows VPN (PPTP). Annoyingly Apple phones were fine, android was expectedly fine too.

I have tried this sort of thing and, whilst possible. I find the lack of a keyboard and the screen size limiting to the point of irritation - we just use 10 or 12" netbooks for "real" work - but phones are great for reading documents, e-mail etc. Using cloud based calenders, contacts and non secure documents enables phones to be useful - but for us they have never worked in a "doing" rather than "reading" sense,

Each to their own though - if it works for you, that's great!

 

[ADz-1983]

As a professional techie myself I went a different way. Listed all the features I wanted and calculated Total Cost of Ownership over two years. Bought a Nokia Windows Phone outright for £60 and got a sim only deal for minutes and data. Far far cheaper than most smartphones - does everything I want and need.

I too prefer to just buy the phone outright. I just dont like been long-term contracted.

I currently use a month-to-month Three sim and get 100% unlimited data, 600 mins and 5000 texts for about £13/month which suits me

 

[tommy the cat]

I hope the s5 is as good as it sounds I've ordered one😳
It's the waterproof to a metre that did it!!

 

[dwardo]

I hope the s5 is as good as it sounds I've ordered one
It's the waterproof to a metre that did it!!

Thats what it swinging it for me... I also like the idea of a biometric rather than entering a pin every time I unlock it.
camera also seems to be better quality than the HTC even considering its new fangled after shot focus thingy.

 

[dwardo]

Placed my money on the S5 today. Hope it lives up to expectations.
The water resistance and accessible battery just sold it over the others. My current HTC one is really struggling with battery life now which is hardly surprising as its probably been re-charged 700+ times.

Review to come, weekend in the woods should see how "rugged" it is. The camera should be great for those woodland pictures that help pass the week.

 

[tommy the cat]

Had mine a week and love it!
Still getting used to android over apple but getting there.
Great camera. ..8gb memory card £3.99 off eBay sorted.

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

 

[dwardo]

Very happy with mine so far. Great camera, fast operation, pretty amazing screen too.