Call for experience with new smartphones (HTC One, Galaxy S4, iPhone 5)

[CNYCacher]

Brad: you're conflating mini and micro usb. I love mini usb and was pissed when most phones went to micro.

No difference in construction between the two other than shape.

[Brad Johnson]

Brad: you're conflating mini and micro usb. I love mini usb and was pissed when most phones went to micro.

No, I'm talking about micro-b.

Wiki image...



Brad

[erictank]

It's directional, but the indicators of direction aren't intuituve or obvious. It's fragile on the blade section. The female side has a very small gap due to the offset piece inside that fouls easily. It's friction fit but the bearing surfaces are so tiny that any slight loosening of tolerances leads to insecure connections. And all the components are soft and weak, and wear out easily so that loosening tolerances is a given over time.

It's fragile, poorly designed tech that fails early and often.

My micro-USB connectors have (successfully) stood up to more abuse than the mini-USB types used by my first cell and my old HP Ipaq (PDA). I *GREATLY* prefer micro to mini, and like Brad says, you can get them ANYWHERE. I've picked up emergency AA-battery charger packs at the grocery store.

[Boomhauer]

Personally I'm a fan of the Iphone. Just plain works. Although I have the plain 4 version, not the 4S or 5 (I actually like the smaller form factor plus I don't need a woman on my phone telling me what to do, I've got a whole contact list of them that are more than happy to). Reliable, does what I need it to do, and I've been very pleased with it. Also cases chargers, accessories, etc are widely available.


 

[Strings]

One might even say "overly available".

Walked into Office Max to look at tablets. They have several Android tabs, a couple Windows 8 versions. NO accessories for either. But LOADS of stuff for iPad and iPhone... neither of which they carry

[Balog]

My micro-USB connectors have (successfully) stood up to more abuse than the mini-USB types used by my first cell and my old HP Ipaq (PDA). I *GREATLY* prefer micro to mini, and like Brad says, you can get them ANYWHERE. I've picked up emergency AA-battery charger packs at the grocery store.

I don't know what to tell you man, my experience differs from yours.



If you can reliably feel the teeny tiny little shoulders on the micro in the dark when you're half asleep then more power to you. I still say it's total crap comparatively.

[erictank]

I don't know what to tell you man, my experience differs from yours.

Yeah, that's pretty much all that can be said, really.

If you can reliably feel the teeny tiny little shoulders on the micro in the dark when you're half asleep then more power to you. I still say it's total crap comparatively.

I do okay with it. YMM, apparently, V.

[De Selby]

I'm happy with the iPhone 5 - the new connector transfers data and power much, much faster than the old stuff.

[ArfinGreebly]

I have the HTC Evo (4G LTE), precursor to the HTC One.

Good transceiver, gets signal and makes & holds calls in poor signal area.  Good noise damping on microphone.  Decent speaker.  I can use the TuneIn Radio app to listen to streaming radio and the quality is not bad.  Better, of course, when I switch on the Bluetooth portable speaker (a stubby tapered cylinder with a 35mm driver -- fills a room with sound).

Good WiFi reception.  Good data rates.  Actually, good data rates even on 3G.

Good camera.  Not "outstandingly" good, but good nonetheless.  Takes stills & video, takes stills while taking video, has various modes including panorama.  Good results in ambient light.  See here for examples, still life in ambient light, outdoor, outdoor pan shots.  (Taken today, actually.)



Good app integration.  

Good screen, good touch response.  (Using screen as camera viewfinder in bright outdoor light kinda sux.)

I installed MobileGo backup, and the phone evidently supports peer-to-peer WiFi connect, so I don't have to use USB to connect to laptop when backing up my stuff.  (Good app, BTW, saved my butt when the first phone developed a dead spot in the touch screen.)

Fits in my shirt pocket, which is where it rides.

Good -- actually very good -- battery life.  I can talk for three hours without a break.  As long as the screen is off, you can do phone conversation, listen to streaming radio, and stuff like that and do the whole day.  If, however, you wanna play video games on it (screen constantly on), you can drain the battery in four-ish hours of constant play.

I don't know about the HTC One, but my only beef with with the HTC Evo is that the battery is non-removable.  Hasn't been a problem in a year of using, but I prefer to be able to have a spare.  I contented myself with spending $60 on a "power source" type of charging brick.  You plug that thing in, let it charge all the way, and then -- with the phone battery way down at, say, 15% -- you can plug the phone into it and continue to use the phone while it -- get this -- FULLY recharges the phone over a couple of hours.  One could argue that the brick is every bit as good as a spare battery, maybe better, since it doesn't care what phone you're charging.

All in all, a good phone.  If the HTC One improves on that, then I can recommend it.

[Balog]

Intrresting, I'm writing this on an HTC EVO (4g but not LTE) and it has a swappable battery. I kept it around to use as a mini tablet on wifi after we got the new phones. It was the phone that soured me on Android, lots of issues both hardware and software. And atrocious battery life. Good to hear they must have improved later versions, although measuring smartphone battery life by tasks that don't use the screen is probably not the best metric.

[slingshot]

I chose the 4S when they first came out a year ago.  I read a lot of reviews and comparisons at the time.  5S is supposed to be a little better?  Been pleased but was surprised with the short battery life.  Charge usually lasts a day unless you play games a lot or make a lot of calls.  Motorola has the best battery life according to what I read and folks that have them are happy with them.  Prior to the Samsung 4S, I always had a Motorola phone so it was a pretty big leaf of faith to change.

I don't know what you all do with your phones, but for what I currently do, the 4S is all I need.  Prior to purchase, I was really interested in the HP Slate thinking that I could use it as a sort of notepad for work.  But that was kind of a stupid expectation.  Never seriously considered an Apple phone.  I dislike Apple and won't contribute to their success as long as the competition is about as good.

HTC makes a very good smart phone.  Has great graphics and camera.  I seldom use my camera.  Think I have taken maybe 10 pictures with my 4S in a year.

Advice.  Keep a charger at home and work and carry a car charger in your vehicle.  The cases protect the units well, but I seldom carry mine anywhere other than my shirt pocket or a jacket pocket when it is cooler.  Even with this use, I still suggest a case.  I use a stylus also for texting more accurately.

I have the unlimited call and texting plan.  Probably costs me more than I need to spend based on my use (family plan), but this way I don't have to worry about use other than data usage.  Getting ready to dump some of my excess data use that I pay for.