My HTC ONE Journey

[onthecouchagain]

Love this article: http://www.theverge.com/2013/5/26/4...-from-an-iphone-to-a-really-big-android-phone

Especially this:

But I was wrong. By the end of the trip I was emailing other Verge writers, effusively praising the glories of Android. Rdio worked beautifully! The notifications were so much better than the iPhone’s! My email, oh God, my email. I composed long, beautiful emails in dead spots where I had no service and it quietly sent them later on. The Twitter app seemed... better. It loaded faster, I thought. The battery life was better than my iPhone’s. I could effortlessly Gchat, 24 hours a day! Editing documents on my phone was something I could actually do realistically now. Oh, and the maps put the iPhone 4 to shame. There were other, smaller things, too, but I can’t remember them, because it’s now been so long since I touched an iPhone.

Some of this stuff is amazingly accurate. I especially agree about her thoughts on emailing and maps. The talking points against android are growing ever slimmer, too, now that more stock android options are becoming available.

Good read.

 

[Night Spring]

I composed long, beautiful emails in dead spots where I had no service and it quietly sent them later on.

What does iOS do in this case? I know I've composed emails on my iPad while offline, and they get saved to an Outbox, but I can't recall if I needed to do anything to send them, or if it automatically sent when it got reconnected to the Internet.

 

[onthecouchagain]

What does iOS do in this case? I know I've composed emails on my iPad while offline, and they get saved to an Outbox, but I can't recall if I needed to do anything to send them, or if it automatically sent when it got reconnected to the Internet.

Don't remember myself. But I know that ios if you don't get service you can't send messages nor browse the Web nor check your emails. With Gmail I know I can open up old mail as far back as I want. Messages "send" but really send later. Can't do that on ios. As for safari if you have no service it just blanks out on you. With chrome the page stays so you can at least finish reading what was already loaded. It also allows you to go back. With safari going back gives you that black page again.

I've opened attachments that were never opened before without service too on Gmail.

 

[Zaft]

Love this article: http://www.theverge.com/2013/5/26/4...-from-an-iphone-to-a-really-big-android-phone

Especially this:

But I was wrong. By the end of the trip I was emailing other Verge writers, effusively praising the glories of Android. Rdio worked beautifully! The notifications were so much better than the iPhone’s! My email, oh God, my email. I composed long, beautiful emails in dead spots where I had no service and it quietly sent them later on. The Twitter app seemed... better. It loaded faster, I thought. The battery life was better than my iPhone’s. I could effortlessly Gchat, 24 hours a day! Editing documents on my phone was something I could actually do realistically now. Oh, and the maps put the iPhone 4 to shame. There were other, smaller things, too, but I can’t remember them, because it’s now been so long since I touched an iPhone.

Some of this stuff is amazingly accurate. I especially agree about her thoughts on emailing and maps. The talking points against android are growing ever slimmer, too, now that more stock android options are becoming available.

Good read.

He is using an iphone 4 though. Which is old now and lags quite a bit.

 

[jaymzuk]

He is using an iphone 4 though. Which is old now and lags quite a bit.

I'm feeling the same way after moving from a 4S.

The HTC One just does exactly what I want and need it to do, with little fuss, great speed and fantastic looks.

After having a HTC One in my hand, the 4S feels slightly like a toy, dimension-wise

 

[skinnylegs]

So after a couple weeks with the HTC One, I have come to the conclusion that each phone has its strengths and weaknesses. There are things the One does better and there are things the iPhone does better. I don't think this is even arguable. If you ditch your iPhone for a One, I guarantee you there are things you will miss. Same can be said if you ditch you iPhone for a One.

Bring on the Frankenphone........

 

[SnowLeopard2008]

I'm feeling the same way after moving from a 4S.

The HTC One just does exactly what I want and need it to do, with little fuss, great speed and fantastic looks.

After having a HTC One in my hand, the 4S feels slightly like a toy, dimension-wise

Try a 5. 4S almost 2 years old. The One is barely a few months old. I love the HTC One for everything except BlinkFeed and maybe Sense. Once they roll out that Nexus edition, I'm on board. It's very close to what Apple would come out with if they made Android devices.

 

[strausd]

Try a 5. 4S almost 2 years old. The One is barely a few months old. I love the HTC One for everything except BlinkFeed and maybe Sense. Once they roll out that Nexus edition, I'm on board. It's very close to what Apple would come out with if they made Android devices.

I am worried that the GE HTC One might have some issues, especially when it comes to what buttons are on the phone. I remember reading an article a few days ago about the specific issues it could run into, but I can't seem to find it.

 

[skinnylegs]

Try a 5. 4S almost 2 years old. The One is barely a few months old. I love the HTC One for everything except BlinkFeed and maybe Sense. Once they roll out that Nexus edition, I'm on board. It's very close to what Apple would come out with if they made Android devices.

Funny you should say that. BlinkFeed is the thing I will miss the most if I return to my iPhone. ....and I probably will. The camera is simply not up to par with the iPhone and pictures and videos are a big deal to me. Furthermore, the HTC One Gallery is poorly designed. You know those "digging" commercials HTC One has going on? Try attaching a pic to an SMS and then let's talk about digging. Mind you, I'm not totally bagging on this phone. There are plenty of things I like about it but.....

 

[SnowLeopard2008]

Love this article: http://www.theverge.com/2013/5/26/4...-from-an-iphone-to-a-really-big-android-phone

Especially this:

But I was wrong. By the end of the trip I was emailing other Verge writers, effusively praising the glories of Android. Rdio worked beautifully! The notifications were so much better than the iPhone’s! My email, oh God, my email. I composed long, beautiful emails in dead spots where I had no service and it quietly sent them later on. The Twitter app seemed... better. It loaded faster, I thought. The battery life was better than my iPhone’s. I could effortlessly Gchat, 24 hours a day! Editing documents on my phone was something I could actually do realistically now. Oh, and the maps put the iPhone 4 to shame. There were other, smaller things, too, but I can’t remember them, because it’s now been so long since I touched an iPhone.

Some of this stuff is amazingly accurate. I especially agree about her thoughts on emailing and maps. The talking points against android are growing ever slimmer, too, now that more stock android options are becoming available.

Good read.

And some is amazingly dumb. It has LTE. It has Beats. Go back almost 3 years, NO phone had LTE when iPhone 4 came out or even half a year later. NO phone had Beats (I think). And on top of that, Beats suck pretty bad if you prefer high quality audio. iPhone sized? There's been a bigger iPhone many months before the One.

There are plenty of things about Android that are really truly amazing and even some where Apple got inspiration (notifications). She hit on none of these. LTE? Beats? Sending emails at later time when you have no service currently? She's not the standard smartphone user. She's even beneath the average joe. Don't get me wrong, I love the HTC One. It's a really well designed from hardware to software (although I personally want to remove BlinkFeed). This article is just trash.

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I am worried that the GE HTC One might have some issues, especially when it comes to what buttons are on the phone. I remember reading an article a few days ago about the specific issues it could run into, but I can't seem to find it.

As long as they don't add a physical home button, I'm all for it. Physical buttons wear out over time and this is one area I think Android is pretty far ahead. I know there are some discrepancies with vanilla Android's button layout versus what manufacturers actually end up making (looking at Samsung's physical home button) but I'm confident they will work it out.

----------

Funny you should say that. BlinkFeed is the thing I will miss the most if I return to my iPhone. ....and I probably will. The camera is simply not up to par with the iPhone and pictures and videos are a big deal to me. Furthermore, the HTC One Gallery is poorly designed. You know those "digging" commercials HTC One has going on? Try attaching a pic to an SMS and then let's talk about digging. Mind you, I'm not totally bagging on this phone. There are plenty of things I like about it but.....

Each to his own. I read that you can't "remove" BlinkFeed all together. If that is incorrect, then I retract what I said since I assumed what I read was accurate (BlinkFeed being permanently installed unless you root or something like that). I'd rather have it as an app I can choose to download or not download. I prefer Flipboard for my news and such.

I might be in the minority, but vanilla Android on any of the current or past flagship Androids would be incredible. No crapware like what Verizon puts on their phone. No UI stuff like Sense or TouchWiz. No DOA fillerware like Samsung's Auto Scroll and their other nonsense junk on the S3/S4. Just pure vanilla Android. Beautiful.

 

[KentuckyHouse]

I do what a lot of another people here have done...use a different launcher but set a gesture so I can quickly bring up BlinkFeed. I actually like it and I'm sure it'll just get better over time.

I flashed CleanROM 2.5 this morning, so no more bloat for me. The phone's running great although I'm not sure I'll ever get completely used to the battery life after using my Note 2. That thing just pampers you with battery life.

Overall, I really like the One. Like others, I wish the camera was better, but for what it is, it works well.

 

[jaymzuk]

Try a 5. 4S almost 2 years old. The One is barely a few months old. I love the HTC One for everything except BlinkFeed and maybe Sense. Once they roll out that Nexus edition, I'm on board. It's very close to what Apple would come out with if they made Android devices.

But what's different between the 4S and the 5?

Running iOS6 means the handset was feature complete. Size wasn't a deciding factor in my purchase, so I really don't understand what there is to gain by trying a 5. The times I've used a friend's iPhone 5, I was quite unimpressed

 

[Orlandoech]

I'm writing my HTC One and iPhone 5 comparisons this

I hope to help people with my review. You can see some of my reviews/guides in my sig.

 

[RetepNamenots]

Try a 5. 4S almost 2 years old. The One is barely a few months old. I love the HTC One for everything except BlinkFeed and maybe Sense. Once they roll out that Nexus edition, I'm on board. It's very close to what Apple would come out with if they made Android devices.

There's a menu option to disable blinkfeed.

 

[Orlandoech]

There's a menu option to disable blinkfeed.

Can you tell me where?

 

[Peterg2]

There's a menu option to disable blinkfeed.

You cannot disable Blinkfeed, but you can simply set another home screen as default. You never have to see Blinkfeed again as long as you do not swipe to it. Pretty simple I would believe. You do not have to have any feeds there at all. It can merely be a blank screen.

For myself, I quite like it and a couple of times a day I will have a browse at the topics.

 

[blairh]

Can you wake the One by tapping the home button or must you press the power button on the top?

 

[Orlandoech]

Can you wake the One by tapping the home button or must you press the power button on the top?

You must tap the button at the top (power), not even the volume button wakes it up. I wish the HOME or BACK button did.

They are apps to get around this though, such as; https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.wildroid.wake.up.screen&hl=en


Even with the iPhone you have to hit the LOCK button or HOME button, but at least the HOME button in more conveniently located than the POWER button on the HTC ONE.

 

[blairh]

You must tap the button at the top (power), not even the volume button wakes it up. I wish the HOME or BACK button did.

They are apps to get around this though, such as; https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.wildroid.wake.up.screen&hl=en


Even with the iPhone you have to hit the LOCK button or HOME button, but at least the HOME button in more conveniently located than the POWER button on the HTC ONE.

That's a shame IMO.

 

[MRU]

That's a shame IMO.

There's actually a custom rom out which allows the home button to wake the device and the HTC button/logo to lock it.

Hopefully HTC release some form of these customisations as I'm a bit too terrified of flashing roms.

 

[onthecouchagain]

You must tap the button at the top (power), not even the volume button wakes it up. I wish the HOME or BACK button did.

They are apps to get around this though, such as; https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.wildroid.wake.up.screen&hl=en


Even with the iPhone you have to hit the LOCK button or HOME button, but at least the HOME button in more conveniently located than the POWER button on the HTC ONE.

Woah. When I get the chance I'm going to research this app. Sounds amazing!

 

[2298754]

OP, I see what you were complaining about. The button layout on the front is terrible. Whoever thought of this needs to get fired. I keep hitting the central HTC logo. And the power button placement is still horrible. Come on HTC.

 

[Peterg2]

OP, I see what you were complaining about. The button layout on the front is terrible. Whoever thought of this needs to get fired. I keep hitting the central HTC logo. And the power button placement is still horrible. Come on HTC.

I got used to this with no effort at all. Not once did I try and press the center "button". "Needs to get fired?". If you had done the *bare* minimum of research like, read a couple of reviews, you would have known this. It is as if you have not read practically anything regarding this phone, despite coming in, especially a couple of months ago, into practically every thread to do with the One.

The way you replied above, "I see what you were complaining ...." you pretend that this was news to you and only discovered it now. However, you knew about this over two months ago in this post as to why you were going for the S4 over the One:

https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/17033568/

To quote you: "better button layout (power button on side, home button in middle, etc)" So you knew this and now you express surprise?

 

[2298754]

I got used to this with no effort at all. Not once did I try and press the center "button". "Needs to get fired?". If you had done the *bare* minimum of research like, read a couple of reviews, you would have known this. It is as if you have not read practically anything regarding this phone, despite coming in, especially a couple of months ago, into practically every thread to do with the One.

pretty much every other smartphone out there has a centrally located home button. what makes HTC so special that they can go ahead the norm?

 

[Peterg2]

pretty much every other smartphone out there has a centrally located home button. what makes HTC so special that they can go ahead the norm?

I repeat, what are you doing trading a phone for the One without essentially knowing anything about it. Did you not go to a store and play with it a few minutes?? You never read one review??