I've finally got my very own Butterfly S 
This is my first online review (of sorts), so please, be gentle.
I've been using the One for the last few weeks and as much as I loved everything about it there were a few issues that were bugging me. The battery life wasn't blowing me away, and the power was a damn pain to reach. I was originally torn between getting the One and Butterfly S, but in the end chose the One based on price. After giving it a try I decided to give the Butterfly S a shot to see if it was worth it over the One.
And believe me it is....
Build Quality
The build quality is phenomenal. Yes it's plastic, but it has a very nice feel in the hand, better even than the One's metal unibody. It actually feels lighter in hand, even though it's 30g heavier, it's that good. I've never had a problem with the plastic used on Samsung's devices, but this definitely feels a class above.
The power button is a huge improvement over the One's; it's been moved to centre, it's not as flush as the one on the One, and is bigger too. I can now comfortable reach it with my index finger when holding the phone in my right hand. All-in-all it's surprisingly ergonomic for a 5" device. Speaking of which....
Screen Quality
The screen is drop-dead gorgeous, equal to the One and easily the best on the market. It is even better at 5", which feels like a big upgrade over 4.7" even with only 0.3" extra screen real-estate. My Butterfly S does seem to have a slightly warmer tint compared to my One, which is on the cool side, but it isn't noticeable enough to bother me. So far I haven't noticed any stuck/dead pixels (and I aint going to start looking now). And I can enjoy that screen all the more now because....
Battery
The battery on this thing is friggin huge, I mean Note II style huge. One of the biggest I've had so far with Android is I could never find a device with same staying power as my iPhone. The One was okay, but I always felt I had to manage what I was doing to conserve battery life, especially on-screen time. Now with 3200mAh I never have that problem and can use Android to it's full potential. I'm still bedding it in but so far I've been very impressed, a huge improvement over the One. I've include some screenshots from the past couple of days so you can judge for yourselves.
Software
Sense 5 was joy to use on the One, and the same holds true on the Butterfly S. It's easily the best Android skin I've ever used, and is better than stock in my opinion (which always stuck me as a little cold, if you know what I mean). Better yet it comes pre-installed with 4.2.2 and all the improvements it offers, though I do miss the ability to swipe-up from the home button for Google Now like on the One (it's double-tap on the Butterfly S). No word as yet on 4.3, though I suspect that as the Butterfly line is HTC's flagship line in it's home market it'll see updates pretty soon (more so than the US market at least).
Camera
This is the only area that lets the device down. It takes decent shots, but nowhere near the standard of most other phones out there. Even taking into account the lack of OIS I saw no different between the images between the One & Butterfly S. HTC really missed a trick here - had they gone with a 13MP camera that would've mopped the floor with the competition. Given all the good points of the phone I've decided to go down the route of a dedicated point & shoot (or Sony's camera attachment if that pans out).
To sum up the Butterfly S is the best Android device I have ever used, perhaps the best phone period. It fixes the little niggles I had had with One (camera excluded) and I can easily see this sticking with me well into next year (unless we get some major surprises with the Nexus 5/KLP). If it's true that HTC are looking to merge the One & Butterfly brands in the future, then we're in for a treat in 2014 when the M8 rolls around.
Sorry for the long-winded post and thanks sticking with it this far. If you've any questions fire away and I'll answer as best as I can.
Finally...
The Butterfly S is a massive improvement over my iPhone 5....
....literally!
This is my first online review (of sorts), so please, be gentle.
I've been using the One for the last few weeks and as much as I loved everything about it there were a few issues that were bugging me. The battery life wasn't blowing me away, and the power was a damn pain to reach. I was originally torn between getting the One and Butterfly S, but in the end chose the One based on price. After giving it a try I decided to give the Butterfly S a shot to see if it was worth it over the One.
And believe me it is....
Build Quality
The build quality is phenomenal. Yes it's plastic, but it has a very nice feel in the hand, better even than the One's metal unibody. It actually feels lighter in hand, even though it's 30g heavier, it's that good. I've never had a problem with the plastic used on Samsung's devices, but this definitely feels a class above.
The power button is a huge improvement over the One's; it's been moved to centre, it's not as flush as the one on the One, and is bigger too. I can now comfortable reach it with my index finger when holding the phone in my right hand. All-in-all it's surprisingly ergonomic for a 5" device. Speaking of which....
Screen Quality
The screen is drop-dead gorgeous, equal to the One and easily the best on the market. It is even better at 5", which feels like a big upgrade over 4.7" even with only 0.3" extra screen real-estate. My Butterfly S does seem to have a slightly warmer tint compared to my One, which is on the cool side, but it isn't noticeable enough to bother me. So far I haven't noticed any stuck/dead pixels (and I aint going to start looking now). And I can enjoy that screen all the more now because....
Battery
The battery on this thing is friggin huge, I mean Note II style huge. One of the biggest I've had so far with Android is I could never find a device with same staying power as my iPhone. The One was okay, but I always felt I had to manage what I was doing to conserve battery life, especially on-screen time. Now with 3200mAh I never have that problem and can use Android to it's full potential. I'm still bedding it in but so far I've been very impressed, a huge improvement over the One. I've include some screenshots from the past couple of days so you can judge for yourselves.
Software
Sense 5 was joy to use on the One, and the same holds true on the Butterfly S. It's easily the best Android skin I've ever used, and is better than stock in my opinion (which always stuck me as a little cold, if you know what I mean). Better yet it comes pre-installed with 4.2.2 and all the improvements it offers, though I do miss the ability to swipe-up from the home button for Google Now like on the One (it's double-tap on the Butterfly S). No word as yet on 4.3, though I suspect that as the Butterfly line is HTC's flagship line in it's home market it'll see updates pretty soon (more so than the US market at least).
Camera
This is the only area that lets the device down. It takes decent shots, but nowhere near the standard of most other phones out there. Even taking into account the lack of OIS I saw no different between the images between the One & Butterfly S. HTC really missed a trick here - had they gone with a 13MP camera that would've mopped the floor with the competition. Given all the good points of the phone I've decided to go down the route of a dedicated point & shoot (or Sony's camera attachment if that pans out).
To sum up the Butterfly S is the best Android device I have ever used, perhaps the best phone period. It fixes the little niggles I had had with One (camera excluded) and I can easily see this sticking with me well into next year (unless we get some major surprises with the Nexus 5/KLP). If it's true that HTC are looking to merge the One & Butterfly brands in the future, then we're in for a treat in 2014 when the M8 rolls around.
Sorry for the long-winded post and thanks sticking with it this far. If you've any questions fire away and I'll answer as best as I can.
Finally...
The Butterfly S is a massive improvement over my iPhone 5....
....literally!
