What's the problem with the keyboard exactly ? I have no problems typing on it - even when it is bugging me to correct gaelic spelling, and for the most part auto correct is good...... except the one time when I told someone I'd 'meet them at six' and it changed it to 'meet them at sex' and i sent without checking... ooops.
Well, you've already pointed to one thing that drives me nuts. The auto correction is just horrendous. And it has a lot to do with the keyboard simply not registering every key press (i will literally see keys gray out, meaning they've been tapped, but the letter doesn't show). When you thumb fast, it just doesn't keep up (true on the iPad as well). This leads to horrendous auto corrections.
Lack of suggestion bar, lack of predictive text, lack of control over personal dictionary (this is a huge one. It'd be nice if we could have the ability to save and NOT save words we want or don't want), not being able to long press for alternative symbols, no lower-or-upper case signifier, etc.
The narrow screen size plays a bit into it, too, but it's really the software that fails.
And worse, Apple doesn't deem it needs any upgrading considering it's been 5 years going without any sort of major improvement.
The S4 has Swiftkey's predictions algorithyms baked into its keyboard. Swype, Thumb Keyboard, Smartkeyboard Pro, Swiftkey themselves have all proven what and how a keyboard should function on the smartphone. I mean, customizable keyboard sizes (doesn't have to be difficult. Swiftkey offers "small, medium, large" -- simple), customizable alternative characters, so many things... that all help improve your personal typing experience.
The iOS keyboard, in short, is just old. Don't forget, it gave birth to the internet phenom known as "Damn You iPhone Auto Correction". The iOS keyboard is a joke.
***This is mainly gathered from my time with the 4S. And to a lesser extent, my time with my iPad 3rd gen (though I don't type as much on the iPad. It's used more for games, etc.).
EDIT: Also, side note... the dictation is so much better on Android. I hate that iOS' dictation waits for you to finish your sentence before it begins loading words out. It often misses entire words, sometimes whole sentences, if what you're dictating gets remotely lengthy. Whereas on Android, it goes word by word as you say it, is extremely accurate, and you're able to see when things go wrong so you can stop/edit. You also don't have to press the MIC key again to "stop" the recording, as you do on iOS.
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Back to HTC One:
From Phone Arena:
"The device comes with a new button layout and instead of the standard three capacitive buttons you only get two, and an HTC logo in the middle instead of the third. What’s missing is the multitasking button, which you now access by double-tapping the home key. Long holding the same home key fires up Google Now. This new layout is a bit strange and having the back button on the left makes it a bit of a stretch to reach. You get used to it over time, but it doesn’t feel like the perfect setup."
"Physically buttons are large and comfortable to press. The volume rocker is on the side and the lock key, which doubles as an InfraRed blaster, is located on top. Its top location is a bit of a stretch for the finger and we would have preferred to have it on the side, but it is a compromise made so you can use the One as a remote control for your TV. We got used to its position fairly quickly."
Many other reviews reflect similar thoughts on the new button layout and hard to reach sleep/wake button...
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(5) I'm perfectly content with the battery on the Nexus 4 (even if it does suck a$$) and I have my iPhone 5 camera that I use primarily anyways. The battery life and camera don't really bother me all that much.
(6) I actually PREFER the lock button on top....then I'm not always accidentally hitting it when holding the phone. It's not really a stretch to reach my index finger to the top of the phone to click the button.....too much is mad
Just curious, have you ever owned the HTC One X?
Given HTC's history, and given that reviews are already saying the battery life is only decent-average
without LTE, I'd be concerned about the battery life on LTE.
As for the power lock button, there are plenty of ways to avoid pressing the button if it's on the side. You can offset the position with the volume rockers by putting them not directly across from each other (ala LG Nexus 4), or ont he same side (ala Sony Xperia Z). Plus, generally, as devices get larger, your whole hand is really not covering the entire side. I really think it's a none issue, this whole "accidentally pressing it if it's on the side." I think it's something you'd resolve and get used to very easily.
As for it being on top, I don't mean to make it the end of the world, but again, if you've ever owned the HTC One X, you'll know that devices so big, and with the power/wake button the
only access point to wake AND sleep your device, it gets tiring and is cumbersome to constantly reach up to it. Again, not the end of the world.
