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Help Why did you buy an M8 instead of an S5?

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I bought the M8 the hour it came out. Never considered the Samsung. Haven't used a Samsung handset in years and not inclined to change that. Touchwhiz is no match for Sense, it gets in the way of Android instead of smoothing out its bumps, like Sense does.
 
I just noticed that this thread was merged. Like I said up-thread Touchwiz would piss me off if it were my daily interface, I don't care for it on my tablet. When I rooted my last phone there was very little difference between a stock Android UI and Sense. After nearly a month of ownership the shortcomings are the in call phone volume and maybe the camera.
I don't place a high value on cell phone camera performance but the ultrapixel low light quality is amazing. I take pictures in dimly lit factories for work and the results are stunning. After my last trip I do understand the complaints about the lack of image stabilization in the M8, however I was taking some hasty pictures and could have done a better job of holding the camera steady.
 
As someone else said, I absolutely loathe Touchwiz. Whenver my dad used to need help with his Galaxy device, I never could get used to the look and all that extra stuff that I just didnt want or like. And I really hate the home button. I've never liked any of their devices. They've always felt cheap and childlike to me. Nothing against people that do like it. I just cant stand their products so far.
 
i have had my m8 now for just over a month and still think it is a fantastic phone.
I was at a family party the other night and when anyone seen and held the phone, their response was that it was stunning. I have never experienced such a reaction over any previous phone.
I have to admit though that the pictures i took at the party were really poor. I took a group shot (3 times) from about maybe 8 to 10 feet away and the three pics all came out different, too dark, too bright or just not clear enough, there was a TV screen in the background so the light from it seemed to affect exposure.
I would have preferred just a bog standard decent camera rather than the ultra pixel one. I dont want to have to fiddle around with settings just point and click but will mess about with it some more to see if i can improve on it.
Even taking this into account, i would not change the phone.
I was in a phone shop yesterday and looked at the S5 and just thought, bland.
 
This is my fourth smart phone from HTC. After the 3D and the 4G LTE, I'm giving HTC one last chance.

I am enjoying it so far. The interface is very responsive. BoomSound is awesome. I was capturing audio of a bird, then played it back at full volume and it sounded just like it. I did the same with my cat meowing, played it back to the cat and she was getting startled and surprised.

Love the custom camera options, especially for brightening up the night. The duo camera is a cool feature, but it is quite gimmicky and limited.

I would love to see someone hack the software and reintroduce 3D photos and video like the EVO 3D did, even though there is no 3D screen. Just the option to keep the second photo and combine to a stereo image would be great.
 
had an s2, s3, and s4, each one had its evolution merits, but the diff between the s4 and s5 wasn't worth the upgrade. a bit like the iphone 4, which in IMHO was apple's last truly innovative, fresh, product.

the M8 looks, feels, and plays nice. best battery life ive found on any phone ive owned so far, and the viper custom rom for it is the most polished tweakable firmware ive ever used. as for touchwiz v sense, not a fan of either, always used nova launcher.
 
This is the first HTC I've owned, always had Motorola. The build quality is the best out there unlike Samsung. I was worried about battery life, but that had been no issue so far. On heavy use days I've still got 40%+ at the end of the day. Loving the M8, no regrets at all.
 
Well I've used every Galaxy phone. S2 t-mobile, at&t, sprint. Verizon S3, S4, Note,2, Note 3. So it was finally time for a change of pace. Also loved the front facing speakers, and all reviews talked about the great call quality of the M8.
 
Samsung phone are full of piece-of-shit features that you'll show to a friend once, but then it will just get in the way. Also when i drop $200 on a flagship smartphone, i don't want it to look or feel like it came from toys r us.
 
I used to have A Samsung phone, it was the Samsung Galaxy, also known as the Captivate, the one that started it off for Samsung. After owning that piece of Crap(tivate) I never picked up A Samsung phone again. I think HTC Phones are tops but the best software on A phone right now IMO is Moto X. I am tempted to pick up the M8 this week, but I am hearing these rumors of A newer version called the HTC One Prime. May have to wait and see what that phone is about.....
 
Digital Legend said:
I used to have A Samsung phone, it was the Samsung Galaxy, also known as the Captivate, the one that started it off for Samsung. After owning that piece of Crap(tivate) I never picked up A Samsung phone again. I think HTC Phones are tops but the best software on A phone right now IMO is Moto X. I am tempted to pick up the M8 this week, but I am hearing these rumors of A newer version called the HTC One Prime. May have to wait and see what that phone is about.....
Click to expand...

I'm betting that device is a replacement for the One Max.
 
Had an HTC One X, and also have a Samsung Tab 2 10. Although I like both devices, overall I prefer the HTC which is the best phone I have ever had, hands down. Had to make quick, unresearched decision as the One X got doused and died, and it was a no-brainer simply to move up the line. Didn't even look at the Samsung. I suspect even if I'd had time to research my decision would have been the same.
 
Build quality, the look of the thing, on screen buttons (yes really :p), no knox and just wanted a change. I had used the S3 since it came out and it took some abuse but had to ditch TW as it was so laggy at times but so far I've got no lag here. Because I'm so used to AOSP the options menu is still taking some getting used too :p

One thing I will say though, I've not used the S5 but if it's ability to multitask is anything like the S3 then it's worth buying this over that on that basis alone! I maybe limited to 9 apps in my recents but none of them reload whenever I open them back up, on the S3 I would have 4 open at max and the oldest app would need to refresh. Was frustrating.
 
Have had 3 HTC phones in the past..when Verizon began their LTE signal..went a got a Droid Charge..what a mistake..after 6 exchanges ..Verizon agreed to let me switch to the Thunderbolt..I swore no more Samsung phones for us.
 
I typically like to go against the grain, I like the phones that arnt the big name popular brands like the galaxy and iPhone. I've had a few htc's in the past and they have all been good for me. Last htc I had was the DNA which was a great phone. I knew htc was capable of making a near perfect phone to compete with the iPhones and such, and they nailed it with the m8. It does everything I need and it's actually a beautiful phone. Really turns heads.
 
Blade of 3 said:
Pros:
-amazing build quality AND design, still amazed to this day
-amazing stereo speaker sound, again amazed
-narrow width makes it easier to use (Phone is quite tall as a result, has huge bezels on the top and bottom, and screen is disproportionately placed on the device (top bezel smaller than the bottom bezel, which does affect usability/ergonomics).
-16 extra gigs of internal memory for no extra cost
-does not look like a toy phone you'd give to your child (That's not a Pro, that's an opinion)
-very few gimmick features (See above IRT what's a gimmick or not)
-BlinkFeed (use daily) (My Magazine - Use Daily)
-LCD screen (Personal Preference, the GS5 Screen has been reviewed favorably compared to practically everything else)
-UI: very clean, quick, and does not look cartoony which makes it appear on the S5 doesn't to be a child's toy again (TW on the S5 doesn't look cartoony, but MY opinion. I actually do think Sense looks a bit better especially the Calendar and Email App, but TW is not cartoony and really I don't even know what people mean when they say that... most are just on the bandwagon - when HTC was popular, Sense was "bloated" and all that other mess...)
-5mp front camera, looks great on Skype (the MP on the camera has nothing to do with how good it looks on Skype. I doubt the S5 looks much worse on Skype than the One's Camera, since every phone released by these OEMs since the S3/One X has been at least 720p capable form the Front Camera. Those Extra MP are for taking massive high quality Selfies, not to look better on Skype. You only need a 2MP sensor for 1080p video).
-not the same phone everyone else has (That doesn't make a phone worse than another, so it cannot be a Pro or a Con. Look at the iPhone. It's still one of the best on the market and it's hugely popular. If anything, that makes the Samsung devices better because the features they've built for their device ecosystem become more useful the more their devices proliferate through a population).
-dual flash works great, pictures in pitch black do not look over brightened by the flash (From what I've seen the Faux "True Tone" doesn't hold a candle to Apple's. The point of that Dual LED Flash (White + Amber) is to give better skin tones and color accuracy, which the M8 still fails to do quite often even with it)
-swipe launch gestures
-better pictures indoors/low light settings (Untrue, unless it's almost dark the S5 will almost always outperform it even if the picture is a tad darker)
-free 6 month screen warrantee (that's a service provided by the OEM. It has nothing to do with the quality of the device or device software)
-free 50 gigs of cloud storage (I don't think many people out there care much about this, cause the amount of average consumers that would require more than the 15GB given by Google with any Google Account is pretty small - also has nothing to do with the Device or Device Software)

Cons:
-back camera is sensative to bright light
-back camera captures slightly unrealistic color tones in some instances
-s5's camera had better resolution and better in daylight
-slightly too heavy (what can you expect from 90% metal) (also larger than an S5 with a smaller screen and ON SCREEN buttons)
-not certified dust proof and waterproof (there are videos of the M8 lasting under water for well over half an hour) (and they didn't open the phone up to check if it tripped an indicator, which means if their screen breaks and they send it in that free replacement is going to turn into "sorry your warranty is void cause you water damaged the phone")
-does not have a fingerprint scanner (pro for me but a con for most) (if you haven't used Touch ID or anything similar, where you can finally lock your phone because it isn't a hassle to constantly put in a PIN Code 100x a day then you really don't know what you're missing when it comes to these biometrics in phones).
-non removable battery
-on-screen buttons cuts down the amount of usable screen real estate you have in many instances
-don't think you know what happens to metal phones when they get too hot or too cold... iPhone users here find out the hard way, and this device is no exception (the M7 suffered the same issues as the iPhone). Plastics have a huge advantage when it comes to that.
-M8 is more fragile than an S5 due to the metal (no replaceable back, dents, scuffs, scratches, higher chance to crack the screen on a fall, etc.)
Click to expand...

Red.

May get the M8 soon, but I'd have to get a cheap second hand Sprint iPhone 4S to carry along with it for better pictures.

This phone has some true advantages over the competition, but I think it's lost in a sea of FUD on most forums.
 
I mainly bought it over the s5 was it being 32gb over the 16gb s5. Also I would be running aosp so I didn't want physical buttons for a more nexus like experience. The moto x was tempting but always wanted a flagship and the m8 in my opinion was the best flagship out. Well except maybe Sony's new flagship but Verizon being the way they are don't carry Sony's.
 
Maybe I just missed it, but so far I haven't seen anyone mention the #1 reason I went with the M8 over the S5: The ability to root, unlock the bootloader, and install a custom recovery. After finding an easy way to buy an upgraded phone without losing my Verizon unlimited data plan, I had no interest in switching carriers. But there's no way I'd want to live with any phone that doesn't give me the flexibility of rooting, and both AT&T and Verizon have the S5 locked down tighter than a drum.

I held off replacing my dying Galaxy Nexus as long as I could, figuring that someone always finds an exploit to enable rooting -- but so far, it looks like the S5 may just be the first big exception. The bounty over at XDA is up to almost $18k for the first person who successfully roots both varieties; it's about $10k for the Verizon version alone. But despite the clear motivation for devs, nothing has yet been found.

Verizon tried to pull the same stunt locking down the M8 -- and although it's a little harder to unlock than other variants, it didn't take long for an alternative root/unlock for the Verizon version to be discovered. Took me about an hour to complete the entire process, and I couldn't be happier with the M8 now.

I probably would have gone with the M8 anyway, for many of the same reasons already given in this thread, but inability to root the S5 was a dealbreaker that made the final decision easy for me.
 
rvonder said:
Maybe I just missed it, but so far I haven't seen anyone mention the #1 reason I went with the M8 over the S5: The ability to root, unlock the bootloader, and install a custom recovery. After finding an easy way to buy an upgraded phone without losing my Verizon unlimited data plan, I had no interest in switching carriers. But there's no way I'd want to live with any phone that doesn't give me the flexibility of rooting, and both AT&T and Verizon have the S5 locked down tighter than a drum.

I held off replacing my dying Galaxy Nexus as long as I could, figuring that someone always finds an exploit to enable rooting -- but so far, it looks like the S5 may just be the first big exception. The bounty over at XDA is up to almost $18k for the first person who successfully roots both varieties; it's about $10k for the Verizon version alone. But despite the clear motivation for devs, nothing has yet been found.

Verizon tried to pull the same stunt locking down the M8 -- and although it's a little harder to unlock than other variants, it didn't take long for an alternative root/unlock for the Verizon version to be discovered. Took me about an hour to complete the entire process, and I couldn't be happier with the M8 now.

I probably would have gone with the M8 anyway, for many of the same reasons already given in this thread, but inability to root the S5 was a dealbreaker that made the final decision easy for me.
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Good post, my m8 is still new but I plan on rooting it soon
 
rvonder said:
Maybe I just missed it, but so far I haven't seen anyone mention the #1 reason I went with the M8 over the S5: The ability to root, unlock the bootloader, and install a custom recovery. After finding an easy way to buy an upgraded phone without losing my Verizon unlimited data plan, I had no interest in switching carriers. But there's no way I'd want to live with any phone that doesn't give me the flexibility of rooting, and both AT&T and Verizon have the S5 locked down tighter than a drum.

I held off replacing my dying Galaxy Nexus as long as I could, figuring that someone always finds an exploit to enable rooting -- but so far, it looks like the S5 may just be the first big exception. The bounty over at XDA is up to almost $18k for the first person who successfully roots both varieties; it's about $10k for the Verizon version alone. But despite the clear motivation for devs, nothing has yet been found.

Verizon tried to pull the same stunt locking down the M8 -- and although it's a little harder to unlock than other variants, it didn't take long for an alternative root/unlock for the Verizon version to be discovered. Took me about an hour to complete the entire process, and I couldn't be happier with the M8 now.

I probably would have gone with the M8 anyway, for many of the same reasons already given in this thread, but inability to root the S5 was a dealbreaker that made the final decision easy for me.
Click to expand...

True true. I don't know what I would have done with the s5 being locked down like it is. Acr plus CodeCraft OC'd kernel and harmen karmon audio is smooth as butter :D
 
Nowadays it's difficult to choose between phones. All phones have amazing features, being it in their hardware or software, they are all distinct to each other in their own ways. I think at the end it's based on personal preference.

For me, well I'm an HTC lover. My last phone before my first HTC was the Blackberry Curve, because my Blackberry Javelin got broken and didn't want to get a pricey phone before doing a good research. I started looking at different manufacturers and the kind of phones they made. One day a friend of my got the Sony Xperia and I liked the whole "Android" concept, so based my search on android; never actually liked Apple. Anyhow, started doing my research, ended up getting the HTC One X. I fell in love instantly with it, there's no reason not to. It has been with me for two and a half years, and it's still alive, and it has been so resistant. It's like a war tank. Spilled drinks, falls, everything. And I haven't taken it to repair not even once. That's how I got interested in HTC.

M8 or S5? Well, for me, they are two different products, one is made to be sold to the masses just for the sake of profits, and the other is actually made to make users fall in love. HTC phones look like they were made with love and dedication, Samsungs just look like phones made out of a production line.

I honestly can't think of a person who has tried both phones and preferred a Samsung. I never would, just seems so fake compared to the HTC.

My opinion is definitely biased. But, with a base.

Hope this helps.
 
I currently have the M7 when it first came out.

M8: I didnt like no real physical button. Battery cannot be replaced. Love the 2 front speaker
S5: Hate the back speaker. Lover the removable battery.

Compromise: Will get the Note 4. I hope no back speaker but side speaker is fair.
 
chong67 said:
I currently have the M7 when it first came out.

M8: I didnt like no real physical button. Battery cannot be replaced. Love the 2 front speaker
S5: Hate the back speaker. Lover the removable battery.

Compromise: Will get the Note 4. I hope no back speaker but side speaker is fair.
Click to expand...

Just wondering, why would you want a physical button?
 
I had a thunderbolt then switched to the razr maxx hd. The Maxx had great battery life, but I had to get a new phone.

I actually got the M8 for the FM radio, which I had on the thunderbolt. I listen to the ballgame when I can, and the internet radios black out the games.

I liked that feature, so that's why I went back, after doing some homework.
 
abranchi said:
Nowadays it's difficult to choose between phones. All phones have amazing features, being it in their hardware or software, they are all distinct to each other in their own ways. I think at the end it's based on personal preference.

For me, well I'm an HTC lover. My last phone before my first HTC was the Blackberry Curve, because my Blackberry Javelin got broken and didn't want to get a pricey phone before doing a good research. I started looking at different manufacturers and the kind of phones they made. One day a friend of my got the Sony Xperia and I liked the whole "Android" concept, so based my search on android; never actually liked Apple. Anyhow, started doing my research, ended up getting the HTC One X. I fell in love instantly with it, there's no reason not to. It has been with me for two and a half years, and it's still alive, and it has been so resistant. It's like a war tank. Spilled drinks, falls, everything. And I haven't taken it to repair not even once. That's how I got interested in HTC.

M8 or S5? Well, for me, they are two different products, one is made to be sold to the masses just for the sake of profits, and the other is actually made to make users fall in love. HTC phones look like they were made with love and dedication, Samsungs just look like phones made out of a production line.

I honestly can't think of a person who has tried both phones and preferred a Samsung. I never would, just seems so fake compared to the HTC.

My opinion is definitely biased. But, with a base.

Hope this helps.
Click to expand...

This is a M8 thread. It should be biased :)
 
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