Samsung Galaxy S3 versus HTC One X

[Gathu]

Most idiotic review on the S3 / One X ever. You guys just totally suck at reviews, having no clue how to OBJECTIVELY compare two phones, or anything else for that matter. There are many good review sites out there such as gsmarena, anandtech, ect. Look how they do it and try to learn from it.

I don't give a rat's ass about what YOU think of a phone, I want to know the FACTS about the phone. A Few examples :
- The One X's camera suck, suck and suck when it comes to picture quality, as proven by reputable sites. Nothing arguable about it, it's a fact, measured, finish and klaar. HTC should get a -10 for still not being able to deliver a halfway decent camera with their flagship phones, one of their main drawbacks.
- HTC get a win on keyboard, really?? The first thing on any android is to ditch the stock keyboards and get something decent like Swype or SlideIT or whichever one of the thousand other keyboard apps float your boat.
- The screen, where HTC clearly have a better display, if you like looking at you displays using a magnifying glass. At the DPI's HTC, Apple and Samsung use, you can not tell the difference at normal viewing lengths, at least I can't.
- Every other benchmark in the world is wrong, you are right, right? If you get such a big anomaly compared to them, then at least try to explain it or corroborate it, otherwise it just make you look incompetent. Explaining your results is what make you a tech writer.
- Explaining your results away as being later and on more mature benchmarks is odd, since by being later you should have picked up on the One X quality issues by know, which is another -10 in my book. Glossing over that little factoid at this stage seems either suspicious or point to a very superficial 'must post something' review.

I may come over like a Samsung fanboy, which I am at the moment. I would love for Motorola, HTC and Google to give me good alternatives to the Galaxy, more choice is always a win for me. That is however NOT happening at the moment, not by a country mile. It's sad, but not as sad as this article you posted.

[phaktza]

Most idiotic review on the S3 / One X ever. You guys just totally suck at reviews, having no clue how to OBJECTIVELY compare two phones, or anything else for that matter. There are many good review sites out there such as gsmarena, anandtech, ect. Look how they do it and try to learn from it.

I don't give a rat's ass about what YOU think of a phone, I want to know the FACTS about the phone. A Few examples :
- The One X's camera suck, suck and suck when it comes to picture quality, as proven by reputable sites. Nothing arguable about it, it's a fact, measured, finish and klaar. HTC should get a -10 for still not being able to deliver a halfway decent camera with their flagship phones, one of their main drawbacks.
- HTC get a win on keyboard, really?? The first thing on any android is to ditch the stock keyboards and get something decent like Swype or SlideIT or whichever one of the thousand other keyboard apps float your boat.
- The screen, where HTC clearly have a better display, if you like looking at you displays using a magnifying glass. At the DPI's HTC, Apple and Samsung use, you can not tell the difference at normal viewing lengths, at least I can't.
- Every other benchmark in the world is wrong, you are right, right? If you get such a big anomaly compared to them, then at least try to explain it or corroborate it, otherwise it just make you look incompetent. Explaining your results is what make you a tech writer.
- Explaining your results away as being later and on more mature benchmarks is odd, since by being later you should have picked up on the One X quality issues by know, which is another -10 in my book. Glossing over that little factoid at this stage seems either suspicious or point to a very superficial 'must post something' review.

I may come over like a Samsung fanboy, which I am at the moment. I would love for Motorola, HTC and Google to give me good alternatives to the Galaxy, more choice is always a win for me. That is however NOT happening at the moment, not by a country mile. It's sad, but not as sad as this article you posted.

Be nice. Articles are almost always going to contain some bias, I hardly think this makes for a bad article. Yes, I disagree with quite a few things mentioned, but at least dispute it in a mature way rather than insult the writer.

[ajules]

Some very sensitive Samsung users in this thread
Personally I thought it was a pretty comprehensive review.
Both look like great phones but think I will wait for the new Iphone

[Vis1/0N]

I have seen HeelsandTech's youtube video where she concluded that the HTC One X was better at rendering more accurately - and in that video is is apparent - and based on that I would be putting the HTC One X ahead on the screen. Except Jan does say the differences in hardly noticeable and awards a full point to HTC. Perhaps Jan's points system should be weighed on each metric, personally I won't award a full point on minor features (and advantages.)

Personally I would minus a point on the HTC One for lack of microSD which offers two important points. More storage space as well as the ability to swap in other cards. It is easier to backup as well. These points are very important to me.

[Raphael123]

The Sony Experia S should also be compared but in the end it comes down to personal choice with the Android superphones. If you complain about the layer over android run another ROM. Something out there for every individual.

[CrazYmonkeY159]

Most idiotic review on the S3 / One X ever. You guys just totally suck at reviews, having no clue how to OBJECTIVELY compare two phones, or anything else for that matter. There are many good review sites out there such as gsmarena, anandtech, ect. Look how they do it and try to learn from it.

I don't give a rat's ass about what YOU think of a phone, I want to know the FACTS about the phone. A Few examples :
- The One X's camera suck, suck and suck when it comes to picture quality, as proven by reputable sites. Nothing arguable about it, it's a fact, measured, finish and klaar. HTC should get a -10 for still not being able to deliver a halfway decent camera with their flagship phones, one of their main drawbacks.
- HTC get a win on keyboard, really?? The first thing on any android is to ditch the stock keyboards and get something decent like Swype or SlideIT or whichever one of the thousand other keyboard apps float your boat.
- The screen, where HTC clearly have a better display, if you like looking at you displays using a magnifying glass. At the DPI's HTC, Apple and Samsung use, you can not tell the difference at normal viewing lengths, at least I can't.
- Every other benchmark in the world is wrong, you are right, right? If you get such a big anomaly compared to them, then at least try to explain it or corroborate it, otherwise it just make you look incompetent. Explaining your results is what make you a tech writer.
- Explaining your results away as being later and on more mature benchmarks is odd, since by being later you should have picked up on the One X quality issues by know, which is another -10 in my book. Glossing over that little factoid at this stage seems either suspicious or point to a very superficial 'must post something' review.

I may come over like a Samsung fanboy, which I am at the moment. I would love for Motorola, HTC and Google to give me good alternatives to the Galaxy, more choice is always a win for me. That is however NOT happening at the moment, not by a country mile. It's sad, but not as sad as this article you posted.

Dude, have you ever used a pentile screen? they are shocking horrible excuses for screen technology. It may not be about DPI but pentile needs to go.

You can not obviously think that there is no phone on the market which even comes close to the S3? you are so blinded by your fanboy bias, you are actually coming across as upset and offended. which prompts me to just tell you, the phones are very very similar, it all comes down to taste (subjective, personal preference) I do like the article, but almost any "comparison" article can be argued to be biased in some way or form. I really think that you should calm down, treat it as an opinion peice (I do) and move along, if you want more input, seek other review sites. compile your own notes and feelings for both products. Its what a good consumer does.

[Jan]

Yikes, there's a lot of hate on the front page. I think I'll stay in the forum...

Thanks to everyone who have posted their benchmark results so far. Here's a screenshot of mine. "Pics or it didn't happen," eh? The Smartbench results don't look good scaled, but it says "3828".

It seems the S3 performs better in this regard, no?

While the S3 certainly has the bigger battery, this didn't seem to translate into extra life under normal conditions. Both the SGS3 and HTC One X comfortably made a day doing typical things: making a few calls, looking at and typing some messages, shooting some photos.

The One X did take a bit of beating when I recorded a lot of video clips and uploaded them, however. It didn't die outright but it was on 6% battery when I got home instead of the 50% or more I usually get.

Also, since using Swype on the S2, I don't think I can live without it. Does the One X support Swype? If not can it be downloaded (free or paid for) and installed as your default keyboard? I also find that the One X looks and feels better in your hand. Feels more sturdy and solid.

Know exactly how you feel. Both devices implement either Swype or Swype-inspired functionality in their default keyboards. You just check a box and it's active. The HTC One X's was better because it worked everywhere (though it had its glitches) while the SGS3's didn't work in some apps (most notably the search bar of the Play Store)

The lack of SD card support sucks on the One X, but is not a train smash.

It does suck, as does the fact that HTC opted to still partition the internal storage into "system" and "user" areas rather than doing what the Nexus and S3 does and present one block of storage addressable through MTP and PTP.

...The One X's camera suck, suck and suck when it comes to picture quality, as proven by reputable sites. Nothing arguable about it, it's a fact, measured, finish and klaar. HTC should get a -10 for still not being able to deliver a halfway decent camera with their flagship phones, one of their main drawbacks.

...

The screen, where HTC clearly have a better display, if you like looking at you displays using a magnifying glass. At the DPI's HTC, Apple and Samsung use, you can not tell the difference at normal viewing lengths, at least I can't.

So it's okay to say the HTC's camera sucks when you compare highly zoomed in photos, but not okay to say its display is better from an extreme close-up comparison?

In the body of the article I explain that the HTC One X's camera gives poorer quality, but that it's still good, and that its stock app is better. That's why I rated the two equally there.

Every other benchmark in the world is wrong, you are right, right?

That's not what I said. I said that I wouldn't adjust my results even if they were anomalous.

If you get such a big anomaly compared to them, then at least try to explain it or corroborate it, otherwise it just make you look incompetent. Explaining your results is what make you a tech writer.

That's what scientists do. This is not a thesis, but a presentation of my results and experience. I have no idea why the SGS3 performs so poorly in our results (though I will obviously try to find out).

[Gathu]

It's no wonder we South Africans are labeled as compliant consumers. "Be Nice" , ect, ect... NO , I will not be nice, since that will mean I only end up reading more of the same crap. Our SA media are full of so-called tech writers, given so-called reviews, which is usually some sort of rehash of the same old tired remarks, which they have not bothered to check out and think about for themselves. The local bench marking is usually also atrocious, not even trying to eliminate variables to get to the core of what they are checking.
Asking for improvement and pointing out deficiencies benchmarked against quality reviewers is my right as the reader from which they expect to make their income. If they improve, its a win-win for us both. One day I might actually be able to read a good review in a local contexts, telling me which manufacturers has better infrastructure, support and / or update speeds, all which will help me make more informed decisions and might even cause some local companies to improve their services once problems are exposed in the media.
Until that day actually happens, I will keep on bitching

[phoneJunky]

Except for the benchmark remark I find Jan's opinion quite fair. Maybe there is something different about the S3 in SA, because all the other benchmarks I have seen on the web that even uses AnTuTu, the S3 wins with a score close to 12000. Or maybe the device was faulty.

But all in all, my weights are a bit different to the reviewers so I would choose the S3 above the one X. But except for maybe the zero shutter lag camera I really don't see much of a improvement over the previous generation.

[Gathu]

So it's okay to say the HTC's camera sucks when you compare highly zoomed in photos, but not okay to say its display is better from an extreme close-up comparison?

In my opinion, yes. My phone is usually between 20 and 40 cm from my face as a day to day business user. Display quality should be compared at a reasonable distance. I do not want to be told a displays specs are better if it means nothing to me as a user.

Photos are something totally different. Due to the always-there nature of phones, it is my primary capturer of memories, and I am , as most people, a poor photographer, who sometimes want to tweak and crop my photos to improve or focus. I also look at my photos on my PC or plasma, as will the people I share them with.
On a PC or crop of a photo, the sharp photos the new Galaxy S3 take compared to the noisy mess from HTC becomes glaringly obvious. Even the improvement in quality over the Apple 4S camera becomes obvious, yet the apple still have a higher camera score.

[Park@82]

Are you referring to the 5th core? the tegra is actually a 5 core processor with 4 active cores and a 5th for power management among other things.

Nope I am referring to the Tegra Zone app. Like the app I have on my Tegra 2 based tablet. It only links you to "Tegra optimized"/compatible games in the app store. Pretty useless IMO. http://www.tegrazone.com/

[Veneficus]

funny but I have run Antutu 6 times now and have yet to score under 11000 and that is with other apps running in background
Samsung galaxy S3

[Jan]

Nope I am referring to the Tegra Zone app. Like the app I have on my Tegra 2 based tablet. It only links you to "Tegra optimized"/compatible games in the app store. Pretty useless IMO. http://www.tegrazone.com/

I listed Tegra Zone for the same reason I listed Samsung's Video Hub - it's content available on the one device that isn't necessarily available on the other. Either way you're paying for content (unless you're only downloading free Tegra games) you may not be able to use on other devices.

funny but I have run Antutu 6 times now and have yet to score under 11000 and that is with other apps running in background

It is strange. Could you post the two AnTuTu screenshots I took above (results page and system info page)? I have a theory I'd like to explore...

[Veneficus]

and

[Iwojima]

What an utterly subjective airy-fairy scoring system. Software gimmicks and easily customizable OS elements being weighted the same as battery life and screen quality? Please. I understand that folks have different priorities in what governs their choice of phones, but I've yet to meet someone that could equate their devices display quality with their ability to access slightly more free online storage from it.

Secondly I see in a few categories both phones scored a point? How is that possible if you're comparing the two? Sure, both may be decent, but one is bound to score better than the other. What exactly am I meant to do with that sort of scoring system if my primary concern is picking the one with the best battery life as an example?

If I read the text portion of the review I find the following quotes about battery life and display respectively:

Neither battery seemed to stand out either.

That said, the differences between the two screens are hardly noticeable to the human eye.

Looking back up to the table of scores it seems in the latter example only the One X scored a point yet in the former both scored a point. How does that work if the conclusion in both examples was that either device offers the same performance?

Get your head out of your ass, Jan. Those who'd like a proper in depth comparison head over to www.gsmarena.com

EDIT: MyBB, your tech reviews have always been unimpressive, but they seem to be getting far worse. Time to hire some folks who know how to conduct qualitative testing and can remove their own internal bias long enough to do a write up.