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Exactly!

Left handed use of the One is just horrifyingly bad.

I’m a righty but I’ve always used my smartphone with my left hand and can’t really swap that up.

about 3 hours ago on I don't want to like the Samsung Galaxy S 4...

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Of note, HTC may make beautiful phones but they make shitty quality hardware. Their design from a non aesthetic sense is on the lower end of Android.

Sony makes excellent /quality/ hardware but their hardware is always delayed and never timly and prices a bit too high. If Sony ever really goes full in they stand the chance of making some of the very best phones on Android, their skins are light, friendly to mod, and their hardware has always had recognition for quality and been worth the extra money paid for it. If they can start releasing hardware in the fall cycle (shave 2-4 months off their product cycle), and continue to push forward innovations like waterproof hardware, and actually start making deals with US carriers and supporting CDMA we’ll see them take the #2 spot as android OEM.

Lots of big ifs of course, but the falling Yen and Sony focusing on Android as one of its pillars gives me hope.

about 4 hours ago on HTC in disarray: staff departures, 'disastrous' First, and production problems cloud company's future

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Google didn’t want to buy Motorola, Andy Rubin did.

Google’s hand was sort of forced into the situation, since Motorola wouldn’t die slow, and would probably hurt android in its death.

HTC will go out quietly by comparison.

LG’s getting stronger at least, and Motorola will turn around eventually under google’s hand. ZTE, and Sony are both full in on the market and will eat HTC’s share everywhere but the US. I hope HTC goes under cause maybe then Sony will take the Us market seriously.

about 4 hours ago on HTC in disarray: staff departures, 'disastrous' First, and production problems cloud company's future 2 replies

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Do you have sources or statistics other than your own assertions and observation bias to demonstrate that?

I hear people on here talking about how few people pay attention to stuff like RAM, and yet I’ve seen nearly every single person buying a computer pay attention to things like RAM and then turn around and look at phones the exact same way they were trained to use PCs over the years.

while iPhone has done well without a replaceable battery of SD cards, that doesn’t mean people don’t know what they are, and when the /average/ person is making a decision between phones most people treat them like PCs and features like SD cards are just one of those things that factors into the two. I really think people look more at the numbers and features list (even camera megapixel) than they do unibody design or ‘screen accuracy’ like the tech community here insists.

I’m not saying every consumer thinks on this level of course, but a large percentage of those I deal with who do end up siding with Android over iOS notice these things.

I have about half my office on Android, and the other half on iOS, right now one is making a decision between the One and S4 and is leaning towards the S4 because of the SD card and battery. (Albeit he’s a structural engineer and at least technically literate). One of the other engineers bought a Nexus cause of the price and being on Tmobile but bought it /despite/ the lack of an SD card, not because he didn’t care.

When you have two very equal pieces of hardware like the current flagships and you have no brand loyalty, these kind of features do differentiate, though probably not as much as samsung fans claim, and definitely far more than HTC fans claim.

about 4 hours ago on HTC in disarray: staff departures, 'disastrous' First, and production problems cloud company's future

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You must be easily impressed.

Going from an Atrix 4g from two years ago to the current gen wasn’t /that/ impressive, and the difference between a One and the GS3 is pretty small by comparison.

2 days ago on Those of you with GS4's or HTC One's

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Try holding it left handed (like I do), and try to hit your HTC one button. It’s ridiculous, and the right side or left side make sense for most, As I said, the main issue with samsung’s button placement is the volume rocker is too far down on the phone and too easy to hit accidentally.

2 days ago on Those of you with GS4's or HTC One's 1 reply

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On a device that large, the power button on the top is almost impossible for anyone to hit without significant stretching. When you hold the phone left handed it’s extremely awkward to hit.

Capacitive buttons are more the waste middle space, and annoying-to-get to multitasking.

(The holding the power button on the samsung isn’t a much better solution either and bothers me).

This isn’t opinion, the power button should not be on the top on a phone over 4.2"

2 days ago on Those of you with GS4's or HTC One's 2 replies

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Wait, what? Other than being red… no.

2 days ago on Ruggedized Samsung Galaxy S4 Active revealed in video (update) 1 recommend

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may be waterproof but isn’t very rugged.

2 days ago on Ruggedized Samsung Galaxy S4 Active revealed in video (update) 1 reply 1 recommend

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Design matters, though I will argue again and again people seem to equate aesthetics entirely in design, rather than taking into account usability as well. The HTC one’s power button is attrocious and inexcusable, and the capacitive button placement is also equally awful.

That isn’t to say that Samsung is great, the GS3’s physical buttons are all rock way too much, and the volume slider is too easy to hit, and the home button always feels like it will break, though they did improve those features significantly on the GS4 from playing with my other half’s.

I think people who are praising the One are sort of missing or glossing over some significant design issues HTC really needs to work on and throwing away pretty much all criticism for the sake of aesthetic concerns.

2 days ago on Those of you with GS4's or HTC One's 2 replies

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I just replaced my Galaxy S3 back with a brushed aluminum one and use it caseless now. Haven’t had any issues.

2 days ago on Those of you with GS4's or HTC One's

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Although to note, you only have 8 GB to work with for apps, and google music/play downloads in general.

If your usage case has you using more google ecosystem the SD card is less valuable. Though I cling to my SD cards because storage still isn’t anywhere near what I want. I won’t be happy until I have 256 gig internal memory.

2 days ago on Those of you with GS4's or HTC One's 1 reply 2 recommends

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Surface is a much better choice for a second ecosystem than iPad.

Sorry. So is a Chromebook for that matter.

2 days ago on Help Picking a Tablet