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Boy this decision is becoming tougher as I read more head-to-head reviews of the the two devices. 
- not only the online information, but my personal in-store interaction of the 2 devices also yielded a radically different (and unexpected) outcome.
I first played around with the HTC One, it was great in terms of its physical appeal. Hands-down the best device (visually). The screen looked phenomenal, the front facing audio-speakers were wicked, device feels great to hold, HTC Sense has been optimized to virtually no lag interaction, Blink Feed is definitely something I would grow to love (considering I use Flipboard almost on a daily basis and the 2 are pretty close in their functionality).
The manager of the AT&T store where I played with the HTC is someone I know well and she bought out the S4 from a back room (the device wasn't officially launched at that time) and when she turned it on, how I felt looking at the text on the screen (even though I know the S4 has a lower pixel density than the HTC) reminded me of the dude from the Maxell ads
I couldn't believe just how incredible it looked. I don't know if it was the fact that the HTC had a black wallpaper and Samsung's blue background somehow managed to bring the screen content to life, but it absolutely blew me away (more so than the HTC screen did). It literally felt like the text would've jumped off the screen, onto the glass and started running around, it was just so brilliant.
Played around with the device some and Sammy's TouchWiz UI still has some work to do in the "fluidity" department. While the HTC Sense UI showed zero lag in the time I spent playing with it, the occasional stutter in TouchWiz was not difficult to reproduce. But given how the screen had won me over (I figured it would be only a matter of time till the monochrome black and white nature of Sense UI would bore the crap out of me), I came about feeling that Sammy, despite being a less attractive device, had won me over by a smidge as the screen is likely what I would be spending a majority of my time interacting with.
Other noteworthy items that further shifted the balance of preference in favor of the Sammy were the fact that even though the HTC has a 4.7" screen vs. 5" screen on the Sammy, both phones are virtually identical in overall size. This is because the HTC's bulk moves north due to the 2 x front facing speakers placed on either side of the screen. Sammy takes the cake for being thinner although other than on the spec sheet, there's no way to tell that aspect of the phone.
I didn't test out the speakers on the Sammy but I figure in most cases, when you're home watching videos, turning up the volume has worked well (at least it did for me on my old Samsung Note). When I've been out and about in public, I used my headphones so I can't see the rear-facing speakers on the Sammy being a deal-breaker.
Samsung's gimmicky hand-scrolling and eye-scrolling are still buggy and have a way to go. Of the 2 devices I was shown, it didn't work on one and other one only showed the little icon on the screen that the phone detected hand / eye movement but failed to flip the image or scroll the webpage up / down. Notwithstanding, I can't ever see myself using it and was a non-consideration in giving it any favorable points.
Battery tests of course will depend on how many apps we individually install and would be more of a personal outcome rather than review based.
Moving to what I've read online so far is that the S4s onscreen color reproduction is virtually identical to that of the iPhone 5, which incidentally happens to be the industry benchmark for color accuracy (I only recently discovered this fact). No mention of HTC in that department (at least in all the comparo reviews I've read thus far).
Moving on to the camera, while Samsung's low-light photo shots are abysmal (in a comparative test between the iPhone 5, HTC One and Sammy S4, the S4 yielded the most horrid of low-light shots, completely blacking out the image), the S4 gets major props for producing regular light and outdoor photos that are on par with (or even better in some cases) than the industry benchmark i.e. iPhone 5. Add to the fact that when 13 MP pictures would be re-sized to more email-worthy sizes, the "shrinking" of the photos would only add to the sharpness/crispness of photos than what the 4 megapixel HTC would. Of course Sammy has its share of photography features that is has imported from its Android Camera and while some are gimmicky, can definitely see real-world usage in some features.
Three other areas where I feel the Sammy does great (and are decision considerations for me) are its root-ability, expandable memory and replaceable battery. I am a serial ROM flasher so having a walk-in-the-park ability of rooting the device is a major plus, compared to HTCs S-On / locked boot loader. Also, since I already have a 32 GB Micro SD card that is waiting for a new device to be used in, going the HTC route will render it useless.
Finally, while the removable battery wasn't so much of a worrying point, only recently, my brother's Samsung Note I battery went bad. A quick replacement bought the device back to its original glory in the time it took him to get to the store and purchase a replacement. Going with the HTC would mean sending in the device back to HTC and waiting for the replacement unit to arrive. And heaven-forbid the first year of warranty is out (in the case of my brother's Note, it was), there is no way to replace the device/battery unless you try a self-educated surgical procedure.
So these are serious points of contention as far as the HTC goes - unless in the near future, they launch an HTC One + with removable battery and expandable memory. Hope it helps those who are in the same boat considering one of the either flag-ship devices. As of now, in my case, it looks like the plasticy S4 has suddenly jumped ahead in line.
- not only the online information, but my personal in-store interaction of the 2 devices also yielded a radically different (and unexpected) outcome. I first played around with the HTC One, it was great in terms of its physical appeal. Hands-down the best device (visually). The screen looked phenomenal, the front facing audio-speakers were wicked, device feels great to hold, HTC Sense has been optimized to virtually no lag interaction, Blink Feed is definitely something I would grow to love (considering I use Flipboard almost on a daily basis and the 2 are pretty close in their functionality).
The manager of the AT&T store where I played with the HTC is someone I know well and she bought out the S4 from a back room (the device wasn't officially launched at that time) and when she turned it on, how I felt looking at the text on the screen (even though I know the S4 has a lower pixel density than the HTC) reminded me of the dude from the Maxell ads
I couldn't believe just how incredible it looked. I don't know if it was the fact that the HTC had a black wallpaper and Samsung's blue background somehow managed to bring the screen content to life, but it absolutely blew me away (more so than the HTC screen did). It literally felt like the text would've jumped off the screen, onto the glass and started running around, it was just so brilliant.
Played around with the device some and Sammy's TouchWiz UI still has some work to do in the "fluidity" department. While the HTC Sense UI showed zero lag in the time I spent playing with it, the occasional stutter in TouchWiz was not difficult to reproduce. But given how the screen had won me over (I figured it would be only a matter of time till the monochrome black and white nature of Sense UI would bore the crap out of me), I came about feeling that Sammy, despite being a less attractive device, had won me over by a smidge as the screen is likely what I would be spending a majority of my time interacting with.
Other noteworthy items that further shifted the balance of preference in favor of the Sammy were the fact that even though the HTC has a 4.7" screen vs. 5" screen on the Sammy, both phones are virtually identical in overall size. This is because the HTC's bulk moves north due to the 2 x front facing speakers placed on either side of the screen. Sammy takes the cake for being thinner although other than on the spec sheet, there's no way to tell that aspect of the phone.
I didn't test out the speakers on the Sammy but I figure in most cases, when you're home watching videos, turning up the volume has worked well (at least it did for me on my old Samsung Note). When I've been out and about in public, I used my headphones so I can't see the rear-facing speakers on the Sammy being a deal-breaker.
Samsung's gimmicky hand-scrolling and eye-scrolling are still buggy and have a way to go. Of the 2 devices I was shown, it didn't work on one and other one only showed the little icon on the screen that the phone detected hand / eye movement but failed to flip the image or scroll the webpage up / down. Notwithstanding, I can't ever see myself using it and was a non-consideration in giving it any favorable points.
Battery tests of course will depend on how many apps we individually install and would be more of a personal outcome rather than review based.
Moving to what I've read online so far is that the S4s onscreen color reproduction is virtually identical to that of the iPhone 5, which incidentally happens to be the industry benchmark for color accuracy (I only recently discovered this fact). No mention of HTC in that department (at least in all the comparo reviews I've read thus far).
Moving on to the camera, while Samsung's low-light photo shots are abysmal (in a comparative test between the iPhone 5, HTC One and Sammy S4, the S4 yielded the most horrid of low-light shots, completely blacking out the image), the S4 gets major props for producing regular light and outdoor photos that are on par with (or even better in some cases) than the industry benchmark i.e. iPhone 5. Add to the fact that when 13 MP pictures would be re-sized to more email-worthy sizes, the "shrinking" of the photos would only add to the sharpness/crispness of photos than what the 4 megapixel HTC would. Of course Sammy has its share of photography features that is has imported from its Android Camera and while some are gimmicky, can definitely see real-world usage in some features.
Three other areas where I feel the Sammy does great (and are decision considerations for me) are its root-ability, expandable memory and replaceable battery. I am a serial ROM flasher so having a walk-in-the-park ability of rooting the device is a major plus, compared to HTCs S-On / locked boot loader. Also, since I already have a 32 GB Micro SD card that is waiting for a new device to be used in, going the HTC route will render it useless.
Finally, while the removable battery wasn't so much of a worrying point, only recently, my brother's Samsung Note I battery went bad. A quick replacement bought the device back to its original glory in the time it took him to get to the store and purchase a replacement. Going with the HTC would mean sending in the device back to HTC and waiting for the replacement unit to arrive. And heaven-forbid the first year of warranty is out (in the case of my brother's Note, it was), there is no way to replace the device/battery unless you try a self-educated surgical procedure.
So these are serious points of contention as far as the HTC goes - unless in the near future, they launch an HTC One + with removable battery and expandable memory. Hope it helps those who are in the same boat considering one of the either flag-ship devices. As of now, in my case, it looks like the plasticy S4 has suddenly jumped ahead in line.
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