Verizon HTC Metal One

[CoreyT]

I have a Motorola Droid Bionic that is starting to show its age as in slowing down when exiting apps sometimes due to having the newest OS on the phone.
This phone came out a while back though, so it is slower.
I think it is a 1 GHz CPU dual core.

My youngest son has never had a smart phone before, and this morning (I am on an 11 day vacation ) we went down to the local Verizon store and we were looking at the three brand new Droids from Motorola that just launched last week.
My son had read up on them and the Samsung Galaxy S4, but next to the Samsung was the new HTC all metal One.
Same phone the sales guy had, and he can have his pick of any in the store, and he said this one is his favorite.
Quad core CPU 32 GB internal memory (no SD slot) front facing speakers, and a lot of other cool stuff including Beats Audio.

This is the phone we went for him along with a nice case like mine, and some extra chargers.
Got a bunch of my Amazon MP3s transferred over to his, and he is populating his Gmail account on his computer with all of his phone/email contacts so they will sync over to the phone.

This is a very cool phone, blows mine away.
My two year contract is up so I can upgrade anytime, I think I am going to pick up this same phone around November or so.

http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/device/smartphone/htc-one

If anyone is looking for a great Android based phone, I believe this is the one to go with if you are on Verizon.
Gave him a 1/8" stereo cable I was using with one of my iPods to plug it into my guitar amps, and he plugged that into his cars stereo along with the 12V charger, and he was all set to rock on his way back home.

And like the iPhone, no replaceable battery on this, so if it goes, it is covered so he can get a replacement at no cost, and they can transfer everything over from the original phone to a new one if needed.
Also not sure why a lot of the new phones are getting away from having an SD card slot, but a lot are like that now.
My Bionic has 8 GB internal memory, and I have a 16 GB micro SD card in it too.

But 32 GB of space is pretty good on a phone, and I do not think he will need more than that.

Anyone else have this phone?

 

[Egads]

I'm shopping right now. It's between the new Droid Maxx, HTC One, and Samsung s4. The only thing I don't like about the Droid is no Micro SD, but like you, 32Gb is probably enough. I've got a two year old, so the phone gets used a lot for photos and videos, and I keep a lot of audio on it. The Samsung is the only one with a micro SD slot. I really dig the one piece metal body on the HTC. The battery on the Droid Maxx is so ridiculously huge that I'm leaning that way.

Give us an update after he's had it for a week.

 

[justmund]

I'm a fan of the Nexus line, I got a Nexus 4 in March so as much as I want one, I won't be going a Nexus 5 when it's released. The specs on that look pretty impressive, especially the 16MP Nikon camera.

 

[iounothing]

I just upgraded from the Bionic to the Maxx. I like the metal casing of the HTC One and it certainly has a better camera, but for me the deciding factor was battery life. With my bionic, I need to have chargers in the car, at work, at home to make it through the day even with moderate use. I also use my phone primarily for email, texting, web apps and as a PHONE (go figure), so camera and audio quality are secondary.

The Moto X is also pretty nice, but only has 16 GB storage right now and I think I'm going to need 32GB if i'm going to have this phone for the next 2 years.

 

[CoreyT]

I keep a 12v charger cable in my work rigs, and charge it during trips between job sites.
I have the bigger battery too in my Droid, first battery went bonkers a year back.

One thing now on the HTC One is the main camera is only 4 megapixels I believe, and not 10, 13, or even 16 like some of the newer phones.
But he explained to us that the bigger megapixels only come in handy if you are going to be printing out huge pics.
For putting up pics on the web or printing on 8.5"x11" paper, it is fine.
Also the technology of the Ones camera makes the pics seem like they are coming from a bigger camera.
And the front facing camera to take self pics or for video conferencing is a wide angle, so you get a lot more into its zone.

I am still thinking about getting that one, and I am tempted to go get it today,, but I have a lotta work to do on my vehicle this morning.
I am not worried about battery life though, I always can charge it while at work either on the road or back at base.

I played around with my sons a bit yesterday, and it is freakenly fast compared to my Bionic.
We had to put it on Wi-Fi though when we got back to my place, as the Google Store was set to auto update all of the apps, and it burned up close to 250 MB or 1/8th of his 2 GB monthly allowment in that very short time.
Showed him how to turn off the auto updates too for the store.

He has my Wi-Fi and his homes programmed into it now, so he will not be eating up the data so fast.
I have unlimited data with my Boeing discount, but once I upgrade my phone, I lose that.
Sucks, but Verizon changed their policy a year or so back.

 

[themike]

As an android nerd the HTC One is a great phone. I personally chose the S4 over it, but I'm sure he'll have plenty of fun with it!

 

[CoreyT]

Mike, what made you chose the S4 over it?
I am debating between these two phones now for myself.

 

[Jazzedout]

Regarding the absence of miniSD on many newer phones.
I think the recent promoted trend is that you keep most of your data on a cloud storage and dowload to your phone only what you need at the time...
Both phone producers and mobile network companies push to that direction...

 

[themike]

I chose the S4 because of a few main things. Obviously the battery and the microSD were HUGE. Contrary to what your Verizon rep told you, if a battery loses its ability to hold a charge, thats not their fault nor is it something they have to support after the initial year warranty. With the S4 I can keep a few in my bags on long trips just in case I cant reach an outlet. I also thought the screen was nicer on the S4 and the feel was much better. The idea of a metal uni-body to me was a big deal until I held them both at the same time and really really liked the Samsung better. It was lighter, had a more comfortable curvature and you know what? Plastic is damn durable. Ive never shattered a phone back so while the metal is cool, it doesn't necessarily make it better than plastic. I mean most of our cars are made of plastic! haha

I also think that while HTC Sense is a more visually appealing skin, I find TouchWiz to be more functional. The front facing speakers on the One were super cool although I would NEVER use them. If I'm listening to anything more than a text message notification sound, I have earbuds in.

Regarding the absence of miniSD on many newer phones.
I think the recent promoted trend is that you keep most of your data on a cloud storage and dowload to your phone only what you need at the time...
Both phone producers and mobile network companies push to that direction...

I use cloud based storage for ease on nonimportant things, but NEVER with things I plan to keep long term on there. And Verizon unforunetly doesn't play nicely with cloud servers (Dropbox offers 50gb of storage for 2 years to every Samsung and HTC....but Verizon opted out of this program. Thanks guys! haha).

 

[CoreyT]

I always pay extra for insurance on my phones in case they get lost, stolen, or broken, and he told us if my son's battery craps out on it we will get a free replacement phone even after the original warranty is up.
I will still look over both phones when I upgrade though.

The front firing speakers are of no value to me, as I use Sony Bluetooth headphones with it when exercise walking.
Plastic, metal, makes no difference to me either, as I have them put on a black protective case with a built in kickstand on it, and it can also slide into a black plastic holster with a clip on it.
He has the same case on his new phone that I have on my Bionic.