Samsung Galaxy S3 – VS – HTC One X

Posted on July 10, 2012 by Scribe Town| 1 Comment
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HTC One X or Samsung Galaxy S3 – Which is the best Anrdoid phone?

UPDATE:  I’m putting this first because it changes everything for me.  If it wasn’t for two issues, it would be HTC One X hands down in my opinion, but because of these two things.  It’s now Samsung Galaxy S3 hands down.

1) HTC One X does not support 1700 MHz band for international phones.

2) HTC One X has an issue that makes it incompatible with the new T-Mobile cards.

In short, because of the above two problems, I’m essentially limited to one carrier:

AT&T

YUCK!  I could use Simple Mobile as the sim card does work with the HTC One X, but it’s at Edge speeds and coverage seems to be getting worse as they upgrade towers.  This month, I lost coverage near my home and it doesn’t appear to be coming back.

What follows is an old review.  Might be useful if you live outside of the U.S. and have no need of 1700 MHz or you don’t mind using AT&T

I bought the HTC One X about a week ago and have been hitting it hard.  I really enjoy gaming and playing the more graphic intense games such as Order & Chaos.  And so far the HTC One X has been amazing.

There is one draw back though.  The memory card is only 32 GB and in some models only 16 GB.  I like to store a lot of data on my phone so this limitation bothered me.  My wife was willing to take the HTC One X so I ordered the Samsung Galaxy S3.  Boy was I disappointed the day I got it.  Within hours I was contacting the seller and asking if I could return it.  Thankfully they were willing to take it back.

The main issue with the Samsung Galaxy S3 was probably the RAM.  It was supposed to have 1 GB, but was only showing about 750 Megs.  I went to the AT&T store the next day and looked at a Galaxy S3 they had.  It was supposed to have 2 GBs, but was only showing about 1.5 to 1.6 GBs.  Now, with the two gigs, there is plenty of memory left after bloatware.  Even when only 1.5 to 1.6 is available (nearly a full gig was free).  With 750 Megs and 400+ Megs of bloatware, it seems the phone just couldn’t run well.

The really shocking thing I found though was the HTC One X in the AT&T store was also showing about 750 Megs instead of a full Gig.  Hmmm…..  Well, I bought both of my phones off of Amazon and they are international phones.  I know there are differences between U.S. phones and international, but I didn’t think there was a 1 Gig vs 750 Meg difference.  Again, with all the bloatware, this matters.   The only tip I can give to someone buying it is to either go to a store and buy one off the shelf, or be ready to ship it back if it’s not what you expected.  The best tip I can give is either buy the HTC One X on Amazon from Amazon (and not a third party) or go to a store and buy one off the shelf.

There was one issue with AT&T though.  The sales rep acted like he knew what he was talking about and claimed the Galaxy S3 with the 2 Gigs of RAM is a quad core processor.  Well, from a lot of research, it looks like the 2 Gig version is dual core and the quad core is reserved for the 1 Gig version.  Also the U.S. doesn’t get the quad core, which makes sense as I was looking at a phone in a store in the U.S.  Another issue with the Galaxy S3 is you can’t see how many processors it has by simply looking at settings in the phone (you can with the HTC One X).  So, you have to trust what is labeled on the box, or the sales rep, if you go that route.

Here are the pros and cons of both from my perspective.  I’m sure others have had different experiences, but if you like gaming, I think the HTC One X is by far the better choice.

HTC One X  - Pros

  • Incredible for game machine.  Quad core processor and 1 gig of ram.
  • No stutter, freezing or crashing in even the most intense gaming situations.
  • Large 4.7 inch display.
  • Worked perfectly with my AT&T pay- as- you- go SIM card.
  • Worked decently with my Simple Mobile SIM card.  (Voicemail integration gave error message, but seems to be working fine.)
  • The list could go on, but besides quad core, 1 gig of RAM, a large display and flawless game play, I couldn’t think of anything else that was hugely important.

HTC One X – Cons

  • Lots of bloatware.  Really makes me mad.  What a waste of ram and a good machine.  The free ram is about 450 megs after all of the bloatware.
  • Integrated SD card.  Can’t upgrade.  This is a real shame.
  • 1 Gig of RAM.  Really wish it had 2 with all the bloatware.
  • 750 Megs of RAM instead of 1 Gig if you get U.S. version.  At least that is my assumption based on what was in the AT&T store.  Buyer beware!
  • Clearly see the quad core processor under Settings->About Phone->Hardware

Samsung Galaxy S3 – Pros

  • The U.S. version has 2 Gigs of RAM (although it appears to be 1.6 Gigs in reality)
  • SD Card Slot
  • Battery can be replaced (not a issue for me, but some people like this)

Samsung Galaxy S3 – Cons

  • Where do I start…  Stutters and freezes, but did not crash.  Probably would be fine with the U.S. version, but watch out with the international phones that have only 1 Gig which ends up being about 750 Megs and then after bloatware about 300 Megs.
  • Simple Mobile card would not work.  This was the final straw for me.
  • Dual core processor instead of quad if you get U.S. version.
  • No way to verify quad vs dual processor from within the phone.

All in all, the HTC One X blows away the Galaxy S3 simply because you can get a full GB of RAM and quad core in a single phone.  You can get either RAM or quad processor in the S3, but not both.

Here is the HTC One X that I bought:

Here is the Galaxy S3 that I bought:

I think phones are starting to be taken as seriously as the personal computer.  As this trend continues, specifications should become clearer and more accurate (I hope).  For now, the only solution seems to be research and some trial and error.

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One Response to Samsung Galaxy S3 – VS – HTC One X

  1. Jerry | July 25, 2012 at 12:50 pm | Reply

    International phones do not come with bloatware. Only carrier-branded phones come with bloatware.

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