HTC's hardware better than Nokia?

[jiayit]

I have a creaking 8X, didn't know it was a problem until I saw a post.

Dropped it a few times, hardly any damage at all. Scratches on the back can be 'erased' away by water. No discolouring corners either. Very happy with my 8X glad that I sold the 820 and got the 8X

 

[Daniel Ratcliffe]

I would consider HTC for Android (hey HTC, give us a Flyer successor please? Love that tablet!) and Nokia for smartphones. And that's only because of the app situation and updates. Were it not for that I would consider HTC or Nokia. And it would be one mega decision. Not overly keen on Samsung myself. I hope the Finnish and Taiwanese do better in terms of sales and production. We need those two.

 

[falconrap]

Let's be honest here...when you consider the source of most of these components and where they are assembled, most manufacturers are going to have issues from time to time. It takes extensive quality controls being put in place to keep the quality of these phones up. Nokia probably the most solid designs (Apple used to), but HTC isn't far behind. The equalizer is the assembly process. Even the best designed phone can be put together poorly, or have its individual components made poorly.

In the end, I think we have two excellent manufacturers to select WP8 phones from. Nokia clearly needs to tighten up quality controls for its 920. I prefer the 822 over the 8X because of the removeable storage and the display. I prefer the wider aspect ratio, and the HTC's display, though very sharp and nice to look at in that respect, has washed out colors too me. It just seemed the colors were very flat. But this is all personal preference. Let's nope both manufacturer's do well and sell a ton of WP8 phones.

 

[Oliver Newell]

Let's be honest here...when you consider the source of most of these components and where they are assembled, most manufacturers are going to have issues from time to time. It takes extensive quality controls being put in place to keep the quality of these phones up. Nokia probably the most solid designs (Apple used to), but HTC isn't far behind. The equalizer is the assembly process. Even the best designed phone can be put together poorly, or have its individual components made poorly.

In the end, I think we have two excellent manufacturers to select WP8 phones from. Nokia clearly needs to tighten up quality controls for its 920. I prefer the 822 over the 8X because of the removeable storage and the display. I prefer the wider aspect ratio, and the HTC's display, though very sharp and nice to look at in that respect, has washed out colors too me. It just seemed the colors were very flat. But this is all personal preference. Let's nope both manufacturer's do well and sell a ton of WP8 phones.

I know exactly what you mean as regards the manufacturing process. I hate to bring this up but the fact is the Nokia Lumia 920 is made in one of three factories, in China, where the assemblers aren't properly trained, not as well as say a factory that make their own products, like HTC. Its all about numbers with factories in China, that's why so many products are made there, because they can churn out numbers factories in the west can only dream about and they can do it so much cheaper. HTC, despite the fact they sell a lot of phones around the world have a higher reliability and quality consistency ratio because the factories they have in their homeland Taiwan are their own factories, and the ones they have in China are also run by HTC, so they can maintain quality. This might not be exactly true but I don't reckon I am far off. I have seen videos of HTC's being made in the factory in Taiwan where most of them are made, and though what Ive seen its very impressive indeed. A lot more of the manufacturing of HTC's are done by robots as well which help consistency =D

 

[Jaripi]

Having been a loyal user of windows phone since it came out, and having had windows phone from LG, Samsung, Nokia and two from HTC I have got an impression of what each manufacture offer, build quality wise. One thing I don't get is why people are raving about Nokias hardware quality and especially the Lumia range of handsets. I just sent back my L920 due to a rattling vibrator, headphone jack problems and as some other people have pointed out the rubber gasket gap around the screen allowing dust to get it. I've never been impressed with Nokias build quality, having had other Symbian based Nokias with creaking cases and dust under the screens. What really stings is the fact I paid ?530 for it. Not good at all. I may have just been unlucky, but I'm still not sold on them.

Ever since using HTC's I have been sold on their quality. I have personally had perfect experiences with the ones I have had. My Titan which I have now replaced with the 8X, I had one full year and it still looked and felt like new (I did have a screen protector on it all its life and always kept it in a soft pouch) but this still bodes well for their durability, considering we live in a throw away - nothing is built to last anymore society. The 8X feels even more premium. The finish is near on flawless and the structure of the phone feels like a solid piece of gold, honestly. No creaks, no rattles and everything is flush and fits perfectly, and it was around?150 cheaper than the L920.

Anyways what do you guys think? Agree? Or disagree ? . . . . . .

Nice to have choices ... I have been very been happy with my red Lumia 920 (3 months now, no problems with hardware at all, works well as expected). It is our own experience what matters - I think that there is a lot of claims about all brands, specially on all forums ... well, HTC is cheaper, but that model is 3G phone only here in my country and Lumia 820/920 are 4G (LTE) phones, so it might explain that price difference in your country too ... I have never owned HTC,, so no comments about them ... of course, everybody is buying a phone for their own needs, so the things we appreciate are different ...

 

[jaj324]

I just noticed that my 8x was actually made in Taiwan. That's good to know. I assumed all cell phone were made in the Peoples Republic these days.
Sent from my PM23300 using Board Express

 

[Oliver Newell]

I just noticed that my 8x was actually made in Taiwan. That's good to know. I assumed all cell phone were made in the Peoples Republic these days.
Sent from my PM23300 using Board Express

Its something that no one is interested in these days. I don't know about you but when Im enjoying a steak, knowing where it came from and how it was made makes all the difference. Yepp, there might also be a political stance to why it says made in Taiwan, as Taiwan isn't considered officially to be separate form China, but that's another story for an entirely different subject. However it is one reason why I buy HTC, because they are made by professionals, by people who know what they are doing. I had a HTC Legend once that I bought on a foreign website in India unbeknown to me, found out that it was made in China, so I phoned up HTC, they couldn't make it out at the time, so they asked for it back for one that was made in Taiwan! Now that is customer service!

 

[ny_yankees]

My first 8x died out within 24 hours of having the phone. My current has going strong for the last 3 months. I love my 8x

 

[Subserved_Meteor]

Well, I never owned a Nokia phone (yes, my first phone was a Motorola xD), but I now own a HTC HD7, and must say, it survived a lot of drops and other things. I lived in Singapore for a couple of months and travelled around SE Asia, now I'm back in Switzerland with loads of snow and freezing temperatures. Had no issues what so ever with my HD7!! I am very surprised indeed!

 

[jiayit]

Well, I never owned a Nokia phone (yes, my first phone was a Motorola xD), but I now own a HTC HD7, and must say, it survived a lot of drops and other things. I lived in Singapore for a couple of months and travelled around SE Asia, now I'm back in Switzerland with loads of snow and freezing temperatures. Had no issues what so ever with my HD7!! I am very surprised indeed!

out of topic but did you enjoy you time in Singapore?

 

[WanderingTraveler]

Both HTC and Nokia have great build quality.
But, you must consider the fact that Nokia is currently not making enough 920s (and from what I've heard, too many 820s), and most of the problematic phones were the first batch (like most Nokia phones). On the other hand, HTC appears to have no problems with the supply of the 8X and 8S.

First of all, I admire Nokia's build quality. I still keep, and use, working Symbian phones, and you might infer that these are very old. My family's Asha phones, despite being thrown around multiple times, have only a few scratches on them. And, some of my classmates still use very old S60 5th Edition phones, which have obviously not been treated with care.
Any replacements were brought by:
A. Symbian (understandable)
B. How old the phone is
C. Battery life coming to an end
HTC's build quality is also great. A Nokia ****** I know used to own an HTC Magician. And, any replacements of HTC products were brought about by:
A. Subpar battery life
B. Lack of any software updates

 

[jiayit]

Both HTC and Nokia have great build quality.
But, you must consider the fact that Nokia is currently not making enough 920s (and from what I've heard, too many 820s), and most of the problematic phones were the first batch (like most Nokia phones). On the other hand, HTC appears to have no problems with the supply of the 8X and 8S.

First of all, I admire Nokia's build quality. I still keep, and use, working Symbian phones, and you might infer that these are very old. My family's Asha phones, despite being thrown around multiple times, have only a few scratches on them. And, some of my classmates still use very old S60 5th Edition phones, which have obviously not been treated with care.

I have an E63 running S60 3rd edition, it's five years old but still nearly flawless. The rubber flaps for microSD and microUSB has rotted and fallen off, but otherwise, it's in pristine condition. Mind you, I use it everyday, almost as much as my 8X. I have to say that the build quality compared to the current Lumias, is beyond comparison. Dropped my 820 once, scratch! Drop and throw my E63 anywhere, it's still flawless.

tl;dr: Nokia's build quality USED to be good. HTC's is currently doing great.

 

[akoaypinoy]

I've never had a problem with HTC. I had the original HTC Droid Incredible and it was a great phone - no problems. And now the 8X and it is solid and beautiful. I hear all the complaints but I have had none of the problems mentioned. And I think the Gorilla Glass screen is fantastic. The Galaxy Nexus I had previous to this did not have it and the Bionic I had prior to the Nexus did. I missed the Gorilla Glass immensely on the Nexus. Not only is it sturdier, but I think it also doesn't smear and hold prints as badly and is easier to wipe clean. I'm very, very happy with all aspects of the 8X!

 

[rob45]

I have been using the HTC 8X for two months now and am very pleased with it. It is just the right size, easy to hold and carry and very stable. The only minor annoyance is the camera button on the side. It is handy but I am always taking photos by accident. Not a big deal. My favorite feature is the dedicated back arrow. I had an IPhone previously and would have to close the program and come back in to get where I wanted. Battery life is excellent.

 

[omniusovermind]

I have an E63 running S60 3rd edition, it's five years old but still nearly flawless. The rubber flaps for microSD and microUSB has rotted and fallen off, but otherwise, it's in pristine condition. Mind you, I use it everyday, almost as much as my 8X. I have to say that the build quality compared to the current Lumias, is beyond comparison. Dropped my 820 once, scratch! Drop and throw my E63 anywhere, it's still flawless.

tl;dr: Nokia's build quality USED to be good. HTC's is currently doing great.

I was having trouble wrapping my head around the build quality issues because people keep repeating Nokia's reputation for solid build quality and that conflicts with what appears to be going on. So I dug a little deeper and found out that Nokia's rep rested largely with their era of making their own phones. I didn't find out until recently that they're now using the same mass production Foxconn plants a bunch of other companies are, so that was my "Aha" moment.

HTC largely still use their own homeland plants for their devices, although they also have a smaller plant in Brazil. Aside from the initial cosmetic issues of discoloration that seem to be going away, and the random reboots that appeared to be an OS and not a hardware related issue, I haven't heard of really anything negative of note about the 8x.

 

[Oliver Newell]

I was having trouble wrapping my head around the build quality issues because people keep repeating Nokia's reputation for solid build quality and that conflicts with what appears to be going on. So I dug a little deeper and found out that Nokia's rep rested largely with their era of making their own phones. I didn't find out until recently that they're now using the same mass production Foxconn plants a bunch of other companies are, so that was my "Aha" moment.

HTC largely still use their own homeland plants for their devices, although they also have a smaller plant in Brazil. Aside from the initial cosmetic issues of discoloration that seem to be going away, and the random reboots that appeared to be an OS and not a hardware related issue, I haven't heard of really anything negative of note about the 8x.

Yepp, Nokia will tell you a lot of things. I knew ever since Nokia decided to close down their last production facility in Finland, much to the anger of their dedicated workers and the Finish peoples pride that their jobs would be outsourced to China, this was over a year ago. If you lucky enough to find a very early Lumia 800 you may find that it says made in Finland. Similar to what you said, HTC make between 80 and 90% of their phones in their homeland Taiwan and a very small amount in China, however the Chinese made ones are only for sale in Asian countries - China, India, Pakistan because China puts a heavy import tax on foreign made goods, and well, HTC don't want to loose out on a market of 1.3 billion strong do they The rest of the world, the west, Japan, Korea, Australia ect are made in Taiwan and to a high quality. Ive seen the videos and heard the reports, the way they test to phones - they bend them, drop them, kick them till destruction. They put stress tests for hot and cold weather and all sorts. Its a national pride for Taiwan Im guessing, and like you said, the bad reports of HTC's you hear are mainly software related, not hardware. You're right in what you say.

 

[jiayit]

I'm in Asia, makes me wonder where my phone is from - China or Taiwan? Not that it matters, but is there any way to find out?

 

[Dinkumschnauger]

I completely agree.

I've had x3 Lumia 920s and all have had defects of some kind. My current one, which I appear stuck with, has a light leak on the right of the buttons, a loose volume rocker and the GPS doesn't work all the time/ cuts out (must be a loose connector inside). On top of that I still haven't received Portico update from them.

My brother's 8x on the other hand has no build issues and received Portico upon its release way back in November!

HTC are miles ahead of Nokia IMHO.

 

[Daniel Ratcliffe]

Similar to what you said, HTC make between 80 and 90% of their phones in their homeland Taiwan and a very small amount in China, however the Chinese made ones are only for sale in Asian countries - China, India, Pakistan because China puts a heavy import tax on foreign made goods, and well, HTC don't want to loose out on a market of 1.3 billion strong do they The rest of the world, the west, Japan, Korea, Australia ect are made in Taiwan and to a high quality. Ive seen the videos and heard the reports, the way they test to phones - they bend them, drop them, kick them till destruction. They put stress tests for hot and cold weather and all sorts. Its a national pride for Taiwan Im guessing, and like you said, the bad reports of HTC's you hear are mainly software related, not hardware. You're right in what you say.

So what Europe needs is a 5000000000% (yes, five BILLION percent) import tax on stuff not made in Europe. That would sway Nokia to bring the jobs back to the Finns.

 

[Oliver Newell]

I'm in Asia, makes me wonder where my phone is from - China or Taiwan? Not that it matters, but is there any way to find out?

It will say on the back of the box