It's a mystery to some why LTE data speeds vary greatly at different times and locations, however, our testing shows great LTE data speeds with Samsung Galaxy S 4 and HTC One.
Previously, the champion was the LG Optimus Pro G, which we think is faster due to the lower overhead software. The HTC One we are testing has BlinkFeed running.
Data speeds can be lower at busy times of day, when the network is congested, longer distances from towers and when many devices are using the same tower. We noticed that if we run two smartphones at the same time testing download speeds, the speed sometimes splits. That's why in the videos you see that we don't start the devices at the same time.
The Samsung Galaxy S 4 in our tests was about the same for that the HTC One. Top download speeds for the GS 4 were 24-26Mbps down and 14Mbps up. The top download speeds for the HTC One were 24-26Mbps down and 15Mbps up (on a different day).
Overall, we've found fantastic speeds in our area which we believe may be caused by us being very close to a tower and by a window (signals don't transmit well through think walls).
The main difference you see with the HTC One is that it has a smaller screen (4.7") aluminum body and a different style camera. (Read reasons to buy it).
Another difference between the HTC One and Samsung Galaxy S 4 is the software. HTC uses HTC Sense to its UI while Samsung uses it own add-ons with S Beam, S Share, S Play, Smart Pause, eye-scrolling, S Heath monitoring, Home Sync, Dual Video Call, Air View/Gesture, Sound/Shot, Group Play and S Translate.
Both will work as a TV remote. The HTC One has a higher pixel per inch ratio due to the smaller screen it is 468ppi vs the Samsung Galaxy S4's 441ppi screen. The HTC One lacks a removable battery, expandable microSD card slot and temperature/humidity sensors.