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iPhone 5S or Galaxy S4 owner? What's your problem?

A new report from FixYa logs the most common issues that users of the two phones encounter. It also spills the beans on the HTC One and the Moto X.

Lance Whitney Contributing Writer
Lance Whitney is a freelance technology writer and trainer and a former IT professional. He's written for Time, CNET, PCMag, and several other publications. He's the author of two tech books--one on Windows and another on LinkedIn.
Lance Whitney
2 min read
FixYa

Unhappy with your battery-sucking iPhone 5S or your overheating Samsung Galaxy S4? You're not alone.

Battery life and overheating issues were just two of the problems cited by users of four of today's top smartphones in a new report from tech Q&A site FixYa.

Released on Tuesday, FixYa's Black Friday Smartphone Report revealed the top gripes among its site users about the iPhone 5S, Galaxy S4, HTC One, and Moto X. The report bears the Black Friday name as FixYa has aimed it at consumers who plan to shop for a new smartphone the day after Thanksgiving.

The top grievance among iPhone 5S users was battery life. Of course, that's nothing new. iPhone and smartphone owners in general often bemoan the short life their devices get on a single charge. But this remains a frustrating dilemma for people who travel and find their phones out of juice long before the day is over.

The new fingerprint sensor on the 5S also aroused concerns among people fearful that their fingerprints may end up in (on?) the wrong hands. But Apple has stressed that the fingerprint password is stored locally and not uploaded to any cloud-based system. Display size was a third issue among iPhone users who want a bigger screen. That wish could be granted with next year's iPhone, which rumors say will undergo a bump in screen size.

Overheating was the top problem cited by owners of Samsung's Galaxy S4. People say the phone becomes hot to the touch when used for a long time. The Galaxy S4 uses a plastic body as opposed to the aluminum chassis found on other smartphones, one factor that may be to blame for the increased heat.

Like the iPhone, the Galaxy S4 has trouble sustaining enough battery life on a single charge. Users said that running multiple apps or snapping lots of photos with the camera tended to deplete the battery. S4 owners also complained that the screen is darker compared with that of other phones.

Grumbles about poor battery life hit the HTC One as well. Some said the battery also takes a long time to charge. Additionally, users voiced complaints about hearing an audible hiss in the background during phone calls and a lack of high-quality photos from the camera.

Finally, the Moto X was faulted for its limited storage space. The base model offers just 16GB of storage, while the more expensive version increases that to 32GB. But there's no SD slot to expand the capacity. Users also criticized the poor quality of the Moto X's 720p display and its inability to capture high-quality photos.