The waiting game when it comes to smartphones feels like one of the most brutal. Between rumors and their official announcements and their official announcements and release dates, there’s a lot of suspense built up around these important gadgets in our lives. Sometimes it feels like we have to wait too long to actually get the thing in our hands. It kind of feels that way with the Galaxy S5 to me.

The Samsung Galaxy S5 was announced during MWC 2014, a different and less drastic approach than Samsung went for last year in regards to the Galaxy S4 (which held its own grandeur standalone event). Still, the anticipation and announcement of the Galaxy S5 was still something to get jazzed about given that the Galaxy S line is one of the most popular Android device lines currently on the market. However, Mobile World Congress was held back in late February, making it over a month between its official announcement and its release date (today). Not only is that a long time to wait for a smartphone to actually hit the shelves, there has been one major milestone that has occurred in the mobile industry since then: the announcement and immediate subsequent release of the equally as important HTC One (M8).

Samsung knew that HTC would be unveiling their flagship follow-up soon after Samsung’s own, but did they know about the immediate release? Whether they did or not, I imagine that the fact that the M8 was unveiled after the announcement of the S5 and released a couple of weeks before the S5 probably docked some of the sales of the S5. It’s an interesting competitive concept for sure, and it’s one that probably wins over the hearts of many. HTC effectively called it quits on the whole “waiting game” thing and said, “Here’s our phone, and if you want it, come and get it,” while most other manufacturers make people wait a few weeks before having everything ready for a release. In my opinion, HTC’s way is the right way to do it.

Of course, it’s not an issue for people who were sure as fire sold on the Galaxy S5 or the HTC M8; but for people who were torn between the two, the decision had to wait it out or not to wait had to be tough.

If it were me in the situation, I probably would have waited until the Galaxy S5 was officially for sale anyway. Even if I was sure I wanted the HTC M8, there’s still that off chance that the phone just doesn’t do it for me. In fact, I went through this same scenario last year between the two predecessing flagships from both OEMs. I was absolutely, positively sure I wanted the Galaxy S4 for my very own. However, after using the phone for about two weeks, I realized that I was fooling myself when it came to actually liking the phone. The phone was too big for my hands, it was having heating issues, and I just wasn’t that impressed by it. With only one chance to switch phones within my 14-day period, I ended up switching to the HTC One and was so happy that I did.

While that makes me inclined to say that I would probably go for the M8 first this time around, I would still say it’s best to make sure there are at least two phones you are interested in available on the shelves before making a decision. If I hadn’t been interested in any other devices at the time, I would have been SOL with the Galaxy S4. I’ve come to realize that you always want to have a back-up plan just in case yours doesn’t work out. Who knows? Maybe the M8 wouldn’t have been as impressive to me this year as the Galaxy S5 could be.

Despite the M8 being announced and released on the same day, I would have held out for the Galaxy S5 just for such a case. Both phones have managed to impress me thus far, and I would like to think that if one didn’t work out that the other likely would. Either way, it’s always good to have two options to choose from.

So, readers, how did you fare with these two big announcements? Now that the Galaxy S5 is available, will you be making a new phone purchase? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!