Database Users

iphone vs touchHD - what are the differences?

firstly, i cant see ANY good/better points to the iphone at all.
i'm fairly anti-apple (i havent owned/dont own any apple device as i consider them mediocre).
theres just so much hype and fan-boys on the internet surrounding apple kit that i cant work out the iphone at all.
these are my thoughts on the iphone:
software: you have to invalidate waranty to get 'un-official' fixes (ie: jailbreak) - WTF!?!
hardware: 3 good things - g-sensor, touchscreen, and screen size - first time they've been used together on a mobile, but far from new tech.
users: from the people i know, everyone actively promotes their iphone (which is a bad thing). they yap on about how good it is, and get all excited about a new feature that makes their iphone even better, dispite it should have been included at 1st release (cut&paste anyone?).
can someone explain why on earth iphones are so popular, and why people appear to be so blind to the obvious? is there something im missing?
for me, the touch HD anihilates the iphone (why isnt the HD being raved about more?). in a world of sat-navs, multi-tasking, and 'all-in-one' devices (sky+, PS3 for a Blu-ray player, Media-centers/HTPC etc), why is the iphone at the top of everyones list?

veehexx said:
firstly, i cant see ANY good/better points to the iphone at all.
i'm fairly anti-apple (i havent owned/dont own any apple device as i consider them mediocre).
theres just so much hype and fan-boys on the internet surrounding apple kit that i cant work out the iphone at all.
these are my thoughts on the iphone:
software: you have to invalidate waranty to get 'un-official' fixes (ie: jailbreak) - WTF!?!
hardware: 3 good things - g-sensor, touchscreen, and screen size - first time they've been used together on a mobile, but far from new tech.
users: from the people i know, everyone actively promotes their iphone (which is a bad thing). they yap on about how good it is, and get all excited about a new feature that makes their iphone even better, dispite it should have been included at 1st release (cut&paste anyone?).
can someone explain why on earth iphones are so popular, and why people appear to be so blind to the obvious? is there something im missing?
for me, the touch HD anihilates the iphone (why isnt the HD being raved about more?). in a world of sat-navs, multi-tasking, and 'all-in-one' devices (sky+, PS3 for a Blu-ray player, Media-centers/HTPC etc), why is the iphone at the top of everyones list?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great marketing from Apple basically
People who are not to pc savvy just want an easy pickup and play device iphone is that for them.
We are a different breed

marketing
simple as that
think mp3 player....name a Sony mp3 player....which are superior to ipod in every way....well, how many people can name one? and how many are there? how to choose? you have to become a near Sony employee to make an informed decision....on the other hand you have a nice and stylish and functional ipod....one name, one product, one look, for ages now
there's only iPhone....it's pretty, it's simple, it's idiot friendly....and confuses no one....you don't have to think about hardware, UI, options, stuff, stuff....it's iPhone
no mere non-tech mortal knows of HTC or much about HTC....flashing ROMs isn't an option....customatization isn't an option
people want simple shiny things that Paris Hilton wants and has....Vertu is out of reach, iPhone isn't :/
not that it doesn't have qualities, but it's mostly master marketing
branding is alfa and omega or sales and all others release too many devices, too many options, too much confusion, people get lost and go for 1 thing they know....iPhone

iPhone 3G S:
-Faster, smoother, and snappy
-AppStore
-Stable
-Ease of use
-Nice UI Design (consistently nice even with 3rd party apps)
-Multi touch
-Better support
-Better games
Touch HD:
-Big and nice high res screen
-Stylus and finger compatible
-Full Bluetooth profile support
-Fully customizable
-Not limited to iTunes
-Dual Camera
-Expandable memory
-Removable battery
-Universal storage device (compatible with a PS3 too )
IMO WinMo is not for everyone. If you're the type of person that wants a simple, fun, and easy to use phone which is also powerful at the same time, grab the iPhone no doubt. If you're the type of person that wants to expand the possibilities like typing with an external BT keyboard, file sharing/exhange, drawing with the stylus, and/or multitasking with your phone then a phone like the Touch HD is a great device to own. If you can't decide grab those two phones like me. HA
Personally I'm waiting for a true port of Android 1.5 or higher for the HD. I'm willing to flash over WinMo (or maybe even Dual boot?) and sell my iPhone 3G S when it comes out. IMO Android is the future for HTC phones.

well i could never switch b3ecause of the limitations.
ie i use my expandable memory on m hd all the time to transfer films and music to my ps3, and if the iphone doesnt havis option then id never buy it
also i use a lot off non apple codecs for media DivX and XviD mainly but there are some windows media stuff there aswell
i watch these on the bus and stuff
and the fact that i recently learnt how to cook roms
so all in all i need my hd

This is like the 2000th topic about "Iphone vs. Touch HD".
Check this one out:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=443504&highlight=iphone
I'd relate my awnser to tweakers' one.

Topic Creator,
iPhone: Phone with Personal Computer/Multimedia Features.
TouchHD: Personal Computer with Phone features.
You then got to pick which is more important to you? Being a phone as a priority or a personal computer on the palm of your hand? Both are good phones, they just do things differently.
Good day.

Are you seriously asking this question? Starting a new thread of something that someone starts every week and just turns into a fight?

Turb0wned said:
Are you seriously asking this question? Starting a new thread of something that someone starts every week and just turns into a fight?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
what he said

tweaker said:
iPhone 3G S:
-Faster, smoother, and snappy
-AppStore
-Stable
-Ease of use
-Nice UI Design (consistently nice even with 3rd party apps)
-Multi touch
-Better support
-Better games
Touch HD:
-Big and nice high res screen
-Stylus and finger compatible
-Full Bluetooth profile support
-Fully customizable
-Not limited to iTunes
-Dual Camera
-Expandable memory
-Removable battery
-Universal storage device (compatible with a PS3 too )
IMO WinMo is not for everyone. If you're the type of person that wants a simple, fun, and easy to use phone which is also powerful at the same time, grab the iPhone no doubt. If you're the type of person that wants to expand the possibilities like typing with an external BT keyboard, file sharing/exhange, drawing with the stylus, and/or multitasking with your phone then a phone like the Touch HD is a great device to own. If you can't decide grab those two phones like me. HA
Personally I'm waiting for a true port of Android 1.5 or higher for the HD. I'm willing to flash over WinMo (or maybe even Dual boot?) and sell my iPhone 3G S when it comes out. IMO Android is the future for HTC phones.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I couldn't have said this better... I think the thread can be closed now, tweaker has said it all.

iPhone:
Imagine it's Winter and you're at the Busstop ...
You have your Gloves on ...
You have an incoming call ...
You take your iPhone out of the pocket (one hand blocked now)
You try to answer the call ... ?!?!
The Screen doesn't react because you wear Gloves !!!
You take off the Glove from your other hand with your tooth.
Caller want understand you !!!
You'll be the clown at the Busstop
Alternative End:
You will have to use your nose (capacitive screen) to anser your call.
Since it's cold (why else you should have Gloves on) you won't feel the screen ...
You make everybody laugh...
You can answer the call now (if you hitted the right spot with your Nose) ...
You'll be the clown at the Busstop
Touch HD:
Imagine it's Winter and you're at the Busstop ...
You have your Gloves on ...
You have an incoming call ...
You take your Touch HD out of the pocket (one hand blocked now)
You simply TOUCH your HD (screen or Call-Button)
You won't really be a Clown now
But to be honest:
They both have their pros and cons.
regards
fwt

the software the hardware the design

Just a 2 cents review I wrote on the Tattoo

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
This is the smallest Android phone and has the clever 1.6 version (2.1 will be released shortly).
Its small and lightweight, but still feels well built and a quality item, despite its price point.
Pity about the name, but as long as it doesn't encourage folk to screw up their skin
Android is all there, present and correct, together with HTC's awesome sense interface and twitter & facebook widgets.
The packaging is classy and the phone's setup shows just how far leading edge smartphones have come. It asks you for email address, google login, facebook login and some other options and sets it all up automatically.
I have a vodafone SIM and it set up the data connection in the background silently without asking me anything.
Date and time are also automatically used from your location.
The 320x240 screen is not best for prolonged browsing but is necessary in this size of phone to make the character sizes readable.
The advantage of this size screen is that the CPU is pushing less pixels, so its has a pretty fast response time, faster then the Hero IMHO.
The disadvantage is waiting for more android market apps to be available for 320x240, this will take a few months.
The big surprise is how responsive the screen is, given its resistive. Its certainly nice to use and comes with the accurancy of resistive screens, useful for drawing and other apps where accuracy is needed.
Another fairly unique feature is that you can order custom covers (even uploading your own pictures) to add a nice touch for personalisation (through tattoomyhtc). Whilst this is a fun idea (or gimmick!), the other benefit of easily removable covers is that if you scratch the phone you can just buy another cover. I really wish more manufacturers would do this.
The std 3.5" headphone socket is a nice touch, and customarily for HTC delivers good sound quality, particularly through my bose triports.
The speaker goes to a reasonable volume but its not super-clear. Usable but not perhaps to enjoy music through!
The camera has no auto-focus and is reasonable for high light situations only.
I understand that bar-code software has trouble with cameras without auto-focus, hopefully this is being worked on as I love these applications.
I never use mobile phone cameras (how could I with a Nikon D700 ), so will leave it to someone else to test this out.
Lastly, newbies to android should remember the long horizontal swipes on the home screen to reveal multiple virtual home screens.
In summary, this is a classy power phone for those that want music, apps and ease of use, but not interested in using it for ebooks or browsing much (although the browser is android, and therefore second in quality only to the iphone).
I would pick it over its brother, the HTC Touch 2, anyday (but also wait with bated breath to see what WM 7 will bring).
Strongly recommended for those that want a small phone, but would like the power of a decent OS and can't bear Nokia S40 or all the other propriety junk OSes that tend to populate smaller devices.

Thanks for a nice review ..
I have the pleasure to be a owner of the tattoo and i can only say it rox!!!

I agree!!! the Tattoo is great at the price and has a very classy build....even the headphones provided with it did a decent job and were better than any HTC provided headphones I have used before....
Android Rocks!!

neat 2 cents.. Thx

Well said. I have a Nokia E71. While it runs S60 UI, it's a pain at times, randomly crashing or freezing (and having to do a battery pull).
I'm getting a HTC Tattoo from the UK, so yeah. I like your review though.

Nice Review!
I've had my Tattoo for a week on Vodafone and am very impressed with it.
Considered the Hero (very nice) and iPhone (way too expensive!) but settled on the Tattoo after trying it side by side with a Magic in the Vodafone shop. Hardly noticed a difference in screen response to be honest.
I'm not a power user - some browsing and very little social apps and only really wanted a nice phone with some customisation facilities and the Tattoo fits me perfectly.
Sure there will be better phones out shortly at this price point but that's always the case with mobiles and having taken the plunge with Android I'm a convert.

Finally, what could have been better on the HD2?

I am a true lover of my HD2, but even if I find this device almost perfect I feel that it still has some parts that shall have been better.
That is why I am opening this topic. This post is not aimed at listing the HD2 problems, but rather evoke the ways to make our device even better, from the users' point of view, based on our experience.
So please, tell me what is your own point of view after several months of use.
For me, here are the items I find should have been better:
- Soft Reset 'red button' under the metal back cover: this is definitely so ridiculous. What did the HTC guys have in mind when they decided this?
- Camera: compared to other devices (e.g. Blackberry Bold) the quality of the camera on the HD2 is definitely very low. Especially if the light conditions are not perfect. I realized that I have now abandonned the idea to use my HD2 camera to take some pictures inside a home, or in the evening.
Why not a Carl Zeiss lens, and also a separate shutter button?
- Loudspeaker: the quality of the loudspeaker is low. I compared it with other devices and the one of the HD2 is not satisfying. A better one would make louspeaker phoneconversations better. Also, it's almost impossible to use the HD2 loudspeaker to listen to some music on a daily basis. It will just give you a headache, whereas with other phones it's really a pleasure to listen to you mp3s with the loudspeaker on.
- Some Manilla Menu could be improved: did you also notice that it is so difficult to exit from the Message Tab. You have to click on 'Back' before you can close the Message Tab. The same way, in the Comm Manager Tab when you click on 'Done' you would expect it would close the tab. But it doesn't. The UI shall definitely be more simple and intuitive. The same for the Ebook reader tab.
- Bugs on the FM Radio never solved: I know that some other users also reported this bug. Sometimes the FM Radio crashes. The radio skips, then the application crashes. More generally the radio reception is bad. I am shocked that ROM after ROM HTC was not in a position to solve these issues eventually.
- Battery life: this one is a big disappointment, probably the major one. On my HD2 battery lasts maximum 1 day and a half... But most of the time it lasts less than 1 day. I remember the old times when the battery life of my mobile phones could exceed 3 or 4 days. Of course smartphones are more complex and need a lot of resources. But it's the manufacturers' role to adapt the battery capacity to the device needs. Less than one day of battery life is not acceptable. 2 full days would be a minimum.
- Absence of decent internal Memory Storage (e.g. 32 Gb): I think it would be high time the manufacturers like HTC include a decent 32 Gb memory storage. It would avoid spend a lot of money on various SD cards. We would have a huge memory space that could be completed with a small SD card (2 or 4 Gb would then be enough). WHEN WILL HTC PROPOSE THIS ON ALL ITS TOP DEVICES ?
- The HTC Audio Player is so bad: I know that some people like it, but in my opinion the embedded audio player is crap. It takes too long to load, the library organization is a mess. It even includes my IGO audio files! Why HTC could not work hand in hand with great developers such as Kinoma or Corecodec?
- Lack of HTC applications : I know this is mainly due to WM 6.5. This OS is not so sexy anymore and developers prefere to focus on Android and IPhone. That is why I also think HTC should work hand in hand with soft developers to provide great HTC applications. For instance Sony with Southend: the best games on WM 6.5 have been created (Xtrakt, Experiment 13...).
Conclusion: finally I realize the HD2 is not a real multimedia smartphone as it has been introduced. On the contrary, Radio, Audio Player, Camera and Loudspeaker are almost the worst parts of the device. And many competitors do better. Therefore the HD2 is probably a great professional phone, but not a multimedia one.... Unfortunately...
But hey, don't misunderstand me. I really love my HD2.
Just hope all the issues listed above will be solved with the HD3

My experience with:
Camera: it doesn't take pictures like a digicam can, but its one of the better camera phones I have used from a smartphone. Its okay at best for me, but I don't really expect much from cam phones. Also have you tried any tweaks?
Loudspeaker: Don't really use it when playing Music. Like the camera, I don't really expect much from speakers of any phone.
Manilla Menus: I'm not really sure how you want to close Messaging Tab and Comm Manager Tab. Thats just one press. Do you mean you want it to go directly to Home page when you press "X" at the top right or Back button?
Internal Memory: Yes it would be much better if we can have more. But I think it would also cost us more if say the HD2 had 64gb internal mem.
Audio Player: Okay for me. Try 3rd party music players.
Edit: Yes, I also love my HD2

I agree with OP. The only bad issue that really bother me is the Audio Player: why the hell there's not any kind of SEARCH function? HTC failed hard here.

arturobandini said:
- Loudspeaker: the quality of the loudspeaker is low. I compared it with other devices and the one of the HD2 is not satisfying. Almost impossible to use the HD2 loudspeaker to listen to some music on a daily basis. It will just give you a headache, whereas with other phones it's really a pleasure to listen to you mp3s with the loudspeaker on.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm glad that you can't use the loudspeaker to listen to music. There's a special place in hell reserved for people who do that.

Yes Audio and Video player of the HD2 for me is a big let down.
Audioplayer crashes and won't play any of your music if you happen to load in just 1 file that it don't like.
Videoplayer also sucks almost all files need to be converted to play nicely on the HD2 player (video/audio out of sync). No RMVB support.
Camera and Loudspeaker I dont have any complains, they work OK for me.

I would have to disagree with the HD2 cameras quality being low. I managed to take some pretty good pictures with it. While dark or light outside
I also would have to to disagree with the loudspeaker with the music. I came from a blackberry 9700 and a storm 2 and both of their loud speakers distort when turned all the way up. thankfully when someone calls, the ringtones sound crisp on the hd2
but the rest of the stuff i agree with you guys

I wish the text messaging is better then what is now

i love the hd2 too, although it gets annoying at times. i have to admit, i was going to buy the nexus one instead of the hd2, but the hd2's hardware is sexy. cant help it. XP
anyway what bothers me about it:
1.) camera. it does seem a bit grainy, ive seen phones with better 5mp cameras.
2.) wm6.5. the os is snappy, but at random times, i would be forced to take out the battery cause (either sense or windows mobile) freezes up. using the chuckyrom.
3.) loudspeaker, idk maybe its just the mp3s i choose but volume is low even on high. not really a problem since i leave it on vibrate.
4.) horrible battery life. i use my phone a lot. i have my emails/calendars synced to it. let me just say i couldnt last a day without having to plug it into charger (using 3g). i made a test actually, i left around 2pm today to go to the beach, so i turned 3g off and pretty much left it in my backpack. a few hours later (around 10pm) it had around 65% battery left, so that was a shocker.
5.) music player. too slow for my tastes. im an ipod user so u can say my ipod spoiled me.
but still even with these problems, im happy with my sexy hd2. i'd go for the evo but i cant go cdma yet since i travel a lot so i need gsm phones.

- Absence of decent internal Memory Storage (e.g. 32 Gb): I think it would be high time the manufacturers like HTC include a decent 32 Gb memory storage. It would avoid spend a lot of money on various SD cards. We would have a huge memory space that could be completed with a small SD card (2 or 4 Gb would then be enough). WHEN WILL HTC PROPOSE THIS ON ALL ITS TOP DEVICES ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can only agree on THAT.
For the rest: the HD2 is already perfect as a WM-device could be. Always mind: most restrictions are caused by WM, BUT: XDA-dev. overcome almost ALL probs (like I have no probs anymore since netdrg-TCMPM runs on my HD2).
For batt-life and loudspeaker: it´s just a question of simple physics: the more powerful the circuits/processor/speaker etc. the more battery-power is consumed. For heavy use we have the extended batt.
Camera: we do have a small pc in our hands and not a camera that also works as a little pc. Camera is a little gadget I take but it definitely was/is not the reason to buy a PDA. For very good photos I have my digicam.
Last but not least: of course You can always use even better components for assembly but are we willing then still to pay the price ? (Yeah, for me I would ! Now! But what if get unemployed next year ? )
I made a guy build me my Sony Vaio TT91 according to my wishes (SSD´s etc.) but had to pay double the prize of the serial-Vaio TT
Real life means: HTC has to calculate and research the compromise of customer needs, parts available and affordability at a given time (beginning 2009) to issue a new device (HD2) by end of 2009, but unfortunately by the middle of 2010 new cheaper and better parts would be available at the same cost.
That is living at the edge of technology at a given time. So we will see the HD3, HD4 or whatsoever, we will see micro pcs from HTC with flexible screens, LED-projectors and sound projectors integrated, we will see HDs with full voice-steering based on quantum-chipsets and laser diodes, we will see HDs transferring the screen-contents into eye-lenses running on batteries that are smaller than a finger nail lasting almost forever...........
BUT NOT NOW !

k20a1 said:
I would have to disagree with the HD2 cameras quality being low. I managed to take some pretty good pictures with it. While dark or light outside
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Really ? It seems to me that other phones have a better camera than my HD2. I tried a lot of different settings.
For instance, a friend of mine made a video with his Bold 9700 of a live concert at night (worst conditions ever: dark, lot of sudden flash lights, etc...) and I was really amazed by the quality of his video.
---
To revert to the general specifications, I think that the manufaturer who will propose a Windows Phone already including 32 Gb of memory + minimum 2 days of battery life will do a major hit.
Running out of storage, or having my HD2 turn off at the end of the afternoon is something I hate.
All the smartphones currently proposed on the market are basically the same. But they all miss MEMORY / Long BATTERY LIFE.
Which manufacturer will finally decide to make the difference? I hope it will be HTC.

I have never liked the idea of have a large amount of memory in a phone, it makes it expensive and you can't just take it with you when you upgrade, i prefer a memory stick tbh.

NitrousB said:
I have never liked the idea of have a large amount of memory in a phone, it makes it expensive and you can't just take it with you when you upgrade, i prefer a memory stick tbh.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But we can also expect that the costs will considerably decrease once the 32 gb are included in all devices.
Also, memory is so expensive because manufacturer like Sandisk or Kingston has to hold 32 Gb of memory in such small microSD cards. It makes no sense.
Regarding the upgrade, you are right. But you will have the possibility to transfer all your files to your new phone via your PC.

All the points mentioned before are not so important to me, in general I am very happy with the HD2 except for the GSM reception...my HD2 has a poor gsm reception. tried different radio roms but it does not really make a difference. When I am away for work I am using another phone, which was not the idea when I bought the HTC...

Cfds,
Did you try Radio 2.09.50.29 ?
It's the one I'm using in France (Orange network) with my Miri ROM, and it works perfectly.
So far the best Radio I've tried.

What shouldn't change:
1. the form factor.
2. integrated multi-touchscreen, 3g, WiFi, Bluetooth, G-sensor, Compas, GPS module, speaker.
3. great gps module. No complaints so far with regards to function and reception
4. Hardware buttons.
5. Replacable battery.
What should change:
1.Wacom active digitizer technology added to the current capacative screen
2. A better, prefereably stereo speaker for better speakerphone conversations.
3. A manual configurable secondary microphone on the back for better speakerphone conversations
4. Better and more creative use of the G-sensor for tool applications.
5. Missing a seperate camera shutter button for taking pictures. The button on the screen is bad ergonomics and often causes blurry images because of the pressing of the button on the screen. Focus is lost and the camera moves while taking the snapshot.
6.increased battery capacity. 1300 mAh for a smarphone like the HD2 is a joke.
7. a camera with a carl zeiss lens.
8. the dual LED flash is fine, but in my currrent experience with the HD2 too close to the lens.
9. a protected cover for the audio and microusb port
10. make mini usb the standard. My experience with microusb thus far, is that it is a niche connection. A lot of other productions, even accessories of the HD2 still have mini usb plugs. The also feel much sturdier, and I've got a lot of them at home.
11. Major software creativity for the HD2 that work. There are currtenly several good programs out there. Unfortunately, many work with great ideas seperately. If some would combine creative ideas, I believe you would have a more complete, functional and great product for consumer use.
12. That someone could make an easy program to make your own software using building blocks. I have some ideas, but are ever put on hold due to the complex nature of writing code and debugging, of which I know a little but have no further experience of.
I think, though that if inking could be revived, the phone would be more complete. I'm thinking about the microsoft courier idea put into the HD2 (with a proper pen stylus and not a pogo or dagi stylus).

arturobandini said:
Cfds,
Did you try Radio 2.09.50.29 ?
It's the one I'm using in France (Orange network) with my Miri ROM, and it works perfectly.
So far the best Radio I've tried.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am running radio rom 2.09.51.03_2...at home its ok, phone works ok and the battery lasts about 3.5 to 4 days but abroad its changing/searching networks all the time and drains my battery in 1.5 days...I can compare the reception with an another phone at the same places and the HD2 just has a weak gsm...Its a shame that my iPhone beats the HD2 if it comes to reception quality...

With regards to people's comments about the on-screen camera button, did you know that you can hold down the on-screen shutter button and the camera will refocus and then take a shot? I find it much more stable that just tapping the button. With that in mind, I've never felt the need for a dedicated camera button on the phone. I agree that, the camera quality is not amazing, and even though I have a decent camera for taking shots, I have felt a bit disappointed with the image quality of the HD2 in comparison to my X1.
The speakerphone could also do with improvement - although I never use it for music, there is a lot of distortion during calls, even when quiet.
I agree that battery life is not fantastic (my X1 used to last several days), but then again, with such a beautiful screen and powerful hardware what do you expect? The EVO 4G needs to be recharged every day and so do the Nexus One and the Desire (just done a quick google). I can live with that.
I don't like the placement of the audio connectors at the bottom. Would have preferred it at the top to make it easier to use in my car!
I think that's all my gripes hardware-wise - I love the form factor and so far the performance of the phone has been great.
With regards to software, there are lots of enhacements that could be made, but I'll just wait for Windows Phone 7 or jump to Android. It's a shame that I'm in the UK because otherwise I would have definitely gone with the EVO 4G - same great hardware but Android - that's the perfect phone! At least until we see how WP7 is like...
--Amr

I love my HD2. It is a great communications device. Internet browsing, Exchange Support and the gorgeous screen are the things I love most. I have Pocket Player installed for listening to music, which is really great. Video Playback could've been better but with the right encoding, watching films is a great experience. Battery life isnt that bad and I always get through the day. As with any Windows Mobile device, it needs customization but if someone gives the device the time it deserves, the HD2 is a great phone. (but not for the average consumer)

amrbekhit said:
... I agree that, the camera quality is not amazing, and even though I have a decent camera for taking shots, I have felt a bit disappointed with the image quality of the HD2 in comparison to my X1...
--Amr
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Bizarre! The camera on my X1 was awful, as a result I hardly ever used it. It was very laggy, photos were grainy even in good light and often blurred.
In contrast, the camera on my HD2 produces really good photos, with little lag, quickly and of decent quality.

Guys, you should use Windows Media Player 11 (the one that comes with Windows 7) to sync your music. I use that, have like 9 GB of music on my HD2 and it's blazing fast, doesn't take ANY time to load.
Actually I like the music player because of its ability to create playlists and it has pretty much everything you need.
I don't know which Radio ROM I have, but I don't experience the problems you and I (with an earlier ROM) had anymore.
You list some other valid points though.

Pros and Cons of SGS

Hey i'm considering getting the Samsung Galaxy S when my contract runs out but i'm still undecided between it and the HTC Desire. The specs for both phones are incredible.
Anyone have any problems with the SGS?
or Anything really AMAZING about it?
Please help

OGC313 said:
Hey i'm considering getting the Samsung Galaxy S when my contract runs out but i'm still undecided between it and the HTC Desire. The specs for both phones are incredible.
Anyone have any problems with the SGS?
or Anything really AMAZING about it?
Please help
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
mostly lags and application force close but that's it..
cant be solved by updating the firmware or rooting..
..as for the application.. it happens to all android phones.. normal day to day experience.
not being biased or anything.. i can say that i am happy with my SGS - JG5.

I'm having problems with GPS. The iPhone next to me has me located in the right building but my SGS when it even gets a lock has me a few hundred kilometers off.
I get bad application lagg where I'm left looking at a black screen for quite a few seconds.
I don't like the non-standard usb connection. Plus I'm having problems connecting it to Kies, which I still have no idea what it is for.
The music player isn't great and I often get songs lagging.
On the plus side it is much better built than I expected from all the reviews I read. I thought the back would be thin and creak but it is solid.
The screen is awesome. I've been using it sat outside in the sun.

PROS: everything out of the box is better than other phones currently available in the market.
any "issue" you find, if you find any, can be fixed by software, including the GPS problem that some people have reported
CONS: battery life, that's all

Pros:
Needless to say the screen is absolutely amazing, watching videos is pure delight on this phone. compared to my old iphone 3g the difference is huge.
the default video player plays anything i have thrown at it, all look really good on the phone.
the music player is basic and does the trick, i really dont see the advantage of doubletwist etc, i found the desktop doubletwist extremely slow and laggy. I chose to use mediamonkey and stock player and it works perfectly, no lag at all. i do get some random album art which looks very poor almost like a thumbnail like some people reported. but majority of album art looks fine....
my phone generally is very snappy and quick, the only real lag i get is gallery for a few seconds and adding widgets/app shortcuts on the home screens.
im using launcher pro and pure stock rom.
i would also like to add that my first and only smart phone was an Iphone 3g 2 years ago, this is my first android phone and im loving the OS, i had my worries at first with people saying it can make certain tasks harder than they should be but tbh i find non of this, i love the notification window and widgets.
2.2 froyo coming which will hopefully reduce the little to no UI lag.
Cons:
Battery? Although its far better than my 2 year old Iphone 3g's battery.
A little lag here and there but no where near as bad as people moan about.

we all know that SGS can play all filetypes of video, but i have a question i haven't seen yet answered anywhere...does the SGS video player support subtitles?

pros:
light, beautiful screen, fast processors.
cons:
occassionals lags, reboot, slight stability problem.
waiting for 2.2 update.

Non standard USB?
johnsonab said:
I don't like the non-standard usb connection. Plus I'm having problems connecting it to Kies, which I still have no idea what it is for.
The music player isn't great and I often get songs lagging.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds like you need a firmware update!
Non standard USB? Are you aware that micro USB IS the defacto standard for data and charging connections on phones across manufacturers worldwide?
Tried replacing your music player with MusicMod - Far superior. Google "pirate media music mod"

Cons:
Lagging occurs quite often which is annoying to say the least (I hate that).
GPS not very accurate
Occasionally crashes
Design not very pleasing to iphone like - looks better in pictures
Touchwiz waste of space and ram
Pros:
Screen resolution
Video playback brilliant best around
Graphics best out there very smooth.
Screen size bigger then most
Music player is better then most including desire
Speaker LOUD and clear better then most other android

How come no ones mentioned that the SGS has a killer CPU and Vid Chip? just check the benchmarks. I too was going to buy the Desire but on the same day I was going to lay down some cash they launched this thing
Bad: has no trackpad as some old games and apps depend on it.

Pro's
- Beautifull screen
- Fast browsing
- Nice camera (for taking pictures during the day)
- Nice for gaming! Better FPS than other phones
- The phone is very light compared to other phones (it weighs less then the desire which is a smaller phone)
- Nice music player and the allshare app (which i use sometimes)
- Faster then all the phones when you apply the "lagfix"
Con's
- Lag (but this is fixable with the new JG5 firmware or/and the "lagfix")
- No image stabilizer for video capture
- No flash (camera)
- Reported GPS problems (these are software/firmware issues so they can be fixed)
- Battery life (but all the 1GHz phones suffer from this problem)
Allround its a great phone! if you are a tweaker then you CAN make it better!

johnsonab; said:
I'm having problems with GPS. The iPhone next to me has me located in the right building but my SGS when it even gets a lock has me a few hundred kilometers off.
I get bad application lagg where I'm left looking at a black screen for quite a few seconds.
I don't like the non-standard usb connection. Plus I'm having problems connecting it to Kies, which I still have no idea what it is for.
The music player isn't great and I often get songs lagging.
On the plus side it is much better built than I expected from all the reviews I read. I thought the back would be thin and creak but it is solid.
The screen is awesome. I've been using it sat outside in the sun.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LOL. This could have been MY post.

Pros:
* Blazing fast (when not lagging).
* Awesome touch-response (when not lagging).
* It's Android
* Calendar is great
* Screen is great.
* Charges while connected to computer.
* Superior for mobile gaming. (Assuming the gamedevs actually use the hardware)
Cons:
* Dotpitch is subpar on the screen. (This is the one con they definitely can't do anything about)
* Laggy.
* GPS is unreliable
* 3G/2G switching is unreliable under some conditions
* Firmware updates are not OTA.
xefe said:
we all know that SGS can play all filetypes of video, but i have a question i haven't seen yet answered anywhere...does the SGS video player support subtitles?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No.

OrionTC said:
Pros:
my phone generally is very snappy and quick, the only real lag i get is gallery for a few seconds and adding widgets/app shortcuts on the home screens.
im using launcher pro and pure stock rom.
Cons:
Battery? Although its far better than my 2 year old Iphone 3g's battery.
A little lag here and there but no where near as bad as people moan about.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think the lag on the adding applications or widgets is much, much worse with LauncherPro, I use LauncherPro, but the lag on adding anything to my home screens I attribute to LauncherPro because I didn't have any issues on TouchWiz (I think part of the reason is because of the way I have LauncherPro cache my pages for improved scrolling)
The screen is the biggest battery drain and this screen is nearly 20% bigger than the iPhone 3G with more pixels, we are a bit lucky to get the battery life we do, and the standby battery life is better than the iPhone 4's.
xefe said:
we all know that SGS can play all filetypes of video, but i have a question i haven't seen yet answered anywhere...does the SGS video player support subtitles?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you'll have to hardcode them into the video before putting it onto the phone, Google it.

HTC Desire, HD, Z series vs. Samsung Galaxy S series

Never had an Android phone before but plenty of WM ons, (see sig) but feel time is right to jump OS. Desire and Galaxy S seem to be the best 2 around for uk users.
Looking at the specs nearly everything about this phone seems better than the Desire
Pros:
Bigger screen
Super Amoled
Faster CPU
Better GPU (has Desire got one?)
TV-out
8GB Internal memory
720p recording
Good camera (even without the flash it seems to take pretty impressive photos/videos)
Cons:
Froyo update (officially yes, but when? Samsung past record doesn't inspire confidence)
Likelyhood of further Android OS updates (such as gingerbread)
Could people who have experience of both please comment on the general speed of the 2 devices. Is the Galaxy faster in real life doing most things,
especially web browsing (including flash video) and playing videos from MicroSD card.
I would be running these apps if I get an android phone:
Slingplayer
Skyfire
Opera mini
myPlayer
Are there any apps/ anything else which isn't working on the Galaxy which runs o.k. on the Desire.
Thanks in advance.

I have both the phones & a Dell Streak up until yesterday. All those apps you listed work fine on both devices except Slingplayer which I don't know about as I don't use it.
I'm having problems with the web brower of the Galaxy in that when I click on a link the web browser shuts down & returns to the home screen. Also I can change the UA string to set the browser to show desktop version but it won't stay. I've already exchanged one unit & the second one still does it.
I use a well known porn site (ahem, testing purposes only :wink) to test the flash & have to say the Galaxy plays the clips without a hitch (though not super smooth) but the Desire just plays the sound, no video.
On specs alone the Galaxy pisses all over the Desire but in actual use there's not much in it. For sure the Galaxy screen is better & the speaker is much louder & better sounding than the Desire but the Desire feels better quality & I prefer the physical buttons.
The Galaxy will be returned for refund tomorrow because my 7 days are up, but I would probably choose it over the Desire if not for the web browser issues.

Thanks for that Zen123.
Probably sensible to wait till Froyo is officially out on Desire and more info about when it will be on the Galaxy but it won't be easy.

I have both.
Galaxy S pros:
Much better at graphics intensive tasks
Better sound quality, output volume
Better music player with EQ
DivX etc out of the box
TV Out (cable + DLNA)
WiFi tether
1.8GB of storage for app installation
More storage with inbuilt storage
Better screen - not only size and display characteristics but also touch and multitouch (most important for gaming, but not entirely irrelevant elsewhere)
Better loudspeaker
Better battery life
Desire pros:
General operation speed is better
GameBoid works
Widget selection is much, much, better
Hardware keys
Better build quality
Browser is better in terms of function, but the extra 0.3inches of the Galaxy negate that advantage for me
HTC music player works with LastFM, Galaxy's doesn't
Off the top of my head those would be the main things.

NZtechfreak, interesting you mention Desire is quicker generally. The difference in browser functionality? Don't they have the same browser?

Got both:
And like the other say both phones are realy nice, but if i had to chose one i would go for the Galaxy. Why?
Galaxy:
Better screen, colors and most off all i can see it better in sunlight.
Ok, it had a small bit off lagg for me when i did open DialPad, but after i got a task killer no more lagg there. Other then that i have not notice lagg in apps/programs like some other have been notice.
Battery last longer on Galaxy then on desire, and that is importent for one like myself.
And like some say they like the build Quality on desire more, i cant say that is wrong But i quite like Galaxy even i guess some should say it is litle "plastic", feeling on it, it is damn light in the pocket.
And if we talk "Root" if both both device use custom roms and the the right chefs make them, Galaxy will be a monster with a custom rom made for it
the other standard things i did see they had already write in other posts here

I had the desire first, returned it and went with the SGS. Why?
-The screen is obviously better, bigger while not too big (in my opinion ofc) and properly registers multitouch (desire has problems when you cross axis with 2 fingers, not a problem in normal usage but very annoying when you try to play a game with 'joysticks' on screen).
Edit: The S-amoled also seems to solve some of the pentile problems I found using my desire, like pink colours where gray shoud be.
-Camera quality is slightly better, however the lack of flash sucks, I enjoyed using the flash as a flashlight.
-The media player is just amazing. Goodbye converters, hello divx playback . Seriously though, it allows me to save 10's of GB on my desktop's harddrive, space I had to use to store those converted files before.
-Audio quality is top-notch, way better than the desire. It also simulates 5.1 playback and plays very HQ music (my flac library sounds better than ever).
-The GPU. You can actually play a game like asphalt on this, while on the Desire the game hangs constantly.
-Storage (this is only for android 2.1 ofc, but this might still be very important during the next couple of months). If you want to keep a few good games on the Desire at the same time, you will need to root/a2sd. Otherwise you WILL run out of storage. On the SGS, you have more than 10 times the app space.
Now with that said, the Desire has it's perks as well, like the sense ui (it's a lot more elegant than touchwiz), tweaked browser with flash Lite and the overall better experience (I feel the Galaxy S has a tendency to slow down over time, while I didn't have this experience on the Desire, might be that I play more games on the SGS tho).
However, I do feel samsung is putting a lot of effort in this phone and I really believe that we're gonna see some good firmware tweaks very soon. The fact that they are offering some quality apps with the phone, like the tweaked layar version, and the "samsung app store" which offers free stuff like the full asphalt game (which costs 5€ in the gameloft store).

Assuming that the Galaxy S is released on T-Mobile UK, this is going to have to be a decision I make as well. I was going to go for the Desire, but since hearing about the Galaxy S I've all but decided to go for that instead. Just a pity the build quality isn't so good, it has a PenTile screen and it doesn't have a flash (though that's a minor complaint) - pity that there isn't a high-end Android phone available without any real drawbacks!
A bit puzzling that it would seem slower than the Desire when the hardware should be as good or better - that must be software, and software's fixable, hopefully.

TMobile UK seem to have confirmed that its coming next month

I'm currently using HTC Hero, but thinking of getting the SGS.
The GUI is a big turn off for me. But like on the Hero, i'm using Launcherpro from the Market. And i'm hoping this would also work on this phone.
Have anyone testet if it works on SGS?
See no reason why it shouldnt
http://www.androlib.com/android.application.com-fede-launcher-Ezxp.aspx

Running launcherpro here on the SGS, works fine. You can still use the samsung notification bar functions like enabling wifi/bluetooth and setting ringer volume and brightness while using it. Combined with the fancy widget, it looks very nice.

Cooki3s said:
Running launcherpro here on the SGS, works fine. You can still use the samsung notification bar functions like enabling wifi/bluetooth and setting ringer volume and brightness while using it. Combined with the fancy widget, it looks very nice.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Came in buckets. thnx is what i want to hear
Phone is now purchased online

The Desire and Galaxy S have the same amount of RAM, though I believe, not 100%, that the Galaxy S kernel is lacking High Mem support, which if it's anything like the Nexus prior to gaining the support, means it only has access to around 190MB of RAM. The HTC kernel has High Mem support iirc, which bumps accessable ram to 390MB or so.
The fact that the Galaxy S comes out of the box with flac support and wifi tether negates my major reasons for really needing root...but having root and switching between roms more times than I shower is all part of the fun!

LadFromWales85 said:
The Desire and Galaxy S have the same amount of RAM, though I believe, not 100%, that the Galaxy S kernel is lacking High Mem support, which if it's anything like the Nexus prior to gaining the support, means it only has access to around 190MB of RAM. The HTC kernel has High Mem support iirc, which bumps accessible ram to 390MB or so.
The fact that the Galaxy S comes out of the box with flac support and wifi tether negates my major reasons for really needing root...but having root and switching between roms more times than I shower is all part of the fun!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
meaning? where is the rest of the RAM being used at (if your claim is right)?

So the verdict is the SGS is better than the HTC Desire, basically..

Hi
I own both phones and the conclusion is ready. Galaxy I9000 is much better than nexus or desire. Very fast, sped, screen, games, internal storage, sound.. Is my point of view as developer for android

Flash question
I am slightly confused about the flash support for the 2 phones. If you read GSM arena review, they say Galaxy S doesn't have any, other than the youtube videos through a dedicated youtube player. HTC's own website says the Desire comes with flash support. They are both running Android 2.1.
What exactly does the stock Desire have in terms of flash, some version of flash lite? If so can't the Galaxy S be upgraded to the same level through installing an application?

Interested in Galaxy...or Desire
Currently running an iPhone 3GS . Was tempted(briefly) by the iPhone 4 , but not enough of an upgrade as far as Im concerned.
I must admit to loving my 3GS.OK the UI may be boring,but it does what its meant to do good enough.
Had never read anything about the Galaxy s until last night.I didnt even know Samsung made an Android phone!It does look really nice though.The screen looks great.
I have owned Samsung phones in the past, few years back now.And was always disappointed with volume.Is the Galaxy loud?If I leave the phone in my coat pocket downstairs am I going to struggle to hear it ring?(Not talking miles away here).
Also, the 3GS does feel like a quality bit of kit in the hand.Looks as good now as it did when I bought it 12 months ago.The build quality of the Samsung worries me slightly(from what I have read about it)

J-Hop2o6 said:
meaning? where is the rest of the RAM being used at (if your claim is right)?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I always thought this was something comparable to 64bit OSes, you just can't go above a certain amount (around 3.5gb, but for android 256mb) since the os doesnt support it. I guess it's a bit different with linux, but the comparison remains the same.
There was a line in the 2.2 features description on developer.android.com before, saying "HIMEM support, enabling access to more than 256mb of ram on devices", but I can't seem to be able to find it now.
Edit: http: //developer.android.com/sdk/android-2.2-highlights.html see platform highlights
billu said:
What exactly does the stock Desire have in terms of flash, some version of flash lite? If so can't the Galaxy S be upgraded to the same level through installing an application?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Desire has Flash lite 4, it's good enough to see some movies and some content like banners, but things like games and high quality/bandwidth movies are very sluggish.
Dunno if it can be ported that easily to the SGS, I think the browser needs to support it aswell, but not sure there.

camera photos comparison
can anyone post a photo(s) taken by these handsets (same object if possible)? will be upgrading tomorrow, and i feel these 2 handsets are pretty even for what i am after, the camera (photo & video) will be the deciding factor.... can anyone post pleeaaasssssseee??? i have less than 24 hours to decide!