In particular, I'm looking at a Galaxy S, due to the supposedly great audio quality, FLAC playback and UI. I'd like to hear from people who own it, or other Droids and can rave about their phone and/or tell me what annoys them about it, or what is just downright rubbish. Whilst the iPhone 4 is probably a great device, iTunes for Windows is so gay, it's off my list before anybody tries to tell me it's better than a Droid. That may be, but I'm not having one thanks. This is potentially to be taken away with me on travels and primary considerations (outside of making calls and texting, which I find to be paramount in a phone ) are audio storage and playback, browsing (I'm not hugely bothered about proprietary apps) and usability. A good camera would be nice, but it seems I'm out of luck on that front. Thanks guys.
Hey! I have a HTC Desire and I love it! The two main negatives with it are 1. The battery life (1 day), and 2. The internal memory is too small so you may find yourself running out of space for new apps (though this is slowly being solved as devs allow you to save to SD card)
i have a android phone, not as expensive as that one though, and it's really good. i have been on peoples iphones/touches before and mine just feels quicker. The keyboard is easier to use, the browser seems to load things faster and in the end the thing for me is that you can customize it more and your not restricted by what apple say you can and cant do. Just my thoughts
I own a Galaxy S. I presume you are going to be buying the international version? First off, its a superb phone. Had a long go on my sister desire but still prefer the galaxy. It probably has the best screen on any phone atm. Everyone who sees the screen in full brightness, never fails to say "wow". Things that annoy me? You can get some minor lag issues with it, but if u root it, thats easily fixed. Also the GPS isnt spot on yet, samsung claims its a software problem and released a fix, however its still not perfect, again if u root it, there are 3rd party fixes. Only reason i see for buying another phone atm is if you really want a flash on your camera, wasnt a big issue for me.
Well you've made up your mind by the sound of things. You don't want an iPhone so that pretty much leaves you with Android whether you like it or not (personally I can't stand Android, just no where near as slick and the apps are terrible, no where near as nice to use as iPhone) But dropping music onto it is relatively straightforward if you really can't deal with iTunes.
Yeah, I don't doubt that iOS 4 is great. My exs 3G was good enough. But iTunes for Windows is just awful. Not to mention the concept of iTunes isn't how I do things anyway. So whilst I have no problem with the hardware and would probably be quite happy with it, it's off my list. Zetax, international version? I dislike the lack of flash on the S, but I can't imagine any of the cameras on these phones will be any better than my Sony Cybershot phone anyway. And frankly, I really should use a camera if I want to take decent pictures. The reason the S has jumped to the top is because it can supposedly play FLACs and has great, iPhone equivalent, audio quality. And that could save me having a separate mp3 player. Would love to hear more opinions though....
Hi okenobi, the Galaxy S has great sound quality but needs a work round to get the best from it. The work round bypasses the volume limit imposed on it (& all other mobile mp3 devices) by the EU, it's a little app called mixget in doing this the Galaxy S is not only louder but sounds even better & it is able to drive larger headphones I'm using a pair of Goldring NS-1000 & shure EC2's it sounds superb. As with most smart phones running big screens & a few different widgets etc, etc battery life isn't what it used to be pre smart phone, so you might want to get an extra battery or two depending on how heavy your usage will be. I get around 36 - 42 hours out of mine between charging & I'd say I'm a medium user. As with most droid phones it's highly customisable from themes, rom, kernels etc, etc The best thing would be to have a browse of the Galaxy S forums over at XDA.
I have a Milestone 1 - my advice would be to go for the new one, the Milestone 2, as it's running 2.2 and won't have the dodgy headphone jack issues, and the physical keyboard is lovely, not to mention the specs in the new one are bumped up My dad runs a Galaxy S and loves it, but the plasticy-ness of it is disappointing, and my brother runs a Desire Z (second-gen Desire with physical keyboard) and also loves it. Both are very capable phones, but both slightly larger than the Milestone 2 (which is the form factor I prefer). PS - Milestone (1/2) = Euro version of Droid (1/2).
I have to agree, the Galaxy S doesn't not feel very solid in the hand as compared to my HTC. My friend also complains endlessly about the GPS issues and how nightmarish it is to update the phone through KEYS. Something to think about.
Updating through KIES is a piece of cake, never had a problem. And i really dont understand what people mean about it not feeling solid. It feels great. I think people think it feels cheap because it is super light, but when your sitting/lying down watching a film with it in the palm of your hands, you will be thankful for the lightness. Imo, just ignore people who complain about that, i did, and its never been an issue. Ill give you the GPS one tho. It works, but its not perfect. As i mentioned earlier, samsung claim its a software issue, and are trying to fix it. 3rd party fixes can be installed tho. O, and by international version, i mean the Galaxy S. Not the Desire, or Fascinate etc etc. They are the branded carrier versions of the phone.
Have to say I'm quite happy with my Milestone 2. Having Motoblur is a bit of a shame, but I don't know of any better high end android phones that have a physical keyboard. Swype is also pretty awesome to use - I tend to swap between them depending on the task. Thankfully very easy to root too.
I got a Galaxy S updated the software to 2.2 and got some 2.3 on it as well. Love the phone remembering I was always a blackberry man so been on a touch screen sort of bothered me. But I am loving it and love the swype text on it. Android market is growing at such a rate at the moment but it's a good phone. It has the Gorilla Glass display so it's quite tough as well. The screen quality is superb
Well mentioned - Gorilla Glass is invaluable. My Milestone is now a year old, and has no scratches on the screen despite constant abuse Also guys - try Swiftkey, I found it so much faster than Swype, and it can predict for your physical keyboard too.
Right, not bothered about a physical keyboard. It's gonna be weird enough not using a numpad to text! Swype looks awesome, so happy with that. Zetax, whatever I decide on will come from CPW and will therefore be unbranded. Will hopefully be going SIM free or PAYG anyway, so that foreign SIMs can go in it and my existing SIM only deal (which is stonking). Gorilla Glass, tell me more..... Anyone got any other models we haven't discussed?
I've had a play around with the Desire HD, and have been very impressed with it. The major criticisms of it have been battery life and its size (though personally the size is a plus). I'm happy to charge my phone each night, so battery life isn't really an issue for me, plus i can always plug my phone in at my desk if need be (I often do if I'm streaming radio for most of the day anyway). T-Mobile haven't got any in stock at the moment, or i'd have got myself one today. They should be getting more in a week or two though. Currently I'm on the HTC Hero and it has been a great phone, if underpowered.
Had a T-mobile G1 since shortly after release and been happy with it for the most part. Only annoyances been due to mine being slightly faulty and not receiving calls sometimes. My step father has a Galaxy S and seems very pleased with it.
I'm not an owner, but I might just know enough to just know enough to make a comment... I'm not going to go on about the plastic construction and whatnot. Because the fact is we all know about that, even those who buy it, and the downside, it doesn't feel 100% quality. However, I've held one and it felt light and quite solid, so...it's not too much of a concern. But one thing I will mention is the display. The upside to AMOLED displays is mainly that the blacks are just that - properly black - because when it displays this, the pixels are off, there is no backlighting that remains on. And whites are very, very white. However, the display does have a drawback, in that colours do appear to be very oversaturated at times. Some like this, some don't. Some feel that as a result, it is great for watching movies. Personally, I don't like it, but hey, that's me. Another thing that people don't seem to take into account is the PenTile Matrix pixel layout. Many people are putting the issues with the displays, namely banding and lack of sharpness, to AMOLED technology, when it is instead the layout. Take a look here for more information, and you'll understand why this happens. As you can see, the Galaxy display struggles with sharp edges, and it is something you will likely notice. For browsing, which is a use you have stated, this could become very annoying. Of course, if you don't notice it or it doesn't bother you, then...go for it, provided everything else is okay. Not saying it's a bad phone at all, because, I'll be honest, it is pretty much the perfect phone in my opinion, if you take away the display issues and construction. But just be aware of it, just in case. Also, FLAC playback is fair enough, but remember, it's whether the DAC is any good. People are saying the iPhone 4 and iPod touch 4 sound good; with PlugPlayer and playing back FLAC, it just shows, to me at least, that it really isn't brilliant. Again, if you aren't an audiophile, not an issue. If GPS is a big one for you, and you like everything else about the phone, the Nexus S is the way to go. Good luck
Interesting post. The way I see it, the DAC in any phone is gonna be shash. But the flat response curve and SNR of the Galaxy are supposed to be on a par with iPhone and everyone acknowledges that iPhone is the best audio quality. I'd rather listen to stuff on my hi-fi, but that isn't going to be an option if I'm out and about, or abroad - so that's the end of that. The other thing with the Galaxy, is the price. It's considerably cheaper than anything else top end and I'm hoping that situation could get better post-CES/MWC over the next several weeks. But we'll see. Thanks everyone for weighing in. Still would like to know about the Gorilla Glass thing though.
I've got the HTC Evo 4G (currently only available in the states on Spring AFAIK), and it runs beautifully. Running a Cyanogen ROM on it using 2.2.1 software, and couldn't be happier. As far as the rest of the phones, I really can't say much. All of the HTC phones come with the Sense UI, which is decent, but I prefer to use the AOSP with my own launcher (ADW Launcher comes with Cyanogen, though you can install others). My take on it, just find one with a 1GHz processor and the screen size you want, and call it a day. I will say that the on-die graphics from the Samsung Galaxy S phones are a bit better than the HTC models use, but the Hummingbird CPU in the HTC models tend to bench better (though I have no idea if that actually affects the usability of the OS in any way). If you can stand the light weight and plastic feel of the Galaxy S models, they're a great choice. If you want something a bit heavier, HTC is good as well. Either way you go, I would root the phone and flash a custom ROM. All of the manufacturers UI's are pretty bloated with extra stuff you don't need, and usually a generation behind the custom ROMs.
