Thoughts on Androids

[aj_walters]

I'm in the market for a new Phone, and as most people I'm torn between the HTC Desire and the Samsung Galaxy S.

I know the Samsung appears to have better hardware (N wireless, DNLA etc) and the HTC has a better interface(Sense)

BUT...

If i install Launcher Pro or another launcher App on the samsung, won't that remove the advantage of the Desire?

Or have i missed the point completely :whistle:

[Teebor]

It depends, I did prefer the Sense UI and I wanted to get a Desire but because the are in such high demand I got a Galaxy S instead.

I've not done anything to the interface at all but I now prefer the interface like it is.

Best thing you can do (if possible) is get one of each in front of you like I did, this kind of left me in an undecided way tbh but I knew I had to have one of them.

[_neutrino Veteran]

Saying that the Sense UI is better is an opinion that most Android users do not agree with from what I understand. However, You can install a Launcher and then theme that launcher to make it look like whatever you want (even without Rooting)

[Bhav]

Well perhaps it will make it a bit better...but really no app could rival Sense because the entire UI is tailored to the device. And no app would be allowed to replicate Sense exactly because of legal reasons.

Your best bet may be to watch lots of videos or try each of the phones with their default interfaces and see which you prefer.

Edit: personally, I love Sense and prefer it over the barebones Android UI. But I haven't tried any other interfaces like Motorola's or Samsung's, so I can't really compare.

[Singh400]

I'm in the market for a new Phone, and as most people I'm torn between the HTC Desire and the Samsung Galaxy S.

I know the Samsung appears to have better hardware (N wireless, DNLA etc) and the HTC has a better interface(Sense)

BUT...

If i install Launcher Pro or another launcher App on the samsung, won't that remove the advantage of the Desire?

Or have i missed the point completely :whistle:

You have answered your own question there mate.

[Sulphy]

Have had my desire for a few months now... and it is just superb!!! am really happy with it. Had the iphones, and various other symbian phones...

Also being able to use custom roms on my desire has it looking and working exactly as i want it to!!! and what a pleasure with having gmail for contacts and various other tools... i can blank my phone with a different rom and not stress about backing up contacts etc...

Have not had a play with the Galaxy S... but i reckon it would be just as much fun as my Desire is!!! :)

[AbandonedTrolley]

As mentioned on a hardware front the Samsung wins. The wireless N is also on the Desire though not just the Galaxy.

I went with the HTC as I had used their phones before and at the time the Desire was the best around. There isn't that much between them tbh. HTC just seem that little more supported when it comes to things like custom ROM's etc.

[aj_walters]

Have had my desire for a few months now... and it is just superb!!! am really happy with it. Had the iphones, and various other symbian phones...

Also being able to use custom roms on my desire has it looking and working exactly as i want it to!!! and what a pleasure with having gmail for contacts and various other tools... i can blank my phone with a different rom and not stress about backing up contacts etc...

Have not had a play with the Galaxy S... but i reckon it would be just as much fun as my Desire is!!! :)

Are there custom ROM's for the Samsung aswell?

Also can you configure an android phone to prioritise which data connection to use? ie when the phone is in range of wireless it uses that and not the 3G?

As mentioned on a hardware front the Samsung wins. The wireless N is also on the Desire though not just the Galaxy.

I went with the HTC as I had used their phones before and at the time the Desire was the best around. There isn't that much between them tbh. HTC just seem that little more supported when it comes to things like custom ROM's etc.

According to the HTC website the deisre is

Wi-Fi?:

* IEEE 802.11 b/g

[Singh400]

Are there custom ROM's for the Samsung aswell?

At this moment in time, the Desire I think probably has more going on with the custom ROM scene, but I can't imagine it would take too long for the SGS scene to light up.

[Subject Delta]

With the Android 2.2 update, the Desire has support for Wireless N, and 720p recording, which pretty much bridges the gap. And personally I don't like the way the app tray is designed on their implementation of the launcher

[AbandonedTrolley]

Are there custom ROM's for the Samsung aswell?

Also can you configure an android phone to prioritise which data connection to use? ie when the phone is in range of wireless it uses that and not the 3G?

According to the HTC website the deisre is

Wireless N has been working on the Desire now by the custom cookers out there. It seems that the chip allows it just was never enabled.

[SMELTN]

I definitely say get the Galaxy S, I have one and LOVE it. First thing I did was replace the Touchwiz with Launcher Pro though, and your possibilities are limitless with what you can do and make it look like.

[basques]

I had the HTC Desire for 3-4 months, just selling it on ebay now. I switched back to iphone 4 and loving it. Desire and Android were great but it's just not as smooth as iphone and there is too much of a difference between the correction algorithm of both keyboards, iphone's keyboard just works. And the main reason I switched back was because of the music player, Android/HTC music player is just slow, and the app keeps crashing occasionally (I was using a 16gb memory card) no where as good as the music player of iphone. Of course this is just my personal opinion.

[Roger H. Veteran]

I definitely prefer the standard Android interface. I hate the bloat and "fatness" from all those other launchers.

I would get the Samsung however and root it and install vanilla android on it :D The Desire is kinda old now unless you wait and get the Desire HD.

[mr.r9]

The Samsung has a slightly bigger screen, and a better GPU and a screen that properly supports multi-touch which if you plan to use SNES or gamboy emulators will be a big plus.

The Desire on the other hand has better build quality, and arguably a better ui, and also it's more hackable. You can have 2.2 Sense or regular 2.2 or Cyanogen 2.2.

In the end both devices are great, and the best thing to do is to try and play with them both.

Edit: Launcher pro will give you 80% of the Sense widgets and you will have a faster launcher. However Sense has customised apps such as the dialer, music player, clock...etc.

[Nagisan]

LauncherPro Plus + WidgetLocker + Beautiful Widgets = SenseUI on ANY android phone....those are all paid apps though, you can get LauncherPro free but you cannot resize Widgets or do a few other things (I am running the free edition), WidgetLocker and Beautiful Widgets are really what makes other phones sense-like....LP just adds the "helicopter" view thing and what not.

[aj_walters]

Wow thanks for all the input guys

[Ently]

I would recommend the Galaxy S as the hardware is better than the HTC Desire and you can very easily find and install themes to make the phone look great :)

http://www.androlib.com/android.application.com-androidapps-widget-weather2-pEp.aspx

Even that app for example which is only $1.99 makes your phone look very similar to HTC Sense, and you can always turn it off ;)