Paralysed by indecision

dangerman

Hi guys,

At the best of times I'm a procrastinator when it comes to purchases over €100.

Currently living in London - have had a htc magic for a year with vodafone there and I'm a huge fan of android. I'm not quite up to the standard of rooting my phone but I have been following the evolution of the platform very closely.

And thats the deal - i'm up for an upgrade or switch, but I just cannot for the life of me decide what to do. It seems like bad timing to me.

Ideally I just want stock android (ala my magic) and obviously froyo. If I go with the nexus I'll get that the fastest.

But in terms of tech the samsung galaxy s for example, is ahead in terms of the super amoled screen etc. But I'm completely turned off that phone and the htc desire by the wait for 2.2 and the idea that when gingerbread comes around I'll be waiting months (if ever) to get it.

...But with the nexus, it's six month old hardware.

What should I do? STFU and make a decision is probably a valid answer, but apart from that? I'm terrified a nexus two is going to arrive just after I hit the upgrade button. Magic was on a reasonable 12 month contract, but of course they don't do 12 month contracts anymore for anything... only tesco mobile do 12 month contracts... and they've no droids!

Professey Chin

Id go with the Nexus One.Samsung put a skin on the software aswell and are even worse then HTC when it comes to firmware updates

partyatmygaff

Hmm... Pretty tough choice you've got to make there

The Nexus One isn't worth the extra over the Desire so that's out of the question.

So it's Samsung Galaxy S vs HTC Desire

The Samsung Galaxy S at first glance would beat the Desire hardware wise but there's one major flaw with it. It has hardly any following when it comes to developers and custom ROMs and the like. Take for example FroYo. When the beta release for the Nexus One was found, it took only three days for that beta to be ported over to the Desire. About four weeks later a FroYo ROM with Sense UI and 720p was released. There's a phenomenal difference in software support between the Galaxy S and the Desire. All that extra graphics power will more than likely go to waste most of the time due to the fact that it's only one phone. Snapdragon based phones like the Desire, Nexus One, Acer Liquid and many other phones are by far in the majority. All 3d games would more than likely be designed to run well on Snapdragon based devices from the get go.

Besides that, there are far more ROMs available for the Desire/Nexus One than the Galaxy S will ever have. For example the Desire has tens of FroYo and Eclair ROMs. Some with and some without Sense UI.

Inquitus

Samsung Galaxy S - the best Android phone out there, but they are the worst for updating their phones, and even for releasing the source to the community so they can update them. They have promised Froyo (2.2) before the years out, and will deliver, but that could be the last upgrade they bother with for this phone.

HTC Desire - Nexus one with HTC Sense, Sense adds a good bit to Android, but it slows down HTC Upgrades. The Desire community is good and 2.2 with Sense is out now on xda just a couple of weeks after it hit the nexus one. I would however expect the delay between Froyo for the Nexus One and official Froyo from HTC for the desire to come in at around 2-3 mths, with Gingerbread upgrades taking even longer after release as the Desire loses flagship status.

Nexus One - not available subsidised in too many places, unlike the Desire, and doesnt have Sense, but will be upgradable the minute Google releases a new OS until its hardware wont support them anymore.

The Nexus One isn't available subsidised here in Ireland, so I bought a Desire for 179 rather than a Nexus One for 500 odd. But given a choice between the two with no cost differential, I would probably pump for the Nexus One and it's guaranteed upgrades, 2.2 Froyo really closes the gap between Android with sense and Android without, to the point where I would live without it and take the guaranteed upgrades.

The Samsung is tasty and raises different questions, its shiney and powerful, but Samsungs support is fecking awful......

Nexus One ftw! (if you can get all 3 for a similar subsidised price, which you should be able to in the UK where you live)

dangerman

Thanks for the opinions so far guys - really appreciate it.

Just to help frame the decision:

All 3 phones (nexus, desire, galaxy) are available subsidised on vodafone uk [who i'm currently with] on 18 or 24 month contracts.

I was leaning towards the nexus to be honest. As said, with 2.2 it's nice, and I'm assuming it'll get gingerbread and get it the fastest of any phones. So even if a nexus two is dropped in the autumn I won't be too upset.

I also just plain like the idea of having a pure android device. I hate the fragmentation and "upgrade subject to manufacturer/carrier whim" thats prevalent, and as an aside I really hope gingerbread obsoletes the need for custom ui's on top.

partyatmygaff

dangerman wrote: »

Thanks for the opinions so far guys - really appreciate it.

Just to help frame the decision:

All 3 phones (nexus, desire, galaxy) are available subsidised on vodafone uk [who i'm currently with] on 18 or 24 month contracts.

I was leaning towards the nexus to be honest. As said, with 2.2 it's nice, and I'm assuming it'll get gingerbread and get it the fastest of any phones. So even if a nexus two is dropped in the autumn I won't be too upset.

I also just plain like the idea of having a pure android device. I hate the fragmentation and "upgrade subject to manufacturer/carrier whim" thats prevalent, and as an aside I really hope gingerbread obsoletes the need for custom ui's on top.

Well if you want the Nexus One it's a fine choice but the Desire really isn't that far off. The main thing that would do it for me is the root process. Rooting a Nexus One invalidates your warranty entirely and leaves a permanent mark on your bootloader. Rooting a Desire is easily reversed for warranty purposes. The Desire has more RAM as well and will be getting 720p with the 2.2 update. The N1 was hacked to have 720p but that only works on 2.1 ROMs at the moment.

If you want Stock FroYo there are plenty of them available for the Desire.

Ample Free ...?

dangerman wrote: »

I'm terrified a nexus two is going to arrive just after I hit the upgrade button.

dangerman wrote: »

So even if a nexus two is dropped in the autumn I won't be too upset.

I wouldn't be too worried about a Nexus Two. It's already been confirmed by the head man at google that there won't be one. The plan was always just to create a so called super phone that would give android the boost it needed. The Nexus One did so and apparently surpassed Google's wildest expectations and as such there's no need for a follow up. Which is a little disappointing as I love my Nexus:o. As far as I know gingerbread is supposed to streamline android removing the need for HTC's sense and other such software add ons thus leaving companies to just create the hardware and reduce the segmentation of android. I'd say the next time you'll see a real increase in android's capabilities will probably be early next year with gingerbread operating on HTC's latest offering.

dangerman

Ample Free ...? wrote: »

I wouldn't be too worried about a Nexus Two. It's already been confirmed by the head man at google that there won't be one. The plan was always just to create a so called super phone that would give android the boost it needed. The Nexus One did so and apparently surpassed Google's wildest expectations and as such there's no need for a follow up. Which is a little disappointing as I love my Nexus:o. As far as I know gingerbread is supposed to streamline android removing the need for HTC's sense and other such software add ons thus leaving companies to just create the hardware and reduce the segmentation of android. I'd say the next time you'll see a real increase in android's capabilities will probably be early next year with gingerbread operating on HTC's latest offering.

Agreed. Perhaps it is most sensible to go with something like the desire now - because with wide enough support the ROM's will come - something that's a bit less assured with the galaxy s.

Thanks everyone for the thoughts.

Zagato

Remember that the Galaxy S has much more internal storage, which means that upgrading to 2.2 is not such an urgent issue, and they say it'll be out by the end of the year

Also check out this video of Desire and Galaxy S running Quake 2 -if you've any interest in gaming, I think this has got to lend some weight to the Galaxy S, along with Super AMOLED, and from what I can make out better battery life

Inquitus

Zagato wrote: »

Remember that the Galaxy S has much more internal storage, which means that upgrading to 2.2 is not such an urgent issue, and they say it'll be out by the end of the year

Also check out this video of Desire and Galaxy S running Quake 2 -if you've any interest in gaming, I think this has got to lend some weight to the Galaxy S, along with Super AMOLED, and from what I can make out better battery life

The JIT in 2.2 gives a massive speed boost, the Desire with 2.2 is much faster than the Galaxy on 2.1, however when on the same version the Galaxy can be up to 50% faster in some 3D stuff.

jd83

I lost my beloved nexus one I bought a desire. Happy enough with it. Cant wait to get 2.2 going to be patient and wait of the ota in a few months. Flash kinda works on it at the moment. I didnt release that i could get flash on 2.1. But yh after owning both phones there is no real differences. Nesus is a bit smaller. Desire has a crappy fm radio but nexus doesnt.

I like the htc sense, so i think when the desire gets 2.2 ill prefer the desire to the nexus one. provided i havent lost the deisre by then

partyatmygaff

You could root it and get Sense 2.2. Plenty of other stuff besides the speed boost and 720p.