HTC superiority?

conor.hogan.2

Does HTC make the best Android phones?

Looking at the other manufacturers they all seem to fall short - specs wise they are all essentially equal on the whole but on the software side HTC seem to be less laggy and more refined.

I am not talking of Sense really or any of the skins - just overall performance, look, feel etc.

But of course discussion of the skins is one of the major distinctions between the phones.

One possible exception seems to be the Droid line from Motorola.

evolutionqy7

oooh ur asking for abuse from the Samsung Galaxy Fanboys who dont share your views

conor.hogan.2

Not really - if they make any decent points to why it is better I would appreciate them.

It looks laggy in vids, from anecdotal evidence and all the major reviews of it.

evolutionqy7

hmmm guess you didn't pay attention to htc vs galaxy threads

according to Galaxy S ownder (except PartyMyGaf - Who owns one) that the lag issue is a rumor

jimmycrackcorm

If Nokia came out with android on some of their phones them they'd wipe htc off the floor. When I compare my desire's loudspeaker and camera to my previousn95 then there is no competition.

Inquitus

jimmycrackcorm wrote: »

If Nokia came out with android on some of their phones them they'd wipe htc off the floor. When I compare my desire's loudspeaker and camera to my previousn95 then there is no competition.

Nokia utterly fail at touch screen phones.

DOC09UNAM

Inquitus wrote: »

Nokia utterly fail at touch screen phones.

This is wrong, the N900 is an absolute masterpiece.

conor.hogan.2

Nokia - Nokia won't come out with an Android phone they are still stuck in their ridiculously profitable ''dumbphones'' (could ya blame them?) and when it comes to smartphones they are stuck into Symbian - which is great to look at and see the opening of it etc but as a major contentor, no chance.

Endgadget and especially Slashgear have reported the lag to be real - but there seems to be several (even easy one click) solutions to it.

But how many average users are gonna do them?

evolutionqy7

a big masterpiece...

few things nokia have that i want on my HTC

5800XM quality like Sound from speakers on my HD2

and thats all that HTC is missing

and the N900 is a good phone but a big fat distance away from a Masterpiece

conor.hogan.2

Do you have Android (version?) installed on your HD2?

partyatmygaff

DOC09UNAM wrote: »

This is wrong, the N900 is an absolute masterpiece.

It sure is but that's only one phone and it never really took off. If Nokia would see some sense and release Android on their phones they would almost certainly be able to take back those who went with HTC. We all know that won't ever happen though

In terms of overall quality though the two main players are HTC and Motorola (Although Motorola have hardly any presence in Europe these days).

Sense UI is without a doubt the best Android UI available. It adds a lot of functionality, style and best of all doesn't affect performance in the slightest. It works perfectly out of the box and everything feels perfectly streamlined and consistent. It looks classy too.

Touchwiz though is an absolute nightmare. First of all the biggest problem with it is that it's pretty much a 1:1 clone of the iPhone 4 and it's UI. The bigger problem is that it's slow, clunky and consistency between applications and widgets is nil. An even bigger issue is the lag. Menus freeze, it can hang on black screens for almost a minute and even opening the app drawer can cause the phone to lock up. Improving the lag (A slight improvement at that) needs you to root your phone and then create a virtual EXT2 partition on your phone to act as a buffer to speed up the phone. Certainly not within the reach of your average user.

partyatmygaff

conor.hogan.2 wrote: »

Endgadget and especially Slashgear have reported the lag to be real - but there seems to be several (even easy one click) solutions to it.

But how many average users are gonna do them?

I've tried the three that are available. Their process is similar. They create a virtual EXT2 partition as a buffer to use for system files and applications. This improves the lag somewhat but not to the extent that the phone becomes lag free. If anything it makes the lag a bit more bearable.

conor.hogan.2

So it is hard for normal people to do and doesn't fully solve the problem great.

I really hope the other manufacturers get the finger out, I would like to see more solid real competition.

I know they are all making big sales and none is at a loss for money - but from a consumer and tech lover stand point it will be better for everybody if they sort of the quirks.

Not to sound like a HTC ''fanboy'' or employee but I rarely hear complaints about HTC Android phones that I hear about other phones, sure you get the camera and battery could be better etc but you also get that with the other phone makers phones along with lag issues etc.

evolutionqy7

thats why WP7 is on the way

conor.hogan.2

lol - seriously are you Paul Thurrotte?

I will say it again - WP7 very very nice, but so was WebOs......

Dave147

evolutionqy7 wrote: »

thats why WP7 is on the way

Hope you enjoy it, I'll stick with Android..

Inquitus

Windows phone 7 has huge barriers to being a success. It needs to be very close to being as polished and functional as android and ios at launch. It needs to generate Android / Ios like sales numbers to drive the Dev community required to build a decent app store from scratch.

Androids success was driven by the fact only AT&T had the iphone in the US, which left a gaping market hole for android to fill.Windows phone had no such market, it needs to take on and be better than Android or Ios at launch.

Saadyst

I like the look and feel of HTC phones. I understand that I need to sacrifice a few things here and there (someone compared the N95... which had a great camera), but overall, I've a brilliant phone that I'm happy with (Desire).

I'm not going down the road of jamming it full of random apps - rather taking a more thoughtful approach and just getting things I "need" before putting on goofy apps for the inevitable "what can your phone do" question.

Abelloid

Saadyst wrote: »

I'm not going down the road of jamming it full of random apps - rather taking a more thoughtful approach and just getting things I "need" before putting on goofy apps for the inevitable "what can your phone do" question.

We've all done that, but after each new ROM the list shrinks and only the truly useful apps survive.

jimmycrackcorm

Inquitus wrote: »

Nokia utterly fail at touch screen phones.

That's symbian you are talking about. Their phone hardware is first class. Camera lens with Carl Zeiss optics...

evolutionqy7

why not back up your apps and data?

Titanium Back Up for rooted users

and appsaver for non rooted (though you loose your app data if you save it with this)

Inquitus

jimmycrackcorm wrote: »

That's symbian you are talking about. Their phone hardware is first class. Camera lens with Carl Zeiss optics...

I had an N95, and it was great but the world has moved on. But as long as they use symbian no matter how good the hardware is the phone will be muck, a phone is a blend of hardware and software having one without the other is useless. And they are shunning android and going with maemo, which will also likely be a steaming turd. Touch screen phones are over three years old now, and nokia the worlds leading mobile company has never made a good one, that's telling.

evolutionqy7

i just think nokias making a fortune for selling cheap 50-100 quid nokia phones that are bought for you teenages and parents that couldnt be bothered buying something decent...

in general i think they should ditch symbian once contracts or w/e is over and stick to maemo and develop for that...

leahcim

I'd say one of the reasons Nokia would not move to android is that they would effectively be giving google (via other third party manufactuers) a big part of its market and future revenue generating opportunities.

Right now if an average Joe has a Nokia phone and it does all the basics pretty well they will more than likely stay with Nokia. Nokia gives a certain amount of familiarity when you upgrade your phone. They have a loads of brand loyalty in their favour.

If they go with android they effectively give a hugh amount of that to google for free. Lets not forget google has not fully explained its revenue model (obvously some form of contextual advertising) for making money from Android. I doubt the margin on market sales comes near to covering the development costs.

evolutionqy7

well i think nokia lost thousands of their fan boys including me with the N97!!! and if they carry on with their crappy smartphones they wont ever get them back

Professey Chin

evolutionqy7 wrote: »

i just think nokias making a fortune for selling cheap 50-100 quid nokia phones that are bought for you teenages and parents that couldnt be bothered buying something decent...

in general i think they should ditch symbian once contracts or w/e is over and stick to maemo and develop for that...

Im pretty sure they own symbian

evolutionqy7

who cares...5 years ago symbian was the **** cause it could run top class games and do other things manufacturers only dreamed off...but technology moves fast...and you cant attract people with 5 year old OS and slow ****ty hardware...as well as build quality in their flagship N97 was horrible

though i have to give credit it survived a good tea dip

TheDoc

My dad has a nokia phone and was trying to see if it had wireless today.

It does, but I've my network set at home that everything connecting requires a static ip address for handyness etc.

His nokia phone does not allow static ip's to be set or direct dns connections etc.

As a nokia user for years, I thought it was great, I'm using android a few months now and after 20 minutes with my dads phone today I couldnt believe I ever bought a nokia.

Horrible, sluggish interface and operations : /

partyatmygaff

TheDoc wrote: »

My dad has a nokia phone and was trying to see if it had wireless today.

It does, but I've my network set at home that everything connecting requires a static ip address for handyness etc.

His nokia phone does not allow static ip's to be set or direct dns connections etc.

As a nokia user for years, I thought it was great, I'm using android a few months now and after 20 minutes with my dads phone today I couldnt believe I ever bought a nokia.

Horrible, sluggish interface and operations : /

Symbian is finished as a smartphone OS. The sooner they ditch it and start shipping more phones with MeeGo the better.

adrian522

partyatmygaff wrote: »

It sure is but that's only one phone and it never really took off. If Nokia would see some sense and release Android on their phones they would almost certainly be able to take back those who went with HTC. We all know that won't ever happen though

I see what you did there, very funny.

leahcim

The vast majority of people on this forum commenting on this would probably be classed as power users, there is still a hugh market out there for phones that just do the basics, this is where Nokia is still the king by a long way and likely to remain. One in three phones sold worldwide is a Nokia.

Most people out there would probably think its just mad to have to charge their phone every day or need the facility to surf the web on the move.

Nokia have obvously fallen well behind in the smart phone market but if anyone has enough experience and money to mount a come back they have.

Inquitus

leahcim wrote: »

The vast majority of people on this forum commenting on this would probably be classed as power users, there is still a hugh market out there for phones that just do the basics, this is where Nokia is still the king by a long way and likely to remain. One in three phones sold worldwide is a Nokia.

Most people out there would probably think its just mad to have to charge their phone every day or need the facility to surf the web on the move.

Nokia have obvously fallen well behind in the smart phone market but if anyone has enough experience and money to mount a come back they have.

Its also worth noting nokias market share is shrinking, their margins are also shrinking under competitive price pressure, and that they are absolutely nowhere in the smartphone market which is the fastest growing segment and gives the best margins.

Nokia is sick and so far its attempts at curing itself have been woefully inept.

Oafley Jones

Inquitus wrote: »

Its also worth noting nokias market share is shrinking, their margins are also shrinking under competitive price pressure, and that they are absolutely nowhere in the smartphone market which is the fastest growing segment and gives the best margins.

Nokia is sick and so far its attempts at curing itself have been woefully inept.

Nokia have over 40% of the world's smartphone market, while this is lower than it used be, they're still selling higher volumes yoy.

evolutionqy7

Oafley Jones wrote: »

Nokia have over 40% of the world's smartphone market, while this is lower than it used be, they're still selling higher volumes yoy.

where did you get that figure?

Atomic Pineapple

Nokia are far from sick and outside the US are still the biggest player in mobile devices. Smartphone or otherwise.

Inquitus

Oafley Jones wrote: »

Nokia have over 40% of the world's smartphone market, while this is lower than it used be, they're still selling higher volumes yoy.

A candy bar phone with symbian on it isn't a smartphone in my opinion, though it is by definition. The true growth space is the touch screen mobile and nokia is nowhere in this space, and being squeezed out elsewhere. Their market share, share price and profitability compared to its peers, are all tumbling

Oafley Jones

Inquitus wrote: »

A candy bar phone with symbian on it isn't a smartphone in my opinion, though it is by definition.

Thing is, the industry and analysts like Gartner etc. ain't using your definition of what constitutes a smartphone.

Inquitus wrote: »

The true growth space is the touch screen mobile and nokia is nowhere in this space, and being squeezed out elsewhere. Their market share, share price and profitability compared to its peers, are all tumbling

Again, nokia sell more touch screen mobiles a quarter that Apple do in a year. Take the ill fated N97 far example - a product considered as a failure by nokia - it had over 2 million sales within three months of going on sale alone, and that isn't one of their many (wildly) successful cheap TS models.

Nokia is doing a damn sight better than it's traditional rivals (SE I'm looking at you in particular) and while it's suffering from a lack of direction and competitions from the new boys, I've no doubt that it'll still be a major player in the future.

evolutionqy7

im glad of that speculation...alot of phones get sold out on their debuts and hard on stock for several months...even every ones hated Windows Mobile on HD2 got sold out in the US for several months...

but i dont understand why d hell people only report about apple being sold out and not other mobile manufacturers

DOC09UNAM

evolutionqy7 wrote: »

i just think nokias making a fortune for selling cheap 50-100 quid nokia phones that are bought for you teenages and parents that couldnt be bothered buying something decent...

in general i think they should ditch symbian once contracts or w/e is over and stick to maemo and develop for that...

You wont be able to get an N900 for 50-100 quid.

partyatmygaff

DOC09UNAM wrote: »

You wont be able to get an N900 for 50-100 quid.

The N900 isn't really what you'd call a cheap phone that parents buy for teenagers. It's pretty robust, not many phones come with a terminal ready installed

DOC09UNAM

partyatmygaff wrote: »

The N900 isn't really what you'd call a cheap phone that parents buy for teenagers. It's pretty robust, not many phones come with a terminal ready installed

Indeed, as a phone, it's quite bricky and heavy, but by god is it wonderful.

Wouldn't trade it for any other phone, and yes(for the fanboys), I have used a desire, just prefer the n900 myself.

partyatmygaff

DOC09UNAM wrote: »

Indeed, as a phone, it's quite bricky and heavy, but by god is it wonderful.

Wouldn't trade it for any other phone, and yes(for the fanboys), I have used a desire, just prefer the n900 myself.

What would really be brilliant would be to be able to dual boot Android and Maemo.

evolutionqy7

i did really think of getting the N900 after N97...i like it has a nice design but its bigger than the N97 and the N97 was called a brick already...

but tbh i was scared to buy it incase the N97 repeats

so bought HD2 just to be sure nothing lags anymore

Inquitus

DOC09UNAM wrote: »

Indeed, as a phone, it's quite bricky and heavy, but by god is it wonderful.

Wouldn't trade it for any other phone, and yes(for the fanboys), I have used a desire, just prefer the n900 myself.

The N900 I wouldn't class as a phone, its more an MID, its far to big to be compared to an iphone or desire.

DOC09UNAM

Inquitus wrote: »

The N900 I wouldn't class as a phone, its more an MID, its far to big to be compared to an iphone or desire.

Why do you say that, what stops a big phone from being a good phone?

Inquitus

DOC09UNAM wrote: »

Why do you say that, what stops a big phone from being a good phone?

Nothing does, but for the vast majority of people size and weight is important, and the N900 is just way to big for the mainstream. Its far too big for me to consider, and if I wanted something bulkier than my desire I'd get a dell streak.

Why Should I

Personaly i prefer big phones, 4-5" screens is the way to go. Specially if the market is going the way of the "Mobile Gamer"

The bigger screen is better for watching movies on the go also.

But the fact is. Phones are not only phones now a days!

Inquitus

Why Should I wrote: »

Personaly i prefer big phones, 4-5" screens is the way to go. Specially if the market is going the way of the "Mobile Gamer"

The bigger screen is better for watching movies on the go also.

But the fact is. Phones are not only phones now a days!

I have no issues with 4.3" screens my issue with the N900 is it's 2cm thick, and like a brick. The samsung galaxy is only 6mm thick for example.

evolutionqy7

Why Should I wrote: »

Personaly i prefer big phones, 4-5" screens is the way to go. Specially if the market is going the way of the "Mobile Gamer"

The bigger screen is better for watching movies on the go also.

But the fact is. Phones are not only phones now a days!

so do i big screen makes it happen i got 4.3" screen though i think that's too big for the mass market...3.7" what the desire has or 4" is more for the mass markets... but gaming/video experiences are brilliant on it

play nfs shift with decent graphics and all is a dream as well as the PS1 games

DOC09UNAM

Inquitus wrote: »

I have no issues with 4.3" screens my issue with the N900 is it's 2cm thick, and like a brick. The samsung galaxy is only 60mm thick for example.

60mm is 6cm's.

The n900 is only 2 :P

Venom

jimmycrackcorm wrote: »

If Nokia came out with android on some of their phones them they'd wipe htc off the floor. When I compare my desire's loudspeaker and camera to my previousn95 then there is no competition.

Nokia add so many cool little touches be it really sweet headphone controls you can use any brand of headphones in to the great phone-PC software it can really make there products shine.

HTC tho I would go with for overall build quality and better looking devices.