Nokia N8 or HTC Desire HD

Bassboxxx

Bit of advice needed. I'm trying to choose between the N8 or desire HD.
both are the same price. I mostly use the phone for calls and txts but I love a gadget or two.

What's the general thinking, which is the best?

MiCr0

i'd compare
http://www.engadget.com/2010/10/14/nokia-n8-review/
to
http://www.engadget.com/2010/10/27/htc-desire-hd-review/

+2 seems like a win

dr ro

I wouldn't compare engadget review of anything to anything else. Try find an unbiased review or talk to some user's. Palm solo on youtube is a smart phone user/reviewer who knows his way around. Don't know if he's done a direct comparison but I'm sure he's reviewed both.

lolie

check out gsm arena. good reviews. use the compare link

http://www.gsmarena.com/nokia_n8-3252.php
&
http://www.gsmarena.com/htc_desire_hd-3468.php

KrisW

N8's major flaws (I own one):
1. the onscreen keyboard, and text entry in general, is a bit clunky.
2. Web browser usability isn't up to competition (although in page rendering, it's very good)
3. Settings can be buried deep in menus.

HTC's major flaws (I used one for a bit, but not extensively):
1. Battery life is appalling
2. Camera not great
3. Sense-UI has many dead-end paths in it - you can see at times that it's a shell over a different shell.

Engadget are not a particularly good source of reviews. They've also engaged in a lot of click-whoring lately: posting controversial articles just to boost their page visits. Works for a bit, but now I don't bother reading the site.

GSMArena, The Register or Tech Review are fairly honest, and aren't in any maker's pocket (hello mobile-review!)

hobochris

Symbian is a HUGE flaw of the N8.

the version being run on the n8 was outdated in its conception.

dr ro

I don't agree, but that's just my opinion too.

Italia

Why do make such a statement and most importantly, can you substantiate it?
For example -
Does the phone actually work?
Does it make & receive calls?
Does the camera work?
Does connectivity work?
Do the various apps on it work as they are supposed to?
At the end of the day we're talking about a PHONE, not a laptop/netbook.
The rest is plain eye-candy and consumerism.

IMHO, there is nothing wrong with symbian.

hobochris wrote: »

Symbian is a HUGE flaw of the N8.

the version being run on the n8 was outdated in its conception.

Mad_Mike

Italia wrote: »

Why do make such a statement and most importantly, can you substantiate it?
For example -
Does the phone actually work?
Does it make & receive calls?
Does the camera work?
Does connectivity work?
Do the various apps on it work as they are supposed to?
At the end of the day we're talking about a PHONE, not a laptop/netbook.
The rest is plain eye-candy and consumerism.

IMHO, there is nothing wrong with symbian.

I can see where you are coming from, but your post is totally pointless

Does the phone actually work? I assume yes, as most phones do!
Does it make & receive calls? As above!
Does the camera work? As above, or it's faulty!
Does connectivity work? Likewise, unless the settings are incorrect
Do the various apps on it work as they are supposed to? Um, again, they probably do, but I can get 10 apps for a Symbian phone that I'd like, where I can get maybe 100 for Android or iPhone!

At the end of the day we're talking about a PHONE, not a laptop/netbook.
The rest is plain eye-candy and consumerism.

This would have been a point years ago, but how in the name of God is it a valid point now?? You can buy phones from €29.99 up to €999!!
The eye candy and consumerism is WHY people choose one over the other when you get to this price range!!


IMHO, there is nothing wrong with symbian.Says you! You won't get Symbian if you want a plain €29.99 phone!

Italia

Not sure where you're coming from saying my post is pointless, however relooking at it, I can see where i might have expanded a bit.

The gist of the mattter, irrespective if you like (insert your fav os here), the bottom line is that they are all just PHONES. No matter what you or anyone else does or says, that is what they are. Some have more capabilities than others. Some have more eye candy. At the end of the day, their primary function is to make and take a phone call. Everything else is just a bonus. If you want a device that is perfect in surfing the net, can support multiple applications and manage memory flawlessly....get a laptop or netbook (and even there I can guarantee you will have issues).

Standing on a soapbox shouting to the winds that my phone os is better than yours is in the same league as those kids who sit in a corner and compare d*ck size, and just as pointless.

Nokia, and to the best of my knowledge Android or Apple have never stated that theirs is the best OS or phone. It's a "war" started by people who have nothing better to do except blow money on the next and "greatest" gadget.

I work for a major IT company that manufactures (amongst other things) high end equipment (costing in excess of €250k per machine). I can tell you that our R&D budget has been slashed and our development cycle and testing has been reduced. All of this has been done so that we can get our products out in the market quicker than the competition. The net result of this and the lesser testing is more buggy products. The end users effectively test the machines.
Do you seriously want to tell me that Android and Apple have better development / quality testing systems than Nokia?

I own an N8 and an Iphone 3Gs, plus I've had the use of a Desire for a week.
The most important things for me were - battery life, call handling and email.
I can safely say that with regards to battery life and call handling, the N8 far outstrips the rest. I get 2+ full days out of my N8 with just about all the bells and whistles enabled. Iphone is about 1.5 days and the Desire barely reached 1 day.
I can make and receive calls no problems just about everywhere with my N8. The Desire, as soon as I got indoors in shopping malls (especially the parking lots) started dropping calls. Apple is not bad with calls as well.

Both Apple and Android are better as far as general email is concerned but the N8 is superb as far as ease of connectivity to my work's Exchange server. I summed up my critical issues and chose the N8.

With regards to applications - how many can and do you ACTUALLY use on a daily basis? 100? I don't think so. Unless you're very different from the vast majority, you don't use more than those 6-7 on a daily basis (on average). The rest are there for that once in a while use and are therefore not critical. They are there to entice you to buy... a nice and shiny packet

Mad_Mike wrote: »

I can see where you are coming from, but your post is totally pointless

Does the phone actually work? I assume yes, as most phones do!
Does it make & receive calls? As above!
Does the camera work? As above, or it's faulty!
Does connectivity work? Likewise, unless the settings are incorrect
Do the various apps on it work as they are supposed to? Um, again, they probably do, but I can get 10 apps for a Symbian phone that I'd like, where I can get maybe 100 for Android or iPhone!

At the end of the day we're talking about a PHONE, not a laptop/netbook.
The rest is plain eye-candy and consumerism.

This would have been a point years ago, but how in the name of God is it a valid point now?? You can buy phones from €29.99 up to €999!!
The eye candy and consumerism is WHY people choose one over the other when you get to this price range!!


IMHO, there is nothing wrong with symbian.Says you! You won't get Symbian if you want a plain €29.99 phone!

ChopShop

KrisW wrote: »

HTC's major flaws (I used one for a bit, but not extensively):
1. Battery life is appalling
2. Camera not great


)

1 you exaggerate.
2 it's not great, but it is decent.

5500

I was a nokia fanboy for years untill I switched to a HTC last year. Recently bought a desire HD and considered the N8 but to me there was no comparison, it just felt like using the 5800 or X6 that I had previously owned.

I dont know were people are getting the brutal battery on the DHD from, I get at least a day and a half using wifi, 3g, radio/music app, some gaming aswell as usual calls and a rake of text's.

Granted the camera is most likely better on the N8 but I dont know anyone who solely purchases a phone for this reason alone.

KrisW

@wernstrom

Apologies, I used the Desire, not the HD. The Desire (not HD) struggled to get to a full day, which I thought was appalling. If the HD can last two full days without a charge inbetween, then it's fine. Less than that is not acceptable to me.

Bassboxxx

A lot of reports say the HD battery life is worse than the Desire.

I think I'm gonna go with the Nokia, use done yesterday and I liked it, the size of the HTC is putting me off and as a previous poster said, I won't be using 100 apps every day, half dozen at most.

I also use the camera quite a bit so this is another plus for the Nokia.

This will be my first Nokia in years...

Gooch2k4

Bassboxxx wrote: »

A lot of reports say the HD battery life is worse than the Desire.

I think I'm gonna go with the Nokia, use done yesterday and I liked it, the size of the HTC is putting me off and as a previous poster said, I won't be using 100 apps every day, half dozen at most.

I also use the camera quite a bit so this is another plus for the Nokia.

This will be my first Nokia in years...

Dont come running to us when you find its a buggy cumbersome mess

Bassboxxx

Gooch2k4 wrote: »

Dont come running to us when you find its a buggy cumbersome mess

Well now that you make such an insightful comparison I don't know any more

Gooch2k4

dont take my word for it, or anyone elses here if you want, look at reputable reviews for the N8 theyre average at best, high praise for the camera and build quality of the phone but when it comes down to the important bits (software) it falls down quite badly

Bassboxxx

Gooch2k4 wrote: »

dont take my word for it, or anyone elses here if you want, look at reputable reviews for the N8 theyre average at best, high praise for the camera and build quality of the phone but when it comes down to the important bits (software) it falls down quite badly

Good, that's what i want to know.

I think I'm gonna go with the HTC, I was talking to someone and they're were saying the same thing about the software on the Nokia.

You'd think I was buying a house.:)

Gooch2k4

lol yeah i know the feeling!

kirving

Well, I wouldn't say it falls down. Symbian^3 is not as polished as iOS, sure, but It's also more capable, and customisable. (Free Nav on OVI Maps rally swung it for me)

Nokia are due to relaese a heap of updates to Symbian^3 in the next month or two, and throughout 2011.

Best thing to do is go to the shop, have a play with them, and decide which you like most. (I'm extremelby picky too!)

Gooch2k4

Kevin Irving wrote: »

Well, I wouldn't say it falls down. Symbian^3 is not as polished as iOS, sure, but It's also more capable, and customisable. (Free Nav on OVI Maps rally swung it for me)

Nokia are due to relaese a heap of updates to Symbian^3 in the next month or two, and throughout 2011.

Best thing to do is go to the shop, have a play with them, and decide which you like most. (I'm extremelby picky too!)

Free nav on Android too!

kirving

Is there any free ones which don't use mobile internet? Usually using a small amount of data is fine for Google Maps, but when you're away, its a real problem. OVI Maps has all the map data on the phone.

If there is an app out there like OVI Maps, let me know cause I would actually be interested in it!

fabioitcz

I've being studying the specs and everything about the latest phones since November and I still don't have a decision:

Nokia N8:

Pros:
- Seems to be the best Hardware in a smartphone in the market.
- Ovi Maps with free offline Navigation voice guided for life.
- Good battery life.

Against:
- Symbian^3 still a not finished OS and seems to be discontinued as Nokia wants to put the new MeeGo OS in the new smartphones next year, so I don't know how will be the support and maintenance of the Symbian^3 OS after the new comes out.

HTC Desire HD:

Pros:
- Big screen that make easy for who want also use this phone for surfing in the internet, gaming and Texting as the screen keyboard seems to have enough space to the fingers.
- New HTC Sense with Locations - Free offline Navigation (to voice guidance you have to pay but seems to be not expensive)
- Has 1Ghz processor that means it will support the new versions of Android when it comes up.
- HTC is normally the first company to put available new firmware updates in the market.

Against:
- For some people it's too big phone to handle it.
- Battery life is an issue for some heavy users, but seems to be ok if you don't abuse too much.
- Speakers of the phone has not good quality of sound.
- The back cover for Sim card and memory card seems to don't have a good attachment.
- Camera works ok, problem when U want to make a Video, seems to be freezing the image constantly.


I also was looking about the HTC Desire Z, Samsung Galaxy S and HTC Desire, but what worry me about both is that in the Desire Z are the keyboard Hinge and the processor that is 800Mhz so it wouldn't support new Android versions that needs a 1Ghz processor, then the Galaxy S the problem is that I think this phone is not the latest technology as the Nexus S the new version will be out soon, also an issue about the aGPS that I'm not sure it could make offline navigation that should need internet data everywhere you are and also Samsung takes too long to update the firmware of it's devices. Also the HTC Desire for me is not the latest models of HTC, still very expensive and doesn't have the Locations software.

So at the end I'm waiting middle January or February to invest about 500 Euro in the new mobile phone, hoping I'll buy something that won't let me down and expecting something new will come up soon with less issues, cause if don't, probably I'm going to the Desire HD for a change, as today I have a Nokia 5800 XM and looking the N8 the software seems to still very similar and bureaucratically annoying. And after almost 2 years I'm bit tired of Symbian, Nokia Ovi Store and the browser that never works.

ChopShop

fabioitcz wrote: »

I..... but what worry me about both is that in the Desire Z are the keyboard Hinge and the processor that is 800Mhz so it wouldn't support new Android versions that needs a 1Ghz processor,

There are vids showing the Z clocked up to 1.4ghz.

Oafley Jones

wernstrom! wrote: »

There are vids showing the Z clocked up to 1.4ghz.

Not to mention it's certainly not a barrier for future updates as a 800mhz Snapdragon 2 > 1ghz Snapdragon.

Bassboxxx

I'm going away for a few weeks so hopefully I'll have my mind made up or there'll be more to choose from by the time I get back.:rolleyes: