Which to buy, Desire HD or Galaxy S?

alkev

Apologies if this has been covered before, but couldn't find a specific comparisons thread.

I'm looking to buy a high end Android device and really can't decide between the Desire HD and Galaxy S, I was wondering if owners of either device could help me out here?

From my research, it seems the battery life on the Desire HD is getting awful reviews, is this truly as bad as it's made out to be? I'd be using the phone for, say, sending ~50 texts daily, maybe the odd phone call but it wouldn't exceed five minutes in total over the course of the day, and alot of browsing mainly on the 3G and of course playing with the odd app and ideally I'd like to have Twitter live streaming to my phone. Is it realistic to expect to get 24 hours use out of the Desire HD for that kind of thing?

As for the Galaxy, it has a few advantages. A far better performing battery, far more internal storage (Though a big micro SD card would be more than enough storage for me, so not really a deal breaker either way) and a front facing camera. What does the Desire HD have over the Galaxy that is making people choose the former? Is the HTC User Interface that superior over Samsungs equivalent?

Essentially if you had to buy one tomorrow, which would it be? And is the Desire HDs battery life as bad as made out? I appreciate any help, cheers lads!

EDIT - Just to say I wouldn't be confident enough to root either phone, if that makes a difference to the overall quality of either.

talking_walnut

alkev wrote: »

EDIT - Just to say I wouldn't be confident enough to root either phone, if that makes a difference to the overall quality of either.

That might make all the difference. I have the Galaxy S and love it, but it is running a custom ROM. I didn't like the stock ROM at all. There was also a few problems (e.g. lag and slow GPS fix) that the hackers fixed in the custom ROMs, but I'm not sure if Samsung have.

Best advice would be to go into the shop and try them both. If you're sticking with the stock phone, the feel of the phone will be the most important thing. Have a read through the forum on XDA-Developers for and game-changing problems the phones might have.

Squeeonline

Personally, having an SGS I'd get the DHD given the choice. I dont like the bigger screen but HTC things just seem to work better, better built.

Look around the internet for reviews. Youtube search "SGS vs desire Hd" or somethig similar.

mickoneill30

I've had both and still have the HD.

For me the main annoyances on the S were the lag which required rooting to fix (this might / should have been fixed by now by Samsung), the TouchWiz UI (easy to replace), Kies, Kies, Kies & Kies.
Kies is a pile of crap software that needs to be installed on your PC to do any updates on the phone. When I had mine it wouldn't detect the phone. There a loads of threads all over the internet with users with the same issues. This may also have been fixed by Samsung. The HD updates over the air. No PC required.

I use my phone a similar amount to you. It's a pocket computer first and phone second. I didn't see the Galaxy S's battery much better than the HD. For both with minimal use you'll get a couple of days to three days max. With average use you'll get a day and a half. But realistically you'll stick your phone on charge every night. You might have 30% left when it's time for bed. What use is that to you the next day? It means you'll have to charge it up around lunchtime.

Like you say loads of internal storage is nice but if you have an SD card who cares. I've installed loads of apps on my HD. I haven't moved any to SD card and Apps2SD is reporting I've 518Mb free. I store all my data (movies / documents etc.) on the SD card.

The Galaxy S does have a better screen than the HD. It's much brighter. If you hold them side by side you'll see what I mean. However for normal use the HDs screen is superb. It's not that its screen is bad, it's just that that Galaxy S screen is the best.

The only niggles I have on the HD are it has lag too but it's super easily fixed by turning on a USB debugging option.

The HD doesn't have a front facing camera which you say is important.

The reason I'm using the HD now over the S is for the reasons above and reliability. I missed the odd call on the Galaxy because the phone wasn't responsive enough when it was ringing to respond to me pressing the answer button. I had mine about September though those issues should have been fixed by Samsung by now. If they haven't then it's a no brainer.

alkev

Thanks for the advice lads, brilliant stuff, very helpful. With all that in mind I'm pretty sure I'll be getting the DHD, I can always return it anyway. Thanks again!

god's toy

Just wanted to add for whats it's worth, while I'm sure your not going for the SGS after reading the replays.
Kies 2 now works just fine and with Android 2.2.1 now on SGS it's has sorted the lag and many more things too... at least in my view, it's like a brand new phone now... 6 months after I got it. better sounding music/FM radio and longer life per charg now also help me love it now like I first did.

I used a DHD for a full day and maybe I'm ust used to the SAMOLED or something but it just looked washed out... but maybe thats just me.

Nothingbetter2d

i have a HTC Desire HD

the battery life is poor if u leave wifi turned on all the time other than that its a great phone.

It runs android 2.2 at the moment but HTC have said that it will get the 2.3 update.

i plan to buy the mugen power battery next month as its meant to be a much better battery

Nothingbetter2d

mickoneill30 wrote: »

The Galaxy S does have a better screen than the HD. It's much brighter. If you hold them side by side you'll see what I mean. However for normal use the HDs screen is superb. It's not that its screen is bad, it's just that that Galaxy S screen is the best.

have you tried adjusting the brightness level on the HTC Desire HD?

when i compared the two both had similar brightness

srsly78

Get Nexus S, it's a "fixed" Galaxy S with some minor improvements (physically looks better too).

culsoh

I have the HTC Desire HD and I love it.
I did a lot of research when buying it, comparing the Samsung, HTC Desire and HTC Desire HD and the HTC DHD always came out on top.

Gerard McDonald

culsoh wrote: »

I have the HTC Desire HD and I love it.
I did a lot of research when buying it, comparing the Samsung, HTC Desire and HTC Desire HD and the HTC DHD always came out on top.

Can't speak for the Galaxy S however I have a HD and love it. Great phone.

itsnotmyfault

I have a galaxy s in the process of flashing a new ROM. If you have no intention of experimenting with your phone and want it working straight out of the box go with the HD or the Nexus S as mentioned before.

5500

I'd be buying neither if you can hold out for the time being, the release of the galaxy s2 and htc incredible s soon would offer two better choices to you.

I only sold my HD today and have a galaxy s2 on pre order. I didnt have any problems with the battery on my HD and used it heavily enough, realistically as said your going to need to charge any data heavy smartphone every day with heavy usage.

I liked Htc sense as opposed to the stock android or other varient launchers, I didnt find the HD too large in the hand either as some reviews mention. Some things that bugged me were the sms issue on the 1.72 update thats still not fixed, the camera didnt seem anywhere near 8mp and most of my photographs seemed to get a coloured tint to them, that and the fact you need to touch the screen to focus and then touch the shutter button, tiny piece of movement and thats the picture blurred.

My biggest woe is the joke of a loudspeaker, its absolute pants! manys a call was missed even with it at full volume its absolute cack!

alkev

I appreciate all the advice lads, really do. I opted for the DHD in the end, I bought it PAYG so am not locked into any contract, if the next gen phones blow me away I can always sell it second hand and buy one of the new ones at an acceptable loss, though I'll very likely just be sticking with this.

First impressions are I absolutely love it though. Battery is supposed to take conditioning and takes a week or two before it's at it's best, but on my first day of usage today I got 14 and a half hours out of it, and that's with obvious first day heavy use (Using the internet alot, 3g and wifi, setting everything up, downloading and installing apps, playing games, general playing with the phone etc and an above average amount of texts too). If I can use it freely and charge it overnight every night, then the battery isn't an issue for me at all. I rarely have to do more that and haven't had a phone that could produce more than that in a while anyway. So like I said, first impressions are very good, fingers crossed they're lasting ones and thanks again for all the advice.

shuffles03

I swapped my HD7 for a DHD 2 days ago. I love the phone but it's gotten really slow. Everything seems delayed, clicking icons, the accelerometer, txting, emails etc. Could this be because I have a live wallpaper running in the background? I've checked to see if any apps are running in the background and they aren't.

Should the phone run as fluidly as a HD7 and iPhone or am I just expecting too much?

NeitherJohn

shuffles03 wrote: »

I swapped my HD7 for a DHD 2 days ago. I love the phone but it's gotten really slow. Everything seems delayed, clicking icons, the accelerometer, txting, emails etc. Could this be because I have a live wallpaper running in the background? I've checked to see if any apps are running in the background and they aren't.

Should the phone run as fluidly as a HD7 and iPhone or am I just expecting too much?

Try switching on USB Debugging

Menu>Settings>Applications>Development>USB Debugging

5500

Enable USB debugging in settings and see if that gets rid of your lag issue

alkev

Yep, what they said.

Does anyone know why USB debugging seems to work so well? Since turning it on my phone basically never lags and the battery seems to have improved even with heavy use, what exactly does it do!?

seanybiker

alkev wrote: »

Yep, what they said.

Does anyone know why USB debugging seems to work so well? Since turning it on my phone basically never lags and the battery seems to have improved even with heavy use, what exactly does it do!?

no idea why it works just no that it does.

dizzydiesel

Where can I get my hands on a new SIM Free Desire HD? I've seen them on Amazon but I'd prefer to go to a shop to buy it locally (if the price was right)

I'm not looking for an 18month contract.

seanybiker

I got mine in the local vodafone shop sim free. Someone said the first few batches are sim free though so you would have to ask in shop now to be sure

dizzydiesel

seanybiker wrote: »

I got mine in the local vodafone shop sim free. Someone said the first few batches are sim free though so you would have to ask in shop now to be sure

Do you mind me asking how much you paid? And was this recently?

I'm not eligible for an upgrade (long story) - so was looking for the up front price and trying to calculate if its worth splashing out now versus waiting until my upgrade finally materializes.

(I'm aware that I probably will end up paying more anyway by taking this route)

seanybiker

Jaysus it was back when they came out first 480 or 580 I can't remember properly.