Thread: Smartphone quandary

I looked at this today Arry


The HTC Sensation is possibly the most anticipated Android phone yet. The spectacularly specced phone, complete with dual-core processor and high-res display is just about the only thing that can take on the mighty Samsung Galaxy S 2 right now for the crown of king smartphone. Can it win that accolade? Let’s find out. Verdict
It’s the friendliest superphone yet, even if more hardcore gadget fiends will prefer the Samsung Galaxy S 2′s brute strength

Love
Watch movie service, HDMI-out skills, raw power
Hate
Screen can’t match Samsung’s for sheer eye popping glory
Specs:
Screen: 4.3in, 540×960
Connectivity: HSDPA, Wi-Fi, HDMI-out via MHL, Bluetooth, USB
Camera: 8MP, dual LED flash
Storage: 1GB plus microSD
Battery: 1520mAh
Size/Weight: 126.1×65.4×11.3mm/148g
Design and build quality


HTC’s been pushing the same basic 4.3-inch chassis for its high end smartphones for a couple of years now (See HTC HD2, Desire HD, HD7) so it’s a relief to see the Taiwanese company has rejigged things a little, turning in a narrower handset with a slightly curvier design.
At 11.3mm, it’s by no means thin, but it gleams like a little pocket rocketship, and the smooth aluminium and teflon ridges resist smudges, while the top grille above the screen and next to the front facing camera recalls a classy vintage motor.
There are no real surprises when it comes to port placement on the HTC Sensation: you’ll find the power button on the top along with a headphone jack, and micro USB on the side, and as usual HTC has omitted a physical camera shutter button.
The back panel is slightly surreal however: it runs right around the sides right up until the lip of the front face, so when you take it off to change the battery or the SIM, everything looks like C-3PO getting out of the shower, with exposed boards and metal everywhere. It feels curiously fragile in this state, but at least you won’t have to strip it down very often.
Screen


This is certainly the best touchscreen we’ve seen on a HTC phone since the original HTC Desire more than a year ago. HTC isn’t saying what it is, but we suspect it’s an S-LCD panel, and it offers up lovely bright colours. The 540×960 resolution makes this the sharpest 4.3-inch screen we’ve seen yet, and it makes ogling video and browsing web pages a joy.
Vertical viewing angles are also pretty broad – handy when you’re holding the phone in landscape to watch a movie. Our only gripes is that overall contrast isn’t a patch on Samsung’s phones with Super AMOLED displays, which is a bit of a shame when HTC Sense makes such heavy use of black.
Key features


HTC may not have the best screens in the business or the thinnest, finest hardware, but if there’s one thing it knows how to do, it’s how to make Android friendly to the masses. Of course, a ridiculously fast 1.2GHz dual-core processor also helps matters – performance is never short of blazing.
Usability


HTC Sense, HTC’s modified version of Android 2.3, is up to version 3.0, which brings in a pretty 3D homescreen scrolling view among more useful tweaks. While the keyboard reminds unchanged, and not quite as good as Google’s own one on Gingerbread, the lock screen is fantastic. You can set it to show a wallpaper, weather, photos or friends’ updates and simply dragging one of four icons you specify into the central ring triggers this app on opening.
The big usability boost is HTC’s handling of all your social network contacts. It makes an eerily accurate stab at connecting your friends between services and dumping them all in the came card, so you can see what they’ve been up to when they call you, or when you call them. It’s handy and clever, and if you’ve used a HTC Android phone before, will either be blessedly familiar, or a bit tired. It’s true that the central core of HTC Sense hasn’t changed in two years. Of course, in some ways, many competitors are still playing catch up.
Connectivity


As with any Android phone, you’ll find the HTC Sensation can jump online via 3G or Wi-Fi anywhere there’s signal and GPS is included, so you can use Google Maps, or HTC’s own Locations service, which can be used abroad since the maps are kept on the SD card and won’t incur large roaming charges.
One new addition is a micro USB port that can output high definition video to a HDTV. As with the Samsung Galaxy S 2, you need an MHL adaptor to pull off this stunt (sold separately), but it’s worth investing in, especially since HTC’s Watch service supports output to a big screen TV.
Video and camera


The HTC Sensation comes armed with an eight megapixel sensor, making it a slight step up from the company’s standard 5 megapixel camera. Photography is still the HTC Sensation’s weakpoint: while it can fire off shots at a fast rate of around 1fps, and fared better in lowlight than we expected, colour veracity was a bit off – it seems to struggle with reds especially.
We’ve got more positive news to report on the video front: the HTC Sensation grabs impressively smooth 1080p video which simply doesn’t acknowledge the meaning of the word stutter. You can also quickly and easily trim your clips.
Media playback


As ever, HTC fails to offer up the native codec support that Samsung does: you’ll need to download apps to playback lossless FLAC audio files or high def MKV videos, and even then you won’t get the same buttery smooth performance as on the Samsung Galaxy S 2.
On the plus side though, with the Adobe Flash 10.3 plug-in, video streams very smoothly indeed, and then of course there’s HTC Watch. HTC’s movie purchase and rental service, previously seen on its Flyer tablet, is a delight. You can quickly buy or rent brand new movies and TV shows at reasonable prices and they download at speed over Wi-Fi and look absolutely stunning on the qHD display.
Apps


Watch is the only real surprise on this front: otherwise, you’ll find the same HTC exclusive Android apps on this phone as you will any other from the last six months. Connected Media lets you stream media around your home via DLNA, while Friend Stream shows you what your friends are saying on Facebook and Twitter, while the Stocks app continues to baffle us with its irrelevance. There is also a slightly strange “dice” app, in which you can chuck around a weirdly transparent numbered die to no real purpose. Everything else is great however, and the Android Market it simply stuffed to bursting with fantastic apps and games to download.
Call quality/battery life


The speakers on such a big mobile are actually a little bit puny: crank the volume up and you’ll hear a bit of tinny rasp. On the plus side, the dual-core silicon inside is surprisingly easy on the battery, and we cleared a day of use with all connections on and account syncing whirring away.








What do you think ?


Galaxy S2 or this ?

Originally Posted by sabaii sabaii

At 11.3mm, it’s by no means thin, but it gleams like a little pocket rocketship, and the smooth aluminium and teflon ridges resist smudges, while the top grille above the screen and next to the front facing camera recalls a classy vintage motor

Made for me eh ?

Originally Posted by sabaii sabaii

Originally Posted by sabaii sabaii

At 11.3mm, it’s by no means thin, but it gleams like a little pocket rocketship, and the smooth aluminium and teflon ridges resist smudges, while the top grille above the screen and next to the front facing camera recalls a classy vintage motor

Made for me eh ?

Is it?

What do you think ?

It doesn't look a patch on the Galaxy S2 technology wise, but the smooth aluminium and teflon ridges give it a touch of class

I guess it's how I like my Ladies, great body, no brains

Originally Posted by sabaii sabaii

What do you think ?

It doesn't look a patch on the Galaxy S2 technology wise, but the smooth aluminium and teflon ridges give it a touch of class

I guess it's how I like my Ladies, great body, no brains

Well if if it's got shiny metal, because that's important to you, isn't it?....

I think he means extend as in not running a redundant version of android. Definitely flash, root, rom to get the most out of your phone.

Originally Posted by sabaii sabaii

You can Brick your phone,

Funny, my very first cell phone was a Motorola "brick".(circa 1993)
Times sure have changed. In my wildest I wouldn't have imagined the Samsung Galaxy S.
Back then Korean cars were considered a bad joke.

I flashed my Galaxy Tab up to 2.3.3 today. Piece of piss and it works like a charm.

Ooh and deep joy, got Cyanogenmod 8.4 working on the Spica. Only 2.2, but it's better than nothing.

Originally Posted by Mr Earl

Originally Posted by sabaii sabaii

You can Brick your phone,

Funny, my very first cell phone was a Motorola "brick".(circa 1993)
Times sure have changed. In my wildest I wouldn't have imagined the Samsung Galaxy S.
Back then Korean cars were considered a bad joke.

These were great for calling people and knocking poeple out the pissed you off, by slaming it over their head.

HHAHA i had one o these, with the in van charger

Proper Fone, and a tool in one

Phones just got smaller and smaller from the one above (they peaked ~2002)- then color screens came out, then 'smart phones' were developed, and then they started getting bigger and bigger...

Originally Posted by FailSafe

Phones just got smaller and smaller from the one above (they peaked ~2002)- then color screens came out, then 'smart phones' were developed, and then they started getting bigger and bigger...

That's because now they are no longer just phones, they are mobile computers.

Well I've had the Samsung Galaxy S for about a week now.

I like it, but don't like the DTAC connection much.
The battery usage is definitely an issue so I'd really like to upgrade to the 2.3 operating system. Sadly Samsung doesn't support the upgrade. After a bit of study I've concluded the upgrade process is too complicated for me. I suppose if I had my hands on a PC it would be simpler.
A buddy of mine just bought a Galaxy Pad and has the same issue. It came with 2.2 and it clearly seems like the 2.3 OS is the way!
I guess I'm going to have to bite the bullet and reload windows XPeiceofshit, to sort this out.
Right now I my Galaxy S barely lasts a day under moderate use.
I may end up inheriting his Galaxy Tab also seeing the lame support from Samsung. My buddy is talking about getting a new IPad.
I sure like the Android stuff but it's really fucking annoying to have to go back to Windows for the set up of the android.

Originally Posted by Mr Earl

Well I've had the Samsung Galaxy S for about a week now.

I like it, but don't like the DTAC connection much.
The battery usage is definitely an issue so I'd really like to upgrade to the 2.3 operating system. Sadly Samsung doesn't support the upgrade. After a bit of study I've concluded the upgrade process is too complicated for me. I suppose if I had my hands on a PC it would be simpler.
A buddy of mine just bought a Galaxy Pad and has the same issue. It came with 2.2 and it clearly seems like the 2.3 OS is the way!
I guess I'm going to have to bite the bullet and reload windows XPeiceofshit, to sort this out.
Right now I my Galaxy S barely lasts a day under moderate use.
I may end up inheriting his Galaxy Tab also seeing the lame support from Samsung. My buddy is talking about getting a new IPad.
I sure like the Android stuff but it's really fucking annoying to have to go back to Windows for the set up of the android.

Well 2.3 for both of them is out, but just not necessarily according to your country.

Here in the sandpit, I'd be lucky for them to get 2.3 out by year's end, but I found it yesterday and it too me an hour from clicking "Download" to it booting with 2.3.

The ROM is out there all over the place.

I sure like the Android stuff but it's really fucking annoying to have to go back to Windows for the set up of the android.

Actually if you Root your android device with the proper gear, then upgrading to a new ROM is as simple as copying the ROM image to the phone's memory card, booting into the Recovery Menu and selecting "Install from SDCARD".

I'm very pleased with the Cyanogenmod I installed on my Spica.

^ Yep. How good is clockwork mod 3!

Originally Posted by 9999

^ Yep. How good is clockwork mod 3!

WHAT is clockword mod 3?

Google here I come....



Ahhhh, I used something else, from SamDroid I think.

^ Ah OK. CM3 is a recovery mode with all sorts of options like mount / unmount sd card, format, factory reset and some others, as well as the ability to choose a file from the SD card (rather than it having to be name 'update.zip' in the stock recovery mode).

Now I'm gonna have to google samdroid, never came across that.

The main reason all these ROMs make your phone run faster is they they convert the OS to XT4 file syste, (as apposed to stock XT2, whatever the fok that means). But with 2.3.3, there's not much difference in performance between the 2 file systems.

There was much debate over the last few months about the Samsung developers using xt2 for a reason, to avoid problems on the future. There have been some problems reported from using 'lag-fixes' (just file system conversion to xt4 apps). One camp calls the developers idiots for using the much slower xt2 system, while the other camp claims that xt2 will be a much stabler platform. Personally I'm just getting my head around it but it's been interesting learning and playing around with this new android thingy.

Here 'tis:

Samdroid

how old are you harryb to play with those toys all day ? or are you an official tech reviewer ?

^Never to old to play, unless of course you be dead.

^ that's what I am saying, they are toys, after 5min you get tired of them

until the next one that is, if you are still a teenager

I will rather play with something more fun, like a bargirl for example