joncape

Samsung Galaxy S vs iPhone 4 vs Blackberry vs Nokia N8



Hi from South Africa. New to the forum. Hopefully i can get some awesome advice.

Okay. So i'm getting a new phone. I've been an avid (if a little fed up) Nokia user for about a decade. My current phone is a Nokia 5800 Xpress Music.

My upgrade is next month. I recently narrowed my options down to the following 4 phones: the Samsung Galaxy S, iPhone 4, some kind of Blackberry or the Nokia N8.

I have since ruled out the Nokia because apart from the awesome camera (which doesnt actually seem to really outperform its competitors), its not a better phone. Also its a nokia. ugh. another nokia.

I've also ruled out the iPhone because, quite frankly, i dont buy into the hype. In fact, the hype just irritates me. Also, its expensive, and rather limited in its functionality.

That leaves me with the Galaxy S, which seems like the best Android handset around, and something from the range of Blackberries, possibly a torch.

Here's my problem: while the blackberry OS falls short in a number of key areas, the seemingly far superior integrated messaging system is very attractive, and has caught my eye for a while now. It seems to just work. And the push system is awesome. And only a $10/m subscription. (Bear in mind that in South Africa, we get screwed with data and text charges).

I am pretty unfamiliar with Android, and have only heard great things (and of course, love google).

My questions:

1. How does the Galaxy S compare in terms of email, text and IM management? Is it possible to set the phone up so that i spend almost no energy or time (i suppose measured in gestures) managing all these different types of communications on the Galaxy?

2. Furthermore, should i remain constantly logged on to gmail and gtalk, and therefore connected to the 3G network, how much data (specifically) will be expended per hour on the system doing routine 'check-ins' to the server to update?

Stuntman

I own an HTC Desire Z, but I'll give you my experience with this Android device. I expect that the Galaxy S is somewhat similar.

I had difficulties with my email setup because my primary email account is with my internet provider (and not Gmail). Long story short, I ended up forwarding my email to my Gmail account which ends up working very nicely. You won't have any issues if you use Gmail or other clould-based email system like Hotmail.

If you use the Gmail app, it has push mail. Gmail will only communicate with your phone when you send or receive an email. There is no constant polling.

On the Desire Z, there is a generic Mail app for non-Gmail accounts. That app actually polls the email accounts periodically. You can set how often it polls your email accounts.

You can also configure your Gmail account to import emails from other accounts and then use the Gmail app. This avoids your phone polling these other accounts as the Gmail system does it without incurring network charges.

I don't use Gtalk.

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snapper.fishes

If your main aim is text and messaging, get a blackberry. If you want a rich multimedia experience, get an android. The two phones are catering towards different audiences. Android is good at many things, but that means it's texting and messaging abilities get a little shafted.

joncape

i have gmail, so that sounds great, but, surely this is not true across the board, rather being network specific?

(thanks for the replies!)

kyleonfire

Id go with Android if you wanna surf the web alot, have things like games and apps, etc. Blackberry is good for messaging, texting, emailing, and I'd say a little better on call quality. Its up to you, whatever you're looking for most.

takeshi

What exactly are you perceiving as "far superior" in regards to messaging on the BB? People frequently parrot that "the BB is better for email" but most people have no idea what they're saying when they do so.

You must be selectively forgetting about RIM outages. Talk to some Blackberry users or ex-BB users.

While BES is push and email between BIS and the BB itself are push, if you have any pull accounts BIS still has to poll them. However, that's not completely a minus as: 1. Even if BIS has to poll it doesn't affect battery life on the device since BIS isn't on the device itself and 2. BIS automatically adjusts polling intervals based on account activity. There's no BIS equivalent in the Android world though, depending on your specific needs, you might be able to find an alternate solution. If you rely on pull accounts then BIS may be a plus for you but I'd actually suggest moving to accounts that support IMAP idle or other account types that will work as push (ActiveSync, gmail, etc). Push isn't exclusive to the BB.

Also keep in mind that BB's don't sync email. Even on BES email is push-and-reconcile. I strongly prefer ActiveSync on Android as it actually syncs (I was a BES user for years).

Why does the hype matter? Evaluate the options based on your needs and their capabilities. If you're not choosing an option just because it's popular that's just as silly as buying an option because it is popular. They're just two edges of the same sword.

Best is always highly subjective. If you've determined that the Galaxy S is the best fit for you then you're ahead of the game already.

Depends on what you're used to. People from certain platforms gripe about how things are done on Android. Really, you just need to take one for a test drive to see for yourself. What is or isn't a reasonable amount of gestures depends on who you talk to. Additionally, the apps you choose to use can greatly impact your experience. They're not all the same.

They're push. There are no check-ins. If a device has to poll then it's pull, not push.

Your data usage will depend on your specific usage. It's impossible to tell you how much data you'll use. My wife and I have the exact same device and our data usage is very different.

Just be aware that the gmail mail fetcher runs on its own schedule and you have no control over its polling intervals.

Gmail is push unless you specifically configure it to not be. The carrier is irrelevant. Your carrier doesn't change the characteristics of your email account.

How does the OS have such an impact on call quality? This is something where the specific model (it's antenna, radios, etc) and the carrier matter more than the OS.

Last edited by takeshi; January 13th, 2011 at 08:18 AM.

Stuntman

I've experienced outages with Gmail and Nokia as well. Outages will occur regardless of which system you use. It is certainly not limited to BlackBerrys. It just seems that their outages seem to be more publicised than outages from other systems.

amit_rangra

6 months with this phone and have done what not.
Messaging, emailing, listening to music, amazing pictures, internet, and most amazing - the android apps.
The performance of Android 2.1 on this phone is amazing.
Though I faced some challenges when I upgraded to froyo (2.2) but then voodoo lagfix did an amazing job for me.

To be very frank, I was in love with my gadget the moment I hold it in my hands for the first time and am sure you'll love it too.
Go ahead, grab one and I bet you wont regret.
Any application you feel is missing, just go to android market and get one.

Guamguy

Setting up a POP3 email account on Android is no big deal. It is only as difficult as it would be for any platform.

However, only Blackberry can do push on POP3 accounts. No other platform does. To get push, you either have to use Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync or you use GMail.

GMail on Android is pushed. Not on other platforms except for Blackberry, or on the iPHone with a third party app.

If you use GMail as your main internet email account, GMail has the best integration with the Android phone along with the best features.

You can't get BBM on the Android. But you can get a bunch of BBM like apps on Android like Kik, Beluga and WhatsApp.

IM capabilities are about equal. Both have the usual culprits on their stores: Yahoo Messenger, AIM, fring, Palringo, Skype, eBuddy, and so on. GTalk of course, comes as a native app on the Android but you can download Google apps from Blackberry App World.

Android also has a whole bunch of Asian chat and microblogging apps if you happen to be in the part of the world: Korea's KakaoTalk, China's Sina Weibo, QQZone, and so on.

Facebook for Android now does Facebook chat too, but there are other third party apps that support Facebook chat.

Both Blackberry and Android has very cool notification features. Both surely superior over the iPhone and Nokia Symbian. Notification really matters for email, social networking and chat.

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Last edited by Guamguy; February 9th, 2011 at 09:16 PM.

joncape

I got the Samsung Galaxy S... and i'm absolutely loving it.

By the by, while 3rd party homescreen apps like LP LOOK nice, IMO touchwiz 3.0 beats them all on performance, which really is my main priority. And there's absolutely nothing wrong with TW3 either. Great UI.

ZxRishixZ

1)To be honest the galaxy s is a good phone. however you should consider other phones such as HTCs as they have recently announced new phones which will enter the range soon. this could make your phone hunting worse. Almost all android devices are easy to set up and ready to use.

2) when you get smart phones such as android devices they should include internet plans which would be more then enough for that phone. they would usually recommend unlimited plans, therefore you are able to stay online with gmail and gtalk all the time.

gcobb

This is pretty accurate. I wouldn't have anything other than a BB for Exchange email and business purposes. I had the iPhone and it was okay, just wasn't enough options for a power user. I have since bought an Android phone and don't see myself going back to either of the other two.

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androidwifi

If you are truly looking for a quality of service and ease of usage go with iPhone 4. Apple got very much better hold on their product than google android. On other hand Android got much better flexible usage compare to iPhone. At the end of the day all will balls down to personnel preference. Anyways, both the phones are very reliable and fun to have.