Galaxy SII vs HTC Holiday

[mgoblueno1]

Trying to decide between the two, if anyone wants to give me any advice on either one please post below!

 

[yoyo1]

if it were up to me, I'd be all over the HTC product. HTC sense is the best android UI i've seen yet. For those of us who don't want to spend a lot of time trying to get a UI that just works well , this is the way to go. And for those who do like to spend a lot of time tinkering to get a UI to work well using AOSP or CM7, it'll STILL never even add up anywhere close to Sense. Just my 2c. My only gripe about Sense is that the bluetooth stack is inadequate.

 

[shark974]

The major drawback of the Holiday is lack of OLED screen imo...

 

[jinwons]

if it were up to me, I'd be all over the HTC product. HTC sense is the best android UI i've seen yet. For those of us who don't want to spend a lot of time trying to get a UI that just works well , this is the way to go. And for those who do like to spend a lot of time tinkering to get a UI to work well using AOSP or CM7, it'll STILL never even add up anywhere close to Sense. Just my 2c. My only gripe about Sense is that the bluetooth stack is inadequate.

Actually Touchwiz 4.0 is nothing like previous version of Touchwiz looking like iOS. It's a lot easier, intuitive to use and looking great. Many UK SGSII users said it's even better than HTC Sense in many ways.

Also I wouldn't touch HTC until they prove they know how to get good battery life on phones. None of my friends with Evo 4G, Thunderbolt couldn't get through a day without recharging twice per day under medium usage.

 

[MisterEd]

Didn't HTC start locking the bootloaders on all their newer devices so you can't root? I read on the HTC website they are going to start to unlock them by software soon for those who want it but you will have to sign away all warranty rights when you download the unlock.

 

[chicknlil]

Basically right. HTC has a website where you can, after agreeing that you are voiding your warranty, unlock the bootloader on your phone. The Holiday/Waikiki (the other proposed name I've seen) may be unlocked out of the box though - I believe they had indicated that new phone models would be unlocked. But them locking their phones isn't really anything new - they've always done that, and it doesn't normally take the dev community long to work around that.

Back to the topic question: I'm going to have to try both the SGSII and Holiday in store, see how big a difference the screen is, and see how well the GPS locks on both. From a pure aesthetics stand point, I know I like the way HTC phones feel better than Samsungs (more solid, better made).

 

[MisterEd]

Basically right. HTC has a website where you can, after agreeing that you are voiding your warranty, unlock the bootloader on your phone. The Holiday/Waikiki (the other proposed name I've seen) may be unlocked out of the box though - I believe they had indicated that new phone models would be unlocked. But them locking their phones isn't really anything new - they've always done that, and it doesn't normally take the dev community long to work around that.

Were the devs ever able to unlock the BL on the HTC Sensation? Last time I looked they weren't and it had been a few months. That stopped me from switching to T-MO. Ended up with an Infuse which was better for me anyway because I got to keep my 25%/50% AT&T FAN discount.

 

[Calvin35]

The GSII is out for me because of the smaller screen, no LTE and low resolution. That being said if the Holiday doesn't get an extended life battery I won't be getting that either as I am am extremely heavy user.

 

[shark974]

Actually Touchwiz 4.0 is nothing like previous version of Touchwiz looking like iOS. It's a lot easier, intuitive to use and looking great. Many UK SGSII users said it's even better than HTC Sense in many ways.

Also I wouldn't touch HTC until they prove they know how to get good battery life on phones. None of my friends with Evo 4G, Thunderbolt couldn't get through a day without recharging twice per day under medium usage.

You may have a point, my brother has an Evo and complains about bad battery life. I didn't think much of it at the time. Figuring it was about like all Android phones.

Didn't know till this thread HTC has a rep for bad battery life.

 

[jinwons]

You may have a point, my brother has an Evo and complains about bad battery life. I didn't think much of it at the time. Figuring it was about like all Android phones.

Didn't know till this thread HTC has a rep for bad battery life.

A lot of folks on this forum are aware HTC got battery problem and fed up with them. Their call quality is lackluster too. HTC is giving quality feel with just metal cover and Sense UI, and that's pretty much all they got going for. For me, it's only Samsung or Motorola as they know how to manage battery power.

 

[mgoblueno1]

Talked to the AT&T store manager at the Mall of America store. He said LTE should be out by Q1 2012, does this mean the Holiday wont come out until then?

 

[Puddin422]

if it were up to me, I'd be all over the HTC product. HTC sense is the best android UI i've seen yet. For those of us who don't want to spend a lot of time trying to get a UI that just works well , this is the way to go. And for those who do like to spend a lot of time tinkering to get a UI to work well using AOSP or CM7, it'll STILL never even add up anywhere close to Sense. Just my 2c. My only gripe about Sense is that the bluetooth stack is inadequate.

It doesn't take any "tinkering" to simply download LauncherPro, Go Launcher, ADW, etc. You *can* tinker with them. Hell, that's the whole idea behind Android, isn't it?

I don't worry too much about a phone's UI bc I plan to use Launcher Pro anyway.