I still can't decide

[Gino34]

Alright folks, I still can't choose which phone to go with so I really could use everyone's honest opinions and or facts.


My carrier is Bell and I've narrowed it down to these 2 models (which are both 0 dollar phones on a 3 year term):


Samsung Galaxy S

OR

Htc Incredible S



After doing lots of research online, I thought the Htc model was the one for me. I like how it has more ram than the Galaxy, has a higher 8 mp camera whereas Samsung's only has 5, and the Incredible has a longer battery life.

The only thing I see Samsung beating the Htc on is its screen. It is really gorgeous and colorful when compared to Htc's.

My problem is that all those specs on paper make the htc better but after viewing some head to head phone reviews on youtube, the Galaxy looked like it had taken better looking photos, it didn't seem to lag at all when doing some applications at once and lots of critics said that the battery wasn't really that bad.


I'm going to be signing up with Bell at the end of this month and would really appreciate ANY feedback (good or bad) on both models and tell me which one you'd go with and WHY.

I'd be primarily using this phone for web surfing and have read on many occasions that Htc's Incredible S is blazing fast (not that Samsung's browsing sucks) but most critics have picked the Incredible S for surfing. I don't see myself taking tons of photos so I'm really stuck here.

Lots of people hate Samsung and my friend has the Galaxy S and he made me try it out last week. I didn't find any problems with it and the screen really is beautiful and the colors pop out at you.

I don't want to be taken in simply by a sumptuous screen. Can someone help me choose between these 2 phones???

Thanks a million!

 

[gunderscorewil]

Im gonna skip all of the standard "Get the phone you like better" stuff because its very clear that A. you already think the IncS is a better device B. you seem to like it better and C. low and behold (sp?) the IncS IS the better device of the two.

Plus, idk if all the GPS mess that I hear about has been fixed with the SGS. And lastly, while the SGS is still relevant spec-wise, it is still a year old device. A year is an eternity in the cell phone world.

In Conclusion, get the IncS

 

[daveybaby]

This isnt going to help you decide between those two at all, but IMO the best single core phone on the market by miles is the SE Xperia Arc.

 

[Gino34]

This isnt going to help you decide between those two at all, but IMO the best single core phone on the market by miles is the SE Xperia Arc.

Yeah....that didn't help.


Anyways, I was hoping for some more responses. I decided to look at some benchmark videos from both phones and the Htc blows away the Galaxy in that regard. But what really makes it tough for me is Galaxy's amazing screen. It is so clear, bright and really colorful.


If web surfing is my main concern, would you recommend the Htc? Can anyone else comment on these 2 phones?

 

[dan330]

screen is good.. but the sgs screen.. some say it is too much when looking at videos.

if you dont put the 2 phones next to each other... the lcd is pretty good.

support.. is important .. for updates and fixes and new versions.

sgs is at end of life and will get gingerbread... the 3rd upgrade. i highly doubt it will get another OFFICIAL android update.

the incS is new and should be supported for a little longer.

the newer cpu on incS has room to be pushed up to higher speeds.

 

[Gino34]

screen is good.. but the sgs screen.. some say it is too much when looking at videos.

if you dont put the 2 phones next to each other... the lcd is pretty good.

support.. is important .. for updates and fixes and new versions.

sgs is at end of life and will get gingerbread... the 3rd upgrade. i highly doubt it will get another OFFICIAL android update.

the incS is new and should be supported for a little longer.

the newer cpu on incS has room to be pushed up to higher speeds.

Yeah, I guess since the htc is newer and faster I should most likely go with that one. Most reviews online have said that htc's screen is really nice. I don't necessarily need something so bright right?

Another thing I really like about the Incredible S is the helicopter view. The Galaxy S doesn't do this and instead has those dots up top to tell you which screen you're on. Even though Galaxy's pics look nicer, I'm not planning on taking lots of photos anyway. Like I said, web surfing and talking to friends will be what I'll be doing most of the time.

Is there anything about the Htc Incredible S that might give me trouble down the line?

Are there any current issues with this phone?

 

[Gino34]

I decided to bump this in hopes that someone else can help me out.


I can't believe that out of 260,000+ members (according to this website) that I only received a couple of responses.


I don't want to post the same question on other forums....can't anyone else comment on these popular models?

Well, if no else decides to add anything I'll most likely go with the Incredible S. Worse case scenario, I'll bring it back within the exchange period if it's crap.

I would appreciate more feedback people!!

 

[lunatic59]

I can't believe that out of 260,000+ members (according to this website) that I only received a couple of responses.

There are a few problems with posts like this. The first is that there are a million "which phone should i get?" or "What's the best phone?" threads started and it get's old very fast.

The first question is one of personality. More than likely we don't have any way to judge your preferences or priorities. Nor do you have a way of knowing if we are responding out of thought for your stated needs or our own personal preference. You can ask 100 people and get 100 different answers.

The second question is one of technical specifications. As you know what looks good on paper, may not be the best or even suited for your needs. And, every month there are new, supposedly better models released making the past answers somewhat irrelevant.

For me the deciding factors would be the manufacturers' UI, Samsung uses TouchWiz while HTC uses Sense, each with their fans and detractors. You can always add an alternate launcher or flash a generic ROM, but if you want Sense, the ONLY way to get it is to by an HTC phone.

It would really be hard to evaluate the actual screen from a youtube video. I'd highly recommend trying both before you decide, because only you know how important that is and how you'll react to the feel of each device in your hand.

All the other features you talk about are really only incremental differences and either device should be good enough.

So which should you get? I really couldn't tell you.

 

[ArmageddonX]

Get the HTC Incredible. Why? Because you said so yourself that you like it better in almost every way. If you like 80% of the Incredible and 20% of the Galaxy; Then to me the decision is clear. Also, HTC is know for great customer service and speedy updates while Samsung is generally known to lack in both of those departments.

Nothing is worse when all your friends have the newest version of Android and you're on the "old" version for months on end waiting with no news on the horizon...

Just my opinion. You wanted a direct opinion, and you got one.

 

[daveybaby]

Yeah....that didn't help.

FWIW i was originally going to go for the Incredible S before i saw the Arc. It looks like a great phone - great specs, great hardware, looks nice. The main thing that stopped me from buying it was the locked bootloader - if this is a problem for you then it might be worth checking the 'all things root' forums for the incredible - it may have all been sorted out by now. The only other weakness of the incredible is probably the camera - it's... adequate (HTC's achilles heel - another reason i ended up choosing the arc).

Personally i'm not a fan of samsung phones. On paper their specs are always right up there with the best, but i cant stand their hardware design (they have 3 different styles to choose from: bland, bland or bland) or their GUI design (garish, cartoony, fugly). Also, their track record of firmware support has always been abysmal to my knowledge. Lots of people seem to love 'em though, so... *shrug*.

But, as has already been said by others, it's all down to personal taste. You can read a spec sheet as well as any of us can - so in the end it's all down to personal preference - and we cant advise you on that.

 

[Gino34]

Ok....now I'm really stuck. I'm not so sure I should be going with HTC now and I'll tell you why.


I didn't realize that the Incredible S you're only getting 1.1 gb of space compared to Galaxy's 16 gb. If I go with htc, I'll have to spend money on a micro sd card....and to get a 16 gb card it's going to cost me at least $40 bucks where I live.


I went on this site and found the Galaxy has alot to offer over the Incredible S:


HTC Incredible S vs Samsung Galaxy S


The only problem is that when you go into a store (be it a Bell store or a small privately owned kiosk) you never get to try the phone out in real time. I mean actually surf the web, try emailing something to see how the screen response is, watch a movie clip to see the clarity or colors, etc.

Seeing as I'm going to watch alot of movies on my phone (while you're doing laundry out at a laundromat what else can you do besides play games?) I really do love Samsung's brilliant screen. Then again, I haven't seen HTC's screen in real time. Everytime I go to a store, they only have an unpowered phone (the only time they have one up and running is if it's a new model).


Now, on htc's side, we have faster data speeds for surfing. Something I'll be doing daily. Being able to upgrade with ease to Gingerbread is another plus that the Galaxy doesn't have. With Samsung, I won't have to buy a micro sd card but I'll be getting a nicer screen.

I also like the sense interface (with water effects etc.)

Remember guys, I going simply by what I've seen online in videos and read as well. I've been in various phone stores and seen these models but never got the chance to actually try them out.

I really don't know which model to go with now.

If web surfing is pretty fast on the Samsung Galaxy S, I'm probably going to go with that one as it has more memory, better screen, is lighter, has more standby time and has bluetooth 3.0 whereas HTC only has 2.1!

My friend did show me a movie on his Galaxy S phone and I have to say it looked amazing.

The only reason I'm not darting to get a Galaxy S is because of the software problems I've read about and the cheap plastic casing it has. HTC has a better case and upgrades easier and can go faster once up to Gingerbread.

Anyone else care to add something to this? Any other opinions?

 

[dan330]

i dont know where you are...

amazon has 16gb for $27

yes... GS has more built in memory.. but only 2gb is partitioned for app storage.

 

[Gino34]

Does that mean that despite which phone I get, you can only have so many apps on it?


Why can't we download more to our media card?


My wife has a Blackberry Bold 9700 and she's got it bad.....the phone only comes with 256mb and Bell installs so much crap that you can't erase and after installing some things from BB app world, she only has 90mb left. Because of this, her phone is slowing down big time.

Why don't phone manufactures allow us to put most of our stuff on the micro sd card and therefore the phone will run more smoothly?

I just don't get it. I understand that the phone will need things to operate but why can't we download apps to our cards???


Oh, and to keep this on topic, I've decided to give the HTC a shot. I figured the screen can't be that bad and even though it only comes with 1.1 gb, I'm sure I'll be able to hunt down a cheap micro sd card.

I've read alot online lately and most say that Sense UI is much better.

Thanks for everyone's help!

 

[lunatic59]

Does that mean that despite which phone I get, you can only have so many apps on it?


Why can't we download more to our media card?

With Android 2.2 Apps are supported on your sd card but it's up to the developer to allow them to be moved. You can load even more to your sd card if you don't mind a little tweak or two. I currently have 92 apps on my Nexus One, which by recent standards, has a limited amount of memory. It's still pretty snappy.

How many apps should be enough or too many?

 

[thedosbox]

Ok....now I'm really stuck. I'm not so sure I should be going with HTC now and I'll tell you why.


I didn't realize that the Incredible S you're only getting 1.1 gb of space compared to Galaxy's 16 gb. If I go with htc, I'll have to spend money on a micro sd card....and to get a 16 gb card it's going to cost me at least $40 bucks where I live.

Huh? The Bell Inc S comes with a 8GB micro SD card in addition to the internal memory. Even with shipping, a 16GB card won't break $35.

A couple of other pro's for the Inc S that haven't been mentioned:

+ HTC mail client. Has less security certificate issues than the stock android client, can handle multiple exchange accounts.
+ HTC keyboard. Long-press on every key to get alternate symbols and arrow keys to navigate within the text entry fields.
+ GPS that doesn't take an age to lock on
+ sharper text as it doesn't use pentile
+ UI doesn't look like a iOS rip-off (subjective I know)

Anyhow, mobilesyrup did a roundup of various android phones available in Canada that you might find informative: http://mobilesyrup.com/2011/05/18/video-the-great-canadian-android-smartphone-roundup/

 

[Brucew0617]

My mobilePhone is incredible S, and I love it! And I heard that Galaxy S's screen looks so unnatrual

 

[Gino34]

I decided to go with the Incredible S and picked up my phone on Friday last week.


So far it's awesome! My only complaints so far are:


This phone is just too sensitive. I could be playing a game or surfing the web and if my pinky hits the home key by accident, there is no screen notifying me that I'm about to exit what I'm currently doing. I have been "kicked out" for a lack of a better expression from my games and while I've been surfing.

I don't care much about surfing as the phone remembers the last page you were on anyways....but when playing a game... I have lost my score and have to start over completely!

The speaker on the back isn't the greatest. It tends to distort alot and I have to keep the volume at about 70% or so to get rid of the distortion.

Other than those things, the phone rocks. Screen is amazingly clear and crisp, it's very colorful (I wasn't expecting it too look this good) and the web surfing is fast....really fast. I picked up the 4G model and damn, it's quick.

Just a quick question....is there any way at all to download youtube videos to this phone? I found a way to do it through my pc (it's a pain to convert to mp4) but was wondering if it can be done directly through the phone. I've done some online research and some guy says you can do it through keepvid.com but the cut and paste process seems confusing and annoying.

I've downloaded TubeMate but can't get the videos to save to my card.

Any suggestions or tips?

 

[T.M.M.L]

Greetings Gino,

I'm not trying to be jerk or sound like a smart ass, but it doesn't get any easier than tube mate.

You search for the video, click save to, click download and then choose your video size. The later versions, I'm on 1.05.09, allow you to save the audio as .mp3 format.

The menu in tubemate allows you to choose what folder to download to.

I think that you have to get the updated versions from their webpage. Tubemate should tell you when you start it, if there is a update out.

Its really just that simple.

Hope this helps.

 

[Gino34]

Greetings Gino,

I'm not trying to be jerk or sound like a smart ass, but it doesn't get any easier than tube mate.

You search for the video, click save to, click download and then choose your video size. The later versions, I'm on 1.05.09, allow you to save the audio as .mp3 format.

The menu in tubemate allows you to choose what folder to download to.

I think that you have to get the updated versions from their webpage. Tubemate should tell you when you start it, if there is a update out.

Its really just that simple.

Hope this helps.

Ok....I think I've finally figured it out.


It seems that on my phone, the only way to download the video and save it is if I select the 1280 x 720 HD choice. I tried lower resolutions and for some reason it won't save the file.

So far I've tested a bunch of clips and they all work!

Thanks!