grayman

Despite the fact that US Cellular has not officially acknowledged that either of these phones is coming to their line-up, both manufacturers are now featuring the phones and links to USC on their product pages.

I am in the market for my first Android phone and I am leaning heavily towards the Genesis but might consider the Merge as well.

The main factors influencing my decision are my desire for a physical keyboard and the ability to run flash media.

These factors limit my choices to these two phones and the Apex and Acclaim. The last two phones are clearly stated to not run flash because of their processor speed.

I have two questions:

1. Which phone would any of you recommend that I get based on my criteria?

2. I have seen multiple people criticize the Genesis or call it an android "starter" phone while praising the Merge as a "top of the line" device. Everything I have seen regarding the Merge, including HTC's USC product page for it, shows it as using an 800 mhz processor. According to USC's standards, the Merge shouldn't be able to run flash media. Am I missing some other factor or factors that makes the Merge a better choice than the Genesis and overcomes the processor issue?

Thanks for any replies.

cwill0303

HTC, so far, has a better track record for Android phones. Bottom line, I would go into the store and play around with both of them to see which one you like better. Its all about personal preference. As far as the Flash thing goes, its not necessarily the speed of the processor but the version. The Acclaim cant support it because its arm v6, but arm v7 and higher can. I cant tell you for sure that either one does or does not support flash. That would be the other thing to try out in store, they should be able to let you do that. You do have a 30 day return/exchange option, so remember that as well. The dual screen on the LG gives another point of failure. I have seen videos of the Merge and it seems like a solid phone. It looks like a cousin of the Desire, lets just hope they got the internal memory issue fixed with this one! Good luck and please share with your findings when you do decide on one!

kmf

Not sure about the Genesis, but looking at the USCC site, it appears that the HTC Merge is a "world" phone, with a SIM card for traveling outside of the USA. If this is an important feature for you go for it. However, if you want a bigger screen, better resolution, and a faster processor, with Flash built-in, I would recommend the Samsung Mesmerize (a phone which is top-of-the-line.)