Battle of the Brands - Samsung vs HTC vs Motorola

[Puddin422]

I would love to hear feedback from people who have owned multiple brands of phones, as well as people who are loyal to a specific brand.

I'm about fed up with Samsung. I'm on my third straight Samsung phone, the last two being Android devices, and both of them being a pain in the butt. Frequent freezes requiring a battery pull being the main complaint.

I'd like to know what brand you all find to be the most reliable, with the least amount of bugs. I don't want to feel like I have to root and flash a custom rom to have a reliable phone. That's BS. (I am not opposed to it, and have done it, I just think it's total crap to feel like I NEED to.)

I'm not even that in love with the screen on my Galaxy S 2. Epic was better. This one is way oversaturated and just..off?? I don't know. My boyfriend's old beat up Motorola looks much more natural.

 

[tyler79durdan]

Consistent issues with proprietary SAMSUNG, Solid performance from my HTC Inspire(rooted with custom, lol), Similar experience with Motorola, but dont care for Moto's choice of plastics over metals. Moto's alwats seem light and fragile, wHile HTC seems to have a more solid foundation.

Vote HTC!

 

[B2L]

Well, I will tell you my opinion but you may not like what I have to say. I've never owned a Motorola device, but several of my family members have/do.

My choice is Samsung, I'm am by no means loyal, although I have had the best overall experience with Samsung devices.

I've owned two HTC devices the Mytouch 3G, and the Nexus One. My MT3G almost made me hate Android, it was buggy, slow, and the screen shattered after a small drop. After that I figured I would give HTC another try with the Nexus One. Overall the build quality was great, but I still mainly had a few issues with it. (Had to do battery pulls on a frequent basis.)

Most of my family members own or have owned Motorola devices. My dad has a Droid X, Mom has the original Droid, and both of my brothers have the Droid 2. Build quality was always great, but software is were the problems came in. Motoblur has made the devices extremely slow, they are always complaining about how annoying it is, and how much they hated it.

I've owned 3 Samsung devices Nexus S, Galaxy Nexus, and now my current device is the Galaxy Note. Build quality is great (My wife had dropped her Nexus S several times without any problems, and at most a small scratch or two.) When I first got my Nexus S it had a problem with rebooting. (Which was fixed shortly after with an update.) I rarely ever had to do battery pulls, or had any issues with it. It was a great device and I couldn't be happier. My Galaxy Nexus was great, but I had a few issues with it since I bought it shortly after ICS was released. In the end I decided to sell it since the Note was too tempting. The Galaxy Note has had no issues at all, I don't ever have to worry about bugs or it slowing down. It's by far the best device I've ever owned, which will likely result in me buying another Samsung phone next year.

 

[Puddin422]

Thanks! I should also mention that I bought both of my Samsung android phones on release day. Oh, and the newest one drops calls every single day.

 

[dan330]

I have heard the drop calls are due to weak radios..

I vote HTC.. But seriously thinking about the new Note...

But if HTC came out with a big phone.. It would be my top choice

 

[Kicksilver]

I vote for Samsung, although htc feels good too.

 

[Bubs1985]

In the past few months since I've switched over to Android, I've learned a few things.

Up until recently, there wasn't any Motorola 'droids available through our carriers (we really only have three choices in Canada) Most of what we've seen have been Samsung Galaxy(s), LG variants and HTC devices. Because of past issues with LG's I've completely steered clear of those, full version Samsung devices don't seem to be too bad, but seem fragile in construction to me....(we have a lot of FroYo prepaid devices) HTC is the first manufacturer that I've had and been utterly happy with.... They have my vote for sure.

 

[xmr405o]

I'm gonna have to go against the flow a bit a say Motorola has the best build and has been the most reliable to me. My past two phones have been Motorola Android phones and they have been really nice to me. My wife has had the opposite experience with Moto and has chosen to go with HTC for her past two devices which I encouraged because of my experience with HTC's Winmo phones.

So to me, Moto first then HTC a close second. Samsung with the phones I've tried out like the Fascinate and both Omnias is dead last. Of course, this is my experience. I haven"t tried or owned all of the VZW smartphones.

 

[mojosodope]

I'm going with Samsung... I owned an HTC and it was total crap... Hated ever minute of owning that thing.... That phone alone made me switch to an iphone4.. Now I'm back to android with the skyrocket and love it. I had the white one which I returned for the black one. HTC is too bulky and not that appealing in my eyes, Motorola seems cheap feeling. I love the streamline look of my Samsung.

 

[mojosodope]

Thanks! I should also mention that I bought both of my Samsung android phones on release day. Oh, and the newest one drops calls every single day.

Never buy a phone on launch day... The bugs haven't been worked out

 

[Stuntman]

I just have experience with the HTC Desire Z and the Samsung Galaxy Q. The Desire Z is my phone and I love it. Got it the first week it was released. Worked very well for me. I have heard some people do not like the Sense UI, but I really like it. It comes with the best widgets before Honeycomb. My Desire Z came with Froyo and it now has Gingerbread. GB is a bit slower at times, but the battery life is better. I haven't had any major issues with it. It does everything I need it to do. I can see myself using this phone for another year at least.

I got my wife a Samsung Galaxy Q. I got it for her because it's a smartphone that doesn't need a smartphone plan. It has WiFi, so she can access her email on her phone that way. It's a low end phone, but I am pretty impressed with the screen. Even though it has a lower resolution than my phone, it still looks pretty good. I have noticed that she has had to restart the phone every once in a while. My wife doesn't do much other than calls, messages and email, so it's perfect for her.

 

[sleepingseason]

It depends on a) which class of device you're looking at getting and b) what you want out of it. This post will deal with flagship (or near flagship level) devices.

I have an HTC Sensation, but first asked my network for an SGSII. They were sold out of those, but I gladly accepted the Sensation.

At least back then, I would have said to go with Samsung for performance, screen quality and slimness, while I'd recommend an HTC if you want something a bit more substantial in the hand. The upcoming HTC One series look to deliver brilliantly across both specs and build quality though, so if you can afford to hold off for a bit then I'd look at those. Then again, if you're going to do that it may be interesting to see what Samsung come out with the SGS3 (if they actually do launch one - they're still refusing to confirm whether there is one in the works, but I have to assume that there is one).

Motorolas have never gained much traction here in the UK and aren't widely covered by the press I read, so I can't make any particular recommendations on them. The Droid Razer Maxx looks like a solid device, though, and I'd recommend it on the basis of its battery alone.

 

[Puddin422]

Added a poll.

 

[ninja_reject]

I am going to take a leap of faith with my next phone and go with Sony. I decided on the Xperia Ion months ago. I have the Inspire now, and it has served me well. But my major complaint is the speaker. It is awful, just terrible trying to play music it. I believe Sony will know how to put a decent speaker in a phone. I will try it out first to be sure, but I am pretty confident they will deliver. Plus the camera promises to be nearly point-and-click quality. I know megapixels aren't everything, but come on, it's Sony.

 

[chanchan05]

I like Samsung hardware but I also like Sony looks. LOL.

 

[EarlyMon]

I had bad luck with a Samsung phone, good luck with two HTC's, and my third launch day HTC was replaced the same day for having defective radios, and good luck with that 3rd one ever since.

Lemons can happen with any brand, our forums prove that.

HTC's main weaknesses have been the camera and model-dependent battery life. One of my HTCs needed root and tinkering to get any decent battery life, the second and third did very well (about 12 hours of normal business use), and rooting the 3rd and removing bloatware put it in the nearly 2 day category.

The coming HTC One X and S models will have a new sensor integrated with a camera software update called ImageSense and that, along with 1 GB ram ought solve the complaints many have had with the camera and battery life. (In the past, HTC Sense has been a large software stack, and with insufficient ram, a lot of cycling of memory happens, leading to complaints about lag and battery life. I have a 1 GB ram model without those issues, so I am pretty sure on this last point. The new models will run a smaller Sense but ICS is bigger, so the final result will be a large software stack anyway, needing that ram to succeed, in my opinion.)

So far, I think Samsung owns the 3D gaming space in general, but not on all models as their processors vary. No telling what future models may bring.

I have one friend who went from HTC to Motorola and another who went from Samsung to Motorola and both are +5, highly satisfied. In both cases, they went from single to dual core, so that is a part of it, but both are heavy users, so I take their Motorola satisfaction to heart. Another power using friend regrets going with Motorola after an HTC.

So I guess I would say that brand counts some, but specific model is equally important.

And our forum members, like you and me, forddna, prove that they all need to step up their game in QA.

 

[Adauth]

Moto for me.

 

[Shocky]

Samsung are best all rounder, by far the best performance and the hardware in the high end phones is just unmatched by HTC and Motarola, their tablets upto this date have been very average though.

Never liked the design or the interface on HTC phones, they always seem to be lagging behind when it comes to hardware and never have a single stand out product.

Motorola design some nice phones and hardware is reasonable but like HTC lag behind, don't like the interface though.

 

[kmf]

Moto for me.

 

[Puddin422]

Bump!

 

[indybail]

I have had two Motos and a Samsung and I gotta say I prefer Motorola.

 

[pastafarian]

I/family/close friends have owned Moto, Sammy, HTC and LG. HTC has been the most reliable and generally best designed. Samsung has been by far the least reliable with the Epic Touch being the exception. It's been solid.