I would choose the Desire without hesitation...here's why.
I had the option to do a hardware upgrade and get the iPhone 4 which was my original plan. But with the antenna and proximity sensor issues, and the fact the iPhone is still out of stock, I passed on the iPhone 4 and went with the Desire which I bought outright compared to the iPhone 4 at promo pricing. I was able to walk into a store and buy the Desire and walk out 10mins later. I'm really glad I went with the Desire for several reasons:
1 - It works! A coworker has the iPhone 4 and he drops calls where my Desire continues to work fine in 3G for both voice and data - his signal drops off in the office just holding it normally but he doesn't use a skin/case. That's the big one for me.
2 - The Desire has better and faster GPS performance. Maps locates faster and more accurately than the iPhone 4 in the same location. The precision is higher which is important for several GPS-aware apps. Maps works better on the Android OS with better integration I suppose.
3 - The Desire doesn't need bloated software (iTunes) that takes way too long to put songs or videos or photos on the phone - just copy and paste! This is really great when I use my phone to take snaps or videos, and can then immediately show or transfer them to family/friends on their computer without needing iTunes.
4 - The Desire uses an open source OS that is VERY customizable - I can set it up the way I want, not the way Apple wants.
5 - The Desire has real multitasking that doesn't lag when I perform other functions like looking up another contact. My coworkers iPhone 4 will stutter a bit during a call if he opens another app (could be related to signal level?).
6 - The Desire has slightly better earpiece volume with Froyo v2.2 update. Prior it was about the same as the iPhone 4, but now it's clearly louder and better in noisy environments than the iPhone 4. As for noise cancellation, the iPhone 4 is slightly better in noisy areas so the other caller has a better experience. But I've never had a complaint about the Desire and background noise, even when I ask about the call quality.
7 - The Desire has a user replaceable battery if needed.
8 - The Desire takes standard micro-SD cards for user-expandable memory.
9 - The Desire uses industry standard mini-SIM cards so swapping between phones is easy. My Desire is unlocked so using another SIM card in another country is very easy to do.
Beyond that, everything else is about the same for the important things like audio quality, "retina" ** displays, HD video recording (I have Froyo v2.2), features and performance are similar.
The iPhone 4 has the edge with video calling due to the front camera and rear camera image quality. But since I don't use video calling I don't care, and the camera in my phones has only been used for snapshots, not serious photos (I have a Nikon DSLR for that).
** the so-called "retina" display: the Desire and iPhone 4 both have very high resolution and you can't see the pixels when using the phones at normal viewing distances. When you get the phone really close, pixels are visible on both phones. Technically the iPhone 4 is better, but in actual use and for all intents and purposes, the Desire has an excellent display similar to the iPhone 4. Either works as intended.
+1
I4, Decent product, but not for me, I love my Desire and the freedom it gives 
Every "screen phone" is nearly impossible to see in bright sunlight!!
And to your 2nd. point, I'm sorry but when you constantly hear iSheep saying the the iphone is better but not knowing why, I call that being a sheep (bah, bah)!!
I don't see a lot of Desires being waved around like so many Apple "users", sorry!
You're right, out of the box the iPhone has more memory. But umm...what 64gig iPhone model are you talking about?
That's just numbers...in actual use both look the same. And Apple is lying when they say it's a "retina" display...that's just marketing hype.
My coworker has the iPhone 4 and it's better in direct sunlight compared to my S-LCD equipped Desire, certainly not a great or huge difference. It's a non-issue for most people though since we just turn our backs to the sun when outdoors.
I wouldn't say it's significant overall unless you're a heavy gamer or listen to music all the time. Talk time on 3G is similar, but video and audio playback is better on the iPhone. Standby time is better on the Desire. And the iOS is coded specifically for the hardware in the iPhone while the Desire is using an OS that is much less hardware specific. Android runs on lots of phone hardware and is only somewhat optimized for each. And both have essentially the same battery capacity (1420 iPhone vs 1400 Desire).
"I believe I already answered that question Senator".
The CPU units are about the same, but the iPhone 4 has a better GPU section, which makes it a tad faster in graphics heavy apps. The Samsung Galaxy S series also has a similar CPU, but again has a very good GPU section which works better than either in graphics heavy apps and games (and is a significant reason why it scores higher in benchmarks over the Desire). Upcoming chipsets from Qualcomm will have impressive graphics capabilities along with faster CPUs and even dual core chips. I believe Samsung is also working on dual cores.
Wow!
We've been tracking upcoming products and ranking the best tech since 2007. Thanks for trusting our opinion: we get rewarded through affiliate links that earn us a commission and we invite you to learn more about us.
