Updating from desire to galaxy S2. Good move??

htcforme · Sep 22, 2011

Hi all,

Read heaps of reviews and the Galaxy S2 looks awesome. However I dont know anyone with one for some good feedback. I have a HTC Desire which I love, but its time to move on.

For business, pleasure, social media a fast allrounder, is the Galaxy S2 a good choice. I checked out the HTC Sensation, which also looks great, but I'd rather get some good feedback from people who own them.

Was your GalaxyS2 a good choice?
I dont like the 4 icons on the bottom of the homescreen - can they be removed? (picky...sorry)

Thanks in advance...

NZtechfreak · Sep 22, 2011

You can change the buttons at the bottom, or better yet replace TouchWiz altogether with a better Launcher alternative from the Market.

I've owned a Desire, have a Galaxy S II, and also had 2 months with a Sensation - the SGSII is easily the better of the two handsets. For the present I don't think you can do better in an Android handset.

htcforme · Sep 22, 2011

Cool, thanks for your response. Do you suggest a particular launcher?

atmasters · Sep 22, 2011

I also just came from having the Desire and even though the desire was a good phone this phone blows it out of the water. The battery is not the best but it is fast and smooth comes with tons of memory for apps unlike my desire witch I had to root just to get some memory for apps. I am so happy with my phone. the Sensation looks good but if you look at this the Evo looks more smooth Sense 3.0 on the HTC EVO 3D and HTC Sensation. - YouTube

BubbaHotepUK · Sep 23, 2011

I literally upgraded from the HTC Desire to the SGSII yesterday. As long as you are not expecting a step change in performance, like you probably got when you got your Desire, you won't be unhappy.

I'm finding I really miss HTC Sense, the ergonomics & hardware keys, but the SGSII feels quicker, the screen is amazing, it's very lightweight and the sheer size makes it easier to operate & type on (the default keyboard isn't as good as HTCs though). It's got better video codec support, stacks of memory & the camera is significantly better too - so lots of small improvements outweigh the negatives.

CarsnGadgets · Sep 23, 2011

I also upgraded from the HTC desire to the Samsung Galaxy S2 yesterday!

The desire was a fantastic phone.
The SG2 does everything the desire does, but faster.

The screen is amazing, the build quality is very good, the speakers are way better than the desires, the battery is about the same.

You get way more room for apps, nearly 2gb instead or the 180mb? you get on the desire.

I'm very please with mine so far.

Morat · Sep 23, 2011

There are some annoying things you'll notice coming from the Desire to the Galaxy - they're mainly interface related.
1. When your windows password changes, your activesync email account/app won't prompt you to change the password automatically like the Desire will - you have to dig through the settings to find the place where the password lives. It's actually hidden under "incoming settings" which I found confusing.

2. If you have the location entered properly in an appointment on the Desire, you just press on it to automatically launch navigation to that location. On the Samsung you have to cut and paste the location into Navigation.

3. The Galaxy is far less robust and requires a decent case.

4. Apps are not automatically sorted in the Grid View - you need to download an app to sort your apps :roll:

I love my new phone, but I wish those little glitches didn't annoy me as much as they do!

Hawker · Sep 23, 2011

Morat said:
There are some annoying things you'll notice coming from the Desire to the Galaxy - they're mainly interface related.
2. If you have the location entered properly in an appointment on the Desire, you just press on it to automatically launch navigation to that location. On the Samsung you have to cut and paste the location into Navigation.

This doesnt happen for me.
If I have a location set in a calendar event, a single click opens it up in Google Maps.

Morat · Sep 23, 2011

hawker said:
This doesnt happen for me.
If I have a location set in a calendar event, a single click opens it up in Google Maps.

Perhaps it only happens when using an Exchange Calendar. If I edit the appointment I get a maps button which opens a totally useless little window with a map inside it but you can't get it into full screen or launch navigation. It's just there to let you check you've got the location correct, but since it doesn't allow satellite overlay it's pointless.

Azariel01 · Sep 23, 2011

I upgraded from the desire to the SG2 because I had problems with my desire. So I may not be really the good person to say but I definitly prefer the Samsung. Like it has been said: it's faster, it has a great screen really bright and a similar autonomy than the desire. It has a huge intern memory compare to the desire wich is really a relief. The camera is really good for the pictures (including a nice panorama function), and the videos. The only thing I miss is the sense, it's more user friendly than the raw android OS. Some basical application are not really well finished: no mobile view in browser, not possible to select all messages at once in the e-mail client, etc... The samsung app store is nice but there are not that much application available.
For the toughness of the phone I cannot say if it is more fragile or not, as I always have a leather case to protect my smartphone. I think it's a must have, like a second battery.
I think it is a great phone and that you won't be dissapointed.

htcforme · Sep 24, 2011

Thanks all, ive taken the plunge and love it. I'd like to get into the customisation side and really personalise it. Im not real good at that, so i'll start looking through here for clues. Thanks all for your posts, great stuff.

Hodsgod · Sep 24, 2011

I switched from HTC, the only thing I preferred on HTC is the sense interface and the keyboard.

Apart from the battery, you will never regret getting a S2

Jumbeaux · Sep 25, 2011

My GS2 doesn't switch on packet data (3G) automatically when sending MMS. I had to switch on manually every time. My Desire does this automatically so sending photos a lot smoother. Any advice?

Riche101 · Sep 25, 2011

htcforme said:
Cool, thanks for your response. Do you suggest a particular launcher?

ADW is my fave Launcher

matttye · Sep 25, 2011

The Desire was an amazing phone but the SGS2 is better in every way for me.

- The screen is gorgeous (the Desire's AMOLED screen was nice, but nothing in comparison) and has an oleophobic coating, so grease etc wipes off easily
- Ample storage space for media and apps
- Super fast
- Camera takes great quality photos
- Battery lasts about 5 hours longer and I even have push email enabled, which I didn't have switched on on my Desire
- Better call quality

Buy it. You won't regret it.

I would recommend Go Launcher EX as a launcher by the way.

htcforme · Sep 26, 2011

I've had a crack with Go Launcher EX. Very cool, still finding my way around, but so cool.. Thanks.

lutin · Sep 26, 2011

I use go launcher ex, go keyboard, go sms and go dialer and find them all to be better than stock.

galfa147 · Nov 17, 2011

Hi there,

First I'm new to forum and unsure if I am replying through correct channels.

More importantly I noticed the issue you are having with the Samsung Galaxy S II and have search high and low for a solution as I also find it annoying with the location in an event being useless in that you can not touch it and navigate to the destination.

Have you found a solution yet? The closest I have seen was a posting from Droid saying he had written an app as a work around but hadn't put it on the market.

Updating from desire to galaxy S2. Good move??

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