HTC Desire Vs Nexus One Froyo

[marlonbrando]

Hi,
I hope the thread title won't anger too many users who have probably answered many of these questions from guys like me, but I've done a lot of research and forum reading to feel justified

I've never owned a smartphone before and feel as if now is the time to get one as the buttons on my 2nd hand sony erricson c905 are starting to fall off.

I live in the uk and stuck between the HTC desire and Nexus One Froyo. From what I have read and learned, they are essentially the same phone, except nexus one receives the updates the quickest as it is the 'google experience' phone.

Right now im leaning more towards the nexus as it seems the froyo really does give the phone a stronger advantage. JIT, better interface etc... Am not that bothered about SenseUI and heard that froyo does make senseUI unnecessary in some areas. Despite rumors about the desire updating to froyo, majority of people are saying that it will be likely be autumn before the desire gets an update. So now that the froyo is picking up the interface and other substantial areas, what now gives the desire the edge over nexus?

Any thoughts?

I've also read countless threads and discussions on battery issues. And from what i gather you can get a days+ use if you turn off wifi, bluetooth, 3g, gps etc.. , is this the general idea?

 

[CarsnGadgets]

If you want to get the android updates as soon as they are released, and dont mind not having the sense UI, then the nexus one is the way to go. The 2 phones are almost identically spec.

however, HTC have confirmed that the desire will be the first handset to get 2.2, and there are rumours that it will be sooner than autumn. The sense UI is very nice to have by the way, but Its up to you really.

I prefer the physical look of the desire handset, and as long as we dont have to wait more than 6 months for 2.2 I'm happy to wait.

 

[Pryomancer]

The Desire is still one of the best phones, and 2.1 is in no way a negative aspect. Froyo is a definite plus for the Nexus, but I don't think it's going to be a huge dealbreaker. The autumn prediction is probably about right, most carriers will take a while to release it.

It's down to your personal preference, really. The Nexus is a pure Android phone, no Sense and other HTC-specific modifications. It's Google's official phone, and they're going to put a lot of effort into it. Then again, the Desire is one of HTC's high end smartphones, and it's been almost universally praised in reviews.

And yeah, the battery thing isn't really an issue if you do what you said. I do it, too, I just turn stuff on when I need it, doesn't affect me at all.

 

[d.knight99]

I went for the Desire because I love the modifications HTC have put in place over the top of 2.1. Yes, we'll have to wait a little longer for 2.2 but then not only will we have 2.2 but we'll have Sense slapped on top (which is a definite plus!) and maybe some other modifications.

You can't go wrong with either handset to be fair, personally it's a Desire all the way for me but everyones different.

 

[grainysand]

The N1 and the Desire are, hardware-wise, almost identical (hence why Paul O'Brien could port the Desire ROM to the N1 so quickly). The only deciding factor is Sense. That's it.

And yeah, Froyo does obsolete many of the Sense features, like exchange support. HTC widgets can be substituted by Beautiful Widgets/Weather Widget Donate, Pure Calendar, and the like. You can even have the pinch-to-zoom homescreen overview through home replacements. The Sense dialer can be replaced by Dialer One (which is actually, IMO, superior if only because of the wallpaper look).

I was infatuated with Sense for a while too, and stayed with the Desire ROM for many builds, but in the end I found that I preferred the customization and greater speed of home replacements and a framework that's much more receptive to theming.

 

[Pryomancer]

I got the Desire because the Nexus One wasn't out in the UK when it was time for me to choose a phone. While I can say I still would have chosen the Desire if the Nexus One was out, the Nexus would have been a definite consideration.

 

[davealison]

another point people have not mentioned is that the desire has 596MB of ram and the nexus has only 512MB.... just a point !!! and also the desires camera has more options...

both are great though...

 

[marlonbrando]

The N1 and the Desire are, hardware-wise, almost identical (hence why Paul O'Brien could port the Desire ROM to the N1 so quickly). The only deciding factor is Sense. That's it.

And yeah, Froyo does obsolete many of the Sense features, like exchange support. HTC widgets can be substituted by Beautiful Widgets/Weather Widget Donate, Pure Calendar, and the like. You can even have the pinch-to-zoom homescreen overview through home replacements. The Sense dialer can be replaced by Dialer One (which is actually, IMO, superior if only because of the wallpaper look).

I was infatuated with Sense for a while too, and stayed with the Desire ROM for many builds, but in the end I found that I preferred the customization and greater speed of home replacements and a framework that's much more receptive to theming.

Thanks for everyone's advice, grainysand seems to be on the same wavelength as me.

The only reason why desire might be better in this case, is that I can get a better contract/price with the desire than with the nexus.

For desire 24 month contract + quidco:
Handset only

 

[SevenW]

another point people have not mentioned is that the desire has 596MB of ram and the nexus has only 512MB.... just a point !!! and also the desires camera has more options...

both are great though...

But Froyo 2.2 makes this point obsolete with Apps2sd.

 

[biggdaniell]

But Froyo 2.2 makes this point obsolete with Apps2sd.

No, it doesn't
(it's the internal flash memory limitation that became obsolete)

 

[Archphoto]

I was about to part with my hard earned $$$ on the Nexus One, from Singapore. The exchange rate drop made it very expensive so I opted to wait for an improvement.

Really glad I didn't buy it now - picked up the Desire instead and all I can say is WOW! The specs comparison I read left me in no doubt that this was the better buy; sure the N1 has just got Froyo 2.2, but I can wait for it to be released later.

In my mind, the Desire is an improvement on the N1; of course N1 owners will disagree and state that their is the better buy - that's the nature of ownership.

My best advice - check the specs on both and go from there. Whichever one you get, I'm pretty certain you'll love it regardless of the model you get!

 

[grainysand]

...?

The only difference between the Desire and the N1 is that the Desire has slightly more RAM, which it needs anyway to deal with Sense being a memory hog. Otherwise, the Desire has an immediately usable FM radio, but lacks the N1's noise-canceling mic. Yes, Virginia, everything else is identical. Everything. Camera, touchscreen, digitizer, and all.

You seem under the impression that the two are wildly different internally and that the Desire is a quad-core Alienware to the N1's dual-core office machine. That's far from the case.

 

[sudkcoce]

It would be really hard for me to give up "Sense UI". So, for me, Desire was the _only_ choice by the time I bought it...

 

[1981]

have been using the Desire for a month now. its just a coool piece of HTC, I should say. havent handled the N1. but to me, the trackpad and the physical buttons are a big plus compared to the N1. battery isnt as bad as it sounds. a day-day and half of use is possible now, with my normal usuage. Desire is definitely getting the Froyo. so that extra wait is ok for me. the N1's voice cancellation? is it good enough, I dont know. the few things I dont like in Desire :
1-very very poor internal storage capacity. I mean-this is like a minimum thing you should get in a high end device like this, rite. 120mb?? what good is it compared to 2gb's and 8gb's
2-the loudspeaker output quality isnt that good. its loud but not clear as I would have liked, at max volume.
3-battery could have been 1500MAh
4-battery cover is big and squeaky. N1 is better in that aspect, I guess

 

[SUroot]

It would be really hard for me to give up "Sense UI". So, for me, Desire was the _only_ choice by the time I bought it...

Absolutely. I live the Sense UI. I am considering putting one of MoDaCo's roms on instead of the standard build however,

 

[marlonbrando]

Hmm it's a tough choice. I would prefer the nexus one, but there is no good deals for the nexus one here in the uk and an unsubsidized deal would be too expensive.