samsung vibrant to tmobile g2, worth it?

[xplane9]

I currently have a samsung vibrant but the build quality is really subpar to my expectations. I just got an offer to trade for a g2, but is it worth it? The biggest sacrifices that I see are the 800 mhz processor, lower screen size, and less internal memory. Yes, I know the processor is a second gen snapdragon but in graphics test the power sgx 540 beats the adreno 205. Also, how does the super lcd of the g2 compared to the super amoled on the vibrant?

 

[sk8rboikelley]

i also have the vibrant too and i am about to switch to the g2... yes it does have 800 mhz processor compared to vibrant 1000 mhz, but the G2 runs way way faster... although the vibrant DOES get slightly better graphics

and ya im kinda concerned about the screen size and the memory, but i can solve one of those just by buying a 62gig sd card

im curious to hear some of these answers as-well..

i have watched a million videos about the vibrant and the G2 and so far as i see the G2 IS better and quicker, and lags alot less then the vibrant does.. but i would rather try it out for myself before i give up my vibrant

 

[xplane9]

An sd card does not make up for the 2gb rom that the vibrant has over the g2. And once the vibrant has the lag fix on it flies.

 

[sk8rboikelley]

ya true.. idk there are alot of things to take into concideration... im actually thinking of sticking to the vibrant

 

[HadouGhost]

Well guys let me be of some help. I own a Vibrant and i just got a G2 on a family plan for my wife. I've been using the G2 for a few days now and i have some things to say.

Lets start with the over all build quality. The G2 wins by a long shot. The Vibrant doesnt even stand a chance. The vibrant, while nice, is not original in the least, and i've had people mistaken it for an Iphone more than once. The plastic, while durable, makes the phone feel and look quite cheap. The G2, however, has a hardrubber and brushed aluminum exterrior. The phone is heavier, i would say 1.7x the weight of a vibrant and i LOVE that. The G2 feels like a solid phone in your hand. It doesnt have what people call the ''china doll'' feel. The Vibrant does have gorilla glass and im not sure what the G2 has but it feels of good quality, and im sure ill worry even less once i slap a screen protector on it. Where the G2 does get some negative marks at is the hinge. The first G2 i had i exchanged because the space bar, while it worked, didnt give a good click/tectile feed back for me, so it was just me being stupid. The 2nd g2, the one i have now, has a much more lose hinge, and im really wary about it. I kind of want to exchange it once more but im afraid i'll get one just as loose if not more loose. HTC and T-mobile really could have tought of a different keyboard hinge but alas, it is what it is.

Lets move on to the screen next. 4.0 to 3.7. Big friggin deal. I dont even really notice it. The only time i notice it is if i slap it RIGHT NEXT to the vibrant, and even then its not that big of a deal. Everything looks sharper on the G2 because of the screen size drop. same resolution but on a smaller size screen. The vibrant SAMOLED screen looks amazing but a bit exaggerated on the colors. The superlcd (also known as Super tft from what i read) doesnt look that washed out. Colors look more ''real'' and the blacks, for an lcd, look very good. Both screens respond very well to touch, and pinch zooming is very smooth on both. As for the screen, i'd say theyre equal. While the G2 may be .3 of an inch smaller, dont let it bother you.

Hardware. Ahh heres the meat of what most of you want. Let me first say this on the processors. Please dont judge processors by speed. For example, take a Pentium 4. I remember when those came out I had a 3.0ghz P4. If you were to take my laptops processor, an Intel Core 2 Duo clcoked at 2.13ghz and use only one of the cors at 2.13 ghz it would out perform the Pentium 4 processor despite the fact that its technically 870mhz slower. Why is this? Smaller die, consumes less power, makes less heat, and is more efficient. It also is of a newer generation which has better, faster, newer, and more instructions on how to process and move data. Hence efficiently. So the Hummingbird processor at 1ghz while 200mhz faster, gets out performed by the 2nd gen snapdragon at 800mhz due to the fact it can process, handle, and move data in a more efficient manner. Im not a computer whiz but its pretty simple. Both Phones are snappy, fast, and blow my socks off. Now i know the Vibrant is on 2.1 and the G2 is on 2.2 but im just giving my opinion. Also when the G2 gets a permanent root, and it will happen, you bet that you can overclock it to 1ghz. From what i read the G2 processor is just an underclocked 2nd gen 1ghz snapdragon. I will, however, have to give the overall edge to the G2. New school > Old school. Thats just the way it is.

Camera. The G2 and Vibrant both have amazing cameras but i will not lie. The Vibrant wins. Not by a big margin but not by a little one either. The Vibrant takes excellent photos and it has many many options. The G2 gives options aswell but the Vibrant feels more professionally done when it comes to the camera. The iso settings and options on the vibrant make the lack of a physical flash non bothersome. The g2, due to the fact it has a flash, just doesnt handle low light as well w/o the flash. The flash does do its job but anything past 10 foot its meh. It is the best cellphone led flash i've seen or used to date.

Some other stuff i'd like to comment on. The speaker phone of the Vibrant is loud and crisp, the G2 is a little quiet to my preferences and the speakerphone sounds tinny. The microphone sounds good on both but on videos for the G2 it has a bit of a ''tin can'' effect.

I live south west of chicago so HSPA+ hasnt been rolled out yet but i do get HSDPA from time to time. The fastest speed test on my Vibrant was about 1.8mb down and 750kbs up. On the G2 i got 4.2mb down and 1.2mb up. This, mind you, on standard 3g/hsdpa. So i can only imagine what the phone will be like once the actual HSPA+ hits. My vibrant does have the GPS JI6 update and it flys on the GPS but the G2 wins in the GPS department. I tested it many times and everytime I've connected to 11 out of 11 sats with an accuracy of 6.6 feet. The Vibrant i connect to 6 - 8 out of 11 sats with an accuracy of 25 feet.

I've tested some games on the G2 that i also have on the vibrant. The games include:

Angry Birds
Asphalt 5
Back Breaker Football
Crystal Light Defense

Angrybirds feels smooth and nice on both phones.
Asphalt 5 runs just the same on the G2 as it did on the Vibrant, and the Galaxy S phones were advertised using Asphalt 5 in commercials!
No difference in back breaker football either, and the same goes for CLD. The andreno may perform slower in benchmarks but mind you, benchmarks mean little when it comes to real world performance.

I am a bit sad that the gameloft website only shows two games available to the G2. Dungeon Hunter and Lets golf! It doesnt seem i can get desert combat, gangstar, nova, or the other gameloft games on the G2 YET i dont know if they plan on bringing them to the G2 but i know the phone could definately handle it. If a nexus one can, this phone can.

Overall im torn between which one i will use and the one i will give to my wife. She's currently inlove with the Vibrant and It wont be an easy sell getting her to the G2 if i decide to go that way, but im loving the G2 thus far...im just a bit put off by the hinge. I am going to T-mobile tomorrow to see what i can do.

Heres some fun reading

HTC G2 running at 1.42GHZ.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=8715771


Anyway I hope i've helped some of you!!!

 

[Infinite-t]

Good write up! I am actually toying witht he idea of getting an unlocked G2 to replace my Captivate.

One thing you didn't mention is the broken features of the Galaxy S. The still broken GPS (even after firmware updates) and so far it is still broken in froyo. The G2 gps works fine. The proprietary bluetooth of Samsung makes most bluetooth HIDs incompatible. I also hear that they are having trouble getting voice command working over bluetooth because of it. Which would explain why the leaked Captivate Froyo still doesnt support it. The file system of the Galaxy S is anchient and slow and gimps the true speed and power potential of the hardware.

If I were on Tmo it would be NO QUESTION to me.. my only concern about the G2 would be the hinge.. I have heared mixed reports about it.

 

[Sungmurai7]

I test drove the Vibrant and put it through its pace. But ultimately returned it for the G2. These are just my personal opinion so don't hate me

Hardware - G2 is more sleek and sexy, feels sturdier too. This is my opinion but I don't like how the Vibrant looks too much like an iPhone 2G/3G. I came from an iPhone 2G and I was tired of looking at the darn thing. One thing I love on the Vibrant is the little sliding cover for the mini USB port. Why can't other company do that?

Software/UI - I'm not a huge fan of TouchWiz 3.0 (*cough* iPhone UI ripoff *cough*) on the Vibrant but I remedied that with Launcher Pro Plus. However, the G2 feels more smooth and responsive overall in this department. One of my pet peeve on the Vibrant and again my opinion is how the battery icon looks like an uglier version of the iPhone one when plugged into the charge. The Super AMOLED is boss though compared to the Super LCD on the G2. I can live with the Super LCD though.

Speed - Hands down the G2 right now. Even with 800mhz (mine runs around 810mhz out of the box actually) the G2 runs smoother and snappier than my Vibrant. My G2 is running around 1.4ghz right now thanks to the overclocking guide from the guys at XDA Dev (thanks guys). This category is still up for debate since the Vibrant is still on 2.1 and hasn't been overclocked yet so we will see. For normal to somewhat above average user you can overclock the G2 to the default 1ghz and it should be sufficient.

Overall - I'm happy that I switch to the G2. I feel that the support base for the G2 will be better than the Vibrant. The G2 has more of what I want/need over the Vibrant. Pick which best serves your needs.

 

[jaiguru]

If you were to read the data on Quadrant Benchmark and any forum you'd know that phones on Froyo (2.2) are tripling in speed based on their 2.1 performance. There is simply no way to fairly compare the two phones on speed at the moment because one has a much better firmware. The more efficient compiler of 2.2 cannot be accounted for even with a lagfix on the vibrant it isn't fair to compare them yet. However, reality is you have a faster phone at the moment with a G2 until the new 2.2 firmware for Vibrant comes out then I'm willing to bet that will not be the case.

However, I will say this: there is no comparing the screens or camera of these two phones. The Vibrant wins: it is sleeker, lighter, and has a bigger more well contrasted screen as well as a superior camera. Those are based on statistics as well as hands-on experience. In my mind if you can do more with less space and weight it is a superior device.

Having said that: I wish I never had to give up the keyboard of my G1. I loved it when I had it, but now I use Swype and as annoying as it was at first I type way faster with it. Also, you might be interested to know that the world record for texting belongs (well not technically because they disqualified Swype users) to someone using Swype.

HSPA+....well I'm not banking on it getting to my area any time soon because I don't even have 3G yet so that's a non-issue for me and for a lot of T-Mo users because HSPA+ is years away for them and for me.

 

[vcof2005]

I switched my Vibrant for the G2. I do not regret it at all. My Vibrant (notice I said mines) gave me a world of troubles. It was my 2nd, the first had overheating issues (that the samsung could not fix so they made the tmobile store give me a new one) and the wi-fi would not connect. This second one had incredible lag (yeah i later rooted it but i feel as if with all the hype I should not have to do all this extra stuff for my phone to run "properly" and void my warranty) The battery was HORRIBLE. The call quality was great though. Although I could never get a signal and it would consistently go in and out. The things i have listed my have been just my phone though. I love my G2. I wanted a keyboard, better battery, faster internet speeds (i live in a major city and get HSPA almost everywhere) and the phone seems simpler. Also it seems like the Vibrant will never update. I screwed myself though because back in 05 I swore off Samsung phones. in 2010 I broke that and now I am swearing it again. I am done with Samsung phones. Thank you.