HTC Tattoo vs Nokia 5800XM ?

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I think this is a toe-to-toe slug fest between these two phones. Has anyone had some hands on experience with both? Can you back up your personal preferences with good reasons?

HTC Tattoo (Android 1.6) on MTN Anytime 100 for R119pm.
or
Nokia 5800XM (Series 60v5) on MTN Anytime 100 R159pm

Compare the specs here.

Can Android take on Symbian yet?

Is HTC build quality up to same spec as Nokia? Apparently Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1 is manufactured by HTC.

My thoughts so far:
HTC Tattoo
Con - 2.8" 240x320 screen, limited Android apps for 240x320 screen
Pro - 256 MB RAM, 512 MB ROM will probably get Android v2 upgrade

Nokia 5800
Con - R40pm more expensive, propriety OS needs jail breaking.
Pro - 3.2" 320x640 screen, ships w 8GB microSD

Have at it Guys... Which do you choose if you had to order next week?

Or wait six months, use your own phone on MTN R19pm for R50 airtime till the next killer phone is out.
 
Well my wife used to have a 5800 and she now has a tattoo and she loves it. That's the reason that I'm selling the old 5800 in my signature :)

I think the main reason why she likes it is that its got a LOT of extra programs like for eg. she can have her music playlist permanently on her home screen etc.

One thing I like is that it has REALLY good support for google mail and google talk. It's like browsing gmail.com from your pc :)

Another thing is you can have almost ANY shortcut on any of your seven home screens like you can make a shortcut to directly call or sms someone.

I think the only con is that the battery life seems shorter than the 5800. Although that may be attributed to all the apps that she keeps running on the phone... constant weather updates, instant facebook notifications etc...

Oh and the 5800 has better speakers than the tattoo for music, so if you REALLY like listening to music I would say take the 5800
 
I have read negative info on the touch screen of the tattoo, resistive I think it is.

I would love an android phone, that's the first I heard about the screen size limiting you with what apps will run on it, seems silly though.

I want to see and hold and play with a tattoo before I make up my mind, have seen the 5800 and it's great.
 
Don't think you can go wrong with either of the two, but I'd recommend the 5800. It's narrower than the Tattoo which will make it easier to hold. Battery life on the Nokia is also better than the HTC.

Not too sure about the Symbian vs Android comparison, since I haven't used either OS in combination with a touch screen yet.

Best would be for you to use both and see which one you like best.
 
stevovo said:
Well my wife used to have a 5800 and she now has a tattoo and she loves it.
Click to expand...

Thanks Stevovo. There is only so much you can learn from the numbers until you need some hands on experience to really decide. It doesn't sound as if the low res screen bothers your wife at all? With all those web apps running she must rack up quit a data bill?

I'm glad to hear that Tattoo apps are freely available because some of the comments said that the Android Market was a little empty for this phone. Maybe it has improved in the last 6 weeks.

Batteries have always been a problem for me. The replacement never seems to match the original even if you fork out R300.

Who do you call on Google Talk? Overseas? With ad hoc data costs at R2 per MB and free minutes it is almost cheaper to just call local, isn't it?

I look forward to streaming a movie or 2 across WiFi while I am lying in bed. I will be able to do that won't I?
 
Get the HTC Dream its R100 on Anytime100. It has capacitive touch and a real keyboard.
Its superior to both and also cheaper. Done now go to the store bob!

EDIT: btw i have the 5800XM, awesome phone. Symbian sux balls
 
HTC Dream is out of stock and will not be restocked.

The 5800 is R135.00 pm at VC.
 
@macro and you know this because?..... you work for mtn?.....
 
I took out a contract for the Dream at R100. The battery life sucked big time so after a few weeks I swopped it for a brand new sealed 5800. So from someone that used both os's this is what I think.

In terms of stability both the os's are on par. What sets Android apart is the homescreen customisation (it was awesome having 3 homescreens, and the Tattoo has 7!), kinetic scrolling (yes it does make a big difference) and excellent Google intergration. Overall, Android is simply slicker, faster and sexier. If you use Gmail, Google calender etc you'll be amazed when you use Android. I think the Tattoo even comes with te new HTC Sense. The one major disadvantage with Android is that you need to spend a lot on data to really enjoy it. If you mostly use wifi or have a decent data bundle it's okay.

Don't get me wrong s60v5 is a good os, it just needs some polishing up. I'm a s60 user for many years now and have grown so used to it, so the 5800 was familiar ground. Personally, I'm going to stick to the 5800 for now. It's an awesome phone.

As far as the two phones are concerned I can't say much about the Tattoo, because I haven't used one. The low screen res is a real bummer. After using a 360x480 screen, going back to a 240x320 screen is like a joke. The other advantages the 5800 will have over the Tattoo is the excellent sound quality, 8gb memory card and let's face it, it looks better. However the Tattoo is R40 cheaper on the MTN contract and has a much better user interface.

So I would say, either way, you'll be making a good choice. It just depends on whether you want a good Google and online experience (Tattoo), or better Multimedia capabilities (5800).
 
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I've done some reading/watching about the Hero and all I can say is Wow!! So I think Android is the way to go but rather through the Hero... It's got better Rom and Ram to handle all the applications. The Android Market have about 10 000 applications, and there's really useful stuff out there, like locale: set your phone to do certain things based on where you are. Use your phone as a wireless touchpad on your PC etc. The sky is the limit on Android!!

Oh yes I won't even begin with the facebook/twitter integration through your phonebook... The moment your friends update they're profile pictures the same happens to your contact pictures, you can see there updates via contacts etc...
 
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Sorry to hijack the thread here, but can someone with a Tattoo tell me if Mxit works on it? I know they have an android version, I'm just not sure if the smaller screen will make it incompatible.
 
Vegeta said:
@macro and you know this because?..... you work for mtn?.....
Click to expand...

Was going for R108.00 pm as per mtn website. It has since been removed. Cannot find the Dream anywhere. Not VC or CC.
Asked at the mall and was told that the dream will not be restocked.
 
I had a 5800, ended up swapping it for an iPod Touch. Well I really liked it in some areas but in other things it was very frustrating. The screen was excellent for watching videos on, if you do a lot of movie watching on the go (I do) it's a great choice, esp the widescreen aspect ratio. The speakers as someone mentioned are top notch. And generally the build quality is good. But Symbian was just so weak - the interface was clumsy and slow, there was nothing really cool about it. In all other areas it was like...just ok not great.

The HTC tattoo seems like it isn't really ideal for media playing, so forget about playing music or watching video. Actually i think the 5800 is the better choice out of those 2 because Tattoo is a very low end HTC phone. But Android is excellent and if you can load android 2.0 it's even better.
 
cerebus said:
because Tattoo is a very low end HTC phone. But Android is excellent and if you can load android 2.0 it's even better.
Click to expand...
The Tattoo has almost the same specs as the hero. Same processor speed same HSDPA, HSUPA, A-GPS and compass. Its not really low end only thing crappy on it is the smaller and crappier resistive touch screen.

The 5800 is getting better and better with each firmware update but at a much slower pace than andriod for example. Geez its so hard to make a call between the two.

On the other had the 5800 has great screen quality, movies look good in wide etc speakers are good 2. OS wise i would say Android takes it hands down.
 
cerebus said:
The HTC tattoo seems like it isn't really ideal for media playing, so forget about playing music or watching video. Actually i think the 5800 is the better choice out of those 2 because Tattoo is a very low end HTC phone. But Android is excellent and if you can load android 2.0 it's even better.
Click to expand...

That about sums it up. If you compare these two phones in particular, the 5800 wins in the multimedia and hardware part of it. But as far as the software is concerned, the Tattoo wins hands-down. Come to think of it the only thing the Tattoo is missing is a high res screen, so if you can live with a 240x320 res, go for the Tattoo.

Also, after having used the Android Market and Nokia's Ovi Store, I can safely say that the Android Market is much better, even though we only have the free apps at the moment on the Android Market. Most of the "free" apps on Ovi are demos or lite versions, whereas on the Android Market most of the "free" stuff is actually "free".

Man, you should have seen some of the games I downloaded on the Dream. The graphics and sound was just too good, and some of them were really funny. I've been spending the past few days trying to find similar quality games on the Ovi Store and I'm just hitting dead ends. The really good games are all demos, and the real, "free" games are real, "crappy" games.
 
Take the Tattoo. Also remember, since you're buying the phone for a lady, a resistive screen is probably better than capacitive if she has nails.
 
Bit off-topic here but MTNSP has the Hero for R299 pm (R10 more pm than the Diamond 2) on a AnyTime 200 package.
Even the "non-smartphone" Samsung Jet goes for R299 pm
Is this the cheapest offer on a Hero?
 
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VC have them on Business Call for R284 but then you receive no airtime.
 
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