Mid Range Andriod

S

superskully

Expert Member
Joined
Aug 11, 2009
Messages
2,678
Reaction score
206
Location
Johannesburg
Hi All
Android selection is killing me to choose .
Yes the king is the S2, but too expensive for what i need it for.
I am with Autopage (i get 10% discount with them).
Offers are:
Nexus S at R289pm (MTN 200)
Desire S at R249pm ( " )
So the nexus S is the same price Galaxy S but not on specs.:confused:
No 720P vid rec.
I could wait for the Optimus 2 - but heard many bad stories abt hit (alternatively a price drop on S1).

Desire s seems like a great buy, but heard so many things about reliablity and lack of support in SA.
The camera worries me here as reviews point out (i want a good cam and vid rec).:(
Here i could wait for the SE NEO (same specs but far better camera).

I am tempted to go for the Desire S.
Any thoughts.
 
Last edited:
Have a look at the Motorola mb525 @ R129pm on Anytime 100.

HTC's has doesn't have as good camera and sound quality.
 
King would be Galaxy S 2, but there is still no word that I am aware of of it actually even coming into the country at this point.

[rant]
No-one at MTN or Vodacom can give us an arrival date, and I'm getting tired of waiting
[/rant]

Nexus is raw Google, no fancy addons out the box. HTC has a few nice software features. Personally I've found the HTC physical build quality a bit clumsy, but not actually had much time with the Nexus. That being said, the Wildfire seems to be handling OK with the people I know who are running it.

I'd look at the support channels for repairs etc. How long to wait for your phone to come back if you need it repaired. Leaf are horribly slow in that regard. I'm guessing Samsung are handling the Nexus repairs, as 90% of it is built by them.
 
Also look at things like battery life. HTC's don't score well in that department.
 
Fox1 said:
Have a look at the Motorola mb525 @ R129pm on Anytime 100.

HTC's has doesn't have as good camera and sound quality.
Click to expand...

Can't beat that... HTC desire performance (maybe a little better in the graphics dept!), strong, and going to cheap! Ordered mine, just waiting... what seems to be forever... for MTN to approve account details and what not :cry:

edit:
As for Nexus S... it's a Galaxy S, but without ANY features from Samsung, just the hardware, and vanilla Android... Meaning you also have full user rights over android which is nice :). and you can download everything you need from market.
 
Last edited:
Get the Neo or Nexus S, the normal Desire is not getting Gingerbread so you'll be at the mercy of custom ROMs from the very beginning.
 
Thanks for the replies.
Still confused.
General sensus though is that HTC may give problems, and if they do, its another big issue to fix it.
 
superskully said:
Thanks for the replies.
Still confused.
General sensus though is that HTC may give problems, and if they do, its another big issue to fix it.
Click to expand...

I don't think that's necessarily true. I don't think either HTC or Samsung would have much difficulty processing a warranty claim on a phone.

They both have some advantages:

Nexus S:
+ 16gb of internal storage, compared to 1gb for the Desire S
+ Better 3d graphics performance
+ Bigger screen
+ NFC, not that this really does anything for you at present
+ Better battery life

Desire S:
+ 768mb RAM, compared to 512 on the Nexus S
+ Metal unibody construction, compared to plastic on the Nexus S
+ Gorilla glass display
+ Has an SD card slot
+ Notification LED

In my view these are minor differences, they don't really make a big impact. Both of these are really good phones, without any glaring weaknesses on either side.

The main difference, really, is that the Desire S uses HTC Sense, where as the Nexus is vanilla Android. This is largely a matter of personal taste, and I would advise you to spend a bit of time using the interfaces of both phones before making a decision. HTC Sense is more colourful and flashy. It has a lot of built-in eye candy in terms of things like weather animations, and it some nice features and widgets that Android should really have built in by default. It also comes with a bunch of applications that you will probably never use and not be able to uninstall, such as HTC's built-in Twitter client and stocks application.

By contrast, the vanilla Android interface on the Nexus S is clean, utilitarian, and functional. There's not a lot of eye candy. It comes with fewer applications preinstalled, so you might need to spend some time on the Android Market extending the phone's capability with third party software. (This is usually free though.)

Basically, it all comes down to personal preference. Personally, I prefer vanilla Android, to the point where I've rooted my OG Desire and installed a vanilla Android ROM just so I could get a user experience similar to the Nexus S. I really like the simple, functional UI of vanilla Android. But lots of people prefer Sense, and you might be one of those people. So again, my advice is simply to try them both and see which one you like best.
 
Vulk said:
I don't think that's necessarily true. I don't think either HTC or Samsung would have much difficulty processing a warranty claim on a phone.

They both have some advantages:

Nexus S:
+ 16gb of internal storage, compared to 1gb for the Desire S
+ Better 3d graphics performance
+ Bigger screen
+ NFC, not that this really does anything for you at present
+ Better battery life

Desire S:
+ 768mb RAM, compared to 512 on the Nexus S
+ Metal unibody construction, compared to plastic on the Nexus S
+ Gorilla glass display
+ Has an SD card slot
+ Notification LED

In my view these are minor differences, they don't really make a big impact. Both of these are really good phones, without any glaring weaknesses on either side.

The main difference, really, is that the Desire S uses HTC Sense, where as the Nexus is vanilla Android. This is largely a matter of personal taste, and I would advise you to spend a bit of time using the interfaces of both phones before making a decision. HTC Sense is more colourful and flashy. It has a lot of built-in eye candy in terms of things like weather animations, and it some nice features and widgets that Android should really have built in by default. It also comes with a bunch of applications that you will probably never use and not be able to uninstall, such as HTC's built-in Twitter client and stocks application.

By contrast, the vanilla Android interface on the Nexus S is clean, utilitarian, and functional. There's not a lot of eye candy. It comes with fewer applications preinstalled, so you might need to spend some time on the Android Market extending the phone's capability with third party software. (This is usually free though.)

Basically, it all comes down to personal preference. Personally, I prefer vanilla Android, to the point where I've rooted my OG Desire and installed a vanilla Android ROM just so I could get a user experience similar to the Nexus S. I really like the simple, functional UI of vanilla Android. But lots of people prefer Sense, and you might be one of those people. So again, my advice is simply to try them both and see which one you like best.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the detailed reply.
I do agree that software is king as i am coming from a Nokia.
I also have an ipad and really like iOS - iphone though is 2 expensive for the specs. So the reason why i am only looking at andriod. I want the software too be simple and work as its suppose to (and quickly). So maybe the vanilla andriod may be better.

I will admit, i have a reliability phobia - and thats for everything, i expect things to work.
What puts me off on HTC is reliability, i hear nothing but complaints.
What puts me off the Nexus is no 720p video and i hope it has the amoled (some of the nexus dont). No SD card slot does not bother me as 16gb is more than enough.
 
Got the Defy yesterday and am in love with it.Hell I even ran it under a tap for fun.
You wont regret a Defy.
Sent from my MB525 using MyBroadband Android App
 
Since when is Apple Mid Range Android? Title says mid range android not rotten Apple.

Sent from my HTC Desire using MyBroadband Android App
 
Well look at what the OP says:
superskully said:
I do agree that software is king as i am coming from a Nokia.
I also have an ipad and really like iOS - iphone though is 2 expensive for the specs.
Click to expand...
and the iPhone 4 still has killer specs actually - camera, screen, build quality, battery life - not to mention iOS 5. So I think it's good for the price.
 
I think the Galaxy S is 280pm at CellC... But I guess u sticking to Autopage?

Galaxy Ace maybe? Camera isn't too hot though on the Ace

Sent from my GT-I9000 using MyBroadband Android App
 
I am not a fanboi of apple or android, i like them both. So would choose the one that represents the best value for money. At the time, and currently as well, ipad is king.
Iphone is a bit too much, at this point at the same price, rather get galaxy s2. And iphone 4s/5 will only be here in dec (apple were caught napping by samsung, htc and lg).
 
Ace has poor camera and worse vid cam, svga.
Desire s same spec as nexus and cheaper, now if only i can get a hold of one.
Btw, went to vc, mtn and cellc stores, only cellc had live phones. Liked the defy (rbm), only real andriod phone they had.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X