Help on choosing android phone

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amford

92 posts

Master Geek

#78708 6-Mar-2011 16:03

Hi Guys

Looking at getting my first android and after some recommendations. I have around $700 to spend

After all the things most people are
-good quality
-good battery life
-responsive screen

The Galaxy S looks good, Infotech have them quite cheap but the price has not really fallen for awhile and with the galaxy s2 out it might be better to wait.

http://www.einfo.co.nz/shop/product_info.php?products_id=19414&ref=pricespy

The HTC Desire HD looks to be a good phone as well.

Thoughts on either of these phones or any others that would do the job would be great

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BDFL - Memuneh
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#446027 6-Mar-2011 16:08

The IDEOS X5, from 2degrees is a good one too...

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langers1972

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#446029 6-Mar-2011 16:18

Have we had a review of this yet, I don't remember seeing one?

lokhor

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#446040 6-Mar-2011 17:02

Waiting on Mauricio to post one I think

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freitasm

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#446046 6-Mar-2011 17:17

I have to post it. I'm flying to Sydney tomorrow and taking both my HTC Trophy (Windows Phone 7) and the IDEOS X5 (Android 2.2). Have to decide which one to use as my "data phone".

Windows Phone 7 lacks Google Maps support, but Exchange on Android is still pretty bad... So I'm really tossing between those two.

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kyhwana2

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#446055 6-Mar-2011 17:59

The HTC Desire is pretty cheap atm. I think it's $600-700 or so. It's a good phone, owned one for ~5 months, sold it to buy a HTC Desire Z. ;)

Cyris

121 posts

Master Geek

#446120 6-Mar-2011 21:32

I've got myself the Acer Liquid running Android 2.2 Froyo with Launcher Pro.

It's a really good entry level Android Phone, It's not too expensive either.

It has the 1Ghz SnapDragon processor which is underclocked down to 768Mhz. If you're looking for something good and easy to use as your first Android, I would suggest this phone.

When I bought it, I payed about $700 for it, and it's the first generation Acer Liquid, the new Liquid E has 512MB Ram, and it's cheaper than what I payed for my phone now.

Full specs here - PBtechnologies - http://pbtech.co.nz/index.php?z=p&p=HHDACN041&name=Acer-LiquidE-%28S100%29-Google-Android-2.1-Phone-768MH

lokhor

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#446130 6-Mar-2011 22:17

I think the Huawei X5 is probably a bit better, especially if the Acer only has the Adreno 200 gpu

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CdTDroiD

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#447397 10-Mar-2011 20:19

Ive had a few, id go the HTC Desire, the HD battery life is rubbish, plus you can run the android HD Rom on the Desire A8181 anyways so you dont miss anything, except the bigger screen and the camera (very slight quality difference) also the size i noticed was a bit of a pain sometimes when one handed txting etc... on the Desire HD. I get 2 days max out of my desire with pretty decent usage, usually only 1.5 days but you wont find another one better, it all comes down to the ROM you run really :)

The Samsung I9000 is a bit to laggy i reckon, again you can get custom ROMs to speed them up but they dont get that much better.

I think you can get the HTC Desire A8181 for about $630 from Expert Infotech. Theres so much you can do with them also if your into the whole ROM customizing thing lol.

Only one downfall (sort of) with the Desire is you onlyl get about 150mb of internal memory but again that can easily be changed with a custom ROM and a partitioned SD card.

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CdTDroiD

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#447398 10-Mar-2011 20:20

freitasm: Exchange on Android is still pretty bad...

Flash 2.3.3 on it :)

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lokhor

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#447431 10-Mar-2011 22:47

The original HTC Desire has a very weak Adreno 200 GPU, I wouldn't recommend getting it now as there are newer phones that are much better. The Huawei X5 would beat it in pretty much any performance benchmark.

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Linuxluver

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#447486 11-Mar-2011 09:33

freitasm: I have to post it. I'm flying to Sydney tomorrow and taking both my HTC Trophy (Windows Phone 7) and the IDEOS X5 (Android 2.2). Have to decide which one to use as my "data phone".

Windows Phone 7 lacks Google Maps support, but Exchange on Android is still pretty bad... So I'm really tossing between those two.

Exchange on Android varies among phone makers. HTC paid Microsoft for licenses to allow better Exchange support....so the Exchange support on HTC Android phone tends to be better than it is on a phone from a vendor who didn't pay for the licenses.

The Exchange support on my Google Nexus One is *noticeably* better than the Exchange support on my Samsung Galaxy S.

I don't see this as an Android "fragmentation" issue as Microsoft Exchange is a proprietary, 3rd-party application and not part of Android at all.

Adding one more comment: Exchange support tends to be a business requirement. I can't think of any context in which a home or personal phone user would require it.

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stevonz

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#447509 11-Mar-2011 10:53

So Linuxluver do you have an opinion on the best/ fav Android handset at the moment?

I too am in the market for a new device... 6 weeks until I can upgrade for free.

My poor HTC Magic is woefully inadequate to handle the current 2.1 update.

Cheers, Stevo

n4

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Ultimate Geek

#447551 11-Mar-2011 14:27

Linuxluver: The Exchange support on my Google Nexus One is *noticeably* better than the Exchange support on my Samsung Galaxy S.

In what ways? I haven't noticed any glaring issues, certainly with the later ROMs.

Samsung Note20 Ultra, on 2degrees

freitasm

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#447553 11-Mar-2011 14:30

One of the most irritating things in Exchange support is how it synchronises only the folder you are looking at, instead of allowing you to select a list of folders to "watch". Also push email seems to only work for Inbox, no other folder.

As for home users not using Exchange, probably true that majority would use Google Apps (for being free), but Windows Live Domains is free as well and uses Exchange ActiveSync protocol for example...

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kiwijunglist

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#447587 11-Mar-2011 15:26

Motorolla Atrix
Samsung Galaxy S2
Huawei X5
Huawei X6
Sony Xperia Arc (If camera is important to you)

^ I would choose from the above, the Xperia Arc is there because it has a great camera.

HTPC / Home automation (home assistant) enthusiast.

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